Wilson Fiberglass antennas beware

[Rat]

Ok it has been about 2 to 3 months since I got my 5 ft wilson FGT series antennas. In that time frame I have had two bad ones. One was bad right out of the packing and the other went bad on me two days ago.


The first sign was high SWRs. I pulled the antennas checked continuity between the tip and the base. One of them was open. I cut the heat shrink off around the base of the antenna and the main antenna wire solder joint was broken off.


This is the second time this has happened to me and I have not hit any trees or anything.

[Truckerjo]

I had a T600 and to be honest the way the mirror sit a coiled antenna does not work very well because your unable to get the coil above the roof line (you will get SWR bounce)... Anyways 5 foot is a decent option for that type of truck and I tried the wilson as well... They are poor quality and I did not have much luck with them..
I ordered a Shakespeare 5' online and it worked well... They are very common and you can Google it.

[thetez]

i have 2 Wilson Silverloads 4'ers that i have had for over a year.... They have never given me and problems... they are still working just as great as the day i installed them, i recommend them to everyone, and anyone who has bought one has no complaints either, they are actually very happy with them.... but these are 4'ers ... a lot less stress i guess especially if you hit a branch or something... ... a foot less likely too...

[Rat]

Well I got the 5 ft antennas because I was running a condo Volvo at the time but I was moved into a 379 right after I got the antennas.

I remember when I first tried tuning them out of the package. One tuned down just fine but the other was off the charts on the SWR meter. I used an DVOM to check the antenna and it was open (No continuity) between the tuning tip and the base. This was a sign that something was wrong. I pulled the bottom 2 inches of heat shrink off of it and found the solder joint bad were the main wire soldered to the base. I repaired it and rewrapped it. I kept it as a spare, just in case. In the mean time I had gotten another new one. Well the newest one just went bad in the same place. It is now repaired but I am out of the larger heat shrink right now so I will finish it up tomorrow.

[thetez]

ouch... sorry you had bad experiences.... ive never had a problem and i am glad... . but come on when they work how great do they work???

i have actually thought about getting the 5'ers to help my range and all that...

[Rat]

They work great when they are not broken. One thing about longer antennas is that the SWRs seem to go up when doing highway speeds. They flex back to the stacks almost on the highway. The SWRs don't go real high but they do go up about .1-.2 or so. They come back down to perfect when sitting still.

I might try to bullhorn them about 10 degrees and see if that helps the moving SWRs.

I just need to figure out a good way of doing it. I could go with clamp on mounts rather then the stock mirror mount on the Pete (You can't bend the stock mounts as it is also the bracket for the mirror) but then the antennas would have to be moved in slightly which brings them too close to each other.

I might try and make some ten degree bent studs.

[thetez]

antenna theory isnt law.... ive got my dual wilsons on my 4 wheeler and they are closer than 6 feet, they work amaizing.... majority of the numbers you are given for setting up your station, dont necessarily play part in how well it performs.