SargeDiesel

No apologies needed, you have been very helpful. It was my mistake, after I re-read ... I realized you mentioned that you "poked" through to the aluminum. I thought the bead was aluminum, so I was going to use the plates that came with the mount and have a great connection where I sanded, but I then realized that it wasn't aluminum. I have the 720 which is quite a bit smaller than yours, so to poke through the bead , I think I might need longer allen head screws. So it looks like you were able to punture through the seam pretty well to the aluminum for a good ground. I will give it another shot.

@marcspaz I have my antenna and my whole set up run like you. I went to put the Comet mount on the hood like you have yours and I noticed a bead that goes all the way around the hood, it looked like where the hood seams are welded together.... I sanded it thinking it was an aluminum weld, but its a brown colored hard substance, either a polymer type glue or bondo type material used to secure the hood seams together where the hood top folds over the underside.... You had mentioned, you sanded to the aluminum to make contact with the mount, did you see what I am talking about and sand through it or is something different on yours , if possible a couple close shots of the underside of your hood and how you sanded to make a ground would be helpful.

Thats about what I was considering doing, since the pre-assembled waterproof fuse holders are about that long anyway. A few connctions/splices seem unavoidable, so the real key will be getting good, tight crimp connections and clean soldiering. You definitely don't save any money making your own cable, but you most certainly will have one of superior quality. (Unless you buy in bulk and make several like you do). Ow that I am getting several accessories, I am most likely considering a 12v distribution box... like this (or making one myself): https://badgeglow.com/product/simpleaux/?connection-type=Pre-wired Crimp Pigtails

How did you go about adding the inline fuses to the wires ? I've seen 10g fuse holders, but you would have to add them in.. which would mean two more additional connections on each line (or atleast one if you put the ring terminas on one end for the battery).. I am not sure how else to go about it.

I will test it this way.... and hopefully I won't see a greater drop than the stated .5v.... if so, I will be making my own cable. You mentioned power pole connectors, is this for the radio lead to plug into the power cable.... seems this would require me to cut the harness/connectors coming out of the radio ?? Could you explain the purpose/benefit of the power poles ? Instead of just using the oem connection coming from the radio and at the end of the power cable in conjunction with inline fuses ?

Generous offer ! I'm in Alabama... but if/when I get your way, I will look you up ! I tested at the battery and the radio end and it was the same, I might need to move my meter over a click or two to see if there is a .5v loss.... I was thinking I needed to measure when keying the mic ? Other than using the needle point prongs and poking a hole in the wire, I wasn't sure how to do it.. or if I needed to.

Ok, so I ordered the Comet RS-720NMO and my replacement MXTA26. I checked my coax for any pinching, sharp bends or damage and it appears to be in good order. After it being said that the 14g power cord is to small a gauge, in short of building my own, what would be a proper way to test it to see if it is up to task ? Also, even though I believe it to be good condition, same question for the coax. Can any of the testing be done without buying expensive equipment that I will only use this once and most likely never use again ? I do have both analog/digital multimeters and the cheap SW-33+.

Not sure I understand. It is the same mount that @marcspaz is using in the pic above except he has the RS-730 which is just a little bigger/heavy duty. I wanted the same mount but the NMO version only comes with the coax and I already have it. So I'm looking at the Comet RS-720NMO. You are able to move the base (closest part to the lip) away from the hood and then adjust the plate(where the NMO attaches) back down to level it out. If this wont work, I think I'm missing something

This is the one I was lookind at since I already have the Midland low profile nmo mount/cable. Im just not sure about the fitment, But it looks like it will work. Look forward to your feedback. https://www.gigaparts.com/comet-antennas-rs-720nmo.html

Thank you I definitely read every word, and I appreciate others that are willing to share knowledge with those seeking it. I believe you have helped me out on the JT forum as well. I appreciate you. I'm not drilling holes either.... I will reach out once I finally find what I am looking for and get it finished . Thanks again.

Thanks for the great info and clarification.... I think I need to read it at least once... ha ha

The MTX575 uses a 14g power cable with two 10a fuses. Maybe I just need to make my own out of 12g (50w radio). I did have to add about two feet to the OEM power cable... I crimped and shrink tubed, but did not soldier....

Not sure what this means... but thank you for the information. You put it in terms that I understand. The current mount I am using is a side mount that uses the hood cowl bolt to ground to the vehicle. https://www.cooltechllc.com/2018-jeep-wrangler-jl/139-gladiatorwrangler-front-antenna-mount.html The lip mount I have, that I mentioned is a Midland MTXA27, https://midlandusa.com/collections/micromobile-mounting-systems/products/micromobile-mxta27-universal-lip-mount .. you could put it on the side of the hood, but then your antenna would be a giant "curb feeler"... ha ha So it seems I should search for a mount similar as yours ( side hood mount) and stick with the Midland MXTA26 Like I already had. Thanks again.

Unfortunately, the Gladiator with its multi battery system has an on-demand alternator and does not automatically produce the 13.8v like most other/old school vehicles do. The whole electrical/battery system is a PITA... So as demand is needed the alternators current rises, or on full battery, its stays at 12.8v or so.... a lot of JT owners have commented on the JT forum thinking they have an issue.... I freaked out the first time I watched my gauge while driving... 12.8 at acceleration, and then 13-14.2 while de-accelerating or coasting.... so It looks like in the Gladiator, I will have to be happy with the 35-40 watts I was getting , unless there is some sort of amplifier that justifies the additional watts vs. cost. ALSO Would you mind giving me you input on the different wavelengths.... of course , if you are using the MXTA26 , I'm sure it is good enough for me, but I don't understand the 1/4, 1/2, 5/8 function ..pro/cons.. Thank you... your favorite viewer.

@marcspaz I have my antenna cable ran the same as you, but I have my mount, mounted to the side hood cowl(plastic piece) it seems to be working well with the stainless steel mount and stainless mounting bolt. I am getting sub 1:5:1 SWR between the Midland ghost(MXTA35) and whip(MTXA26) antenna . I was curious about what antenna you and Randy @OffRoaderX have. I would like to know how he is getting the stated 20+ on simplex and almost 100 miles to a repeater ?? I recently broke my whip and I am looking to replace it. Someone mentioned the Larson NMO04450CHW , because of my mounting location and because it is a 1/2 wave and does not need a ground plane(GP). Some else mention my best performance would be from a 1/4 wave and even someone else said I should stick with the midland 5/8 wave... so I'm more than a little confused and I really do not understand the differences (pro/cons) of the different wavelengths. I have a lip mount, but it is a top hood style, so I would be willing to change mounts (to the side hood style) if it was absolutely necessary. I don't mind running the ghost for simple close trail situations, but I would really like to have a powerful whip for just in case. Lastly, Midland says my radio (MXT575) needs 13.8v to operate at peek wattage ( I watched Randy's youTube video testing it out, he was using a power source providing the 13.8v and he was getting 49+ volts into a dummy load. I noticed when testing mine in the Gladiator, while running , producing 12.8v (I still haven't figured out the IBS on our Gladiators and why at idle, I only was producing the 12.8v instead of 13.8v+) and the highest wattage I was able to obtain was around 38/39w using the whip and aout 35 using the ghost.... is this normal ? Thanks for any help !

Thanks, new to the forum and radio in general, still a lot to figure out, thanks for the tip.

Makes sense , in my situation do you think the 1/2 wave whip would work better ? (In easy newbie terms ... lol) Thanks for all of your help... new to this, most is starting to sink in... but some Im still grasping at.... hopefully it will come together.

I did get a significant increase in wattage when I switched antennas from the whip to the ghost.. approximately 10 watts or so. ButI also tried a completely different antenna ( the small 6 inch that came packaged with the MXT575) I placed it on a large pizza pan for the GP, if I remember correctly, it was in the 30 watt range, but nowhere near the advertised 50 watts. When I have seen theses tested on YouTube, they are constantly - 48/49 watts. I did test with the vehicle running. The meter is cheap one, but I believe is fine for GMRS. it is a Surecom-SW33 plus. Here are the specs: Max Power: 0.1 - 100W V.S.W.R.: 1.00*19.9 SWR Detection Sensitivity: 3W min. Frequency Range: 125MHz-525MHz In/Out Impedance: 50Ω Interface: SMA Female Accuracy: mean +/- 5%

I understand about the ground plane(GP), I just misunderstood the function of the nylon/plastic spacer you see in the center hole of most mounts. My issue is the design of the Jeep, the hood is Aluminum and non magnetic, no roof or trunk to speak of, so most owners use a lip mount or where I have placed it, on the side hood cowl... which doesn't provide an ideal GP. Because of the lack of a good solid adequate GP surface, would the 1/2 wave antennas work better for me ? When I switched from the 5/8 wave whip to the 5/8 Ghost(3.5"), I got much better test results, but at a sacrifice of fars and half the dB. (From my understanding the ghost doesn't need as good of a GP as the whip, but both are 5/8 - so I really don't understand why) I read the Larsen NMO0450CHW is a 1/2 wave and does not necessarily need a GP and I would get more fars over the 3.5" ghost and gain my dB back. Would this be a good choice for when I need more coverage over the shorter, less powerful ghost antenna ?

If the o-ring is only for weather/water, why is the center post of the cable isolated from the mount with the nylon/plastic insert in the center hole of the mount ? Just for fitment ? I thought it was so the cable didn't touch/ground on the mount.... but that wouldn't make any sense if the top mount screws down onto and touches the mount anyway... ???

Thank you for your detailed, simplified response. Your build is really nice and well thought out...nicely done sir ! I made some changes. I moved the antenna from the passenger side away from the am/fm antenna to the drivers side. I did mount it in the same location. I also I rerouted the antenna cable away from the power cable and wiring harness(I didnt have it zip-tied tight at all). The funny thing was , I got some increased wattage, but I also got a much higher SWR. Before the changes, my SWR was barely out of "safe" range @ 1:6:1 at high power. After the changes it varied between channels between 1:9:1 - 2:0:1. This initially led me to believe I needed to tune the "pre-tuned" antenna. I then switched out the whip antenna for a ghost antenna using the exact same setup, and achieved a large gain in wattage from the previous 25/27 to 35/37 watts and an almost perfect SWR reading throughout the channels. So I left it alone. So instead of tuning the Midland MXTA26, I am considering purchasing the Larsen NMO450CHW which is a " 1/2 wave collinear antenna, advertised not to need a ground plane. I think this might suit me better than the Midland since it is a 5/8 wave and the Jeep Gladiator is already antenna challenged in finding a good mounting location. I do have a question I haven't asked yet...... concerning the design of the NMO mount, I see in every setup, there is a nylon or plastic insert in the center hole of the mount where the brass threaded piece comes up from underneath into the center of the mount for the top plate to screw on.... I was thinking this was to isolate it from coming into contact with the mount..... IF THIS IS THE CASE, when you screw the top brass mounting plate down onto the mount, it has an O-RING on the underneath side, my ?? is, is the O-ring there to protect from weather ? Or is it there to keep the plate from coming into contact with the top of the mount when screwed down tight. (functioning similar to the nylon/plastic insert) ? Because if it is the later, and it is the keep the brass plate from grounding on the mount, this may be some of my troubles... I tend to over tighten everything and upon changing locations of the mount, I realized I had tightened it down so tight, I collapsed the o-ring and the brass antenna adapter most likely was in contact with the mount. I appreciate everyone's help !

I when I tested my power cable, I had the same voltage reading at the battery and the end plug (if this is what you are referring to) but I haven't tested it while actually keying the handset.... I would have to figure how to do that.... lol All of my hardware is from Midland ... maybe I have made a rookie mistake in assuming Midland products are high quality ??? Im really not sure how to go about testing "noisy cables"... so your advice to visit a local shop is probably a good idea.... the search is on.

Maybe my question should be: 1. How do I properly test a newly installed GMRS radio for SWR ? What channel(s) should I use ? 2. How would I test to insure my radio is capable of outputting the advertised 50 watts of power ? (Hopefully using my current equipment) 3. Is running the antenna cable and power cable together ok ? 4. Is having both the antenna cable and power cable zip tied to the wiring harness ok ? Will it interfere with any of the other vehicle electronics ? Thanks

Thank you for your response. When I was measuring, I had the radio connected to the meter and the meter connected to the antenna. The vehicle was turned off using only battery power. My concern was the radio was only putting out half its power, I just want to make sure it is capable of putting out full power, like all the others of the same model I have seen tested. Thanks again for your help.