New here but have read a lot of you all’s posts. Great advice, thank you.
I'm an older pseudo-retired guy and with this COVID thing still going I have a lot of free time on hand. I forgot, and my GMRS license expired so I had to get a new one, new call sign and everything. Had the original since the mid '90s. Living in hurricane alley it was the best option then and still is. Whenever you have to leave your house behind, it’s convoy time.
So, after doing that, and replacing the HT radios (from the 90's) I decided to get a mobile radio. I went with the midland MTX275 because of what I drive (see below). As most of you know it comes with a 1/4 wave 6-inch antenna, although I was surprised by the how thin the cable was, not like any coax I'd ever seen. As I found out, it's not a bad thing.
With lots of time on hand I decided to run some tests of the Midland antenna lineup. The test was limited by my application. I'm driving a leased 2019 Lincoln Nautilus Black Label. Look it up - NO holes allowed anywhere! It has a moon-roof, meaning I had to go magnetic and only have 14 inches of ground plane North/South, with the width of the roof for the sides. Mounted the radio under the driver's seat – remember, NO holes anywhere . I live on an island in Florida. Lots of homes, 5-story condos and such = lost of interference and no high spots except for bridges.
So, for the tests I bought the MXTA12 magnetic mount, the MXTA25 Ghost and the MXTA26 "6DB" antennas. The antenna that comes with the MXT275 comes pre-wired, so I needed Midland’s bigger NMO mount for the new antennas. The mount is three times as big, very secure, rubber booted, and with a real coax cable. Off I went to test…
I’m a business analyst by profession, which means that when I analyze stuff I always start with worst case. And that’s what I did here. The tests were done by driving away on the mobile and transmitting, starting from the front of the house and then every ¼ mile. The receiver, a lowly HT was set up outside in the worst possible location and just high enough off the ground as to mimic a sitting position. To record the test, I set the HT right in front of my iPad and set the iPad memo app to record. Each test took about 15 minutes.
The results? Reception on the HT in these worst of conditions, transmitting with the antenna included with the radio was all static at 3.5 miles and cut off completely at 3.75-miles. Had a lot of static at 2.5 miles when I drove by a 2-story small shopping center adjacent to a 4-story condo in the line of sight. I went over a 25-foot-tall bridge at 3.25 miles where the transmission was perfectly clear.
With the MTXA25 Ghost antenna installed, the difference in the results were measured in feet (not good). In the clear it is clearer, but it has a lot of static in the same places as the little 6-inch included antenna. It is possible that in a best-case scenario, the opposite of what I did, it will outshine the ¼ wave antenna. In my opinion it’s not worth the extra money for that cable and antenna combo. The difference is that small.
The MXTA26 ran away with the test. I believe it is a 5/8 wave antenna and it’s all of 32-inches tall and so I must stop when I get home and take it off to go in the garage (raining?). Not a reasonable thing for everyday use. I quit that test at 5-miles, it didn’t cut off like the other two, just unintelligible static. It outperformed the two other antennas both in clarity and distance by a mile. That’s a big number when trying to hit a HT in the worst conditions distance percentage wise.
I did other tests, 100-mile loops with all three antennas, that was a reception test, not a transmit one. The MXTA26 still won the day. The other two were about the same.
After this test, and for every-day use I just ordered a Laird ¼ wave antenna, the QWB450. Only reason I did that is to keep the MXTA12 magnetic mount so I can swap between the ¼ wave and the MXTA26 when needed. I have no use for the MTXA25 Ghost.
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jas
Hi all,
New here but have read a lot of you all’s posts. Great advice, thank you.
I'm an older pseudo-retired guy and with this COVID thing still going I have a lot of free time on hand. I forgot, and my GMRS license expired so I had to get a new one, new call sign and everything. Had the original since the mid '90s. Living in hurricane alley it was the best option then and still is. Whenever you have to leave your house behind, it’s convoy time.
So, after doing that, and replacing the HT radios (from the 90's) I decided to get a mobile radio. I went with the midland MTX275 because of what I drive (see below). As most of you know it comes with a 1/4 wave 6-inch antenna, although I was surprised by the how thin the cable was, not like any coax I'd ever seen. As I found out, it's not a bad thing.
With lots of time on hand I decided to run some tests of the Midland antenna lineup. The test was limited by my application. I'm driving a leased 2019 Lincoln Nautilus Black Label. Look it up - NO holes allowed anywhere! It has a moon-roof, meaning I had to go magnetic and only have 14 inches of ground plane North/South, with the width of the roof for the sides. Mounted the radio under the driver's seat – remember, NO holes anywhere . I live on an island in Florida. Lots of homes, 5-story condos and such = lost of interference and no high spots except for bridges.
So, for the tests I bought the MXTA12 magnetic mount, the MXTA25 Ghost and the MXTA26 "6DB" antennas. The antenna that comes with the MXT275 comes pre-wired, so I needed Midland’s bigger NMO mount for the new antennas. The mount is three times as big, very secure, rubber booted, and with a real coax cable. Off I went to test…
I’m a business analyst by profession, which means that when I analyze stuff I always start with worst case. And that’s what I did here. The tests were done by driving away on the mobile and transmitting, starting from the front of the house and then every ¼ mile. The receiver, a lowly HT was set up outside in the worst possible location and just high enough off the ground as to mimic a sitting position. To record the test, I set the HT right in front of my iPad and set the iPad memo app to record. Each test took about 15 minutes.
The results? Reception on the HT in these worst of conditions, transmitting with the antenna included with the radio was all static at 3.5 miles and cut off completely at 3.75-miles. Had a lot of static at 2.5 miles when I drove by a 2-story small shopping center adjacent to a 4-story condo in the line of sight. I went over a 25-foot-tall bridge at 3.25 miles where the transmission was perfectly clear.
With the MTXA25 Ghost antenna installed, the difference in the results were measured in feet (not good). In the clear it is clearer, but it has a lot of static in the same places as the little 6-inch included antenna. It is possible that in a best-case scenario, the opposite of what I did, it will outshine the ¼ wave antenna. In my opinion it’s not worth the extra money for that cable and antenna combo. The difference is that small.
The MXTA26 ran away with the test. I believe it is a 5/8 wave antenna and it’s all of 32-inches tall and so I must stop when I get home and take it off to go in the garage (raining?). Not a reasonable thing for everyday use. I quit that test at 5-miles, it didn’t cut off like the other two, just unintelligible static. It outperformed the two other antennas both in clarity and distance by a mile. That’s a big number when trying to hit a HT in the worst conditions distance percentage wise.
I did other tests, 100-mile loops with all three antennas, that was a reception test, not a transmit one. The MXTA26 still won the day. The other two were about the same.
After this test, and for every-day use I just ordered a Laird ¼ wave antenna, the QWB450. Only reason I did that is to keep the MXTA12 magnetic mount so I can swap between the ¼ wave and the MXTA26 when needed. I have no use for the MTXA25 Ghost.
Well, that’s it for me. Hope this was helpful.
All the best,
JAS
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