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ok guys finished my wilson 5000 vs radio shack antenna test

T

trailrider

Member
Jul 22, 2012
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ok everyone as i promised i finally finished my unscientific test of these two antenna's. basically the same length antenna except' the radio shack all terrain has a smaller base load. since the meter said the wilson was at 1.2 swr i adjusted the radio shack antenna as close as possible to 1.2 swr also.
I then mounted the radio shack antenna in a 5" mag mount' since the wilson is already mag mounted. so far as equal as i can make the two antennas.
the test. my son and i went out to interstate 10 in anahuac texas. from there to winnie texas is 20 miles of straight flat unobstructed highway. we set the radios on channel 20 dead center of the cb band. we mounted the radio shack antenna on top and in the middle of his pick-up cab. his radio a bone stock cobra 25. his instructions were to drive toward winnie untill i could no longer here him taking to me then stop. then remove the first antenna and replace it with the wilson and see if i could here him then.

well he got almost 8 miles when he died out. and even after changing to the wilson i still could not here him.

my conclusion of this test..... from a bone stock radio' i can't justify the expense of the wilson vs a 22 dollar radio shack antenna. at least from a transmit range. will it hear better?? i don't know i didn't test that. i'm sure where you will see a major difference and be able to justify the expence of the wilson with it's larger coil is if you have a radio pushing power.
 

Kinda funny how it all works and alol the antennas available today offbrand or name brand if the thing works and a person makes the contacts that he wants to then thats all a person can ask for ;)
 
Similar lengths of antennas should perform similarly. Just because one antenna costs twice as much does really mean anything.

I'm curious which specific radio shack antenna you used. If you still have the packaging you wouldn't have the part number for that antenna would you? It is a two digit number likely followed by a three digit number. Just looking for a reference for comparisons sake.


The DB
 
The DB said:
Similar lengths of antennas should perform similarly. Just because one antenna costs twice as much does really mean anything.

I'm curious which specific radio shack antenna you used. If you still have the packaging you wouldn't have the part number for that antenna would you? It is a two digit number likely followed by a three digit number. Just looking for a reference for comparisons sake.


The DB
Click to expand...




i'm pretty sure the number was 21-988 hope this helps
 
If you mean the brand 'Hamstick', then that RS antenna isn't one. A 'Hamstick' is a helically wound antenna like a Francis. That RS antenna is a steel whip with a loading coil at the bottom. That coil is long and skinny, not as 'fat' as some other types. It provides the required inductance, which is all any loading coil does.
It isn't a 1/4 wave, or any of the other classic lengths. You can make anything radiate if you load it right.
- 'Doc
 
I was in a Ham Radio Outlet a long time ago...they had a clone of that RS antenna posted above (in fact, a few dozen of them) in a 5 gallon bucket with a sign of "Ham Stick" on it. That's where I got the name...but nevertheless, it is a pretty common-looking (read: available under many brand names) antenna.

My point was, its not anything unique...
 
W5LZ said:
If you mean the brand 'Hamstick', then that RS antenna isn't one. A 'Hamstick' is a helically wound antenna like a Francis. That RS antenna is a steel whip with a loading coil at the bottom. That coil is long and skinny, not as 'fat' as some other types. It provides the required inductance, which is all any loading coil does.
It isn't a 1/4 wave, or any of the other classic lengths. You can make anything radiate if you load it right.
- 'Doc
Click to expand...
I use this R.S antenna it works unbeleivabley good. I am also hearing that it is popular with the off roading crew. I use this antenna with the older Cobra 29 with a Super star DM-5000 and a RM Italy 203. Talking to some base stations aprox. 50 miles away in my driveway and then on my base there is hardly any difference in signal strength.
 
here is a little side note about the RS antenna. my 18 wheeler is set up so my stereo also uses a cb antenna. just for giggles i removed the 3 foot botton load steel whip i normally use for my stereo and replaced it with the 64" RS antenna. the increase in recieve was unbelieveable. since i know where my normal houston stations die out at as i leave town' I was amazed that these same stations could be picked up anywhere from 30 to 50 miles farther. last friday i listened to a houston station while i was in autin tx. I would have not believed that possible' but i heard it for myself. so now i own two of these antennas and they have now replaced my 3 footers for my cb. this puts them right at 13' 6" high at the tip. I don't know how much better they will transmit vs the 3 footers' but i have no doubt they will hear better.
 
trailrider said:
here is a little side note about the RS antenna. my 18 wheeler is set up so my stereo also uses a cb antenna. just for giggles i removed the 3 foot botton load steel whip i normally use for my stereo and replaced it with the 64" RS antenna. the increase in recieve was unbelieveable. since i know where my normal houston stations die out at as i leave town' I was amazed that these same stations could be picked up anywhere from 30 to 50 miles farther. last friday i listened to a houston station while i was in autin tx. I would have not believed that possible' but i heard it for myself. so now i own two of these antennas and they have now replaced my 3 footers for my cb. this puts them right at 13' 6" high at the tip. I don't know how much better they will transmit vs the 3 footers' but i have no doubt they will hear better.
Click to expand...

A 3 ft long antenna is truly a waste of money, time, and effort as far as transmitting and receiving is concerned. The longer; the better . . .
 
for along time i ran the wilson 4 foot silver load fiberglass antennas, but that got expensive trying to replace them all the time from low flying tree limbs breaking them. so i changed to the 20 dollar 3 foot stainless whips. well since finding these for basically the same price almost twice as long' im going to give these a shot. I know they are going to hit some limbs but maybe they will be flexable enough to survive. if necessary i might add some small springs below them for flexability. not really keen on that idea though.
 

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