BidenSucks

Finally mounted the plate. Baking sheet turned upside down clamped on edge in 4 locations to the aftermarket cargo basket with the ghost in the middle as shown in the image. Was able to talk about 15 miles simplex with very good signal on initial contact sitting in the driveway with only slight relative elevation. Also was able to use repeater successfully as well. I'm probably good for now. Thanks for all the help.

yup, understood...the search continues, but going to beef up my ground plane approach per above, at next step..

@wayoverthere yup, have seen this one also, raise portion suitable for the modification. Think Ill try adding my own ground plate to my roof cargo rack and see how it goes. will post results.

@Lscott thanks, understood, will keep that in mind. I am actually thinking of rigging up some plate inside the cargo backet (which has yet to be used) which has a wind defector on the front. Just trying to make sure I understand primary issue and verify decent performance across the board first.

@back4more70 Dont suppose your cable has the removal PL259 on it? that's what Im targeting. Also, as I have a roof rack, antenna height is not the limiter current as show by the image, but not concerned about that aspect either at this point in time (can always remove the antenna itself as well)

@wayoverthere Thanks, Ive seen this. The midland antenna I have now is basically the same configuration as that. The clamp/attachment approach is a bit different, but otherwise it has the removal PL259 and a hole in some steel hardware for mounting the NMO connector. If I could just somehow add/convert to a mag mount, that would be preferred, but I have yet to find a stand alone magnetic mount that takes a user supplied NMO/cable. Next best to that is to find an antenna with the removal PL259 (like you reference) but in a mag mount config. From what Ive seen, the mag mount and cables are generally integrated by the manufacturer. Seems like a no brainer as a potential product offering, but what do I know.

@Lscott I just added some aluminum sheet I had laying around to the base of an antenna via a single drilled hole and put the sheet between the mounting bracket and the large threaded fitting onto which the Antenna itself threads. Tested it out as there were a few people chatting on a repeater channel. Made contact, they were loud and clear, strong signal incoming, and they indicated I was ok, but a little scratchy. So apparently I have at least that repeater channel set up properly. Not pretty, but seems a step forward. Suggestions on next step to improve? Should I get an SWR meter ?

@Lscott The ghost is just what came with the unit. Open to any other antennas, dont care about profile, but they all seem to have fixed PL259 connectors (please correct me if Im wrong) which makes routing more difficult due to path size requirements. I think Im going to try to rig up a metal plate attachment for the roof to try to test out the current antenna. I have trouble believing there is so little apparent activity locally as Im Las Vegas, though when the local sunday evening net was in progress, there was clearly a lot of people active and the reception was crystal clear, so Im still a bit confused as to issue. I may try interrupting their meeting and get a radio check. Hopefully I have the proper programming config.

@WRKC935 I am brand new to GMRS so hopefully using the right nomenclature. I also 'feel' it is related to overall system TX/RX radiative performance limitations (as opposed to an electronics problem in the unit). Hence my questions related to moving over toward a magnetic mount as well as comments on ground plane. I only am targeting GMRS (at this point) and appreciate your comments on gain versus frequency, but will keep it in mind in case i want wider receive frequency/scanner capability. I've definitely questioned the grounding effectiveness via the rail bar, especially as those bars also have rubber feet between the rail and roof, nonconductive coating (as you mentioned) as thus the only potential electrical PHYSICAL contact to vehicle 'ground' would really be through the threaded bolts holding the rail to the vehicle. I tried to 'rub' the coating when clamping and generally clamped it with alot of compression as initial approach, but not sure on effectiveness and again, there is still the effectiveness question of the rail/frame contact via those associated rail bolts (as opposed to antenna mount clamp bolts). HOWEVER, I am also under the impression that the radiative ground plane does NOT need to by physically coupled to the antenna (nor to the vehicle). Magnetic mounts generally have insulating scratch protection layers, do they not? So this is a bit of a point of confusion for me. With regard to images: I currently have a (small) hole running into the side and then down through the rear rail hold (1974), and (1977) shows the rubber/plastic liner to the hold as well. And the cable access is readily accessible through the inside roof liner with minimal panel removal, but since the cable adapter for this antenna model has a detachable PL259 fitting at the radio end, I did NOT have to create a PL259 sized hole into the side of the rail hold (1974) and then through the roof (hidden now but within and below the cavity of the hold bracket (1977). I could simply detach the PL259 and snake the smaller coupling through and reattach the readily threaded PL259. My preference is probably for a magnetic NMO on the roof, though I have thought about those lip mounts as well for hood as I really dont like the idea of drilling holes in the roof. But the roof location point would seem both higher and farther away from biological perspective to the drive. Additionally, with regard to lip mount, depending on the location, this seems to be 'closer' in concept to my current rail mount from the perspective of ground plane overlap. So based upon this commentary, my questions would be? a) recommended NMO mag antenna with detachable PL259 at the radio end? b) other comments to correct/continue me on appropriate solution? thks, I tried to be both thorough and explicit, with images, as I thought this was probably a quite common issues, even if basic. PS: also, is the antenna not physically grounded via the coax anyway? PPS: Also, the tube for the rail cross beam slides into the rail end bracket, so even if the screws for the rail bracket made good electrical connection between bracket and roof/vehicle, the connection to the rail from the insert design is probably not very effective either (as in tapered tube inserted 'loosely' into another tube)

I recently picked up a supposedly, and apparently, new Midland MXT400VP3 package with the included bolt on NMO 3db Ghost Antenna mounted via the MXTA23 to the stock roof rack bars of a 1999 Suburban with the antenna just inside of the bars (as opposed to just outside) to allow for a bit more ground plane overlap and located towards the passenger side rear extreme. I also have this powered directly to battery (with inline fuse obviously). Initially, I returned this unit because the microphone jack would not stay engaged and kept popping out the unit, depending on the physical motion of the cord. I received a refund and then a few weeks later they just send me back the exact same unit for free (Hellifino). I tried to inquire as to why they sent it back and they simply had disappeared off eBay. So I took another stab at the hookup but do not seem to be hearing much activity in general and have yet to be able to get a successful radio check. However, I happened to turn it on one evening (when I first installed it and before I did any programming) when a local net was have a session and it was very clear that there was excellent reception from a wide range of participants. But I did not try to interrupt their meeting. But otherwise, I generally do not hear very much activity during scanning and all attempts for radio check have been unsuccessful. I do not have any other related radio equipment. Other than lousy TX/RX performance, the basic functions of the radio seem ok as far as I can tell. So my basic questions are: a) is my antenna mounting approach legitimate? b) is there anyone in the Northwest Las Vegas area who might be willing to try a radio check with me? c) do they make a magnetic mount adapter for which I could remove just the END of the MXTA23 cable and attach it to a magnetic mount but otherwise use the same cable (since it has a detachable fitting which allows me to snake the cable it through a SMALL hole) so that I can keep the current cable d) other suggestions to resolve the performance issue? thks