POOR RECEPTION WITH MIDLAND MXT275 /MXTA25

[WRTK920]

NEW TO GMRS MOBILE , I HAVE A NEW MIDLAND MXT275 ,UPGRADED ANTENNA TO MXTA25 MOUNTED ON A RUGGED RADIO COWL/FENDER MOUNT ON MY JEEP JL ,ABSOLUTELY ZERO IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION OVER  THE ORIGINAL MAGNETIC ANTENNA, WAY UNDER 2 MILES  .   UPGRADING AGAIN TO A MXTA26 6 GAIN , IF THIS DOESNT FIX IT I AM GETTING RID OF IT ,AM I EXPECTING TOO MUCH . EXPECTING AT LEAST A 10 MILE RANGE.   MY MOTOROLA HANDHELD FRS RECIEVES BETTER.AND IT GETS NOAA WEATHER STANDING BESIDE MY JEEP WHILE THE MIDLAND DOESNT.

[WRTE380]

Are you talking mobile to mobile or mobile to repeater?   Mobile to mobile is going to vary greatly depending on elevation between the two radios.   I can use my handheld to talk 35 miles to a repeater but can't get 3 miles to my mobile due to landscape.

My 50W mobile with the MXTA25 Ghost antenna could go 20 miles to repeaters when I was travelling thru flat IN, IL, WI country.  I switched to a Laird BB4505CNS and got another 10 miles further thru the same area.

Repeaters "generally" have antennas much higher in the air thus the greater distance.

I have mounted both mobile antennas on the side of my Jeep hood as well.

[WRTK920]

NO REPEATERS WITHIN 50 MILES ,SO MOBILE TO MOBILE OR MOBILE TO HANDHELD

[WRTK920]

MIDLAND SAYS NOT A GREAT PLACE TO MOUNT ANTENNA, ALTHOUGH MANY OF MY JEEP FRIENDS HAVE THEIRS MOUNTED THERE , AND THE MXTA GHOST ANTENNA NOT ANY BETTER THAN MAG ANTENNA , SO I ASKED 'WHY DO YOU SELL THEM ' NEVER GOT AN ANSWER.

[WRAM370]

Transmit and receive range are primarily determined by your local terrain. While there are some people who are fortunate enough to live in relatively flat terrain, others like myself, live in places where the terrain changes elevation by hundreds of feet within a mile or two of my location, and it is like that for miles in all directions. Even with a 10 foot tall base antenna on my repeater, mounted at 40’ above the ground, and a 40 watt transmitter,  I cannot get much more than 3-4 miles to a mobile due to the hills and valleys where I live, and walkie talkie range is less than a mile.

As an interesting aside, I switched to a 5’ tall antenna, and put that in my attic, some 15 feet lower, and it does as good or better than the taller antenna. I know why that is, but won’t bore you with the science behind that. I don’t know if it is flat where you live, but that could be a reason you are not getting the expected results. 

Another factor is the type and location of the antenna you use. Your vehicle’s body is part of the antenna system, and that mounting location will compromise your coverage area. Midland is correct in saying that your mounting location is not ideal, but your response to them is not really a reasonable response, and I am not surprised they did not respond. Midland is not responsible for how you install and use your radio and antenna. We all bear some responsibility for understanding what it is we are trying to do. Your Jeep is also not the ideal vehicle to mount an antenna, as it really needs a metal roof in order to add the other half of the antenna equation. But there are ways to deal with that if you are serious about getting the most out of your situation. You can search for vehicle bonding and antennas to get ideas. K0BG.com (that’s k zero B G) is a good place to look for info on that.

These are just parts of the physics behind radio, and no marketing campaign can change that. Midland has been very successful in convincing Jeep owners to buy GMRS radios, but the way Midland intends the Jeep owner to use a GMRS radio is very different from what you are trying to do. Midland is really catering to the off-road/overland crowd, who are traveling together, so range is not such an issue. Quite frankly, most Jeep owners could get away with cheap FRS walkie talkie radios when they are on the trail with their friends. Midland just convinced them they needed GMRS mobile radios, instead of the old CB radios they have used for years, because Midland needs to sell radios, and Midland is getting out away from CB radios.

If you are not getting the desired results from GMRS, you might look at CB radio instead. CB radio operates in the 27 mHz HF band, in which the radio signals are pretty big, and will literally bend over hills and dales, and give you better coverage. GMRS radio signals will hit the side of the hill and stop. I can literally talk farther on a 4watt AM/12 watt sideband CB radio, than I can on a 40 watt GMRS radio where I live, due to the physics behind radio technology. In fact, I can talk to a friend 25 miles away on CB radio, with a 1000’ hill between us, but can’t communicate at all on GMRS or VHF/UHF bands, even with 50 watts or more. And I have talked to him mobile to mobile on CB at 40 miles or more, which would be impossible for us to do on GMRS in this type of terrain.

I know I typed a lot here, but I am just trying to give you, and others that are new to GMRS, some reality. I am not trying to sell you a radio, or asking you to smash the Like button. I am only giving you some of what I have learned over 50 years of playing with radios. And in that 50 years, the physics behind radio hasn’t changed…and guess what, it never will.

 

[KAF6045]

Minor etiquette point for WRTK920: in most internet forums posting in ALL CAPITALS is considered to be SHOUTING. If you can, please undo your caps lock.

 

That said... Anything going simplex will be affected by terrain -- and foliage as part of that terrain. UHF frequencies (and the 800/900MHz stuff) tend to work short range, but the wavelength is capable of getting through doors and windows in urban settings, making it useful for on-site fire command. It doesn't do as well going through water filled leaves and trees. That can actually make low-power MURS HTs a preferred alternative to GMRS (especially if using HTs). Both still qualify for line-of-sight -- if you can see the intended recipient (telescope allowed <G>) you can usually reach them... with 1-5W of power!

UHF and VHF pass through the troposphere and ionosphere and out into space (ignoring the rare tropo-ducting, when VHF signals can get routed between Hawaii and California [as an example]).

11m CB is refracted by the ionosphere and, when conditions are right, bounce back down to earth hundreds of miles away.

[marcspaz]

So, the Rugged mount is trash.  It mounts the antenna in a bad spot.  I highly recommend this mount...

https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006551

 

Put the mount on the lip of the hood, at least 8 inches forward of the windshield / A-pillar. 

 

The MXTA26 is a excellent antenna.  However, terrain and RFI is going to dictate your range.  From a mountain top to a valley, you may get well over 100 miles, but in an area where there are hills between you and the other station, you may not get a mile. 

 

An example is, I live in a natural depression and between the terrain and the noise from all the other homes and I can't talk 2,300 feet.  If I leave my neighborhood, I can get 5 to 8 miles.  Up in the mountains, at about 4,400 feet, I can easily talk 160 miles to a station on another mountain top.

 

Install example from my 2016 JK.  I have the same setup on my 20 JL, too.

 

[H8SPVMT]

16 hours ago, WRTK920 said:

MIDLAND SAYS NOT A GREAT PLACE TO MOUNT ANTENNA, ALTHOUGH MANY OF MY JEEP FRIENDS HAVE THEIRS MOUNTED THERE , AND THE MXTA GHOST ANTENNA NOT ANY BETTER THAN MAG ANTENNA , SO I ASKED 'WHY DO YOU SELL THEM ' NEVER GOT AN ANSWER.

The ghost antenna works best in the woods and mountains where there are a lot of trees and folks are spread out some in a caravan (as I understand it). 

Your mount is similar to my magnetic mount location and I can achieve about a 15 mile range (MXT400) on a good day using the 6dB antenna. 

 

[gortex2]

No the ghost antenna is about as effective as a dummy load. Think of it as your portable radio antenna crammed into a pepper shaker. They were designed for transit and public safety with TLMR systems in mind (many repeaters covering large areas) and are used in public safety alot. But those systems are designed for it. I run 2 Laird/MSI ghost antenna's on my work truck. One in UHF and one in 800. On a good day we can get about a mile Car-Car on UHF but that's on the highway. Get in the city and its less. 

For trail riding in a group its a good antenna as your talking to the guy in front or behind. If there is a good repeater in the area it works well. To be honest a 1/4 wave will out perform the ghost/transit antenna all day long and be just as durable as the ghost. I run the 1/4 wave on both my Jeeps and have yet to damage one or have issues talkign to folks on the trail.