Brand new out of the box mobile unit transmit great but terrible reception?

[WRUT710]

Hello all and thank you for your hopeful help in advance.

before blaming it on a damaged item brand new I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Equipment used:

New KG-xs20g hard wired directly to the battery and connected via midland mxta26.

Communicating with a KG 935G HT.

The xs20g has no problem transmitting the the handheld as expected. 

But I wasn't receiving anything outside of about 50 yards on it from the handheld.  The moment I turned the corner and became out of sight with the mobile The reception broke up from the handheld and I couldn't hear anything on the xs20g.  So I rationally thought wow the handheld is gutless and can't push through any houses, but then remembered that I have another handheld a kg 905g that has no problem transmitting and receiving well outside of this range.

So then I figured it must be the antenna.  I hooked up a SWR meter and was reading 1.02 SWR on Chanel Repeater 22 and 1.42 on Chanel 15 and nothing higher than that. All acceptable ranges.  I then tried hooking up one of my handhelds to the mxta26 just to make sure and it worked perfectly.  Good transmit and reception and WELL outside the range of reception that the xs20g was giving me.

I'm totally at a loss here.  the xs20g did transmit super far on the mxta26 (at least 3 miles simplex with heavy woods) but received worse than a walmart frs handheld with one measly house in the way?? 

additional info: no, I don't have any privacy codes on either radio when I was transmitting. Yes I was on high power for both. I also tried different antennas hooked up to the mobile including a j pole and ghost antenna. all gave the same terrible results for reception on the xs20g

Is there anything I'm missing before I send this thing back?

 

[WRWE456]

Hello and welcome!

I have read through your post a few times and thinking about what you describe it does sound like the radio may have a problem.

The KG-XS20G is the mobile version of the KG-935.

I have the KG-1000G plus as my base and the KG-935G Plus's for mobile's with 5db gain roof antennas and get excellent range in our rural area. 5-10 miles is no problem have reached 30 miles without much trouble. Wouxun makes good radios.

I would call "Buy Two Way Radios" and talk to them about it before sending it back. They actually helped design these for the American market.

Maybe someone else will chime in with an idea?

Good luck.

[WRYZ926]

I would contact the vendor that you bought your radio from. The XS20G should have good reception when is using a good properly tuned antenna.

Now I do have to ask. How and where is your MXTA26 antenna installed? Does the antenna have a good enough ground plain?

I run a KG-XS20G in my SxS with a Comet 2x4SR antenna on a mag mount. The antenna is on the metal rack on my SxS. I get great reception When talking to others on simplex and when talking on the repeater 21.5 miles away. 

Here is the Comet 2x4SR on the back of my SxS

[WRUT710]

Thanks for the reply. I have tried the mxta26 on top of my jeep roof on a mag mount. I have also tried it on a metal anchor point on the back bumper housing as well as a lip mount on my hood. Neither showed any improvement.

[SteveShannon]

10 hours ago, WRUT710 said:

Is there anything I'm missing before I send this thing back?

Not anything obvious.   You’ve ruled out everything except the receiver on the xs20g.

[WRYZ926]

I would definitely send the radio back then.

[WRXR360]

Since no other radios mentioned, was narrow band/wide band setting verified. I would assume the default is wide band, but one of the radios could have been inadvertently changed. Probably not the issue, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

[WRXR360]

and... is it possible the squelch is set too high. Again, probably not the problem, but it should be verified.

[WRYZ926]

I agree that it is worth checking the squelch and narrow/wide band setting on both radios before sending it back. I don't remember how the XS20G was setup from the factory since I always go in and set everything to wide band anyway.

[WRUT710]

4 hours ago, WRXR360 said:

Since no other radios mentioned, was narrow band/wide band setting verified. I would assume the default is wide band, but one of the radios could have been inadvertently changed. Probably not the issue, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

 

4 hours ago, WRXR360 said:

and... is it possible the squelch is set too high. Again, probably not the problem, but it should be verified.

Yes I failed to mention that in original post.  I tried turning squelch down each time even down to 1 and wasn't receiving any better.  Also tried narrow and wide band with no luck.  At this point I have written to the company to see if I can do an exchange. Thank you for all input, just wanted to make sure I covered all bases of attempts.

[WRWE456]

Good luck! Please let us know what they say.

[WRUT710]

On 2/10/2024 at 1:12 PM, WRWE456 said:

Good luck! Please let us know what they say.

Just received a call back about my XS20G.  They said it was indeed a faulty RX.  Of course it is Chinese new year apparently and they are out of stock, so I did the right thing and upgraded to a KG1000G :} Luckily they had that in stock even after everyone went into panic buy mode when the cell towers went down recently.  Thanks for everyone's help!

[WRWE456]

LOL! Good choice! Glad we could help. Thanks for the follow up.

[WRYZ926]

Thanks for the update. Too bad that you got a XS20G with issues. They are good little radios.

Most people are very happy with the KG-1000G, they are good radios. I have the KG-1000G in my shack and a KG-1000G Plus in my vehicle.