Midland MXT115 (a couple questions)

[WRXZ797]

Hello all. I am very new to this forum and to GMRS as a whole. Acquired an Midland MXT115 and have it set up in my vehicle. I've been getting a range of about 1-1.5 miles in a suburban environment with the little 6.5" antenna that comes In the box. Could one of you guys give me some examples of another antenna that would work with this particular radio and how much improvement could I expect. The other question I have is in regards to how these radios do in temperature extreme environments. Where I live it gets very cold in the winter (-30F is at times possible) and also subject to pretty hot summer temps (around 100F max). How do these radios do in these environments and is there anything to protect them short of taking them out of the vehicle? 

[OffRoaderX]

Any "GMRS" antenna will work. I use the Midland MXTA26 on my Jeep - an antenna like the MXTA26 will work much better than your tiny antenna, but nobody can tell you exactly how much better.

Can't speak to the cold, but the radio will do fine in your summer temps as long as it has some air-flow around it.

[WRUU653]

I’ll second the Midland MXTA26. I have it on my Tacoma and I’m reaching repeaters that I did not before and I’m very pleased with it. 

[gortex2]

Even a standard quarter wave will work better than the packaged antenna. The antenna cable on that magmount is not the best. 

[WRXZ797]

I thought that the cable looked a little thin and cheap looking. Thanks all for the responses. 

[bd348]

That thin cable is just so they can fit it into a smaller box for the retail shelf.  It isn't doing Midland any favors otherwise, as it does cut the transmit and receive quite a bit through cable losses.

The antenna is fine, it's the cable which is the problem.  You could shorten the cable to the required length and add a connector, but the thin cable is hard to work with.  By the time you get the stripping and crimping tools, you may as well have just gotten a different antenna with a better cable.

I do use that antenna, but I cut the cable to one foot in length, enough to reach under the hood, and connected it to a better cable cut to about a 6 foot length to go the rest of the way into the cab to the radio.  It works great.  I did this because the little antenna has that little metal disc which sticks to the aluminum hood, and if not using it I can open the hood and tuck the antenna underneath the cowl.  Meanwhile, the little quarter wave antenna is in theory better off road on slopes or where the other party is at a different altitude.

And any antenna with a larger base would require a larger metal disc for the aluminum hood, and there isn't much straight and level metal near the edge of this hood.  So the antenna is actually in the field of view about six inches from the edge of the hood, but it doesn't stick up very high, so it isn't too obnoxious.

Midland might be able to sell these with eight feet of better cable, as a solution to get an antenna into a tight space.  But I bet the base isn't designed for thicker cable.