"can you hear me now".... Reminds me of when I was a kid and got a set of walkie talkies and we would run around the farm trying to figure out how far the range was on them.... Only conversation we ended had on them was can you hear me, can you hear me now, how about now.
You used to see how far away you could go to talk to someone and kids today won't even go to the next room to talk to someone, they just send a text. Progress lol.
know if you where to take a repeater put it at the bottom of a silo and string up your antenna to the top of your corn bin at about 150 know you will cover your farm land then you tractors will transmit to it and bounce off it .
This has to be one of the best range tests I have seen. Especially because of the use of external antennas which is critical when using a vehicle. Our experience with the MXT 400's and 115's is similar to yours except that we live in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin so some low areas are difficult to reach with any RF devices and that includes cell phones. The thing we like about the 115 is that it can be moved to a different vehicle in seconds because it can plug in to the cigarette lighter for power. The MXT 400 is pushing it a bit because it draws a lot more current for just over 3 dB gain in power and ideally should be hard wired to the battery. But the 115 power differerence of ~ 4 dB can be made up by the antenna. One test we did between our base (40 foot tower) MXT 400 and mobile 400 with different antennas showed an improvement of one bar with the supplied mini mag antenna over a ham antenna matched for 467 MHz which surprised us because it is so tiny (but a matched quarter wave at ~ 6 inches). Then the 3 dB antenna was one bar more and the 6 dB antenna added another bar on the receive on both ends. This should hold true for the 115's as well in terms of relative difference between mobile antennas.
Great video, plan to buy MXT115 for my daughter's car I have the MXT400 in my truck now. Would like to see someone do a video with two MXT115 with the same antenna and drive off in opposite directions.
What was your buddy using for a setup at his house? What radio, what antenna? outside? on the roof of his house? all the particulars on his end would be nice to know as well?
Great video Brian my buddies and are waiting for the mxt 400 video before we all go buy radios but this helps we are going to put them in side by side atv's have a great day be safe.
Great review thanks. Just got my license and looking for equipment. Will give midland a look but might wait as I've heard they are coming out with a new mxt400 in winter of 2020
Nice little antenna to put on storage in the car as emergency spares, you'll want to add a gain antenna (taller) and some thicker coax cable, as the one provided has lots of loss at these frequencies.
What part of the Scioto River were you traveling? I live just west of Sandusky on the Bay. Just wondering where ya call home. Nice video. I, too, have the MXT115 radio, and I like it just just fine. Thanks, Eric
I wish you would've shown each antenna, as you switched over to them. I think you gave each antenna's "Db rating", but I didn't catch any model numbers. ( you may have, and I just missed them) Were you operating the radio on the higher powered channels? Also, like one of the other commenters asked,....what radio/antenna set-up was the other guy using to reach you? Have you attempted to use any of your local repeaters, yet? If you can hit one of those, (they are usually mounted higher up on towers in your area), you can let the repeater do the "heavy-lifting", and you should almost double your range.
One of the most helpful vids I've found - so far saw this and the GXT1000. Is this unit or other bigger ones limited to the device on the other end? If George had the handheld would this still only work for the distance in the handheld test? Or maybe they could still hear you, but not transmit back? Thanks!
I'm looking at the MTX275. How does your radio fare when talking with basic handheld walkie talkies? Will it help increase range since its a 15 watt? Or will it only increase the range one way?
I sit in a high rise on a hill so I am at about 150 to 200 ft with in side antenna and reach there tower with nothing but air space and no snap crackle pop be hind me
Brian, Love the video. I like that you switched the antenna's on the go. You mentioned the GTX1000 handheld radios. What do you know or have you used the Midland - X-TALKER T290VP4, handheld? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
I just purchased two mxt275’s, and we have crystal clear comm at 17 miles when both vehicles are parked. Under motion we get horrible static, changed antennas (ghost now), wired direct to battery, simply cannot communicate if either vehicle is in motion. Even directly next to each other, under motion is almost unusable. Midland trying to help but they are baffled.
You did a nice video. What area are you located at? Down here in the Southeastern US we are lucky to get 8 miles on VHF and UHF on account of the trees and hills.
What was used on the other end? And did you use mxt a11 to mxt a11( big antenna to big antenna) awesome vid! The mxt a10 3dbi antenna works like a champ on my mxt90 and even better on my mxt 115! Just oedered my mxt a11!
Waiting on a same test with the mxt400! Thanx for the vids! I believe ur the only person doing these real distance test! Keep up the great work! Very informative!
there no 50 channels in family service there 22 then add up the privecy codes which are not privet thay only prevent other people braking in on your group but others can still here you so the 100 codes are seperet
Chad VanDam the only radios I know of that are made for the sight impaired are amateur radios. They will speak the frequency they are on to you. I don't know of any commercial or GMRS radios that will do that. Some amateur radios can be modded to operate on GMRS and commercial frequencies but they aren't FCC compliant. I know a couple of blind HAMS who do really well by learning the buttons on their radios by touch and using the speech mode for frequency read out. I hope this helps.
commercial mobile 2way radio on repeater has a 60-70mi range around here and a handheld about half. network mobile radio is a good option if you have good at&t cell service on all your farms
try putting your antenna on the tallest building on the farm your grain bin then huck it up to a repeter the antenna is at about 150 ft know you have your farm farm covered in a 20 miles haylow. I am working a 45 watt radio at 200 feet and have line of site to my main tower of 6 grouped to gether on same pl tone
I know i monitor my locial fire service which is 15 miles from my home and there is no problum and I run a radio station on g m r s and I am 10 miles from my main tower with no problum
Not everyday you see someone switching antenna on the side of the highway...……….Is it possible to make a base station with at all antenna to improve range? great video thanks
yes I did with brand X a 45 watt running a mag mount antenna and a alinco 32 amp power supply at 13.4V and have no problums my misery radio is from rugged radio made for off road toy's
If you're "only good for 1000 feet", with your Cobra cb then you have an antenna problem, my friend. I suspect you have an SWR issue. Stop by a radio shop and have them test it with an SWR meter. I've run just about every brand of cb radio there is, and if the antenna is tuned properly, 3 to 5 miles is usually no problem, on a quiet channel. I work at a radio shop, part time, and we run into that problem a lot !! We'll set the SWR for the guy, and he'll call back a day or so later and tell us, "It's like I'm using an entirely different radio." Your antenna choice will also effect your range capability. Those , fiberglass, "firestick" antennas, (and others like them), are usually garbage. I'd suggest a Wilson 2000, mirror-mount bracket antenna. They work great on "big-trucks"!!
using this radio to talk to the handheld 1000 will the range be better then handheld to handheld? or is it still limited to the 3 miles of the handheld?
I from indonesia, i like your video share about long range distance test midland mxt-115 gmrs/frs free licence radio, i’m YG3DAP, 73 and thank’s my friend.
@@stevenbudnick1252 Maybe the regulations in each country are different, the problem is that in my own country the gmrs/frs is included in the free frequency.
anyone else feel like you were just driving with a passenger wit at&t. "uh can you hear me, I think I lost you, oh there you are.... can you hear me, shit gone again, can you hear me"
that's you over the road gang on 19 I knew new a guy he had a sleeper and put to fire sticks on the back and two on the frunt and talked off all 4 toghther
Midland recommends using there antennas but they also sell antennas so..... I haven’t tried it but others say they have used other antennas successfully
FCC requires a license if operating on the GMRS frequency channels. the FRS radios don't require a license but are limited to under 2 watts of power. And some of those channels are .5 watt channels
CB operates by law 4 Watts AM 12 Watts SSB however there are many different types of CB amplifiers. Generally from 100 Watts to 3Kw+. Its against the law to use a CB radio amplifier yet thousands upon thousands of people use CB amllifiers. When atmospheric conditions are good you can talk all over the U.S. and often other countries. Typically you can expect a 3 to 20 mile range on AM CB and a 30 mile range on SSB.
I don't think your wattage word were accurate. CB max allowable wattage is 4 watts. The handheld gxt1000 only puts out .5 watts on frs and only puts out 2.8 max on gmrs.
"can you hear me now".... Reminds me of when I was a kid and got a set of walkie talkies and we would run around the farm trying to figure out how far the range was on them.... Only conversation we ended had on them was can you hear me, can you hear me now, how about now.
You used to see how far away you could go to talk to someone and kids today won't even go to the next room to talk to someone, they just send a text. Progress lol.
know if you where to take a repeater put it at the bottom of a silo and string up your antenna to the top of your corn bin at about 150 know you will cover your
farm land then you tractors will transmit to it and bounce off it .
25 miles is so impressive, Midland is making some great products. Thanks for another great detailed review.
Great practical test of the MXT115. Antennas make a big difference.
The best video I saw on these radios thanks for taking the time
Great to see you Brian on the Midland site! I have known Brian several years and his family does a great job farming in Ross County, Ohio!
An honest real world testing of the range and different antennas. Thank you Sir.
This has to be one of the best range tests I have seen. Especially because of the use of external antennas which is critical when using a vehicle. Our experience with the MXT 400's and 115's is similar to yours except that we live in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin so some low areas are difficult to reach with any RF devices and that includes cell phones. The thing we like about the 115 is that it can be moved to a different vehicle in seconds because it can plug in to the cigarette lighter for power. The MXT 400 is pushing it a bit because it draws a lot more current for just over 3 dB gain in power and ideally should be hard wired to the battery. But the 115 power differerence of ~ 4 dB can be made up by the antenna. One test we did between our base (40 foot tower) MXT 400 and mobile 400 with different antennas showed an improvement of one bar with the supplied mini mag antenna over a ham antenna matched for 467 MHz which surprised us because it is so tiny (but a matched quarter wave at ~ 6 inches). Then the 3 dB antenna was one bar more and the 6 dB antenna added another bar on the receive on both ends. This should hold true for the 115's as well in terms of relative difference between mobile antennas.
Great review and demo under realistic conditions. Thanks for taking the time to post. Very helpful.
Great video, plan to buy MXT115 for my daughter's car I have the MXT400 in my truck now. Would like to see someone do a video with two MXT115 with the same antenna and drive off in opposite directions.
I loved the video!! We never communicate on the radio in our farm but we have 2 to 3 people at most doing harvest and 1 person on tillage and seeding
What was your buddy using for a setup at his house? What radio, what antenna? outside? on the roof of his house? all the particulars on his end would be nice to know as well?
He was in a semi truck sitting at the end of our driveway. We used the same antennas and both switched antennas at the same time
Great video! I'm researching these for an upcoming trip.
Great video Brian my buddies and are waiting for the mxt 400 video before we all go buy radios but this helps we are going to put them in side by side atv's have a great day be safe.
Great review thanks. Just got my license and looking for equipment. Will give midland a look but might wait as I've heard they are coming out with a new mxt400 in winter of 2020
Nice little antenna to put on storage in the car as emergency spares, you'll want to add a gain antenna (taller) and some thicker coax cable, as the one provided has lots of loss at these frequencies.
Now you have to try it using the Repeater channel. That radio would do about 4 miles here in Maryland near the washington DC metro area.
The repeater channel only works if there is one in your area.
you can log on to G M R S towers near you and find out they post open and closed repeter's near you I average 20 miles on one.
Thank you for the real world test. Keep up the good work
Thanks for watching
Excellent Video!! Rang test was really great.
Awesome video. Really helped that you were testing different antennas as well. Thank you!
Awesome video man thanks a lot I have the 1000’s midlands handheld and now looking at one of these to put in our tractor
What part of the Scioto River were you traveling? I live just west of Sandusky on the Bay. Just wondering where ya call home. Nice video. I, too, have the MXT115 radio, and I like it just just fine. Thanks, Eric
Good video Brian!
I wish you would've shown each antenna, as you switched over to them. I think you gave each antenna's "Db rating", but I didn't catch any model numbers. ( you may have, and I just missed them) Were you operating the radio on the higher powered channels?
Also, like one of the other commenters asked,....what radio/antenna set-up was the other guy using to reach you? Have you attempted to use any of your local repeaters, yet? If you can hit one of those, (they are usually mounted higher up on towers in your area), you can let the repeater do the "heavy-lifting", and you should almost double your range.
Not sure on the model numbers but the dB rating is the how they are named on midlands site. The other person was also switching at the same time I was
One of the most helpful vids I've found - so far saw this and the GXT1000. Is this unit or other bigger ones limited to the device on the other end? If George had the handheld would this still only work for the distance in the handheld test? Or maybe they could still hear you, but not transmit back? Thanks!
Excellent range test and I've subscribed micky Great Britain. 👍.
I'm looking at the MTX275. How does your radio fare when talking with basic handheld walkie talkies? Will it help increase range since its a 15 watt? Or will it only increase the range one way?
Throw up a tower & the right antenna & you've got a lot more reach. Pretty good as is though. Good video
I sit in a high rise on a hill so I am at about 150 to 200 ft with in side antenna
and reach there tower with nothing but air space and no snap crackle pop
be hind me
Great video Brain!
Brian, Love the video. I like that you switched the antenna's on the go. You mentioned the GTX1000 handheld radios. What do you know or have you used the Midland - X-TALKER T290VP4, handheld? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
I just purchased two mxt275’s, and we have crystal clear comm at 17 miles when both vehicles are parked. Under motion we get horrible static, changed antennas (ghost now), wired direct to battery, simply cannot communicate if either vehicle is in motion. Even directly next to each other, under motion is almost unusable. Midland trying to help but they are baffled.
You did a nice video. What area are you located at? Down here in the Southeastern US we are lucky to get 8 miles on VHF and UHF on account of the trees and hills.
I’m in southern Ohio where the foothills start but in that video I was headed north
Great practical range testing.
Sense you didn't say it I will 9:05 "Dumb Ass". Lmao 😂 😂😂 😂😂 😂👍 👍
Do you advertise for some of the products or machine companies that you have purchased? Great video man!
Not really I just wanted to review this product because it filled a void in our farm
Can you use it as FRS if you don’t want to get your license just yet? You may have said it and I missed it.
What was used on the other end? And did you use mxt a11 to mxt a11( big antenna to big antenna) awesome vid! The mxt a10 3dbi antenna works like a champ on my mxt90 and even better on my mxt 115! Just oedered my mxt a11!
Thanks we both used the same size antennas
Waiting on a same test with the mxt400! Thanx for the vids! I believe ur the only person doing these real distance test! Keep up the great work! Very informative!
there no 50 channels in family service there 22 then add up the privecy codes which
are not privet thay only prevent other people braking in on your group but others can
still here you so the 100 codes are seperet
Cb out of the box runs 4 watts, if it has single sideband mode, the ssb runs at 12 watts, this would be before we modify them. Hope that helps
must be pretty flat lands. I need to know how it works in the mountains, but very nice video.
Went riding in wv at Hatfield and McCoy trails and hill top to bill top 5 miles with the handheld
We are considering the new 40 watt unit from midland
I am blind, and I’m looking for a radio, that will speak it’s prompts as opposed to putting them on a screen. Any recommendations
Chad VanDam the only radios I know of that are made for the sight impaired are amateur radios. They will speak the frequency they are on to you. I don't know of any commercial or GMRS radios that will do that. Some amateur radios can be modded to operate on GMRS and commercial frequencies but they aren't FCC compliant. I know a couple of blind HAMS who do really well by learning the buttons on their radios by touch and using the speech mode for frequency read out. I hope this helps.
Great review
What radio and wattage was George using and antenna
Was he also Mobil or was he at a base station ?
commercial mobile 2way radio on repeater has a 60-70mi range around here and a handheld about half. network mobile radio is a good option if you have good at&t cell service on all your farms
try putting your antenna on the tallest building on the farm your grain bin
then huck it up to a repeter the antenna is at about 150 ft know you have your
farm farm covered in a 20 miles haylow. I am working a 45 watt radio at 200
feet and have line of site to my main tower of 6 grouped to gether on same
pl tone
@@donalderickson-si8ww we get 60-70 miles out of mobile two ways the range your getting a handheld on the repeater we run gets that easily
I know i monitor my locial fire service
which is 15 miles from my home and there is no problum and I run a radio station
on g m r s and I am 10 miles from my
main tower with no problum
Not everyday you see someone switching antenna on the side of the highway...……….Is it possible to make a base station with at all antenna to improve range? great video thanks
You can make a good J-Pole base station antenna out of copper pipe. www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html
Need to put that big Antenna on top of the grain leg I bet she will reach out then. Where was George sitting at during the test?
He was sitting at the end of the drive way in a semi
If you get the gain Antena it will go a lot farther. Only channel 15 and up are 15 watts
what channel were you on and were you using a repeater
Anyone know, is there a portable battery that the radio can be plugged into so it can be placed into a backpack and be made into a portable radio?
Hardened Power Systems makes a series of ammo can power systems that hold these radios. I have the Recon G1 and it's great 👍
Low rating on Amazon, but that's because they are legal to use with FCC blessings on back.
The transmit power on a CB is 4 watt. Unless you open them up and do some mods on them ! Turn them up !
Thank you for the video.
Great test
So George had the same unit in a semi and his antenna was approx 8-10 feet up and yours was 6-7 feet up?
Yeah but i was also at different elevations every stop so not like it would matter that much
Can you set it up for home use with a 110v to 12v car adapter? Thanks.
yes I did with brand X a 45 watt running a mag mount antenna and a
alinco 32 amp power supply at 13.4V and have no problums my misery
radio is from rugged radio made for off road toy's
Hi, i have amp with input of 5 watts.Do you know what the low setting is on midland mxt115 ? I have license to use at 50 watts
If it’s breaking up while driving you most probably need an in-line filter to help with the vehicle electric interference
Maybe but that was when the antenna wasn’t hooked up also so I’d say that’s most of it
Sounds good my cobra cb in my dump truck only works about 1000 feet junk compared to those
If you're "only good for 1000 feet", with your Cobra cb then you have an antenna problem, my friend. I suspect you have an SWR issue. Stop by a radio shop and have them test it with an SWR meter. I've run just about every brand of cb radio there is, and if the antenna is tuned properly, 3 to 5 miles is usually no problem, on a quiet channel. I work at a radio shop, part time, and we run into that problem a lot !! We'll set the SWR for the guy, and he'll call back a day or so later and tell us, "It's like I'm using an entirely different radio." Your antenna choice will also effect your range capability. Those , fiberglass, "firestick" antennas, (and others like them), are usually garbage. I'd suggest a Wilson 2000, mirror-mount bracket antenna. They work great on "big-trucks"!!
Put a big amp on it
I know from the video what radio and antenna you were using. But, what was on the other end? What did the other fella have?
We were using the same antennas and radios
Is the mount reversible? Like, can I mount it hanging from above with the mount that it comes with?
Does the 6db antenna fit into the same base of antenna it comes with?
When you going to do the next 400 test base. Test
What kind of rig and antenna does the other guy have?
I love my midland GMRS 400 in my F250, and want one of these for my jeep
What type of range can you get on average?
@@FullLifeCrew depends on the terrain, if you’re in a town or city where buildings are, 5 miles would probably be average
The audio quality sounds really bad. Not sure if that is the radio or your recording device.
I think this video is from 2018 so it’s really hard to tell. Lotta things have changed since then.
George, Can you hear me now?..... Good.. lol
Thanks for sharing.
Do those radios take an external speaker? That might help the sound a little
Yes they do
what set up was the other station...? What Radio and antenna?
They were both identical. He changed antennas as I did
using this radio to talk to the handheld 1000 will the range be better then handheld to handheld? or is it still limited to the 3 miles of the handheld?
around 2 miles in town or line of site.
your 15 watt radio may be getting to George but if he's using a 2 or 5 watt radio he's not going to be heard by you right.
Well....leagally CB's operate on 4 watts, but, if you happen to know a good cb tech, it can do much better! ;-D
tune the cb down to 2 watts then add the 100 watt amp
I from indonesia, i like your video share about long range distance test midland mxt-115 gmrs/frs free licence radio, i’m YG3DAP, 73 and thank’s my friend.
Its not license free
@@stevenbudnick1252 Maybe the regulations in each country are different, the problem is that in my own country the gmrs/frs is included in the free frequency.
Can you use a Nagoya UT-72 antenna with the Midland mxt115?
as long as it is rated for the 462 mhz range
I just have a question do you and anyone driving your big farm truck have to have a CDL?
Nope
How do you adjust the SWR on those GRMS radios?
the factery does be or thay send it out my company did that for me.
I’m just wondering what is the black thing around your neck
I believe it's his microphone
Bluetooth headset for phone. Forgot to take it off
anyone else feel like you were just driving with a passenger wit at&t. "uh can you hear me, I think I lost you, oh there you are.... can you hear me, shit gone again, can you hear me"
Most cb radios are stock on 4 watts but most people I talk to on cb radio run 200+ watts
that's you over the road gang on 19 I knew new a guy he had a sleeper
and put to fire sticks on the back and two on the frunt and talked off all 4
toghther
Do you know if you can hook a PA to it?
You can
I'm getting my license I'm looking forward to having a gmrs radio
It's gmrs. Not needed. But still good to get.
F R S NO license needed G M R S yes you do as your talking
20 miles and when the east coast G M R S club is on I talk to
Chicago ILL from Minnesota.
Can I use a fire stick antenna for this radio?
Midland recommends using there antennas but they also sell antennas so..... I haven’t tried it but others say they have used other antennas successfully
Needs to be tuned for GMRS freq.
Mxt400 on the way?
Yes might be a week or so
25 miles on 5 Watts that's pretty damn good I can't wait till you try out the mxt400 think about it 40 watts of power WOW
15 watts as per midland specs
What is the lisence cost for those things?
$70 I think for 5 years
@@BriansFarmingVideos It is $70 for 10 years. www.fcc.gov/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs
👍👍👍👍
What are the reasons you chose the midland 2 ways over the motorola 2 way
you need a license to operate this radio. it is a GMRS radio on 462-467mhz
That’s correct. License is easy to get
Brian's Farming Videos what test do I need to take
Check midlands website they have direct links to the page I believe
@@buddiedog08 no test . Just go to the fcc website and pay for it .
Will it work with a license??? Like will it be no signal?
Just curious Brian why do you have to have a license to run that model are the 275 and 400s the same way
Kris Baird you need a license to legally run on any GMRS channels
FCC requires a license if operating on the GMRS frequency channels. the FRS radios don't require a license but are limited to under 2 watts of power. And some of those channels are .5 watt channels
Cb is 4watts
Cb runs on 4 watts
Cb radio operates at 4watts. Legally. But so to speak unlegally you can run hundreds of watts with an amp on Cb radio..
It's not for business...
cb are 4 watts .....23 ch cb are 5 watts
All CB radios are 4 watts output for AM and 12 watts PEP output for SSB
George, you copy ? .... ..... "Sckrshikk kssshk"
I think George said yes.
First
CB operates by law 4 Watts AM 12 Watts SSB however there are many different types of CB amplifiers. Generally from 100 Watts to 3Kw+. Its against the law to use a CB radio amplifier yet thousands upon thousands of people use CB amllifiers. When atmospheric conditions are good you can talk all over the U.S. and often other countries. Typically you can expect a 3 to 20 mile range on AM CB and a 30 mile range on SSB.
Hi
Hi
CB radios opertate at 4 watts of power legally and most come at 4 watts and can be tuned higher illegally.
I don't think your wattage word were accurate. CB max allowable wattage is 4 watts. The handheld gxt1000 only puts out .5 watts on frs and only puts out 2.8 max on gmrs.