Antenna question.

[WSHI752]

Alright, so I have a Retevis RA25 mounted in my Xterra. Right now I'm using an NMO mag mount MXT-A26 antenna. It works great for GMRS. I used to have the Nagoya UT-72G mag mount hooked up to a TD-H3. I seemed to be able to get a lot more reception on that set up, using both GMRS and HAM. With the UT-72G, I was able to get NOAA channel 5 in super clear, plus I think channels 4,3, and 1 a little bit. With the MXT-A26, I can only get NOAA channel 5, from the same spot.

I know the MXT-A26 is tuned specifically for GMRS. My question is, should I get the Comet 2x4SRNMO antenna? I would like to be able to just screw it into the NMO mount and not switch out the whole thing. I'm not HAM licensed yet, but I like to listen. And also I would like to have it in case of emergency. Plus I probably will eventually get my HAM license.

[Socalgmrs]

While I like the ut72 and think it would work well for most people the mxt26 is a big step up.  However the 2x4 is a much bigger step up.  It doubled our tx and made our rx much more clear.  Other then one old truck still running the 72 all our other trucks now run 2x4s.  Even with 20w radios if we can see it we can hit it out over 100miles simplex in the clear and we get all the available weather stations and murs comes in RX perfect as well.  

[WRYZ926]

Yes the Comet 2x4SR will be an improvement if you want multi band use. You are correct that you would not have to change the mag mount to go from the MXT-26 to the 2x4SR. All you have to do is swap them out on your mag mount.

I would run the 2x4SR on my Ford Escape all of the time if I didn't have height restrictions to deal with.

[WSHI752]

Thanks guys! Great help.

[WRTC928]

The only reason I don't run the 2x4 on my truck is that it doesn't like the very limited ground plane I get on the back of the bed. It works like a dream on the roof of my car, though. It's probably the most versatile multi-band antenna available. Mine even shows excellent SWRs in the 220 MHz band. A good SWR doesn't necessarily mean it will transmit well on that band -- the ability to transmit is dependent upon the electrical and physical characteristics of the radiating element -- but it does mean that if I try it, it's very unlikely to damage my radio. I likely will try it sometime just out of curiosity. 

[Jaay]

7 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

The only reason I don't run the 2x4 on my truck is that it doesn't like the very limited ground plane I get on the back of the bed. It works like a dream on the roof of my car, though. It's probably the most versatile multi-band antenna available. Mine even shows excellent SWRs in the 220 MHz band. A good SWR doesn't necessarily mean it will transmit well on that band -- the ability to transmit is dependent upon the electrical and physical characteristics of the radiating element -- but it does mean that if I try it, it's very unlikely to damage my radio. I likely will try it sometime just out of curiosity. 

Agreed. Strangely my Comet 2X4 also shows acceptable swr readings on 222 mhz.  20 mile simplex @30watts out and 30 miles to my closest 222 mhz. repeater @ 50 footup up with steel mending plates for a ground plane.  a usable signal was surprising. 

[tcp2525]

7 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

The only reason I don't run the 2x4 on my truck is that it doesn't like the very limited ground plane I get on the back of the bed. It works like a dream on the roof of my car, though. It's probably the most versatile multi-band antenna available. Mine even shows excellent SWRs in the 220 MHz band. A good SWR doesn't necessarily mean it will transmit well on that band -- the ability to transmit is dependent upon the electrical and physical characteristics of the radiating element -- but it does mean that if I try it, it's very unlikely to damage my radio. I likely will try it sometime just out of curiosity. 

You guys are lucky that you have 220 activity. I have four repeaters in my area that I can get into and they are totally devoid of any human life. What a great but wasted band.

[WRTC928]

46 minutes ago, Jaay said:

Agreed. Strangely my Comet 2X4 also shows acceptable swr readings on 222 mhz.  20 mile simplex @30watts out and 30 miles to my closest 222 mhz. repeater @ 50 footup up with steel mending plates for a ground plane.  a usable signal was surprising. 

Since it seems to have worked for you, I'll give it a try. It's the only antenna I have that has good readings on 2m, 70cm, GMRS, MURS, and 1.25m. It has good signal on 70cm, GMRS, and 2m; I've never keyed up on MURS since I had a pair of MURS radios about 12-15 years ago. It would be convenient if it worked on 1.25m, because my car has limited real estate for antennas. I could have one antenna that did it all. On the truck, I have 3 antenna mounts, so it's no problem to have one antenna for GMRS/2m/70cm and another one for 1.25m. 

[WRTC928]

25 minutes ago, tcp2525 said:

You guys are lucky that you have 220 activity. I have four repeaters in my area that I can get into and they are totally devoid of any human life. What a great but wasted band.

The one in Oklahoma City appears unused, but I'm trying to breathe some life back into it. The problem is that people ignore it because nobody uses it, but if everyone ignores it, there will never be any activity on it. I do know a guy who said he and his wife use it to stay in touch when they go to the state fair in the fall, so I guess it isn't completely devoid of life. I throw out my call sign every time I'm within range but haven't gotten a response yet. However, Tulsa has four 1.25m repeaters which get quite a bit of use, and I travel there fairly often, so I want to have that capability.

[WRYZ926]

There are few areas where the 1.25m/220 MHz band is pretty active,. But those areas seem few and far between. I can only find one 1.25m repeater here in Missouri and it is permanently linked to a 2m repeater. 

There are two reasons why the 1.25m band is not more popular. One is that there are only two 50 watt mobile radios available on the market and both are from China. All the tri and quad band radios with 1.25m are limited to 5 or 10 watts max. Wouxun has released their KG-XS20H that is 20 watts on 220 MHz but they are not in stock at this time. The flip side is that the big three aren't interested in making a 1.25m radio with more than 5-10 watts since no one really uses the band and North America is the only market for it. It's a vicious circle.

I have found that even expanded metal like what most hitch mounted luggage racks are made of makes a good ground plane for the 2x4SR.  I cut down one of these racks to fit the back of my SxS and have the 2x4SR on a Midland mag mount on the rack and it works well. I'm using a 20 watt radio on the SxS.