Midland X-tra Talk 20 Mile GMRS Radio - 2 Pack

Midland X-tra Talk 20 Mile GMRS Radio - 2 Pack
$14.99

+ $5 shipping

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New
Product:
1 Midland XT20 X-tra Talk 22 Channel 20 Mile GMRS Radio

Man just yesterday I was wondering what I would do if me and my buddy got separated by 20 miles.

Oh wait only 1…what I would do.

20 miles if you connect them with wires

So pointless with modern day cell phones and coverage.

What’s up with the FCC license it mentions, is it like a ham license? I don’t like paperwork.

Here come the wisps!

They work great on cruises!

you need to have a friend to use these right?

fun for the kids

Drat, wanted two (pairs) of these.

We use these on cruises, when we’re in foreign ports and our cellphones won’t work.

But 20 miles? Impossible. 1 mile is ok if it’s line of sight and no one else is on the channel.

A lot of you seem to be appauld that they would claim they work over 20 miles though that seems like a stretch these are not the cheap crap you get that claim to go 3 miles and don’t. They have a GRMS transmitter which is much more powerful than a regular consumer 2-way radio. Hence the need for an FCC broadcast license. However 20 miles is probably a stretch but 10 is probably likely. Assuming terrain doesn’t get in your way.

Also a note, use them without a license, and they will try to fine you.

Yeah, I missed out while I was researching the license, I use the cheap guys for road trips and whatnot and been thinking either wiring up CBs or stepping up the handhelds, maybe next time.

In the US, FRS and GMRS are radio services that share some channels. FRS can be used by anyone for voice communication for non-commercial purposes, but you are limited to half a watt. This is not very much power and will get you less than a mile under city conditions, and over a mile with line of sight. GMRS, on the other hand, requires a license. It requires no test and is $85. See Wikipedia(GMRS) for more info. This allows you up to five watts of power, will which will do much better over a few miles. The license applies to you and your entire family. The FCC is supposed to enforce these licenses, but they really don’t. There are many unlicensed operators using the GMRS channels and on high power.

These are not ham radios. An amateur radio license will cost you $15 to take the test, and the test is fairly easy to pass. There are three levels (Technician, General and Extra) and the Technician license generally takes 1 to 2 hours of studying, tops. The test itself is 35 multiple choice questions. An amateur radio license gives you much more available spectrum space. Amateur radio band space is allocated in chunks, rather than individual channels. Common land mobile voice use is done on 2 meters(144-148 Mhz) and 70 cm(420-450 Mhz) Only some of this space is used for voice simplex (radio to radio voice), but it still allows for over 300 channels! Compare that to the 22 channels of FRS/GMRS. In amateur radio, you are allowed to transmit up to 1500 Watts, although it is hard to find handhelds with power greater than 5 Watts. The higher power limits can really only be used in a base station installed in a building. Most of the US is also covered with repeaters, which take your weak 5 Watt signal, and retransmit it at much higher power. This allows you to easily cover many miles. For amateur radio, you and everyone you wish to talk to will need to be licensed, and the most basic radios run about $100. As a ham myself, I encourage everyone to get a license. Contact you local club for more info, or just search on arrl.org for a nearby test, study online, and go take the test.

These radios are GMRS(paragraph 1), not ham radios(paragraph 2).