Recieving only one direction

[WRJW518]

My antenna is Midland – MXTA26 MicroMobile® 6DB Gain Whip Antenna – Quadruple Signal Output – 32” Antenna at 20ft above house.

My brother antenna is UAYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (462-467 MHZ), 7.2dBi High Gain UHF GMRS Repeater Antenna also 20ft above house.

We are 30mile apart. I have midlan 15W transmitter and he can hear me just fine. 

He has 40 watt transmitter and I can kind of hear him.

I know my antenna is tuned to 1.5swr. I don't know his antenna condition. 

Is he picking me up just because his antenna is better or would you be more suspicious of his tuning?

[WRWE456]

Welcome!

There are SO many things that could be causing this. The more details you can provide the better chances of helping you.

Good luck!

[WRJW518]

Maybe a simpler way to state the problem is his antenna is 7dbGain and mine is 6db. Is the 1db difference enough such that his 40W signal is too weak for my 6db but my 15W is fine for his 7db antenna?

[OffRoaderX]

I dont think that 1db is going to make the difference, but it could be one of multiple weak links like cable length/quality, connectors, radio sensitivity, and any of 2-gazillion other variables.

 

[WRJW518]

Thanks OffRoaderX.  That is the info I was hoping for. I didn't want to focus on the antenna if that was an unlikely issue. Does SWR tunning only affect transmission, or does it affect reception as well?

[OffRoaderX]

2 hours ago, WRJW518 said:

Does SWR tunning only affect transmission, or does it affect reception as well?

It is my understanding (which is open to correction by others) that your SWR affects your transmission far greater than reception. But I am unclear if the correct word is affects or effects..

[gortex2]

Maybe I missed it but I dont see where you tell us what radio each are using ? A poor radio will not receive as well as a good radio. Also as said poor SWR on a 40 watt radio wont work better than good on a low power. 

 

[SteveShannon]

10 hours ago, WRJW518 said:

My antenna is Midland – MXTA26 MicroMobile® 6DB Gain Whip Antenna – Quadruple Signal Output – 32” Antenna at 20ft above house.

My brother antenna is UAYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (462-467 MHZ), 7.2dBi High Gain UHF GMRS Repeater Antenna also 20ft above house.

We are 30mile apart. I have midlan 15W transmitter and he can hear me just fine. 

He has 40 watt transmitter and I can kind of hear him.

I know my antenna is tuned to 1.5swr. I don't know his antenna condition. 

Is he picking me up just because his antenna is better or would you be more suspicious of his tuning?

I don’t know the exact cause, but here’s an experiment you can try:

Disconnect your radio from the coax at your house and disconnect his radio from the coax at his house and swap radios temporarily.

The object is to see whether the weak reception follows your radio or continues at your house.  If it follows your radio then you know it’s the radio.  Otherwise you know it’s something with the combination of the coax and antenna.

If it’s something with the antenna and coax, swap it temporarily.  See if the isssue follows the antenna.

By doing this one component at a time you should be able to figure out what the cause is.

You may find that it just happens to be your location.  RF is not guaranteed to be symmetrical.  Just because he hears you well is no guarantee that you can hear him well.

But you’ll find many posts on this forum that talk about how important a good receiver is and that the difference between 15 watts and 40 watts really doesn’t make much difference.  It might be as simple as the Midland having a less sensitive receiver.

[WRYZ926]

One thing I have not seen mentioned yet is what type of coax cable the OP or his brother is using. I also haven't seen what the length of coax each is using. 

Using a longer run of the wrong type of coax will definitely effect things.

 

[WRWE456]

Again the lack of details you provided just has everyone guessing.

[back4more70]

11 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

But I am unclear if the correct word is affects or effects..

F/X

[WRJW518]

I like the idea of swapping components one at a time. My radio is midland mxt115 15W. He also has same radio we tried at first. He could hear me fine, but I couldn't hear him. He swapped to 40W and I could kind of hear him. Don't know the make of 40W. 

I also realized my antenna Midland – MXTA26 MicroMobile® 6DB Gain Whip Antenna – Quadruple Signal Output – 32” Which is designed to go on a car. I am new to this and didn't realize the magnetic base antennas are using the car metal as a ground plane.  My antenna is mounted on top of a 30ft metal pole, so it is not the way the antenna was designed. Whereas my brothers antenna is a UAYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (462-467 MHZ), 7.2dBi High Gain UHF GMRS Repeater Antenna which is designed to be mounted on a pole and has a ground plane built into it. 

My coax is 45ft of RG8X. I will need to drive up and find out his configuration. 

[arn]

17 hours ago, WRJW518 said:

My antenna is Midland – MXTA26 MicroMobile® 6DB Gain Whip Antenna – Quadruple Signal Output – 32” Antenna at 20ft above house.

My brother antenna is UAYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (462-467 MHZ), 7.2dBi High Gain UHF GMRS Repeater Antenna also 20ft above house.

We are 30mile apart. I have midlan 15W transmitter and he can hear me just fine. 

He has 40 watt transmitter and I can kind of hear him.

I know my antenna is tuned to 1.5swr. I don't know his antenna condition. 

Is he picking me up just because his antenna is better or would you be more suspicious of his tuning?

Sorry if this is beating a dead horse, just wondering what the terrain is like in between your houses. I doubt it would be the issue considering he can hear you well but I guess it is possible if he is transmitting from a valley it could have some effect.

[SteveShannon]

4 minutes ago, arn said:

Sorry if this is beating a dead horse, just wondering what the terrain is like in between your houses. I doubt it would be the issue considering he can hear you well but I guess it is possible if he is transmitting from a valley it could have some effect.

That’s a good point.  A difference in elevation can also make a huge difference. 

[WRJW518]

Sshannon, The terrain is interesting. He is a few miles away from the mountains. I'm up against the mountains. The mountain is substantial. 3000 ft above my house and I'm on the bench.

So we are 30 miles apart. I"m 1500 ft higher. And we are broadcasting north & south along the mountain range, but not through it. 

[arn]

3 minutes ago, WRJW518 said:

Sshannon, The terrain is interesting. He is a few miles away from the mountains. I'm up against the mountains. The mountain is substantial. 3000 ft above my house and I'm on the bench, 

Is the ground between you and him reasonably flat? Any large buildings or things higher than your or his antenna?

[WRJW518]

About 10 miles away there is a hill that prevents direct line of sight. But like I said he hears me perfectly. I'm leaning towards my magnetic based antenna as posted earlier.

 

[gortex2]

Id get your antenna fixed first. At least get some sort of ground plane under the mag mount

[tweiss3]

RG8x may be a start of your problem. Assuming cable length of 50' (you mentioned the pole is 30'), that 4db loss in the cable vs 1.35db in same length LMR400. Add in the no ground plane on on a mag mount antenna, and you have a severely hampered receiver.

[WRJW518]

Ok, I got info on my brother's antenna cable. It doesn't have numbers on it but it is only 1/8 inch OD diameter and runs 100ft. I'm guessing since receiving doesn't take much power he can hear me, but when he goes to broadcast he is eating all his power up in the coax. Do you agree with that idea?  I'm going to have him bump up to the LMR400 suggested by tweiss3 unless you suggest something different.

He got the cable at radioshack. I guess he told the guy he needed 100ft coax for gmrs and that is what they gave him. My guess is the guy at Radioshack only recognized the word coax.

[arn]

Ok, I got info on my brother's antenna cable. It doesn't have numbers on it but it is only 1/8 inch OD diameter and runs 100ft. I'm guessing since receiving doesn't take much power he can hear me, but when he goes to broadcast he is eating all his power up in the coax. Do you agree with that idea?  I'm going to have him bump up to the LMR400 suggested by tweiss3 unless you suggest something different.

Safe to say that coax is not helping. Id say if possible do what @Sshannon said and switch yours out. If you can’t hear him well you know thats your issue.

[SteveShannon]

25 minutes ago, WRJW518 said:

It doesn't have numbers on it but it is only 1/8 inch OD diameter and runs 100ft.

That’s probably a loss of nearly 90%. 

[gortex2]

If he has a 100' run he really needs LMR400 or equivalent. Hopefully RS gave him 50 ohm cable and not 75 ohm Cable TV cable. What connectors are on it ? If it has a F connector and adapters its definitely 75 ohm. If it has PL259 its most likely RG58 which is ok for CB or HF but not much good for UHF. 

[WRJW518]

Even though I think the problem is on his end, I'm going to replace my antenna and go to the LMR400 for a 50ft run. What antenna do you suggest for gmrs? I'm looking at (AYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (462-467 MHZ), 7.2dBi High Gain UHF GMRS Repeater Antenna Signal Booster for BTECH Midland Retevis QYT GMRS Radios HT Scanner Motorola Repeater)  https://www.amazon.com/UAYESOK-Fiberglass-Antenna-Repeater-Motorola/dp/B0CF9DV3ZM/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_25/146-0695578-8370424?pd_rd_w=FBWAx&content-id=amzn1.sym.67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_p=67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_r=9DPYD2KNB8H9YJAMXRGS&pd_rd_wg=e3cVP&pd_rd_r=7a21f6a6-b3d9-4951-b510-185e6c2127f8&pd_rd_i=B0CF9DV3ZM&psc=1  Any other suggestion?

[WRJW518]

Or since these are base stations I know where he is located I could get a Yagi. (HYS YAGI Antenna High Gain 9dBi UHF 70cm Base Antenna UHF 400-470 MHz 5 Elements Antenna for Motorola Repeater Kenwood Baofeng 2-Way Radio)

 

Or (HYS UHF Base Antenna, 390-470Mhz 43.3inches Outdoor Variable Frequency Antenna for Icom Midland Yaesu Kenwood Mobile Radio Transceiver Repeater)

[Flameout]

3 minutes ago, WRJW518 said:

Even though I think the problem is on his end, I'm going to replace my antenna and go to the LMR400 for a 50ft run. What antenna do you suggest for gmrs? I'm looking at (AYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (462-467 MHZ), 7.2dBi High Gain UHF GMRS Repeater Antenna Signal Booster for BTECH Midland Retevis QYT GMRS Radios HT Scanner Motorola Repeater)

Can't go wrong with a Comet 712EFC. It actually works better than my much more expensive Commscope DB404