Mounting Antenna for Weboost

[IWUGrad]

Hello all, the 2007 Pleasure Way Lexor TS I just purchased came with a WeBoost Drive X RV. A nice bonus! The previous owner had an ingenious installation, placing a telescoping pole mounted in a hitch bike rack. However, it was smack in the middle of the back of the van, so the back doors didn't open all the way and the propane tank door would only open about a 1/4 of the way. I didn't like this, so I took it off. Is there any other way to mount this antenna on a small class B without adding height? I obviously don't have a ladder which seems to be the ideal place.

I know there are smaller MiMo antennas for cellular devices, but I already own the WeBoost that costs around $400. I'm trying to decide if I ditch it, or figure something else out. Any ideas appreciated! Thanks.

[joelm]

I’m in a similar situation with a build on order in the hopefully near future. The consensus here (well many people anyways) is that MIMO antennas will give you much better performance in more places than will a booster. Cell signals need to separate the “signal” from the “noise”. So if you have a bad signal a booster will amplify the noise along with the signal. It might help but with LTe is not too likely. A MIMO antenna will get you a better cleaner signal in most cases.

For me, I’d ditch the booster rather then spend more money on a lessor solution.

This thread has some more details. https://www.classbforum.com/forums/f...ifi-11099.html

[InterBlog]

Both of you are low-volume posters, so I will say welcome.

The antenna you use depends on the needs of each situation. There is no single right answer. Cellular is complicated.

In many locations, we get by with the thumb-sized “stubby” that came with our weBoost 4GX. Our B is Sprinter-based, so it sits on the forehead of the van with the Sprinter body itself as its metal plate / substrate. Other Bs that have fiberglass trim may need some other approach.

However, for remote locations, the short omnidirectional is not sufficient and we have to go with a directional. Our most challenging location consists of a piece of land I own in eastern Canada. There, we cut spruce poles which we erect on site such as in this pic below.

My suggestion would be to start with the included stubby antenna, and work your way up from there. Buy up on your hardware until you get to where you need to be for the specifics of your van usage.

This yields acceptable mostly-LTE service (some fade-outs to 3G) from a tower more than 11 miles away. It’s an image from an Instagram series I did on our 14 days of Canadian quarantine last month, hence the annotation:

[Bud]

I'm wondering how much money weboost spent on ambassadors? I counted, and there are about 10,000.

Bud

[hbn7hj]

Don’t know anything about Weboost ambassadors but those of us that have them don’t mind saying if they work. It works for me. Makes the difference between being online and not at the present campground.

I believe what the others say about MIMO. It is just inconvenient for me to get an iPad connected to MIMO. The Weboost works well even though it does amplify the signal noise.

[GallenH]

Nice. What's the brand of the structure/tent to the back of your van?

[Bud]

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

Don’t know anything about Weboost ambassadors but those of us that have them don’t mind saying if they work. It works for me. Makes the difference between being online and not at the present campground.

I believe what the others say about MIMO. It is just inconvenient for me to get an iPad connected to MIMO. The Weboost works well even though it does amplify the signal noise.

Thanks for the reply. I Do think that there are real applications for a booster/amplifier. There are residential applications that are a must have, and actually work with an RV. It is simply the trade-offs with both, And the numbers. Best? I suppose both is best.

Bud

[hbn7hj]

Originally Posted by Bud

Thanks for the reply. I Do think that there are real applications for a booster/amplifier. There are residential applications that are a must have, and actually work with an RV. It is simply the trade-offs with both, And the numbers. Best? I suppose both is best.

Bud

Anyone know how to boost a MIMO?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

Anyone know how to boost a MIMO?

Any simple way of doing this would have the same problems of amplifying noise as the cellular amplifiers have. The radios used in MiMo-capable modems are very sophisticated. You are unlikely to improve their performance with external amplification. The effectiveness of MiMo comes from the dynamic selection from among the multiple signal paths that multiple antennas provide, plus the obvious advantage of better antennas located outside of the van. Of course, cellular amplifiers also have the latter as well. Indeed, any advantage you may get from these devices is very likely coming from that, not the amplification. Antenna signal amplifiers can sometimes be useful, but only in making up for signal loss in the transmission line from the antenna to the modem.

An ideal system would have a MiMo radio co-located with the antenna, communicating with the router via Ethernet, thus eliminating the need to send the very weak RF signals over coax, which is usually pretty crappy. This is how the Ubiquiti WiFi antennas work--they are complete network nodes with Cat5 to the roof. They work spectacularly well. You can send WiFi signals for miles with them. A MiFi hotspot that worked that way would be the cat's pajamas, but if such a thing exists, I don't know about it.

[InterBlog]

I am neither a weBoost nor Wilson ambassador. I’d love to know how the poster “counted” ten thousand of them.

I don’t even recommend weBoost. The OP mentioned it.

SureCall2Go 3.0 is anecdotally a better product, and at about a hundred dollar savings.

However, when I bought our weBoost 4GX, the next gen SureCall wasn’t out yet.

All that being the case, the weBoost does work. I can’t function without it (I own a small business).

I have a MIMO, one that was designed to mate with my Verizon air card. It is not worth one single pinch of raccoon poop. Seriously. I know that Technomadia and others have extolled the virtues of them, and perhaps they do work in certain situations. But I can report emphatically that a MIMO will produce absolutely nothing in the backwoods of eastern Canada, and a weBoost wil.

I’ve been trying to convince my next-off-grid-door neighbor to invest in a SureCall so that we can directly compare notes. He hasn’t taken the bait yet. He drives into the nearest town to get a cellular signal. He’s retired, so he has time to do things like that.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I am neither a weBoost nor Wilson ambassador. I’d love to know how the poster “counted” ten thousand of them.

I don’t even recommend weBoost. The OP mentioned it.

SureCall2Go 3.0 is anecdotally a better product, and at about a hundred dollar savings.

However, when I bought our weBoost 4GX, the next gen SureCall wasn’t out yet.

All that being the case, the weBoost does work. I can’t function without it (I own a small business).

I have a MIMO, one that was designed to mate with my Verizon air card. It is not worth one single pinch of raccoon poop. Seriously. I know that Technomadia and others have extolled the virtues of them, and perhaps they do work in certain situations. But I can report emphatically that a MIMO will produce absolutely nothing in the backwoods of eastern Canada, and a weBoost wil.

I’ve been trying to convince my next-off-grid-door neighbor to invest in a SureCall so that we can directly compare notes. He hasn’t taken the bait yet. He drives into the nearest town to get a cellular signal. He’s retired, so he has time to do things like that.

That was the number of webooster ambassadors.

Bud

[IWUGrad]

Wow! Thanks everyone for the great discussion. I have a lot of information to chew over. This weekend I’m in the UP of Michigan so you can imagine how the service is. Of course because the WeBoost antenna is not mounted I didn’t even bring the inside antenna to try.

[jjustj]

works well, if you remeber to lower it before driving off....

https://youtu.be/vnkhpXmouLM

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by GallenH

Nice. What's the brand of the structure/tent to the back of your van?

Clam Venture, just got it earlier this summer. Love the thing. Wish I had discovered it years ago.

Edit: This was our temporary 18-foot mast before we erected the taller one behind the van.