Midland's GMRS Repeaters Put to the Test on Baja Peninsula
Midland's GMRS repeater was put to the test along the Baja Peninsula.
Midland's partner, Nathan Stuart of Legends Overlanding, took us inside their Sea to Sea project.
The inspiration
Because Stuart travels through the Baja Peninsula with his Legends Overlanding tours, he knows firsthand just how important having reliable communication is.
“We have a large section in Baja, and there’s still more, that has no cell signal for hours in either direction and really limited radio communication," Stuart said.
This lack of service impacts the day-to-day lives of those living on the peninsula.
“The communities and small ranches in that area really live in the dark sometimes. Fishermen will go out for 2 weeks at a time and their wives have no idea where they are, what they’re doing, and if they’re ok. Over the years, I’ve just experienced being around that and seeing how much stress that puts on people."
At the end of the day, Stuart said the concern is the safety of those in this off-grid location.
“There’s just a lot of different situations. A cowboy falls off his horse and breaks his arm or a river road is closed because of a hurricane, there’s just no way to communicate.”
The goal
The team installed 4 MicroMobile® GMRS Repeater - MXR10 to remote locations on top of mountains in Central Baja with the goal of communicating ocean to ocean.
Stuart got the idea after Midland launched the GXT67 GMRS 5-Watt Walkie Talkie - GXT67 Pro.
“Since Midland has the repeaters and the new handhelds which were so easy to hand off to locals, we installed 4 repeaters across the peninsula that allow us to be able to talk across the Baja Peninsula and go 50 miles across the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific Ocean. That’s just the straight line. It covers a huge portion going north and south because of the way the repeaters ended up on the mountains."
Installing GMRS repeaters
This summer, the team took 10 days and 9 nights to move from West to East, installing the GMRS repeaters for increased two-way radio range.
They hiked up the mountains with pack mules, off-roading vehicles like 4x4 trips, and loaded up equipment into a small fishing boat to access these locations for the GMRS repeater installation.
“We were doing all this in June so the desert is getting up to 100 degrees by 9 am so several of the climbs we did at night. We would leave at 11:30 at night, hiking all through the night into the morning to get up to the top and get back down safely. One of the hills we had to summit, we used a horse to carry everything. Two of them we had to hike and the other, we used a truck. It just depended on the logistics to getting to each mountain.”
The mission and set up was so incredibly difficult that at one point Stuart was worried it wasn't going to work out.
“I even almost called it off at once. There was a point when I was worried about the heat and everyone’s safety.”
Inside the Installation
Get an inside look at the Sea2Sea project!
How it's working
Since the GMRS repeater installation in June of 2024, Stuart said the repeater system is working great, keeping everyone in the area connected via handhelds.
“There was a moment when we were leaving town so we were about 10 miles outside, driving home from all week there and over the radio, we’re just listening to the locals talking back and forth. One of the guys on the ranch saying, ‘I’m headed to town. Does anyone need gas?’ It was just very basic communication about basic needs happening over the repeater channel. That was pretty rad. It was great knowing they’re using it for basic day-to-day activities.”
Beyond the daily use, Stuart knows having this connection will make an impact at a larger level.
“It’s always there if somebody needs it. It was for the community.”
And for him, accomplishing this mission has been pretty special.
"It’s pretty cool that this area that doesn’t have electricity, has this level of communication.”
Using Midland's GXT67 Pro
Stuart was one of the first to get his hands on Midland's new, repeater-capable, 5-Watt walkie talkie.
"I like Midland because the products are simple and easy to use. I’m not a radio geek so I just need it to get the job done. The menu is really easy to go through and set up privacy codes which we do on all our trips.”
The first time he used the GXT67 Pro was on one of his Legends Overlanding trips. He was blown away by its durability and heavy-duty design.
"The first time I used it, we were out looking at whale sharks in the Sea of Cortez. I gave the GXT67 Pro to one of my customers on the paddle board. He fell off his paddleboard and lost the radio in the ocean. The next morning we were out there and found it underwater still. It was still on and working just fine!”
Stuart trusts that the GXT67 Pro will always bring impressive, reliable communication he can count on.
“They’re an impressive, well-built handheld radio.”
