Midland USA Discount Code 'RangerStation' For TRS Members

[Jim Oaks]

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Hey everyone,

Midland USA is a sponsor of this years TRS 2021 Fall Off-Road Round-Up and is offering a 15% discount at Midland Radio | Two Way Radios and Weather Radios (midlandusa.com) using discount code 'RangerStation'. The discount expires 1/1/2022 and excludes Biztalk.

Looking for a GMRS Radio, CB Radio, Weather Radio, Walkie Talkies, or other gear? Check them out.

Midland Radio | Two Way Radios and Weather Radios (midlandusa.com)

 

[Uncle Gump]

I feel like I need a permanently mounted GMRS in my truck like I need another hole in my head.

That said... I can see more uses for me with a pair of the hand held radios. I have zero experience with these so... would the hand held ones work good enough for the trail ride and the rather minimal use they would probably get?

 

[Curious Hound]

I feel like I need a permanently mounted GMRS in my truck like I need another hole in my head.

That said... I can see more uses for me with a pair of the hand held radios. I have zero experience with these so... would the hand held ones work good enough for the trail ride and the rather minimal use they would probably get?

Sure they would. A lot of people use the handheld units.

I installed a GMRS radio in my Ranger for last year's ride and it worked well. At the Overland Challenge last month, they handed me a cheap Baofung (probably spelled wrong) handheld. The battery lasted me for 2 days of light use throughout the event. Very handy to have. I also used my truck radio to communicate with a few others when we went for a trail ride one afternoon. They were using the Baofungs. Only thing is, what their radios called channel 7 turned out to be 22 on mine.

With that said, I used the discount this evening and ordered a pair of Midland handheld units that I can share when on a ride with people who don't have any. Jim shared his handheld units at the trailride last year.

 

[Uncle Gump]

The 15% off seems like a pretty good deal to boot.

Which ones did you choose?

There might be a set of these in my future too.

 

[Curious Hound]

Which ones did you choose?

X-TALKER Extreme Dual Pack T77VP5
Item# T77VP5

The 15% discount covered tax and shipping with $1 to spare. Got that set because of all the stuff that came with them including the car charger and micro USB charging capability.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I have a set of Midland walkies as well as the mobile. Last year I gave one to @snoranger along with a carrying case in case he needed to communicate with the rest of us.

 

[Snoranger]

As Jim said, I had one of the portables. It worked good, but we weren’t very far from each other anyway. So I don’t know what kind of distance it would get. I did have an issue hearing it... but you can blame that on the open cockpit SxS with the loudest exhaust available for it, not the radio.

 

[sgtsandman]

One might want to consider getting a magnet mount antenna for the hand held radios. That will get the antenna out of the cab and eliminate the shielding the cab will present.

Most GMRS radios offer a way to remove the antenna so you can do that or install a bigger antenna. FRS radios, while they share some of the GMRS frequencies aren’t as powerful and usually the antennas are fixed.

 

[Roert42]

I don't really have any experience with GMRS, however I have a Midland hand held radio.
I use it to give to other people than don't have one installed, if we are doing a trip Or just for general test purposes. It has a better range then a poorly setup hard wired radio, even with the short antenna.

Plus you don't have to worry about interference from the other electrical stuff in your truck, ie fuel pump, washer pump, spark plugs ect. Saves a lot of work if you don't plan on using it all the time.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

A nice thing I like about the GMRS is I can have one mounted in my Ranger and then have a $30 handheld for somebody tagging along either on foot or in another vehicle. If we really need range we have the one in the Ranger, asking for a pittstop or warning about something on the trail super duper range shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I bought the GMRS mobile and portable so I can communicate with my passenger / spotter when they're out of the truck.

 

[ford4wd08]

I bought the GMRS mobile and portable so I can communicate with my passenger / spotter when they're out of the truck.

Question on this, does this mean that your spotter has to be a family member or have their own FCC license?

I'm just curious how strict that wording is to be applied in the regs. If I have a license and I loan a mobile unit to my buddy while we hunt, ride, etc, does that violate any laws as long as I get my unit back?

I don't think anyone would bother you as long as you aren't doing anything stupid, but I am curious.

I could see one coming in handy out in the mountains and areas where there is zero cell service.

 

[Curious Hound]

Question on this, does this mean that your spotter has to be a family member or have their own FCC license?

I'm just curious how strict that wording is to be applied in the regs. If I have a license and I loan a mobile unit to my buddy while we hunt, ride, etc, does that violate any laws as long as I get my unit back?

I don't think anyone would bother you as long as you aren't doing anything stupid, but I am curious.

I could see one coming in handy out in the mountains and areas where there is zero cell service.

Nobody is really ever going to check it. It's not like you're going to be out on the trail and accidentally run up on a FCC warden out checking licenses. Use it responsibly. No cussing or swearing. Don't use them for illegal activities. If you hear somebody on your channel using it for real emergency stuff like SAR or a medical emergency,, Don't interfere. Let them have priority. The problem would be if you are misusing the radios and somebody reports you. But I imagine that is rare.

 

[ford4wd08]

Nobody is really ever going to check it. It's not like you're going to be out on the trail and accidentally run up on a FCC warden out checking licenses. Use it responsibly. No cussing or swearing. Don't use them for illegal activities. If you hear somebody on your channel using it for real emergency stuff like SAR or a medical emergency,, Don't interfere. Let them have priority. The problem would be if you are misusing the radios and somebody reports you. But I imagine that is rare.

Makes sense, thanks.

 

[Snoranger]

I got my MXT115AGVP3 yesterday and started looking into a GMRS license. It looks like the fee is supposed to drop from $70 down to $35 (good for 10 years) sometime this year.