wilson on the roof or 102" whip on the toolbox

[loosecannon]

hi all,

i will soon be purchasing a 2003 chevy S10 pickup from an associate.

this truck will come with an aluminum toolbox mounted in the bed.

i am debating whether i want to mount my wilson 5000 on the roof of the cab (roof mount) or if i want to mount a 102" whip to the rear side of the toolbox.

i dont really care about the height difference or the difficulty of installation.

i just wanted to get some other opinions on which matters more, the loading coil of the wilson, or the first foot of the 102" whip being below the cab of the truck and about 18" or so to the rear of it.

the way i see it, the 102" whip would be better even if its performance was hindered a bit by its location, but i have never mounted a 102" whip in this location before.

so what do others think?
im just bouncing ideas around my brain at this point.
thanks for any and all input,
LC

 

[Robb]

If height is might, and a large surface area for the ground plane is best - I'd do the Wilson 5000 on the roof. Besides, a 102" whip moves an awful lot when driving. Maybe you can mount the 102" on the roof and have the best of both?!?

 

[Lazybones1222]

I had a Wison 5000 and a 102" steel whip on the same truck at different times. 102" whip was best for my situation.

 

[nat19]

Both are great antennas the 102 whip sways a lot but I personally like it better than the wilson. It is really up to you. You will get great results from both antennas.

 

[W5LZ]

Which would you prefer? That's the one I'd get.
- 'Doc

 

[loosecannon]

thanks for the laugh doc.

i already own both antennas.

i was already 90% sure i was going to go with the 102" whip before i started this thread.
sometimes i post things with future "info seekers" in mind.

on my last vehicle i had the wilson 5000 hard mounted to the roof. (car was a 4 door sedan)
i made a mount so i could screw my 102" whip to the wilson mount for when i was sitting still shooting skip.

i did this for just under a year, and in all that time, the 102" whip was 1/2 an S-unit stronger on receive than the wilson 5000.
consistently.

to me that says that the wilson actually has about a 3db loss when compared to a standard 1/4 wave radiator.

im pretty sure the difference in mounting a 102" whip on my roof or to the toolbox is not a 3db difference, i was just wondering if anyone had some experience or theoretical knowledge to tell me if im right about that or not.

thanks to all who responded,
LC

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

"the 102" whip was 1/2 an S-unit stronger on receive than the wilson 5000.
consistently.

to me that says that the wilson actually has about a 3db loss when compared to a standard 1/4 wave radiator.

im pretty sure the difference in mounting a 102" whip on my roof or to the toolbox is not a 3db difference, i was just wondering if anyone had some experience or theoretical knowledge to tell me if im right about that or not."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

keep in mind that meters arnt very accurate . some people have also said that some modern meters on radios are calibrated closer to 3 db per s-unit rather than 6 db per s-unit . IMO they are only accurate enough to be used as a reference to themselves for a particular location . when i put up my 5/8 wave i got reports from 0 up to 4 more s-units on the meters of folks in my area . i asked about this on the forum and someone replied that the lowering of the lobes (by going to the 5/8 over the 1/4) in the signal could add 20 db to a local signal , which would match close enough with the 4 s-unit (which = 24 db) some folks claimed . i dont know enough to know if thats exactly right or not , but i do know i had a very very noticable difference in how far i could talk barefooted and with power without skip and my ears picked up a whole lot to . so maybe there is a difference in the lobes with the 102 giving it a edge over the wilson .

i dont know if this is knowledge or not , but it will either help you or cause more confusion . LOL