How to return defective unit from Amazon

FRS / GMRS Radios
1

Hello,

I purchased this unit in September and have not been able to get it working in all that time and so decided I need to return it. The problem is that I ordered it from Amazon who then had it sent to me from another source. This source told me that they don’t accept returns after 30 days. I tried to talk with the manager but he hasn’t returned my call and from the way they talked I don’t think he will.

My question is, does anyone know what I can do ? I think it’s possible that one of the radios is defective, as no sound emits from it. But in all my trying to make it work, I don’t know if I inadvertently changed a setting. But four months of trying to use it has not yielded any positive results. I followed directions in the manual but it must be more complicated then I am able to figure out. My son in law also could not get it going.

The unit I am talking about is the Midland GXT1000 Series. Has anyone had to return one for defects?

Thank you for any help or suggestions,
San

2

I take it you did not buy the radio from us. :frowning:

The radio could be broken. It should still be under warrantee with Midland (they have great warrantees). They have a help page setup here:

http://www.midlandradio.com/Support/Help-Center

You probably should try to contact them directly though: 816-241-8500 or send them an email:

http://www.midlandradio.com/Contact-Us

You should at least hear a slight noise when it is turned on, or beeps when you change channels, etc… One simple thing to check, is to verify that the battery is installed and fully charged. It most likely is a defective radio though.

3

Jeff,

Sorry, I guess I didn’t :(. I purchased it last September and couldn’t tell you why I ordered it from amazon anymore.

I did contact the company after sending in my question and they were able to help me out. It wasn’t defective after all, we just had settings that were making it not work. Sometimes when you’re trying to learn how to use something you inadvertently push buttons that make things worse.

What seemed to be the first problem was that both units were set to VOX. After we turned that feature off and worked only with the PTT button we were fine. Another reason we couldn’t hear anything from the one set was, (embarassed to tell this) but we had the volume button turned all the way down :o Once we made these adjustments we were working.

One other thing , if you don’t mind my asking, is that when we have the radios turned on all the time which we want to do for unforseen occurances, we get interference from others talking on the same channel. We would never be able to sleep like that. Is there a way to work around it without turning the units off?

Appreciate your help,
San

4

Yes, there are two things you can do. The GXT1000 series is capable of 22 radio channels (NOT 50, which I’ll explain in a bit), and a large number of privacy codes, by using them you can ensure that only your party is heard on your radios.

Radio channels are different frequencies. The GXT1000 can use two ‘services’ (FCC-defined sets of frequencies)- FRS and GMRS. Use of GMRS channels requires a license, but FRS does not. On the GXT1000-
Ch 1-7 are shared (they exist both in FRS and GMRS, and can be used without a license)
Ch 8-14 are FRS-only (and thus restricted to Low transmit power)
Ch 15-22 are GMRS-only (and thus require a license)

I suggest sticking in the Ch 1-7 area.

Privacy codes (also known as PL tones, CTCSS tones, DCS codes, etc) don’t actually give you any privacy (they are NOT scramblers, other people will be able to hear your transmissions), but they DO let you screen out other peoples transmissions. When a privacy code is enabled, your radios will ignore transmissions from other groups- only radios set to the same channel AND the same privacy codes will be played.
Privacy codes let two groups use the same channel at the same time without hearing each other- they do NOT let two users transmit at the exact same time. So if a channel seems crowded, don’t be surprised if your transmissions get dropped, two transmissions on the same channel at the same time (regardless of privacy code) = nobody hears anybody.

Disclaimer- the following is from what I remember of Midland programming from working with the GXT740’s I got for a friend, and a quick browse thru the GXT1000 manual, it could be wrong.
The first thing you can do is change the channel. to do this, press Menu once (display should say cH) and use up/down to pick a channel, then Menu again to select and hit PTT (transmit) to get out of the menu. When you turn the radio off then on the new channel should stick. I suggest channels 2-7, depending on your area. Whichever one you pick, use it like this for a while (no privacy code) to make sure it’s relatively empty (for the reason stated above).

Next you want to put on a privacy code. Hit Menu twice, then up/down until CTCSS is blinking. Then hit Menu again and use up/down to pick a number between 1 and 38. Menu to select it, and PTT to get out of the menu. The display should now show both the channel (big number), the privacy code (little number), and CTCSS should be lit.

After you do this to both radios and confirm it works, you may want to hold down Call for 5 seconds (locks out the settings so you can’t accidentally change it)

As for the extra channels (23 thru 50)- the guys here have explained it great in their blog: See Here. Basically those ‘channels’ are just shortcuts to put in real channels and privacy codes. So “channel 23” is really just channel 1 with CTCSS code 38.

Hope that helps!

5

ChrisQXR,

Thank you so much for all this information and suggestions. I have not yet had a chance to try them so I’m sorry that I have been so tardy in replying,but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate all your help. I’m not inclined towards these things and am going to need someone to help me with them.

I will get back when I have carried out your advice and let you know how it turned out.

Thank you very much,
S.