Midland GXT67 Pro

[WSFE332]

I’ve purchased 3 of these units to communicate with my family. Outdoors I’ve had no issues reaching a repeater 7.5 miles from my home.  Indoors it’s sketchy at best with static reception.  Any suggestions as to how to increase reception indoors with the handhelds?

[amaff]

By having an antenna outside. The problem isn't so much the handheld or its antenna. It's the house.
Standing at a window helps.
Standing outside helps more.

[Guest]

A better antenna would help.  7.5miles is very very close.  We reach repeaters over 40miles away inside our home with a 5w ht and a 771 antenna.  But maybe it’s just the cheapy radios. For the price of one midland I get 8-10 hand helds.   Heck I can even buy 2 professional motorolas.   

[WRYZ926]

Older homes with foil backed insulation, aluminum or steel siding and metal roofs can cause issues. All metal buildings are even worse. My brother built a metal building as his home and it acts like a giant faraday cage. He can't use his HT's inside the house even with the repeater being 5 miles or less from him. 70cm and GMRS are worse than 2m .

[amaff]

26 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

We reach repeaters over 40miles away inside our home...

not all homes are built the same.

[WSFE332]

48 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

Older homes with foil backed insulation, aluminum or steel siding and metal roofs can cause issues. All metal buildings are even worse. My brother built a metal building as his home and it acts lie a giant faraday cage. He can't use his HT's inside the house even with the repeater being 5 miles or less from him. 70cm and GMRS are worse than 2m .

Yeah, plaster construction in and out.  I was hoping I could add some sort of indoor boost to an outside antenna to help the handhelds when indoors.  They are solid outside, but limited as you move to the interior.

[WRYZ926]

23 minutes ago, amaff said:

not all homes are built the same.

This is very true. And the band/frequencies used will make a difference too. I can reach the local 2m repeater that is 21.5 miles away with a HT inside my house. Some brands of radios do better than others. My Icom and Wouxun HT's work the best. But I can totally forget about trying to get into the 70cm and GMRS repeaters from inside the house with a HT. This shows the difference between VHF and UHF. All three repeaters are on the same tower.

I can't even get into the 70cm repeater with a HT outside in my yard and getting into the GMRS repeater is very hit or miss.

1 minute ago, WSFE332 said:

Yeah, plaster construction in and out.  I was hoping I could add some sort of indoor boost to an outside antenna to help the handhelds when indoors.  They are solid outside, but limited as you move to the interior.

Ouch. The old lathe and plaster walls are going to give you all kinds of grief since most have chicken wire inside the plaster. Your best bet is to pick a spot inside to keep a HT at and run it to an outside antenna.

[WSFE332]

6 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

This is very true. And the band/frequencies used will make a difference too. I can reach the local 2m repeater that is 21.5 miles away with a HT inside my house. Some brands of radios do better than others. My Icom and Wouxun HT's work the best. But I can totally forget about trying to get into the 70cm and GMRS repeaters from inside the house with a HT. This shows the difference between VHF and UHF. All three repeaters are on the same tower.

I can't even get into the 70cm repeater with a HT outside in my yard and getting into the GMRS repeater is very hit or miss.

Ouch. The old lathe and plaster walls are going to give you all kinds of grief since most have chicken wire inside the plaster. Your best bet is to pick a spot inside to keep a HT at and run it to an outside antenna.

Yeah, I guess I’m going to have to just establish a base station inside and run it to an outside antenna for indoors.  The GXT67’s are sweet outside, but you can’t remove the antennas.

[WRYZ926]

There are plenty of good 20-25 watt mobile radios that will work just fine without breaking the bank. A good antenna and quality LMR400 or equivalent coax is important. I have had good luck with the Jet Flex400 coax from R & L Electronics and the DX Engineering 400Max coax.

[Hoppyjr]

The external antenna isn’t an option with that Midland handheld, as the antenna is non-removable.