Influencer I
I have a MXT275 wired straight from the battery with hood mounted antenna. It has been working great for 3 years now.
Midland radio help
- Thread starter TygerFighter11B
- Start date
Contributor III
At the risk of sounding stupid, how do I get a ground plane with a magnetic mount if I move it to the roof? Does the mount itself achieve this or is it a non issue bc of the new height?
Enthusiast III
Not a stupid question. Mag mounts can still make some basic form of ground contact with the roof typically. Some come with a shiny thin metal material on the bottom, kind of like a sticker, designed to help make that contact. Definitely don't scratch paint off in the name of a mag mount, they'll typically perform well enough plus that extra height on the vehicle will help.
With antenna placement you have a factor called "shadowing", it's called many things, but that's a common term. Say your current antenna is on the hood near the passenger A pillar. Everything to the rear driver side without line of sight will see a decreased signal strength due to the vehicle being in the way. This is where roof is ideal, omnidirectional unobstructed path.
Enthusiast III
Also just got the pictures to finally load. Looks like you have an NMO mount there. That antenna isn't up real high and likely doesn't have much gain. I'd recommend moving to a taller and higher gain antenna if you can.
With antennas and comms, rule of 3s applies to power and dB. So let's say you have a 5 watt radio, if you have a 3dB gain antenna you have an effective power of 10 watts. If you add another 3 dB, it doubles to 20 watts. This logarithmic scale matters due to the propagation of the RF energy in all directions, so it takes more power to really see an increase.
The antenna linked below is a 6dB gain. That helps for received signals as well as your transmission.
Midland 6 dB Gain Antenna with Durable Spring Base and NMO Connection - Works with Midland MicroMobile MXT105, MXT115, MXT275, MXT400
With antennas and comms, rule of 3s applies to power and dB. So let's say you have a 5 watt radio, if you have a 3dB gain antenna you have an effective power of 10 watts. If you add another 3 dB, it doubles to 20 watts. This logarithmic scale matters due to the propagation of the RF energy in all directions, so it takes more power to really see an increase.
The antenna linked below is a 6dB gain. That helps for received signals as well as your transmission.
Midland 6 dB Gain Antenna with Durable Spring Base and NMO Connection - Works with Midland MicroMobile MXT105, MXT115, MXT275, MXT400
Contributor III
Tomorrow I’m gonna run the power cable to the battery and install a relay. I’ll check back in after that. Went ahead and ordered that antenna as well. Hopefully this combo sees an improvement. If not looks like a roof mounted magnet mount is the next stop.
Member III
Unless your vehicle isn't driven more than 1 or 2 times a week, I would skip the relay. Not only to simplify the wiring but make it so that you don't have to have a key in the vehicle to use the radio.
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Contributor III
Happy to report that running the power directly to the battery made a huge difference. I’m shocked this isn’t the recommended install from midland but I get it, plugging into the cig lighter is easy.
Enthusiast III
- 676
- First Name
- Scott
- Last Name
- Simpson
- Member #
29528
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KE5EO
I think some folks aren’t going with a permanent install so that makes a good temp solution. But noisy. Also if you want more power, direct is the way to go.
Enthusiast III
Awesome, glad to hear it! It was likely picking up any number of vehicle electronics along the way.
