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best antenna for me?

R

Ruffy

New Member
May 22, 2014
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I just bought a Magnum S-6-175+. it came with a magnetic Wilson 1000 watter. I only tested it on the way back home in my Dodge Durango. It does work well with the Wil 1K but wanted to know some professionals opinions.
Also fill me in if dual antennas is better?

I will be slowly tweaking my system to get the most out of it as I can. Not looking to add another amp or anything just a good tweak on the radio.
 

The Wilson 1000 is a good antenna, not super great but good. Get rid of the mag mount and hard mount it. I prefer the Sirio antenna hard mount but I had a 1000 hard mount for a spell and it worked.
 
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There is no particular antenna that's best for any particular radio. If the thing will cover the frequency range and power range of the radio it should do as good as any other antenna of the approximate same size/length. Any antenna will only work as well as it's tuned, that's the biggy.
As for that dual antenna idea, if you have a particular use for a directional antenna system on a vehicle, have at it. Being directional (bi-directional) is their only good use, all the rest of those claims are what you spread on a garden.
- 'Doc
 
W5LZ said:
There is no particular antenna that's best for any particular radio. If the thing will cover the frequency range and power range of the radio it should do as good as any other antenna of the approximate same size/length. Any antenna will only work as well as it's tuned, that's the biggy.
As for that dual antenna idea, if you have a particular use for a directional antenna system on a vehicle, have at it. Being directional (bi-directional) is their only good use, all the rest of those claims are what you spread on a garden.
- 'Doc
Click to expand...

I was thinking 2 would come close to doubling the range? I read up on here longer is better so I just assumed 2 four foot would be close to 1 eight foot? The system I have reaches out extremely good. I just want to pull more in then what I am now.

I seen the predator 10k and have to say it's not ugly at all. The ugly part is the price! I was thinking of 2 fiberglass long antennas myself. I keep seeing people rave about the Wilson silver. Not looking to cheap out on things hell I got a $600 setup right now. I just want a little more pull if not a lot more pull. Then again I was testing it in a suv not my Pete.

I forgot to add the previous owner had it tuned to the Wilson magnetic 1k whip already. Not to sound totally stupid but if and when I figure a new antenna setup how do I go about tuning it for it? Or is that something I need to take to a shop?
 
Ruffy said:
I was thinking 2 would come close to doubling the range?
Click to expand...

Sorry, it doesn't work that way, but it would be nice if it did wouldn't it?

Ruffy said:
I read up on here longer is better so I just assumed 2 four foot would be close to 1 eight foot?
Click to expand...

Length does matter, but two four foot antennas does not equal one eight foot antenna, or anything like an eight foot antenna.

Ruffy said:
The system I have reaches out extremely good. I just want to pull more in then what I am now.
Click to expand...

When it comes to antennas, they transmit and receive equally well. If you want to improve an antenna you need a longer antenna.


The DB
 
Range is not 'set' by any means, it always varies according to propagation or band conditions. Your antenna system does have an affect on range, but it's not as much of a determinant as propagation.
An antenna is tuned/adjusted so that it works well on some frequency or band of frequencies. That tuning/adjusting can get complicated real quick because you're actually doing two things in the process. One of those things is making that antenna resonant, making it the right length for the frequency/band. The other part involves SWR measuring, which is matching the impedance of the antenna to the rest of the system (50 ohms). SWR is a terrible way of optimizing an antenna, it only concerns half of the process. A low SWR does NOT mean the antenna is resonant. Confused yet? So don't worry about it, everybody's in the same boat mostly.
Have fun...
- 'Doc
 
Ruffy said:
I will check it out but I really don't like reading what one man says about something. I like different opinions on what others have tried.
Click to expand...

heres what i tried
1.k40 mag mount =good price [then] work good . only for low power.
2.wilson 1000/5000=these i find to perform the same. if there was a difference
it was so small it wasnt detechable
3. sirio z180-though no longer made i replaced my wilsons after 15 plus years ofusing them
sirio did slightly better . best of all it would cover more channels with a lower swr
than the wilson or k40.
4.monkey made mm9 =this one seems to be as good as the sirio which is 6 1/2 feet tall
and the mm9 was only 5.5 -6 feet tall. it handles more power than any others i listed
but only covers the standard 40 channels. and very heavy.
5. ole faithful 102 very close to the mm9 ,maybe too close to call . at nearly 9 feet
its usually too big for most installs.
on another note most of the open coil antennas will/should perform about the same
if the overall lenth is the same. knowing what i now i wouldnt buy another monkeymade
there too heavy and mine leaks water. IF i were to use one it probaly be a 10k or mr.coily
 
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Anytime you think about buying a new mobile antenna, remember you already bought half of the antenna the day you purchased the vehicle and be sure to use it to your maximum advantage. Just about every one of these antennas is a variation of the 1/4 wave Ground Plane Antenna. Where the metal surfaces directly under the antenna form a ground plane that makes up the other half of your mobile antenna.

The idea here is this ground plane acts like an "electronic mirror" under the antenna making it appear twice as long, like a 1/2 wave to the signals. When you stand completely off to one side of a mirror, can you see all of yourself? The same problem happens when we place antennas on mirror mounts that are on the outside edges of the vehicle. Even though it may be a "mirror mount" the antenna above it sees little reflection of itself.

This is the main reason dual antennas fail to provide the anticipated improvement on just about every vehicle. The small gain that could be expected from the pair of antennas is negated by the fact neither of them have adequate ground planes underneath. Two poorly located antennas will always be beat by one properly mounted antenna centered on the roof, cab, or trunk lid.

Then there is the question of how long an antenna should you buy? Obviously the 102 inch whip with a spring is going to work better than a Wilson 1000 in the center of the roof but we have to balance performance against what's practical. As long as the antenna is 5 feet or more, you should get good results. Going shorter than this will begin to noticeably degrade performance.

Shorter antennas work because they have part of the antenna in the form of a coil. Where this coil is located makes a difference too. Base, center and top loading coils all have their advantages and disadvantages. In theory the top loading coil is best because it's more sensitive higher in the clear. It overlooks things like placing the coil under more stress and causing heating loss if the wire is too thin or light. Narrower bandwidth and touchy SWR setting is common too.

Center loading is often seen as the best compromise but it too can be tricky with setting the SWR since the precise location the coil is placed above the metal ground plane effects the match. I'm still in favor of the base loaded antenna in most applications for two reasons. It allows a tap on the coil to ground. Permitting a perfect 50 ohm match to be achieved. Base loading is also the most durable with just a metal whip that can hit bridges and trees without damage most of the time.

With all this in mind you're probably not going to get much better results than you see with the Wilson 1000. Yes the Wilson 5000 or Sirio 5000 are even better but it's not night and day by any means. Although, there is a world of difference in the quality of the Sirio 5000 versus the Wilson. If you don't want a pile of rust under the magnet or your solder connections to go bad in a year, avoid the Wilson and buy the Sirio.
 
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