Bad wilson antenna??

terryfryar · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 9

I got a wilson trucker several weeks ago (from here) and it had been working great...my RSSI was sitting in the high 70's (100% signal) and was getting 500/dn and 120/up on an Alltel evdo feed.

I had the wilson mounted on a stepstool outside my basement window. I unscrewed the bolt from the bottom of the antenna in order to get a size...I was planning on welding together a "real" mount for it.

I put it back on the mount....now my RSSI is 90 or higher and I can barely get evdo signal? What's up? I get 88 with just my PC5750 card by itself...I plug the wilson in and I get 90....something's wrong?

Could I have a bad antenna? How do I test a wilson trucker?? I guess it could be the connector on the PC5750, but I don't know how I would test that? It seems solid?

Any ideas?

terryfryar · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 9

In case you are wondering, I'm only using the coax that came with the antenna and an adapter pigtail....no additional coax.....

Wilson's testing instructions seem unclear? Touch the meter to the stainless steel shaft below the coil? Is that the main black shaft of the antenna? What is the chrome shaft above the coil? The ground plane?

terryfryar · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 9

Ok...now I'm lost! I removed my antenna from outside and brought it in the house to test. I pulled my WRT54G3G off the wall and brought it upstairs to a room overlooking where the antenna normally sits outside (there's sliding glass doors). I have 2 laptops...one with my Alltel 5750, and one with a work 5750 using vzw.

In testing, here are the results:

VZW: No-ant: 104...with ant: 85
Alltel: No-ant: 93...with ant: 78

So obviously the antenna is working now? But why? I now cannot reproduce the poor antenna performance?? I've grabbed the micro connector on the Alltel 5750 and it does seem quite a bit looser than the vzw one. But, I cannot get the RSSI to drop like it has over the last week?

Could the antenna still be bad?? For some reason, I'm looking at the coax coming out of the bottom of the antenna as a possible culprit, but I've wiggled it and it seems ok? I'm at a loss now to explain everything.....even the WRT54 is working properly now...AND I got my highest speed ever...812/down...maybe something in the antenna is lose, and when I move it around it's affecting it??

I cannot get any continuity on the antenna, BTW. I did test the pigtail, pin to pin and shield to shield...all ok. I tried what wilson said to test the antenna itself and could not get continuity on any part. Perhaps I am not doing it correctly?
I did try the coax shield to the ground plane and got it...I also tried the coax pin to the very top above the coil and got it...as well as on the chrome section right under the coil. It would appear the pin connects to the entire top section above the ground plane. But, I could not touch the stainless base of the antenna and get continuity to any part at the top??

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:00 pm Post subject:

When I mounted my Wilson to a metal bracket there was a rubber grommet that came with it. This was on the threaded part at the bottom. I think you need that on there to prevent a duplicate ground plane. Check to see if you have it.

terryfryar · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 9

That was a good suggestion Jim! However, I still have the rubber o-ring that separates the base from the mount collar.....

I have placed the antenna back in the orginal position and it seems to be working now?? I'm back to 73.....

I don't get it? I suspect either the antenna is bad, the coax is bad, the pigtail is bad, or the 5750 antenna connector is bad. Yeh...I know...that's pretty much the entire system...I know! Trouble is, I've tested all these and can't seem to "force" it to go bad so I can see where problem is.

I still can't get any continuity out of the antenna, but the wilson instructions are so vague...I have no idea what part of the antenna I'm supposed to be actually touching with the meter leads? There's these parts: the base, the shaft, the ground plane collar, the chrome part above that, a black collar, the coil, and the little antenna on top of the coil......

The only "odd" thing I've seen is that my EVDO coax comes across my dish network coax at a 90 degree angle. With it touching, I had RSSI of 80...but when I laid it on the ground 1 foot away from the dish coax...my RSSI dropped to 73? Can satellite tv coax have a negative proximity affect on cellular antenna coax, I wonder? Maybe RFI/EFI interference? Or, my wilson coax could have a short and it changes each time I physically bend or move it?

Still....I had it set up like this before and it worked fine. It's obvious I have an "intermittent" issue, but at this point I don't want to buy a whole new setup (antenna, pigtail, 5750) and since it's working at this moment...I guess I'll give up??