Wifi Antenna placement

[S&SDowdy]

Hi, We just bot a WeBoost 4G-X booster and are considering attaching a telescopic antenna to our 2016 5.0 TA. Anyone done this? Have any recommendations on placement?

[Ron in BC]

Yup, and higher is better.

Ron

[pstyer]

FWIW. Somewhere I read that it's recommended at least 15 feet of separation between the two antennas. This was to prevent feedback in the system.

[Rrgramps]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Yup, and higher is better.

Ron

Ron’s is on his bumper. I think. It’s a good place for mounting, and excludes having to drill into the fiberglass for a roof mount.

Without searching, I’m not sure how he installed it.

My thoughts are, to mount it stable enough that you could take off driving down the pike; if you accidentally forget to store it. Otherwise, have it so it can be broken down and stored somewhere handy.

Maybe Ron could kindly link to his thread.

[Ron in BC]

You're right. I do mount things on the bumper as I dislike drilling holes for electronics that might become obsolete quite quickly.

Mike Lewis has an array of antennas on his trailer and he uses telescoping poles and carries things like his TV antenna at half mast. I originally used individual nesting poles and removed the antenna for travel but now I'm doing the same. The wi-fi antenna, in the "low" position is just below the roof line. It works pretty well at that height but for the best range I raise it up higher.

For my wi-fi antenna I added a socket to the top of the spare tire bracket. A tube could be zap strapped on if to serve as a socket if a welder isn't available.

For the TV antenna I made a bracket for a larger diameter pole. A round piece of tube to act as a socket could be clamped to the bumper instead of making a custom bracket.

Ron

[padlin]

I glued a 4"x4" pvc block to the side of the air conditioner and forward of the fridge vent. Use stainless carriage bolts to hold the antenna to the block. My WeBoost is in the rear overhead, took power from one of the captain lights, ran antenna cable along the overheads and thru the wall into the fridge vent opening. Up thru the vent to the roof to the antenna. Works okay but not great. Talked to Wilson (WeBoost) who said to try and make the antenna the highest point, which mine is not, and is not going to be, it's only a foot high. Might work better if it were a truckers antenna as it extends a good deal higher, or go Ron's bumper mount route to go up high as you wish.

[Eggscape]

If you have not seen the latest post in Modifications to Eggscape on how I mounted my mast, you can find it at post 156 here.
http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...tml#post275158

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Mike Lewis has an array of antennas on his trailer and he uses telescoping poles and carries things like his TV antenna at half mast.
Ron

Yes-- I currently have a couple of telescoping aluminum masts that hold my various antennas. When traveling I leave the antennas fixed to the masts, but I retract the masts, disconnect the lines, coil the lines up and store them behind the spare tire. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the trailer to feed the lines through. I can't find a picture but the configuration keeps changing, anyway. Just envision an antenna-festooned nerdwagon.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Eggscape

If you have not seen the latest post in Modifications to Eggscape on how I mounted my mast, you can find it at post 156 here.
http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...tml#post275158

I'm so jealous of the mast that you use for your J-Pole antenna; it beats anything that I have. It was good to meet you in Winnepeg.

[Mike Lewis]

Damn, I misspelled Winnipeg again. Sorry.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Damn, I misspelled Winnipeg again. Sorry.

Yup, out here in Lotus Land we spell it Winterpeg.

Ron

[currinh]

I've mounted a Flagpole Buddy telescoping flag pole to our '19 bumper. Use it for WeBoost and WiFi Ranger external antennas. Uses a foot or so of PVC over the top of the pole onto which each antenna mounts. Depending on need I raise one or the other.

Still working on bringing the cables through the shell, rather than hanging out an open storage door. But the mast has worked well so far. I do put hose clamps at each joint so it doesn't collapse unannounced.

Originally Posted by S&SDowdy

Hi, We just bot a WeBoost 4G-X booster and are considering attaching a telescopic antenna to our 2016 5.0 TA. Anyone done this? Have any recommendations on placement?

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by currinh

Still working on bringing the cables through the shell, rather than hanging out an open storage door.

Whoa, that's seriously up in the air. I did a little test once when I was in a location where I could see many stores that had public wi-fi stretching off into the distance. It was a visual confirmation that the high position of the antenna really did have more range.

I just bring my cables in under the rear curve of the shell, by the bolt to the frame. It's a dry and protected location and I've used a large oversize grommet that allows for other wires to be added later.

Ron

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by currinh

Can you provide a source for that base? Looks great!

[Eggscape]

Painters poles are great to use as extending masts but here is another source.

Even though it is 8 C or 46 F here today in Kelowna BC...I was in Costco today and picked up a Snow Rake to keep all the roofs on the trailers and sheds clear when it does snow.

The handle is three sections and telescopes to 18 feet. It has the normal thread on the end so you can thread on a paint roller as well.

If you don’t need the plastic rake part you can cut it down and screw your wifi antenna to it. This way you can just unscrew your pole from the antenna when you need it for painting.

I just thought the price and length put it into the running as well. Keep in mind that the picture is in Canadian $.

[currinh]

Originally Posted by MikeS

Can you provide a source for that base? Looks great!

Thanks, it worked out pretty well. I built it so it's not readily available. If you have the machine shop I can send you the drawings.

[MyronL]

My antenna mast PVC base attached to the spare tire holder.