Midland GRMS base stations

[Tequila]

We started using these instead of CB's for RV Caravans about 3 years ago. Very happy with them. Midland asked me to produce a video about installing them in an RV. (hence the company plug at the end) I sent them a prototype which I thought was a bit rough, but they liked it and are going to use it, as is. One thing I did not to mention is that the antenna is magnetic, but it does not require a metal ground plane, so if you have an aluminum or fiberglass body, you can tie-wrap it somewhere or use double sided tape. Technically you need an FCC license to use these although few bother. In Mexico, where we run caravans, we even tried out Marine radios which are really a no no in the US and Canada on land.

Midland is planning an ad campaign to promote these for RV's so they may have some good deals come up.

Installation video

[Tequila]

lots of grms radio's in mexico, as I said highway construction crews use them and you hear them on the GRMS frequencies not just the 1-14 FRS channels. You hear Mexicans on GRMS channels a lot in larger towns and I have seen them for sale in stores down there. They sell handhelds in walmarts, Costcos, Mega, etc. I hav ebot seen the base station radiso for sale, not even the 5 watt midland you can buy in walmarts in the US. The midland antennas are magnetic just for convenience, when I mentioned it to Midland that they did not appear to need a ground plane, they did not contradict me. Nothing mentions it in the instructions. In practice we have found it does not matter. We did a lot of testing on this as lots of participants have class A's with fibreglass bodies and it was always an issue wth CB's. We tested a 5 watt version (mxt105) on bith an aluminum Ford and a fibreglass class A with the antenna doubled side taped to both and I was able to converse 3 km away on other side of the town of Teotihuacan which has a lot of stone colonial buildings in the way. Past 3 km it started to fade, but he could hear my 15 watt version for almost 5 km. This was the first year we used them and we had 5, 15 & 40 watt GRMS and CB's on that trip and we could not communicate via CB's between the same 2 locations. We compared both them & CB's over a wide variety of conditions and the CB's came nowhere close to being as good. We axed CB's on the next trip and now use GRMS exclusively. Customers like them because they can do a temp install if they dont want to keep them and we can resell them the next season.

[rk911]

i can't tell from the video (had the sound down so as not to dusturb my wife) but the antenna appears to be a quarter-wave. with a magnetic base it is designed to use the metal roof of a vehicle for the ground plane. it works..but not as well as it could just like my dual-band glass mount antenna works on the 2-meter and 440 amateur bands....just ok.

i didn't do a ton of research but the websites i did look at suggest that radios used in mexico need to be certified for use in mexico and those radios use the Family Radio Service (FRS) frequencies and not the GMRS frequencies.

https://www.qsl.net/wd9ewk/xe-frs.html

good luck and be careful.

[Tequila]

That is true, except you do not need a good ground plane. It may help but to be quite honest we have not been able to tell the difference in range with or without it. We have installed these in over 100 rigs so far and many Class A's are fibreglass construction and have found little, if any, difference in the range with or without a ground plane. With a CB it is essential, but these do not seem to matter. Getting them up onto the roof does help a bit. We have used them all over Mexico in a variety of terrains. Obviously the range is better on the flat. No issue with a license down there. We do advise customers to get one when back in the US. There is a 40 watt version but it requires purchase of a different antenna. Although we have used that version for Wagon masters & tail gunners, the increase in range is not that a big deal. We have tried the units with several customers who have existing CB antennas and have found in most cases the range is still acceptable even though the antenna is tuned to the wrong frequency range. I have yet to find a GRMS repeater in Mexico but these uits are compatible with them. They do use GRMS radios there, we have heard highways workers on them plus others. Most people down there seem to use channels 20-22 on the mistaken theory that the higher the channel, the higher the range. We use 17 or 18 and hardly hear anyone on them. Its handy in some ways since if its spanish we know they are not part of our group.

[rk911]

Tequila wrote:

...Technically you need an FCC license to use these although few bother...

"technically" in the same way a driver's license is technically needed. both are codified law, one state and the other federal. odds of being caught by the FCC? slim to none but if caught penalties can be stiff. all that is required for a 10-yr GMRS license is a form and a check for $70.

the install requirements for a GMRS radio are the same as for a CB, ham radio, commercial 2-way radio, etc. you need a good ground plane or an antenna that is designed for non-metallic surfaces, a 12v power supply and a place to mount the transceiver.

be careful when operating on GMRS frequencies. GMRS rules allow for repeaters but they are privately owned and most of those require permission and sometimes a fee from their owners to use. there are some open GMRS repeaters that are available for use by anyone.

it will pay to bone up on the rules, regulations and operating procedures if you're going to use GMRS.

https://www.fcc.gov/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs

Why Do I Need A GMRS License?

Wikipedia Article