Very Basic Question

[scanman1958]

I have two Midland X-tra Talk GMRS/FRS radios. One 22ch purchased in 2007 and a 50ch GXT Series purchased some time after 2009.

I have noticed that charts i have seen for the basic 22 channel radios seem to be mixed. What I mean is some radios have different channel sequencing than others. And the 50ch radio I have is just all over the place with random frequencies.

So I wanted to verify the frequency list, in order (1 thru 22) for the 22ch radio. So I took one of my many scanners, put in close call mode. And keyed each channel all the way through. The first 7 channels are listed as FRS and ch 16-22 are FRS. Ch 8-15 are GMRS channels.

My most basic question (out of a few that I have) is ch15 on the radio, if numerically correct and in order, should be 467.725. However it transmits on 462.5375. 462.5375 is not listed as one of the 30 GMRS channels by the FCC nor is it one of the 22 FRS channels listed by the FCC.

Could this be a simple error in programming at the factory or do I have $5,000 collectors item? LOL

It seems like the radio manufacturers take any combination of frequencies they want and program them in any order they want, as it looks like they did on the 50ch radio.

Sorry this basic question was so long.
Thanks.

 

[RMason]

I have two Midland X-tra Talk GMRS/FRS radios. One 22ch purchased in 2007 and a 50ch GXT Series purchased some time after 2009.

I have noticed that charts i have seen for the basic 22 channel radios seem to be mixed. What I mean is some radios have different channel sequencing than others. And the 50ch radio I have is just all over the place with random frequencies.

So I wanted to verify the frequency list, in order (1 thru 22) for the 22ch radio. So I took one of my many scanners, put in close call mode. And keyed each channel all the way through. The first 7 channels are listed as FRS and ch 16-22 are FRS. Ch 8-15 are GMRS channels.

My most basic question (out of a few that I have) is ch15 on the radio, if numerically correct and in order, should be 467.725. However it transmits on 462.5375. 462.5375 is not listed as one of the 30 GMRS channels by the FCC nor is it one of the 22 FRS channels listed by the FCC.

Could this be a simple error in programming at the factory or do I have $5,000 collectors item? LOL

It seems like the radio manufacturers take any combination of frequencies they want and program them in any order they want, as it looks like they did on the 50ch radio.

Sorry this basic question was so long.
Thanks.

See if this FRS/GMRS Channel Chart helps:

FRS/GMRS combined channel chart - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[mmckenna]

My most basic question (out of a few that I have) is ch15 on the radio, if numerically correct and in order, should be 467.725. However it transmits on 462.5375. 462.5375 is not listed as one of the 30 GMRS channels by the FCC nor is it one of the 22 FRS channels listed by the FCC.

Could this be a simple error in programming at the factory or do I have $5,000 collectors item? LOL

Transmitting in close proximity to the scanner can result in overloading the receiver, and the close call function may not work correctly.

Best source of frequency to channel assignment would be to check with the Midland website and the specific manual for the radio you have. If you cannot locate it on that website, you may be able to find it by looking up the specific FCC ID for that radio using this site:

FCC ID Search

www.fcc.gov

You'll have to dig through the results from that search, but usually the original owners manual is part of the documentation.

It seems like the radio manufacturers take any combination of frequencies they want and program them in any order they want, as it looks like they did on the 50ch radio.

Many, many year ago, there really wasn't a standard for GMRS frequency to channel assignments. Different manufacturers arranged things differently.
The FCC did eventually post their take on the frequency to channel list, but it's not binding, so take it with a grain of salt.

As for the "50 channel" radios, it's still the same GMRS frequencies like your other radio. They just added additional channel slots where you could assign the existing GMRS channels with a specific PL/DPL squelch code and save it in one of the slots.

Actually, a good question and surprised it doesn't come up more often. When the "50 channel" radios came out, this came up frequently.

 

[scanman1958]

See if this FRS/GMRS Channel Chart helps:

FRS/GMRS combined channel chart - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

462.5375 is not on any of the current charts.

 

[scanman1958]

Transmitting in close proximity to the scanner can result in overloading the receiver, and the close call function may not work correctly.

Best source of frequency to channel assignment would be to check with the Midland website and the specific manual for the radio you have. If you cannot locate it on that website, you may be able to find it by looking up the specific FCC ID for that radio using this site:

FCC ID Search

www.fcc.gov

You'll have to dig through the results from that search, but usually the original owners manual is part of the documentation.



Many, many year ago, there really wasn't a standard for GMRS frequency to channel assignments. Different manufacturers arranged things differently.
The FCC did eventually post their take on the frequency to channel list, but it's not binding, so take it with a grain of salt.

As for the "50 channel" radios, it's still the same GMRS frequencies like your other radio. They just added additional channel slots where you could assign the existing GMRS channels with a specific PL/DPL squelch code and save it in one of the slots.

Actually, a good question and surprised it doesn't come up more often. When the "50 channel" radios came out, this came up frequently.

Thanks for thinking it was a good question. As a matter of fact the paper manual that came with both sets of radios has the exact same frequency chart. A combined 22ch list of GMRS/FRS frequencies. Probably a factory thing.

 

[ecps92]

462.5375 is not on any of the current charts.

462.5375 is not FRS or GMRS
462.5375 is part of the Industrial/Business Pool, which is why it is not in the RR Wiki Table under FRS/GMRS, nor should it be added

 

[scanman1958]

Then I guess it was an error by the manufacturer of the radio.

 

[mmckenna]

Then I guess it was an error by the manufacturer of the radio.

No. Like I said above, when transmitting in close proximity to a scanner, the scanner is going to false on the strong nearby signal. Your scanners close call function is not a calibrated frequency counter.

 

[ecps92]

Then I guess it was an error by the manufacturer of the radio.

FRS/GMRS begins at 462.5500

Which exact make/model used 462.5375 ??