Midland MXT275 MicroMobile
- Thread starter Rescue6
- Start date
Anyone agree with this statement
GMRS while the audio quality will be better than CB, the range is limited due to obstructions in terrain and elevation differences between you and others. Out on the trails, all things being equal, your audio quality will be better, but you range will be reduce when compared to a CB radio.
http://ocd4wd.com/2020/02/17/radio-guide/
GMRS while the audio quality will be better than CB, the range is limited due to obstructions in terrain and elevation differences between you and others. Out on the trails, all things being equal, your audio quality will be better, but you range will be reduce when compared to a CB radio.
http://ocd4wd.com/2020/02/17/radio-guide/
I read somewhere, saying think of Cb radio as AM and GMRS/FRS as FM. AM-(Amplitude Modulation), will transmit farther, but sound is eh, FM (frequency modulation) wont go as far but will sound a lot better and come through clearer. I ended up buying a midlan mxt275 because 1. I only have CB, so its nice to have other form of comms if no else has CB, and 2. CB sound quality sucks even when im right behind said person in traffic.
Great minds think alike. Good to get some real life feedback. Good to hear from you too. I really wish we had more time when we were together in Moab. In our thinking we are soul mates.Same radios I have. They work great!
Maybe with a perfectly setup CB system, and an antenna that is 20 feet tall, perfectly tuned. In most of our CB setups on our jeeps, there is usually a compromise for antenna height, size, location, so I disagree with his statement for the common CB'er. I've found GMRS has much better range, clarity, and setup is very forgiving.
Not unless you're on flat terrain will the UHF GMRS signal have even a reasonable range when compared to the HF frequency of a CB signal. As above, UHF GMRS signals are strictly limited to "line of sight" where the terrain can and will block its signals. The lower the frequency the more it hugs the earth and can travel exceedingly long distances. The higher the frequency the more it travels solely in a straight line and the more easily it is blocked by obstructions. I spent years in the 2-way radio industry and have been building & using 2-way radios since the 60's. It's not opinion that UHF has a more limited range than HF does, it's a simple fact of physics.
What frequency band is used for world-wide communications with submarines? It is VLF (very low frequency) since the lower the frequency, the better the range.
This will help explain the differences between the HF signal from a CB and the UHF signal from GMRS.... https://www.barrettcommunications.c...etween-how-hf-and-vhf-uhf-radio-waves-travel/
can anyone explain simply why my CB sounds like shit, or is it just how the sound quality is in general on them
Straight from Midlands website.
9. BETTER SOUND QUALITY
Did you know GMRS frequencies have better sound quality than CB frequencies?Unlike CB, which operates in the 11 meter (27mhz) HF band using AM, GMRS operates in the UHF band (462-467 mhz) and is FM — equating to higher quality sounds with less static.
Makes sense, I use the uniden pro 510xl and it sounds crappy even when I adjust the squelch
I had the same radio and same crappy audio. That's why I finally decided to pull it out of the jeep and replace it with the HAM.
The difference in sound quality is simply AM vs. FM. CB uses AM modulation and most VHF/UHF radios use FM.
By the way ham is not an acronym for anything so it is usually just referred to as ham radio, not HAM radio. The term ham came from what stage actors and radio types used to be called due to their liking to talk in front of others so much, they were called hams back in the day.
By the way ham is not an acronym for anything so it is usually just referred to as ham radio, not HAM radio. The term ham came from what stage actors and radio types used to be called due to their liking to talk in front of others so much, they were called hams back in the day.
I'm kinda tired of all the talk, let's just wheel. 
In theory, perhaps. In the real world the audio quality is so much better with GMRS than with CB that any difference in range will likely go unnoticed.
In other words, CB may theoretically transmit farther but the audio quality is usually so scratchy and piss poor at those longer distances as to render CB almost useless for reliable distance communications.
GMRS is a better platform than CB in almost every way and is the platform of the future. The only reason to buy a CB these days is to be able to communicate with the old farts who still run them. Jeep Jamboree has abandoned mandatory CB in favor of GMRS and even Cal4Wheel, which used to list CB as mandatory safety equipment, is now promoting GMRS for its events.
I completely concur - however, I do have a question. In "practical terms", where does the balance between CB and GMRS lie in regards to power? Yes, the HF signal goes further all other things being equal, but GMRS allows one to use over 12X the power. I don't have the answer to this...
As for those asking why GMRS sounds better, as others have stated, its simply AM vs FM - but what doesn't help CB in the slightest are all the idiots running illegal linear amps, over modulating with "power mics" cranked to 11, stupid echo effects, using 3X their bandwidth because of said linears, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah... AM and CB *can* be pretty clear, but the idiot in SoCal on a 1KW linear shooting skip into Florida (or wherever) like I heard just this afternoon doesn't do anybody any favors. I used to love to listen and talk to the truckers on 19 - today on I-95 all I got was over amped fools from out of state, and not a peep from any of the trucks I was rolling with.
Zorba look up QRP power which is a ham interest in running very low amounts of power to communicate over very long distances on the HF band. Power is much less of an issue on the HF band than it is on the VHF and UHF bands. 