Midland MXT500 Overview and Setup

This is a newbie's perspective of operating the new Midland MXT500 50 watt GMRS radio. I'm definitely not an expert and new to GMRS, but I hope you find this video helpful in some way.
‪@MidlandUSA‬

[@andrewpaintball246]

Thanks so much for the video. You answered all my questions and i learned some new stuff i didnt know anything about.

[@greenkayak67]

Thank you. Learned quite a few things. I appreciate you taking the time to help others.

[@TigerNgtMare]

This is one of the best reviews I have watch concerning this radio. Great Job!

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

Thanks, I’m still loving it so far 😊

[@BingoBabyO]

Mine should be arriving today!

[@madmax9813]

great video tim, and thanks for your service!

[@walterfrazee8875]

Awesome video! Very educational. I just purchased the MXT 500 and have a 400 as well. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I'll be doing a setup video for the 400 similar to the 500 very soon.

[@walterfrazee8875]

Looking forward to viewing it.

[@travism6649]

Loved the review btw

[@abrahamwilliams4912]

Great Video, I'm also in Woodbridge, VA, have a Radioddity DB20-G and GM-30, you are very much on point, I can hit the Warrenton and Herndon reaperters along with Alex, and a few in the Maryland state also, keep up the good work.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

Thanks, if you hear WRKG355 out there give me a holler 😊

[@littledipper4722]

Great video..... thanks so much for the info

[@cam_o_style91]

Great video

[@N9HXV]

Very Good!

[@1uptospeed]

good review had to sub

[@DiverNeil22]

Very educational. I am new to GRMS. I just purchased the MXT 275 and have a Btech PRO. Still trying to learn from folks like you! Thanks for your knowledge.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I'm still pretty new myself, I'm glad you found the video helpful

[@donniedotson3318]

I finally found it.

[@aaronlawrence3127]

Great video! I’m in Woodbridge, but the only GMRS repeater I have found is the Alexandria one.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

If you go to my GMRS.com. It shows one in Fredericksburg

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

Also, check out the NOVA GMRS facebook page, that's a good source of info for this area.

[@travism6649]

Can you tell us about the construction of the radio? Is it built on a chip or (I don’t know how radios used to be built)? Thanks

[@nerfatron]

can you program in a custom RX outside of the gmrs frequecies? i know it will only TX on gmrs frequncies, but can i program it to listen only to say a ham frequency or a vhf frequency? will it listen to a VHF frequency?

[@RES-mw4sf]

Newbie here.... I have a Midland MTX500 and need some help correlating different terms. Which one in the input tone and which one is the output tone? CTCSS/DCS Decode= CTSS/DCS Encode=

[@robrobinson6706]

Newbie question.The Quick start pdf MXT500 says I also need GD virtualcomsdriver. I too dumb to get this done I guess. I cant find it by searching. Please ex[lain.

[@BrianJMader-sz7jw]

I think the Wouxun 1000G for the options & $ is a better buy, just my opinion, “I’m not hating.”

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I have heard quite a few good reviews of that, I'm sure you won't be disappointed with it. I want to check one out for myself one day.

[@ws56c62]

Thank you for the vid, Novice here, my question is, there are three of us that RV travel together and want to stay in touch via radio. We all three purchased the MXT500 but want a semi private channel. Can we use the blank channel’s 8-12 give or take a channel to program our own custom channel? or are those strictly repeater capable channel’s? Or, what would u suggest? Please keep in mind while on the road we never get separated more than 5 miles between us. Thank you.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

You've definitely got some radios that'll reach out there. Just pick one of the GMRS channels 15-22 and pick a privacy code to use. It's not like an encrypted channel or anything like that, but it'll keep you away from the casual users. You can program the additional channels to be repeater or simplex, but for what you're using it for it wouldn't change anything, just use simplex (regular channel, not repeater) w/ privacy code and have fun.

[@juanrozo5302]

Hello, Just purchase MXT500 and have trouble programming my radio. I'm getting this message. Model type is wrong, overwrite? PC is Mxt5a1, Radio is MXT500.

[@walterfrazee8875]

Great video! I just purchased the MXT500 and have a question. When I key the mic on high power I only have 5 bars display on the screen but when receiving a good signal the bars display clear across the screen. When the mic is keyed on low power it displayed 2 bars and 3 bars on med power. Is this normal on the MXT500?

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

On my radio I have 2 bars on low, 3 bars on Med. and 5 bars on Hi power. Great question, I had to go out to the truck to see :)

[@walterfrazee8875]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 Thanks so much for the quick response! Sounds like it is working ok. I was concerned. Thanks again.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

@@walterfrazee8875 Thanks! I appreciate that!

[@troyhill1267]

Thanks for the great video! But, I can't find the software to download into my PC! The file that I downloaded was MXT500_1.04. When I open it up, it does not have the repeater channels 23 through 30. Only 1 through 22. The frequencies and offset are already in and can't be changed. Is there different software, or what am I doing wrong?! Thanks again for the video. Troy

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I'll see if I can find it online for you

[@johnhartlove007]

Tim, Please let me know how you like your GMRS base antenna. I need to buy one and was holding off to hear how you like it. Thanks

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I love it, although I've never used another one to compare it to. I'm very happy with the reception even though it's mounted inside the attic. I'll do a video on that soon.

[@seanalexander9373]

I tried to use my midland 500 with regular walkie talkies and I could hear them but they couldn't hear me. Any idea why?

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

If the walkie talkies had a privacy code in them then you would be able to hear them and they wouldn't be able to hear you unless you had the same code programmed. That sounds a bit backward, but they're more like a filter than a privacy function.

[@seanalexander9373]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 you're awesome. Thanks for the quick reply!

[@radiohobbyist13]

Just to be sure that there is no misunderstanding here, your radio should be set for wideband unless you prefer to only communicate with FRS users. All of the repeaters are wideband.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

If any of my radios are wideband capable they are definitely set to wideband, the difference between wide and narrow is incredible

[@firedude103]

I'm located in south arlington and i think the closest repeater is in alexandria. have had my gmrs license for a year this march. have and use the gmrs v-1 ht. thinkng bout geting either the 50x1 or wouxon 1000g.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I've heard good things about the 1000G, but haven't tried it myself

[@firedude103]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 do u know the info for the Alexandria repeater? Checked mygmrs and they took it down cuz I don't see it listed anymore.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

@@firedude103 If you go on mygmrs.com and click on the maps then click on the gear icon in the top left corner, you can turn on show offline repeaters and show stale repeaters. You should be able to see it then, if not let me know.

[@BrianJMader-sz7jw]

I’ve got the Wouxun 1000G it’s pretty sweet.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

@@BrianJMader-sz7jw I've heard good things about it. I just haven't had the chance to check it out myself

[@ronaldsteiger7562]

How and what are u using to power it inside and what antenna do u have it hooked up to for using it as a home base ?? How do you have that set up please

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I appreciate that question and you've prompted me to make another video explaining my setup, but the short of it is I have a Tekpower TP30SWV 30 amp power supply with my MXT400 going to a Laird mobile antenna just sitting on a shelf for right now, I have a true base antenna coming next week. I also have an N9TAX roll up gmrs j-pole antenna that I hook up sometimes to get a bit better signal. The mobile antenna I currently have on it is a Laird BB4505CNS that is a no ground plane antenna, so it's fine on the shelf :)

[@ronaldsteiger7562]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 look forward to the video

[@donniedotson3318]

Hello Tim have you done anything on your GMRS channel yet.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

Working on another video tonight :)

[@donniedotson3318]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 Is your GMRS stuff going to be on this same page.

[@billp1619]

Hello Tim. I am a proud owner of a new MXT500. Need a bit of help with the repeater programming for I am very new to this GMRS radio world. Your video is helpful but I need a bit more understand of the programming of the frequencies.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I plan on recording some videos this week, I want to do one on how repeaters work and I'll cover programming frequencies for you. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@spikeramirezjr]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 did you ever make this video?

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

@@spikeramirezjr i havent yet, thanks for the reminder

[@dustinbible23]

So you have to have a computer to use a repeaters

[@MattMan362]

I’m pretty sure the mxt400 is narrow band only, where did hear that it was wide band capable ?

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

I downloaded the programming software for it and it gave me the choice of 12.5K or 25k. When I uploaded the program it seemed good to go. I need to figure out a way to confirm it though. I thought it was only narrow as well, but now I’m not sure.

[@MattMan362]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 I didn’t realize there was programing software available for the MXT400, what site did you find it on?

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

@@MattMan362 Here's a link to where I got it, it's a dropbox so I was a little hesitant to download it, but it's good to go and works great! www.dropbox.com/s/eibap1ve5nnl5ju/MXT400_Setup_1.05.exe?dl=0 Here is a link to the video I watched on programming the 400 kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYrNoWqGaJ5je6c

[@eskimobrambo]

Bro your wife is considered family she doesn't need her own license she can use the same call sign just fwi 😊😊 all your family can. That covers your family whether or not it covers your family under the same roof or all of your family I'm unsure but it definitely covers your wife.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

We were using my license for a while, but she was having so much fun I gave her her own as a Christmas gift and it was a good decision, she loves having her own.

[@dustinbible23]

Please let us know how to use repeaters

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

There are some good repeater explanation videos out there, notarubicon has a good one. I'll make one as well, sometimes explaining something just a little differently can help someone have that epiphany :)

[@ronaldsteiger7562]

Does it have a Roger beep ?

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

That's a good question and I'll do some more research before I answer definitively. It says silent operation and I'm not seeing a beep on my quick look, but I'll get back with a definite answer.

[@spikeramirezjr]

@@beingtimcampbell7208 the MXT500 does not but the model after this does

[@spikeramirezjr]

the MXT500 does not but the model after this does

[@michaelo5057]

I've been researching, but does anyone know positively if I can import this radio into Canada? And no I'm not going to entertain hate messages from sad hams. I'd like to buy one from the US into Canada for "research purposes lol".

[@StormsRadiosCats]

If you are married, only one of you need a license, gmrs license covers your family. You all use the same call sign.

[@beingtimcampbell7208]

We did that in the beginning, but she uses it so much that I decided to give her her own call sign for Christmas :)

[@chrislj2890]

You said your wife has her license too. Your GMRS license covers your whole family, no need to pay for individual licenses.

[@rickluchtenburg8166]

Would like to add headsets to this radio any idea on how and what i need? Thank you