Midland MXT275 TX Issue

[WRKE629]

Hi all I have two Midland MXT275 (USB A Narrow band only) radios hardwired into a Jeep and a Bronco with Laird BB4502N 1/2 wave (no ground plane) antennas.   The Bronco antenna is mounted on the rear fender on a custom bracket and the Jeep antenna is attached to a swing gate mounted cargo basket.  Both setups have a SWR of 1.2 according to my cheepo meter.

My problem is that the TX from the Jeep is very quiet and the Bronco is somewhat quiet.  Both RX loud and clear when receiving from our Midland GMRS handhelds or other radios.  Recently we had to exclusively use the handhelds as the RX from a BTEC handheld in the group was "blow the speakers out" loud.  I have tried swapping antennas for the small Midland magnetic antenna that came with the radios attached to a 12"x12" sheetmetal ground plane with no noticeable difference.  

We've had the radios for 6+ years and have never gotten typical GMRS range from them.  At 0.75 to 1.0 mi on clear line of sight highway we start to get broken comms.

I'd like to make these work, as a really like the small form factor of the MXT275 and I do not think I need the range of a full 50W radio.  Next on my list is to pick up the newer USBC version of the MXT275 (wide band) bundled with the Midland MXTA26 antenna that others seem to be having great luck with, but before I spend another $$ on new radios that could have similar issue are there other things should I check/try?  

I am a mechanical engineer, meaning I know just enough to be dangerous.  I'm definitely not a radio expert, but generally techy response will be understood.  

Thx. 

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WRKE629 said:

Hi all I have two Midland MXT275 (USB A Narrow band only) radios hardwired into a Jeep and a Bronco with Laird BB4502N 1/2 wave (no ground plane) antennas.   The Bronco antenna is mounted on the rear fender on a custom bracket and the Jeep antenna is attached to a swing gate mounted cargo basket.  Both setups have a SWR of 1.2 according to my cheepo meter.

My problem is that the TX from the Jeep is very quiet and the Bronco is somewhat quiet.  Both RX loud and clear when receiving from our Midland GMRS handhelds or other radios.  Recently we had to exclusively use the handhelds as the RX from a BTEC handheld in the group was "blow the speakers out" loud.  I have tried swapping antennas for the small Midland magnetic antenna that came with the radios attached to a 12"x12" sheetmetal ground plane with no noticeable difference.  

We've had the radios for 6+ years and have never gotten typical GMRS range from them.  At 0.75 to 1.0 mi on clear line of sight highway we start to get broken comms.

I'd like to make these work, as a really like the small form factor of the MXT275 and I do not think I need the range of a full 50W radio.  Next on my list is to pick up the newer USBC version of the MXT275 (wide band) bundled with the Midland MXTA26 antenna that others seem to be having great luck with, but before I spend another $$ on new radios that could have similar issue are there other things should I check/try?  

I am a mechanical engineer, meaning I know just enough to be dangerous.  I'm definitely not a radio expert, but generally techy response will be understood.  

Thx. 

The fact is that they’re narrow band can make them sound quiet compared to wide band radios.  If you like the small form factor take a look at the Radioddity db20g, which is a small 20 watt transceiver that seeks for about $90 when it’s on-sale.  I have two of them.  The only con I have experienced is that they do suffer from a lack of different ways to program them and the factory software is lackluster.
Or, for twice as much money, Wouxun makes a nicer 20 watt radio, the KG-xs20g, that has more programming tools available. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-xs20g.html?matchtype=p&keyword=wouxun kg-xs20g&device=c&adposition=&network=g&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAC4SJ1gUs6OU0crXu5LdcxkR-lCkZ&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoae5BhCNARIsADVLzZes3rhPcQ8PZ3Hb10rhQC1HVihMz5dHDxQgilnrnDueC6YhO35xzCAaAqkMEALw_wcB
Some of my best friends are mechanical engineers!

[WRXB215]

@WRKE629 I don't have Midland radios myself because I keep seeing mixed reviews. You may want to consider a different brand with more consistently good reviews like Wouxun.

[amaff]

Sounds like pretty normal narrowband vs wideband operations, honestly.

If you're not up for changing to a radio that'll do wideband, next time you can ask your BTech friend to swap over to narrowband (since you can't switch to wide) and they'll play more nicely together.

[Hoppyjr]

Have you tried contact Midland customer service to see if there is a firmware update they can apply to your radio? That would be my first stop.

[dosw]

Your radio transmits and receives in "narrowband" on all channels except the repeater channels, for which it shifts to wideband. I've confirmed this behavior through listening and through observing the bandwidth deviation in a TinySA spectrum analyzer. This is how the radio is designed.

The net effect of this is that when you transmit to a radio in wideband mode you'll sound quieter. And when you receive from a radio in wideband mode, they will sound louder and possibly with more clipping distortion at the loud points.

In repeater mode it shifts to wideband.

I have heard that some people have asked Midland to reconfigure their radios for wideband only, though those discussions were a couple of years old, and even then, it seemed to differ by which support agent handled the query.

These are good, solid radios. They have nice sound quality, and are very simple to use. But this is one quirk of the radio; in an effort to make it simple they precluded an option for setting wideband or narrowband yourself.

[gortex2]

As said your radio is narrowband and some users are on wideband hence making the voice lower. I've used the 275 in all my off road vehicles since they hit the market. Folks on this site complain about midland non stop but they are the only GMRS only radio in the market. All others are CCR with different firmware in them for GMRs, Ham or other services. And lets face it 90% of the GMRS users are not on this forum and use it on the trails, woods and farms all day every day and dont have issues.

As suggested next time have yourr friend change to a narrowband only channel. Channels 1-7 shoudl be narrow band on all radios already and will work fine on your 275. The last JJ I was on we had 16 jeeps on our trail and 14 of them had midlands. 1 had a motorola T600 and the other user had a CCR. He was the only one who complained all day about communications. Not saying he was the issue but when majority of the users use the same gear and one or 2 dont it can casue issues. Day prior the channel given to us was a channel not in any mobiles. Most of the trail vehicles for that trail had mobiles so the trail guide found another channel. 

In the end its all how you need to use the radio. The MTX is an ideal radio for the Jeep or Bronco and trail ridiing. As for antenna and placements as you know on the Jeep they suck. Best placement is a hood lip mount with a decent antenna. I run a 1/4 wave on most of my jeeps and never had issues on the trails. I do have a "pepper" shaker on one of the jeeps but again never issues with the jeeps on the trail. If your looking to talk 50 miles then thats not the best option on the east coast. Roof is the best place for an antenna but fiberglass, or no top doesnt help. I di run a half wave in the summer on my roll bar as I dont run a top all summer. In winter its on a fender mount. Have no experience with the bronco but know alot of guys use a A pillar light mount with decent results.

I sue midland for the KISS method. I use my APX for my radio hobby. 

[WRUU653]

I’m with @Hoppyjr on this. I seem to recall they would change it to wide band for you if you sent it back to them. It could be worth contacting Midland customer service. 

[WRKE629]

Thanks all for the quick responses.  

Clarification to my original post.  

1.  The quiet/loud issue is worse when talking with widband radios, but it is still present when using our Midland handhelds (narrowband) to talk to the MXT275 and MXT275 to MXT275.  The Narrowband handled 5W Midlands come through the MXT275 narrowband much louder/clearer than the MXT275 to MXT275, so that leads me to think there is some other fundamental issue in my setup that is made worse when communicating with a wide band radio.  

2. The issue has been present since I initially installed the radios, we worked around by adding external speakers, which helps but is no longer practical as more powerful wide band radios have joined our little convoys.

I do plan to upgrade to wideband radios and appreciate the suggestions above, I will check them out, but I am hesitant to do that without understanding root cause of my current problem.  

Thx for all the input.

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, WRKE629 said:

Thanks all for the quick responses.  

Clarification to my original post.  

1.  The quiet/loud issue is worse when talking with widband radios, but it is still present when using our Midland handhelds (narrowband) to talk to the MXT275 and MXT275 to MXT275.  The Narrowband handled 5W Midlands come through the MXT275 narrowband much louder/clearer than the MXT275 to MXT275, so that leads me to think there is some other fundamental issue in my setup that is made worse when communicating with a wide band radio.  

2. The issue has been present since I initially installed the radios, we worked around by adding external speakers, which helps but is no longer practical as more powerful wide band radios have joined our little convoys.

I do plan to upgrade to wideband radios and appreciate the suggestions above, I will check them out, but I am hesitant to do that without understanding root cause of my current problem.  

Thx for all the input.

Is there an AGC setting on the MXT275?  Make sure it’s on.  I doubt there is one, but on my radios that have it, it’s miserable working a mix of near and far people without using AGC.

[dosw]

18 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Is there an AGC setting on the MXT275?  Make sure it’s on.  I doubt there is one, but on my radios that have it, it’s miserable working a mix of near and far people without using AGC.

The 275 doesn't have one. There's an upgraded mic you can buy for the 275 that provides "ANC" (Automatic noise cancellation), but it doesn't seem to provide AGC settings either: https://midlandusa.com/products/mxmc01-anc-microphone-for-mxt275-mxt575?variant=41996353929393

MXMC01

 

The reviews for this mic are quite good. But it's an expensive experiment, at $89, to find out if it actually improves the transmitting loudness. At half that price I would probably buy one to try out. I'd rather spend the $89 on a discone for my SDR.  

[dosw]

11 minutes ago, WRKE629 said:

Thanks all for the quick responses.  

Clarification to my original post.  

1.  The quiet/loud issue is worse when talking with widband radios, but it is still present when using our Midland handhelds (narrowband) to talk to the MXT275 and MXT275 to MXT275.  The Narrowband handled 5W Midlands come through the MXT275 narrowband much louder/clearer than the MXT275 to MXT275, so that leads me to think there is some other fundamental issue in my setup that is made worse when communicating with a wide band radio.  

2. The issue has been present since I initially installed the radios, we worked around by adding external speakers, which helps but is no longer practical as more powerful wide band radios have joined our little convoys.

I do plan to upgrade to wideband radios and appreciate the suggestions above, I will check them out, but I am hesitant to do that without understanding root cause of my current problem.  

Thx for all the input.

Wideband won't solve everything. When I transmit in wideband with my Retevis RA87, people sometimes tell me to speak up, that I'm coming through quietly. There's no gain control on that mic either. But you're certainly at a disadvantage right out of the gate if you have a narrowband radio transmitting to wideband radios.

[ULTRA2]

You might want to check if the repeater is using split tones that also may be your problem need to check with the owner if the repeater is programmed that way I have the original Midland MXT 400 which is narrowband I have no issue with Tx the only I need to open the squelch to receive  

[Socalgmrs]

Ummm some one is going to get upset at me but this is why I won’t touch a midland with a 10’ pole.  No one I know in the real world will either.  If you have had those radios for 6+ years and they just went out you got 5.5 years more than most people I know.  If no settings changed and the antenna, coax swap doesn’t work I’d say they went bad and you got many years of use out of them.  It’s just time to let them go.   Gmrs radios have come a looong way in 6 years. And there are many better options that cost less money. I’d for sure say take a  good look around before jumping into a midland again.  
 

flame away