You Have The WRONG Antenna - GMRS Radio Antenna Basics & 1st Look Midland Bull Bar Antennas

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Do You Have The Right Radio Antenna? I DIDN'T - GMRS Comms for Beginners - Midland Bull Bar Antenna.
Off-Road Radios were never something I spent a whole lot of time researching when I first got into Overloading. I would just buy a powerful radio and a High dB boost antenna and figured I was good... Well it turns out that isn't really what is right for my situation. In todays video we go over the difference between high boost and lower decibel boost antennas and talk about what one is right for you. We also cover Midlands new lineup of Heavy Duty Bull Bar antennas in case you are like me and have broke a few GMRS antennas on the trail.

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#overland #offroad #GMRSantenna

[ssrrocks]

Yes the antenna matters, however, the placement of that antenna matters just as much. Installing the antenna on a front or rear bumper will cause you to have less signal to the front or rear of m your vehicle depending on where it is placed. RF signal has a tendency to want to follow the metal of the vehicle. So placing the antenna on the rear bumper will in effect give you better gain to the front of the vehicle versus the rear. This is why Installing the antenna as close to the middle of the roof of the vehicle gives your the best performance over all.

[dylantaylor]

As an Aussie, it’s super interesting to see how the US does radio comms for 4wding/overlanding.

We only get 5w radios and have a lot of country to cover but there are a few other key differences.

Appreciate the recognition of our industry trends😊.

[BionMTG]

to combat the rust concern. you can make a short wire on a large eye loop and run a grounding strap with the coax, and ground it to the chassis in the engine bay. It's a really clean look and common grounds the entire system, being that the power for the system, and the coax usually run through the same firewall punch.

[trentdavis]

This is so funny because when I first got into GMRS a few years ago I was looking everywhere for the bulbar antennas and I mean literally everywhere on the internet and could not find any but here they are now lol

[dennisjones]

If you go offroad more thatn once a year, you must have a closed coil antenna, any open coil antenna can suffer from deturning by any foreign material, including ice. Mount on the highest point possible preferably on the roof with 6 inches of metal around the antenna. A 1/4 wave antenna has a higher agle of radiation, which is better in mountainous or city comms. the higher gain antennas have a lower angle of radiation which is good on flatter terrain. Those that are more techy can have a antenna switch and use both depending on terrain and allows continued use when the inevitable breakage of an antenna occurs. Also, install ground straps on any item sucha as hoods, doors, hatches to ensure ground to the frame for noise reduction. Hope this helps as well.
73's N7TZQ
WRQT522

[Brood_Master]

Good video...
One thing you didn't mention and perhaps don't know about is the importance of tuning the antenna to have as low of an SWR as you can. SWR means...
Standing Wave Ratio.
This is the ratio of outdoing signal to incoming signal at your transmitter while transmitting.
You want this number to be as low as possible both to protect your transmitter from overheating and give you as much outdoing power into the air as you can get for best performance...
This is accomplished by adjusting the length of the antenna for the frequencies you will be using in conjunction with an SWR meter.
Many will say... The antennas you buy are already tuned, and they'll be right, kinda-sporta....
Except the antennas are typically tuned with a perfect, flat ground plane under the antenna and no obstructions.
Any change to that perfect environment changes the SWR...
Sometimes significantly...
For example, that bumper mounted antenna you show in this video versus a roof mount where you have a large unobstructed area around the antenna...
I have spent years using GMRS, CB, and ham radio with a specific focus on antennas, both mobil and stationary, and have found this to be true. Getting this right will make the most of the equipment you have and ensure the equipment lasts longer as well...

[OnTheRoadInMaine]

You are correct when it comes to antennas and your terrain. I used to live in Connecticut and had used UHF on a job I worked. The vehicles we had used a combo of 5/8 wave antennas and 1/4 wave antennas. I observed that 5/8 wave antennas did much better, especially as far as receive was concerned. Many years later I now live in Maine. I got into GMRS and decided that I was going to go out and buy a 5/8 wave because those were the best antennas. WRONG! Where I live has many mountains and hills which make UHF sometimes impossible in some areas. I couldn't figure out why a 5/8 wave antenna wasn't working. So, fed up with it, I took it off and slapped a 1/4 wave antenna on the vehicle and all of a sudden I was receiving so much more and at farther distances. It was explained to me that it has to do with the angle of radiation that the antennas put off. Evidently 1/4 wave antennas have a higher angle of radiation that is needed when trying to reach higher points such as when you live around mountains and hills. So, yep, I made the same mistake.

[fyrap]

To the point of grounding and rust: When mounting the antenna it is best practice to run a ground strap. The part of the mount that bolts to the frame/body/bumper it is usually secured with a nut. Run a ground strap/lead from the nut/mount to the nearest body ground.
For all situations you should use a contact grease or a dielectric grease. Contact grease can be used between electrical contacts, dielectric grease is used on contacts (as a coating). Moly grease can also be used in lieu of dielectric.

[jt_overland]

I have learned some of the same things over the last year and have made similar mistakes. Although, in both of our defenses, Midland and others have not done a very good job, till recently, with providing helpful information on what antenna to use or other basic best practice information. Buying a GMRS radio is the easy part. The rest of it is a darkly held secret that makes it difficult to get off on a good foot.
My partner and I lead groups through remote areas of Michigans Upper Peninsula and good radio communication is extremely important. It’s been a game of trail and error over the last year fine tuning our radios for the type of terrain we encounter.
This video was excellent and will hopefully help others skip the expense of incorrect equipment and frustrations.

[garretlewis]

I run Midland radios for my GMRS comms. They make good radios at a really decent price. I am running the the MTXA25 on a bracket I made for my ditch light mounts. I know not the best place because it is beside my one light, but it works well. Glad to see Midland has an amplified speaker. The volume level on my Midland GMRS radio doesn’t go very high.

[jimduke]

Bumper mounting is not very effective. A 1/4 wave antenna in middle of roof will outperform and bumper mount.

[chadlowery]

To get a good ground to bare metal and prevent any rust, put a good blob of dielectric grease on all the bare metal surfaces and some rubber washers on either side of the hole. The grease will allow it to ground and prevent the oxidation and the washers will keep the grease from washing away as easily. You will have to periodically add more grease. How often you drive through heavy rains is going to determine how often, but I’d say add more once a month in really wet weather and every 3-6 weeks in drier climates.

[roamingkilt]

LED headlights will also produce a ton of noise. At least that's what I've noticed on the CB and GMRS radios that I've installed.

[vincentkeith]

Antenna are complex - ask any General or Expert class Ham - you can study them for years and still do things wrong.
It's an unfortunate fact of life that antenna and vehicles are a bad mix. Since most antenna are ground plane designs (a conductive surface that is perpendicular to the antenna mast) and the larger the ground plane the stronger the signal (in and out) -- The ideal placement (for the antenna signal) is dead center in the middle of the roof - which of course is the worst place to put one from a vehicle perspective - even worse if you're going places with branches over head or, garages. Compromise is the only viable choice.
It would be interesting to see the difference between a stubby (sayh, less than 10 inchs) mounted to the luggage rack and the bull bar antenna. And no - I have no prediction, just curious.

[EnufIsTooMuch]

The best dB rating is always going to be the highest no matter the terrain. The best location for an antenna to get its best possible performance is the center of the roof. After that, all other locations are compromises. The worst place is always going to be the lowest mounting point on a vehicle. I used Wilson antennas for many years in Amateur Radio and Search & Rescue. Those antennas have a rubber ring around the base coil. I would sand off paint to bare metal and never experienced rust or water under the antenna. This was on the camper shell roof of a 4x4 pickup with eight antennas on it in two rows. To have enough strength to hold antennas in the aluminum roof I used two lengths of Jeep floor repair steel channels that actually held the antennas.

[slik]

I’ve been into radio for over 3years - ham, GMRS, MURS etc but I learned a few new things from THIS video. Thanks. Subscribed 👍👍🇺🇸

[leewaddell]

Great info my GMRS radio has a humming notice on TX, I've done the same thing and extra coax just balled up and stuffed into a space. I will now shorten it and I have put ferrite on my alternator cables as well. Thanks for all your info.

[AmericanFrontierLife]

Very useful information about the Db's. Glad I picked a 3Db one for the wooded NE regions we travel in.

[tmcnicho]

This was great. I think I’ll be learning to cut my antenna cable to length when I do some gear relocations later this fall.

[cedaroakfarm]

Did not know about the bull antenna, We run GMRS radios on the farm RTVs and the antenna takes a beating with limbs and brush on the forest trails, sometimes, knocking it off, I do have the new speaker on the base unit, it works great.