GMRS: Midland offers new FRS radio targeted to women
Handheld radio sports a color long requested by outdoor enthusiasts
Summary of this article: This article discusses Midland's new T71PNK X-Talker, a pink version of their popular and rugged T71 Family Radio Service radio. The handheld, announced this morning, is designed to appeal to women engaged in outdoor activities. The pink-color FRS radio is compatible with General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) radios. The T71PNK comes in a two-pack with accessories.
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It’s been a long time coming, but Midland’s new Family Radio Service handheld caters to women who participate in outdoor recreation, agriculture, off-roading and active lifestyle activities.
Midland announced this morning that it now has available a pink-color version of their popular T71 FRS radio that is targeted to women who have a need for two-way radios for outdoors activities and other tasks. | Photo courtesy of Midland USA
This is significant for many two-way radio users. While the hobby radio field has long been dominated by men, women have been making inroads into the use of radios in daily activities, especially for outdoor use, work tasks and everyday family management.
Because most radios have been targeted at men over the years — yes, colors such as red, yellow and the inevitable black — Midland seems to have latched onto something in their announcement this morning of a new FRS radio that will appeal to most women.
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The new T71PNK X-Talker is a pink-color T71 FRS radio, a popular radio rich with features. The difference between this T71PNK radio and the standard T71 FRS radio is that it is pink to attract women to use the radio in their outside endeavors, family management, on their farms, in their work and wherever they may find themselves using FRS or GMRS radios.
Because FRS and the General Mobile Radio Service share frequencies for the most part, radios used for FRS and GMRS are interchangeable. The only difference is that FRS radios are restricted to 2 watts — but only a half-watt on Channels 8 through 14. GMRS radios typically offer 5 watts (except a half-watt on Channels 8 through 14, like FRS) for handhelds and up to 50 watts for base and mobile radios as well as repeaters. FRS radios can’t be programmed to use repeaters, although they can use the repeater output frequencies on 462 MHz. Thus, even though you may have GMRS radios that you use for your family, farm or group, you also can use FRS radios if 2 watts isn’t a problem for close-in operations. While GMRS requires an FCC license, FRS does not. FRS and GMRS users can talk to each other, but only GMRS users are required to say their FCC call sign every 15 minutes or at the end of each round of communications.
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We’re mentioning the differences between FRS and GMRS because this new pink Midland radio may be the right choice for one of the women in your life — or even yourself. Take note though that it’s not repeater-capable and it has lower power output. In some operations, it still may be perfect. Likewise, if you are a woman reading this article, this new pink FRS radio may be just what you are looking for so you don’t have to carry around a ho-hum dull black radio now.
“The T71PNK is more than just a new color option; it’s a product born from listening to our customers and communities,” Andrew Kinsman, director of category marketing at Midland, said in a news release issued this morning about the new radio. “We’ve created a radio that combines style with substance, ensuring women have reliable communication tools that match their active lifestyles while delivering the safety features and trusted performance that Midland is known for.”
The Midland T71PNK handheld FRS radio announced this morning sports a pink color targeted toward women who have the need for two-way radios in their work or play. | Photo courtesy of Midland USA
The T71PNK radio has the same rich feature set found in the standard T71 FRS radio. This includes:
Easy setup and use.
No license needed.
Voice actuated (VOX) hands-free capability
Extended battery life with rapid four-hour recharge.
Low-battery indicator.
NOAA weather radio broadcast alerts with the ability to scan for local channels.
While this video is about Midland’s standard T71 FRS radio, it shows the ruggedness of the new and similar pink T71PNK FRS radio. | Video courtesy of Midland USA
FRS radios also can communicate with GMRS mobile and base radios. For instance, in a farming operation, a GMRS mobile mounted in the cab of a combine also can communicate with FRS handheld radios that might be used by the driver of a grain truck while offloading crop. Likewise, a full-power GMRS radio in an off-road vehicle can communicate with team members using FRS handhelds.
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The new pink X-Talker radios come in a two-pack that includes belt clips, rechargeable battery packs, a desktop charger with AC power adapter and a micro-USB charging cable. If you put your radios to extreme tests, take note that the pink T71 handhelds come with a three-year warranty, too. You don’t see too many radios with an extended warranty like that right out of the box.
Suggested list price for the pink T71 radios is $80 for the pair with accessories. The item is expected to show up on Midland’s website today and you also probably will be able to find it on Midland’s Amazon page.
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