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Old 08-14-2020, 06:42 AM   #1
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Weboost reception

I recently bought a Weboost as we spend most of our time in state parks, where we have zero reception for calls or tethering. (Lots of trees) With the Weboost we can make and receive calls and use the internet with one or two bars and the phones occasionally show 4g. However it is still somewhat spotty. The outside antenna it attached to the top of the ladder and my question is, should I get a flag pole to extend the antenna 10 or 12 feet higher?
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Old 08-14-2020, 07:32 AM   #2
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Higher is generally good for reaching out to weak signals, but the extra cable length can obviate that benefit. Extra cable length between the antenna and the amplifier create extra signal loss that can reduce or eliminate the height benefit.

David
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Old 08-14-2020, 09:55 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by DavidM View Post
Higher is generally good for reaching out to weak signals, but the extra cable length can obviate that benefit. Extra cable length between the antenna and the amplifier create extra signal loss that can reduce or eliminate the height benefit.

David
I’m sure you are correct, the way I’ve got the cable I don’t think I’d need one longer than it came with. Thanks
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Old 08-14-2020, 10:19 AM   #4
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Most Weboost antenna's come with thinner SMA cable attached. Usually 10 or 12 feet long. Adding any extension or any adapters will seriously deplete signal due to signal loss. SMA cabling is not low loss cabling and extra length causes serious cable loss.

Your RV is 30' long. Your ladder is obviously on the back of that. Where did you install the booster? Did you use any extensions or adapters?

I have my Weboost in the very front of my RV. I used to have a Weboost OTR Antenna on my rear ladder and used 25' of extension cabling and a female to female adapter to connect them. I just couldn't get much extra boost. I finally wised up and replaced that powerful antenna for a 4" stubby on a ground plane in the front 1/3rd of my coach. Close enough that I used the stock antenna cable to reach the booster.

Even though the OTR antenna was 3X more powerful I immediately got better results from the 4" antenna.

Keep in mind, the Weboost can only amplify EXISTING cell signals, not manufacture signal that isn't there. It works where it works and doesn't work where it doesn't work. No matter the antenna in use.
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Old 08-14-2020, 10:50 AM   #5
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Most Weboost antenna's come with thinner SMA cable attached. Usually 10 or 12 feet long. Adding any extension or any adapters will seriously deplete signal due to signal loss. SMA cabling is not low loss cabling and extra length causes serious cable loss.

Your RV is 30' long. Your ladder is obviously on the back of that. Where did you install the booster? Did you use any extensions or adapters?

I have my Weboost in the very front of my RV. I used to have a Weboost OTR Antenna on my rear ladder and used 25' of extension cabling and a female to female adapter to connect them. I just couldn't get much extra boost. I finally wised up and replaced that powerful antenna for a 4" stubby on a ground plane in the front 1/3rd of my coach. Close enough that I used the stock antenna cable to reach the booster.


Even though the OTR antenna was 3X more powerful I immediately got better results from the 4" antenna.

Keep in mind, the Weboost can only amplify EXISTING cell signals, not manufacture signal that isn't there. It works where it works and doesn't work where it doesn't work. No matter the antenna in use.
Excellent questions. I am not using anything that didn’t come in the Weboost kit. I haven’t done a permanent install yet. The antenna is mounted at the top of the ladder, the booster is currently plugged into an outlet in the basement and the indoor antenna runs through the window and sits on the dinette. I have enough cable when I do a permanent install to get the outside antenna about 8 or 10 feet above the coach.
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Old 08-14-2020, 07:48 PM   #6
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A lot of difference with getting higher may be what is next to you at the time and terrain. If you are in a long row of RV, the extra height of only a few feet may help a great deal, likewise if you happen to be on the wrong side and have a small hill between you and the signal!
My plan would be to mount it on some type of pole which can be extended when needed and parked and lowered to travel. Flagpole style?
There are lots of good reasons for antenna being put on tall towers and it works the same for your antenna as the companies that transmit/receive the signals.
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Old 08-26-2020, 04:30 PM   #7
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When we purchased our 21VD in June, Lichtsinn installed a Drive X RV.

When I noticed we weren't getting much (if any) boost inside the RV, I ran a series of tests to measure the performance of the WeBoost, and concluded that it only provided a boost when the cell phone was directly next to the small interior antenna. Moving more than a few inches away, the WeBoost didn't provide any benefit. Plus, the Drive X booster didn't fully support Sprint's 4G bands.

Working with WeBoost, we replaced the interior antenna with their upgraded antenna, which provided better coverage inside our D - increasing the signal when the cell phone was located on the dinette or the murphy bed.

But that still didn't provide much signal boost - and didn't fix the problem with the missing Sprint 4G band. So I upgraded the Drive X with a Drive Reach booster.

And based on measurements, we now get significantly better performance inside our D, especially with the uplink performance.

We still have the RV antenna mounted on the top of our ladder using the short antenna. While we also have the antenna extension, which would raise the antenna higher, we aren't going to use it. The RV is already 12' tall to the top of the installed antenna, and because that antenna is already higher than the rest of the RV, increasing the height of the RV further didn't seem warranted.

For anyone who hasn't yet purchased a WeBoost Drive X RV, would highly recommend purchasing the Drive Reach Extreme RV kit instead, which has the stronger booster plus the larger interior antenna (which I mounted with command strips on the back of the inside of the cabinet to the left of the TV.
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Old 08-26-2020, 04:57 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by creativepart View Post
Most Weboost antenna's come with thinner SMA cable attached. Usually 10 or 12 feet long. Adding any extension or any adapters will seriously deplete signal due to signal loss. SMA cabling is not low loss cabling and extra length causes serious cable loss.

Your RV is 30' long. Your ladder is obviously on the back of that. Where did you install the booster? Did you use any extensions or adapters?

I have my Weboost in the very front of my RV. I used to have a Weboost OTR Antenna on my rear ladder and used 25' of extension cabling and a female to female adapter to connect them. I just couldn't get much extra boost. I finally wised up and replaced that powerful antenna for a 4" stubby on a ground plane in the front 1/3rd of my coach. Close enough that I used the stock antenna cable to reach the booster.

Even though the OTR antenna was 3X more powerful I immediately got better results from the 4" antenna.

Keep in mind, the Weboost can only amplify EXISTING cell signals, not manufacture signal that isn't there. It works where it works and doesn't work where it doesn't work. No matter the antenna in use.
I did much the same thing however I purchased the small home inside antennae and found it works quite well in the RV.

In regards to the unit it really does not matter which one you purchase because the power is regulated by FCC. I suppose if you were an electrical engineer and knew what you were doing you could boost it more but since I would tear it up without any success I use as advertised.

If you call WeBoost they have a very knowledgable engineer that will help you solve your unique situation.
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Old 08-26-2020, 04:58 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CarpeDiem View Post
I recently bought a Weboost as we spend most of our time in state parks, where we have zero reception for calls or tethering. (Lots of trees) With the Weboost we can make and receive calls and use the internet with one or two bars and the phones occasionally show 4g. However it is still somewhat spotty. The outside antenna it attached to the top of the ladder and my question is, should I get a flag pole to extend the antenna 10 or 12 feet higher?
I have one of the first weboost multi band systems. I have the desk top antenna inside and a flat rectangular antenna outside on a flag pole (Harbor Freight telescoping) and 2 20' sections of cables between the amp and the antenna. A friend has the same, but newer, system. Weboost suggested to him that he replace his antenna with a directional yaggi antenna. He is pleased with the results. I may do the same one of these days. It is more sensitive to directional tuning than the flat panel.
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Old 08-26-2020, 06:37 PM   #10
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I have had several WeBoost/Wilson amps. I have used the OTR antenna and the stubby with a pizza pan ground plane. I believe you still need a ground plane with the current system. The stubby is made to mag mount on top of a ferrous metal vehicle, so that is the ground plane. If you go up a flag pole (I have used an aluminum painters extension pole, with hose clamps to the ladder). Agree with the coax and mini fittings giving signal loss. Each fitting and length of the SMA cable will attenuate the signal. You may need the stub ground plane radials of the OTR antenna. A Yagi certainly will help to solve the problem.

Bob Austin (KA6PKB.over 40 years of HAM communications)
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Old 08-26-2020, 06:49 PM   #11
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I"ve had the Drive 4g-X for years... maybe 5 years?? I forget.

I have the 4" stubby on the roof and found a 12" round steel pizza separator (when pizza shops make a bunch of crusts ahead they put this flat separator between the pans.).

Inside I have the "candybar" antenna and if it reaches 10" I'd be shocked.

But I only use it when needed and I put my cellular MiFi/Jetpacks right up against the candybar so it works for us.

I never expected it to boost cell phones inside the RV. So, it's not a disappointment. I've been telling (warning) folks for years on these forums that the Weboost is good when you need it, but you won't need it all that often and it only works in close proximity to the inside antenna.

I get better results with the $30 Netgear Mimo antenna in a window. But my MiFi's both have dual TS-9 ports for the dual antenna connection.
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Old 08-26-2020, 06:52 PM   #12
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and a flat rectangular antenna outside on a flag pole (Harbor Freight telescoping) and 2 20' sections of cables between the amp and the antenna.
I used to do this and found that each 20' extension and each connector between the extensions rob the Weboost of all of it's boost.

I actually removed the tall OTR Truckers antenna and replaced it with a 4" stubby on a ground plane 10' from the amplifier, with no extra connections, and get much more boost from that setup. Than the tall, powerful OTR antenna with long cable and a couple of barrel connectors.
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Old 08-26-2020, 07:16 PM   #13
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So much of what we buy is designed for use in a certain way and we often don't do it that way in our RV's so we get less than the designed performance. I've pretty well forgotten much of the theory of antennas as I never really had much to do with design, only install/repair. But the ground plane and performance is a very critical part of the antenna in many cases but that depends on which antenna. If I remember a 1/4 wave antenna was cut to be that length and it was the distance along the ground plane, up the whip, down the whip, and out to the edge of the ground plane for the best????
Cut and copy info that's better than my memory:
Does a 1/4 wave antenna need a ground plane?
Does a 1/4 wave antenna need a ground plane? Answer: Yes. All 1/4 wave antennas work best if they are installed in the center of a metal ground plane with at least 1/4 wave length radius (1/2 wave length diameter: ~6 inches for 900Mhz and ~3 inches for 2.4Ghz); larger is better.Aug 23, 2017
Remember when CB was the new big thing and and you got the best use if you had the length of the metal upper part of the whip cut to just the right height? That tunes the antenna to the wavelength that you want to use, so if we did a better job of fitting our antenna length to fit the frequency we want to use, we would expect to get much better performance. You never hear that idea do you?
We have moved from the era where phones were regulated and very much expected/ required to work, into the deregulated realm where it is not the service provider's fault if it doesn't work. You bought it, so it's your problem now!
But if we want to get the best use of these things, getting a really good old hat that DOES remember what works might be worth the effort.
Putting them next to the TV is one that may not help it work!!
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