You're missing that the MRF260 is a very useful product if you're nowhere near any kind of RF transmission except that of the remote.

The MRF260's RF is so poorly done that a solution for interference is to remove the antenna. The only thing that is supposed to pick up a signal... take that off and the rest of the product receives RF just fine. In normal circumstances inside, say, cities and towns, with buildings less than 150 feet from one another, this product is easily overpowered by interference that better products, say the MRF350, or a crystal radio, would reject.

Antenna off was MRF250. You sure about the 260?

I use them frequently and successfully. Still have some 250s working with MX850s. Your more accurate statement was that the 260 works fine but it does depend on the environment. There are some interference rich locales where they will not work well.