Batboard

I have both a VHF and a UHF Motorola GP2000 and I am looking to replace the OEM antennas with antennas with a bit more gain. Does anybody what type of connector the GP2000 uses and what are some suitable replacement antennas?

From the Motorola brochure it looks like a standard SF connector. Does the
connector have a threaded body with a hole in the center? If it does then
it's an SF and you can find lots of replacements at the Tessco site, at least
for UHF use; VHF antennas on HTs get pretty big and clunky.

It is a threaded connector, but there is no hole in it. I think it might be an MX connector, but I am not sure.

The MX is a 1/4X24 as I recall. If there's no hole then you're limited to an end-fed
antenna, which means your standard six-inch UHF antenna and the standard
helically wound VHF antenna. The connector on the radio will also tell you
what you need to know. If there is no pin in the center of the antenna mount
then it's probably an MX connector.

I did a Google search on the Motorola GP2000 and this http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2966 mentions the PMAD4014 antenna as a replacement. When I search that one of the hits is http://www.ameradio.com/product/48/description.html that indicated that the antenna connector for the GP2000 is the same as the following radios:

AP50
AP73
CP10
CT150
CT250
CT450
EX500
EX600
EX600XLS
GL2000
GP1280
GP140
GP2000
GP2100
GP240
GP280
GP300
GP308
GP320
GP328
GP328Plus
GP329
GP329Plus
GP338
GP338Plus
GP339
GP340
GP344
GP360
GP380
GP388
GP540
GP580
GP600
GP63
GP640
GP644
GP68
GP680
GP688
HT1250
HT1250LS
HT1250LS+
HT1550
HT1550LS
HT1550XLS
HT750
Pacer
Pacer Plus
P020
P030
P040
PRO2150
PRO3150
PRO5150
PRO5150 Elite
PRO5450
PRO5750
PRO7150
PRO7150 Elite
PRO7450
PRO7750
PRO9150
PTX700
PTX760
PTX780
Other WARIS portable radios
SP66
Spirit SU42, SV52

When I go here http://www.rfwiz.com/Comtelco/ComtelcoP ... cation.htm it indicates that the MX is used on the following radios:

MX - 1/4-32 x 7/32 for Motorola MX,
HT10
HT50
HT600
MT100
MT1000
P10
P50
P100
P110
P200
Radius
Saber
Saber+
Spirit
Expo
GP300

Two of the radios that I see listed in common from the two lists are the GP300 and Spirit, so If this is correct I think the GP2000 is an MX connector.

Anyway, I have now been thinking of getting a BNC to MX Connector Adapter http://www.tessco.com/products/displayP ... ventPage=1 or http://www.bncmxadapter.com/ perhaps having this would allow me to use external antennas, as well as BNC rubber duck antennas.

Jim,

That's fine with the adapter etc. but remember that the MX connector does NOT
provide a ground, just the antenna hot connection. The SF connector, where it's
used, provides the hot connection and the ground, which is why the SF supports
center-fed dipole antennas like the XTS radios use on VHF.

Well, I am kind of torn on what to do right now. I have the OEM antennas on both radios which I use primarily to monitor the IFBs locally on 161.730 and 450.4500 and 450.6500. I am trying to decide if I want to get after-market antennas or just get an adapter and use BNC antennas or possibly external antennas. For this application, should I just stick with after-market MX antennas then?

Jim1348 wrote:Well, I am kind of torn on what to do right now. I have the OEM antennas on both radios which I use primarily to monitor the IFBs locally on 161.730 and 450.4500 and 450.6500. I am trying to decide if I want to get after-market antennas or just get an adapter and use BNC antennas or possibly external antennas. For this application, should I just stick with after-market MX antennas then?

For UHF, probably the best you can do with the GP2000 is the GP300 type UHF whip antenna, which is around 6" in length. As I recall, the GP2000 comes with a stubby uhf antenna, which doesn't do much good in comparison.

You can use an MX to BNC converter, however as stated before, there is no grounding ring on the GP2000, however, there is a small hole there and one could fashion (as I did when I had that model radio) a connection there to ground inside the radio. From there you would have better luck with other external antennas, however, as stated before, your best bet is the UHF 6" antenna as seen on the GP300, HT1250, etc. I don't have a part # though.

-Josh