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Modulationkid
Junior Member
Username: Modulationkid
Post Number: 10
Registered: 4-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 11:40 am: | 
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Can anyone tell me why a brand new Wilson 1000 magna mount antenna located on the roof of a Chevy truck would have high SWR? This is a barefoot setup running only 3.5 watts into the antenna. I keep reading postings about the importance of antenna ground but see no way to ground a Wilson 1000 magna mount. The K40 it replaced had no problem in the same location with the same meter. My SWR meter tells me to keep extending the Wilson but I've run out of antenna to keep raising it. I am not going to drill holes in the roof of my truck for this antenna so please don't suggest this as an option. So far I'm not impressed with Wilson antennas as this is my first experience with them and I feel I've spent way to much time "adjusting this antenna" only to get really poor performance. Any help would be appreciated. |
Mdiver
Advanced Member
Username: Mdiver
Post Number: 617
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 1:01 pm: |
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I just got one two and same thing took it back, come to find out that the whip is to small 2in. the owner of the radio shop said that Wilson made a mistake making them so he gave me the right whip longer, hard to believe but true.
CEF 252
Northern California
Steve |
Dale
Senior Member
Username: Dale
Post Number: 1498
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 6:53 pm: |
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goto wilsons website and see if they have
thier longer whip.ya may find it at a cbshop
dale/a.k.a.hotrod
cef426
cvc#64
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Marconi
Advanced Member
Username: Marconi
Post Number: 807
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 8:33 pm: |
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Try a 66" stinger. Some installs that don't have a very good ground, seem to need the extra length. I don't think it was a mistake, some mobiles just don't show an antenna a suitable ground plane. |
Unit199
Advanced Member
Username: Unit199
Post Number: 706
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 4:33 am: |
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Wilson did make a mistake and made the stinger to short in some of their antennas. I do not know where you bought it, but I would get in touch with them and get longer stinger.
HARVE
UNIT199
CEF0210/CVC#018/HAM#010
Midwest 10 Meter Net Controller
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Modulationkid
Junior Member
Username: Modulationkid
Post Number: 11
Registered: 4-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 - 10:15 pm: |
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I appreciate all the help and I do have the 62" whip so I'm looking for the 66" version now. Copper doesn't have it listed and for some reason all the web sites that do have it don't have secure order forms or list shipping charges. To bad Copper doesn't carry this antenna as they might make money just for having a secure checkout process. On the other hand, I reiterate that I'm not impressed with Wilson antennas for making me jump through hoops to get their product to work. If they'd ship the 1000 with the 66" antenna I could have easily cut off 4" if I had to but I can't add it on. |
Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 4569
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 7:29 am: |
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put the stinger 1/2 way in & check swr on LOWEST freq you have available, & again on highest freq you have available. if swr is lower on the higher freq, then the stinger is too short.
how high is the swr? infinity/pegged needle
pretty much highest & lowest freq? unless stinger is too short by a foot or more, that could be an antenna defect, bad coax or connecter even. |
Modulationkid
Junior Member
Username: Modulationkid
Post Number: 12
Registered: 4-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 12:02 am: |
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I finally got a 66" stinger and mounted it half way into the mount like the instructions say. I adjusted it to the point were the SWR was as flat across the channels as I could get it. I believe I hit the optimum adjustment for the Wilson 1000 magnet mount. Only one problem, the absolute best reading I could get was a 1:8 to 1 and most of the time it was 2.9 or well over 3. I can't live with an SWR this high. I'm very frustrated with the Wilson 1000 magnet mount antenna and not impressed at all with it.
Here's some more data to consider. I installed a stainless steel mount to the tailgate latch bolt and ran a ground wire from the ss mount directly to the frame. I used a wire brush on my drill to clean the rust off the frame and it was bare metal when I was finished. I used a stainless steel bolt and nut to lock it to the frame. On the wire I soldered cable ends on both ends and used rosin core solder. The ends aren't coming off this sizable wire anytime soon. I installed a Grizzly heavy-duty antenna stud in the mount and used an ohmmeter to check continuity between the mount ground and some body parts and got a killer connection. I then checked the center lead of the Grizzly mount for a short to ground and found nothing. I checked the 18' store bought mini 8 coax for shorts and there aren't any and there is great continuity end to end for both the center lead and ground. No shorts any which way I checked the wiring and coax. I installed a stainless steel 102" whip antenna on the Grizzly mount with a ss HD spring and continuity to the whip antenna is dead on killer and there are no shorts to ground. Guess what folks; I'm getting an SWR of around 2.9 with this setup! Just for the heck of it I tried a different radio and didn't see any difference in swr. I'm now wondering if my Radio Shack SWR meter went bad on me. I bought it in the 70's and it’s always seemed to work fine for me. In fact, it has a modulation meter in it as well and that seems to align with what I'm seeing in the radio so my meter may be good too. I can only try another one to know for sure. BTW, I also tried a Browning BR-26 antenna in this mount before I put the 102" whip in and I was getting high SWR's with that antenna too. When I checked the SWR I was well away from other objects as well. There was nothing to interfere with the antenna and it is way above the roof of my truck. I should be able to tickle some trees and break some lights at drive through restaurants with this antenna.
I haven't been able to get a single radio check since I removed my K40 magna mount but I am able to read the mail. Also, my K40 magna mount doesn't move my SWR needle when tuned. I put the Wilson in the exact same location as the K40 and and ran the coax exactly the same way and I can't get anywhere near even 1:3 to 1 to save my soul.
My radio is wired directly to the battery. I had the hot and ground wired directly to the battery for quite some time without any problems. On a hunch I figured I'd move the radio ground wire to sheet metal to see if I got a better ground plain. Nothing changed.
WTF already, I've never had this much trouble mounting a freaking antenna on a vehicle in all my life and I've been around a long time! You can't even tune a 102" whip cause there's nothing to tune on them as they are supposed to be dead on tuned. So why would the SWR be so high when I have excellent continuity and no shorts in the antenna system? Anybody know what I'm doing wrong cause I'm out of ideas? |
Big_m
Member
Username: Big_m
Post Number: 75
Registered: 9-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 3:05 pm: |
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I found that my Wilson Mag Mount about 6in. from the windshield got 1:4. (Any place else it's higher like 2:1 or more). I got this info from the Wilson website. Try moving it until you find that sweet spot. |
Modulationkid
Junior Member
Username: Modulationkid
Post Number: 13
Registered: 4-2007
| | Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 2:13 am: |
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Well folks, here's my latest update. First up, the Wilson 1000 and I stand by what I've said above, I'm not impressed with this company. I've had the antenna magnetic mount on my roof without an antenna on it for about a month and it already started removing paint. Thanks for nothing Wilson! Next, I followed a bunch of the suggestions mentioned by all the helpful people here at Copper. It took a lot of searching but I finally found a 66" stinger for the Wilson 1000. I thought it might work but it didn't. I still couldn't get an SWR reading on my 30+ year old Radio Shack SWR meter. Nothing I did helped but I refused to believe my SWR meter wasn't working correctly as I was getting different readings when I tried different things. I ended up buying a Tram magnetic mount that works with the Wilson 1000 for about $24. Guess what? I finally got a realistic SWR reading using the Tram mount but I had to put the original 62" stinger back into the coil to get it. With the Tram mount I couldn't get a low SWR with the 66". I played around with the 62" stinger in the Tram mount and the worst SWR I'm getting now is 1.3 on channel 1 and 40 and the SWR barely moves the needle on channel 20. Finally I hit the SWR sweet spot. To do it I had to replace almost everything part of it but the antenna coil to do it. The Wilson magnetic mount is garbage so don't move it around the roof of your vehicle, replace that piece of junk with a Tram magnetic mount instead.
Now for the 102" problem I mentioned. I did a bunch of Google searches looking for technical data on resolving high SWR problems. One tech doc suggested I connect the coax to a dummy load and take an SWR reading. I couldn't believe what I saw, SWR's on one store bought cable at 2.5 to 1 and over 3 to 1 on the other one. These were brand new cables with molded connectors on them straight from the factory no less! I connected another coax of the same length I made myself and the SWR was 1 to 1. Interesting, not one but two high quality mini-8 cables with high SWR right out of the box with no shorts to ground. I guess you can't buy coax from very well known truck stop CB stores around the country. Instead, buy a high power soldering iron, coax, connectors, and make you're own. You'll get much better results. BTW, SWR doesn't change in different length coax and that surprised me but was something new to learn. Next, I bought a SkyThumper Grizzly stud mount. Lots of good reviews but I found someone badmouthing this mount as well but figured he didn't know how to adjust the threaded sections of the mount so the PL-259 would bottom out in it. I determined he was right and I was wrong. Nothing I did allowed a reliable connection between the mount and the coax. It seemed connected at times but actually was not very reliable. I bought a $4.75 Firestik stud mount and put the SS spring and 102" whip into it with the 3rd coax cable I made myself and guess what? SWR's so low it barely moves the needle across most of the 40 channels. Reception is now outstanding. I immediately noticed I read the mail on almost every one of the 40 channels. Furthermore, for the first time I actually had to reduce my RF gain in order to read the local mail on 19 over the big guns on a distant Interstate.
Lot's of Internet searches, asking others for help, and persistence will pay off eventually. Nothing a boatload of money can't fix, ahe? As the song goes, No Excuses at Da Bowl... |
Flying_cloud
Junior Member
Username: Flying_cloud
Post Number: 47
Registered: 4-2009
| | Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 12:48 pm: |
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Hi there modulation kid.
I have some advice for ya. with the mag mount the best thing to do is to take liquid tape and spray the mag mount at the seams to water proof it including the bottom after you remove the thin plastic, and to use Electrolite grease on the threads on your antenna that prevents rust and the mag mount has a carbon steel bolt so waterproofing it will help in the long run or you could replace it with stainless steel bolt trust me I found that out the hard way!!!!!! LOL
Flying High and Flying Proud!!!!!!!!
CEF# 1028
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Tech237
Moderator
Username: Tech237
Post Number: 1184
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 2:58 pm: |
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" BTW, SWR doesn't change in different length coax and that surprised me but was something new to learn."
What SWR?? With the antenna, or with the dummy load?
If with the dummy load - then I hope it didnt change, if with th antenna then maybe the length changes were not signficant enough. Try the same thing changing coax length from say 16ft to around 5ft..
Simon
Tech237
N7AUS
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I thought he said, "there was no rust for the wicked, and I own an MGB"
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