Trail Comms - What and How? Hopefully a sticky!

Placement radiation patterns (ground plane):
A ground wire likely is useless.

 

For trail use, having it on the bedside towards the rear will work fine. Don't let charts and graphs worry you. It will work just fine with a good ground.

 

I’m running a

$165 MXT275 MicroMobile GMRS Radio - 15 watts Two-Way Radio with Integrated Control Microphone - Overland Caravanning Tractors - Detachable External Magnetic Mount Antenna - 8 Repeater Channels

MXT275. Outgoing traffic seems fine.

Incoming traffic is sometimes missed. My baofeng picks it everything when it’s in the cab, but not then 275.

I’m using the 6db long antenna, but I had the same issue with the factory stubby.

 

That's interesting...IF you've used 2 different antennas on the same magnetic base, it could be the base itself, or a loose connection, or a bad fitting, or a number of things. If the Baofeng picks it up but the Midland doesn't, well the signal is reaching you, but the Midland isn't getting it. Here's a silly question, What's the squelch set to? Lower it to 1 if it isn't.

Here's how on pages 21-22 http://midlandusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/MXT275-Owners-Manual.pdf

 

Different bases, different wires, too.

The rest of the settings are factory default.

 

Check the squelch, and please send pics of the antenna location/setup. If I could put hands on your setup things would be much more amenable, but as is, I'm at a loss. Same as your receive.

 

Okay. I’ll have to check the radio after work tomorrow.

Here’s the antenna:

 

If the underside of that throughole mount is coated, and you don't have a bare metal ground, you're screwed. Scrape, or dremel to bare metal on the underside of that mount, then try again. That goes for both antenna mounts. And being a swingout, you may want a ground wire from bare metal on it to bare metal on the frame. Then cover all connections with liquid electrical tape to protect against rust.

 

Oh. Yeah that’s not how it is now.

What about just running a dedicated ground wire between both mounts and then to the frame?

Will that suffice instead of grinding?

 

That Will help, but it's more about the ground plane. A braided strap would work better than wire.

 

So grind the underside of the metal bare for each radio, then connect one of them via a strap to the frame?

Like this?
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...-strap/60213/4529358/2014/toyota/tacoma?pos=0

 

Or this one is longer, but idk the hole dia.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...y-cable/b26g/5796061/2014/toyota/tacoma?pos=2

 

Yes for both.

 

Its worth pointing out that the outer shield of the coax cable should provide sufficient electrical ground. Assuming the chassis of your radio is well grounded

 

Via the 12v plug in the cab?

 

I run a dedicated ground wire from the metal chassis of the radio to some good clean metal in the truck.

Another asterisk being that in vehicles the chassis is almost always bonded to the negative side of the electrical system. So if you get right down to it and draw a simplified electrical diagram of the truck and radio, the ground strap (either at the antenna or the radio) would end up at the same place as the negative lead of the power cable.

So long story short, nothing matters, do what you want until it doesnt work, then start trouble shooting

 

Purchased a pre programmed

$19 baofeng UV-5R VHF/UHF dual band radio 144-148mhz 420-450mhz transceiver

baofeng UV-5R, what are some do’s and donts? Stepping into this not knowing anything about it. Just came across a really good deal and thought it would be good to have on the access roads.

 

Do get a license.
Don't transmit until you do.
Do go to https://repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none
and find a list of 2m and 70cm repeaters in your area and program them into your radio.

 

Ground plane antennas (which most mobile antennas are) need a ground plane at their base, connected to the shield of the coax, to work properly. The body of the vehicle is the largest and most convenient ground plane for mobile antennas. It has nothing to do with the negative terminal of the battery or the negative power lead of the radio. They just happen to also be connected to the chassis.

 

The negative terminal of the battery provides a form of ground to the Chassis of the vehicle. To say "it has nothing to do with the negative terminal of the battery" is false. In a vehicle, it's not just about having a ground plane. The ground plane comes from every metal part of the vehicle, i.e. body panels being bonded. That comes from the chassis being a single point of ground, coming together at the negative terminal of a battery source...there is no other "ground" in a vehicle.