Paddle-shaped antennae on vehicles - cell booster?

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
No pictures, but lately I've seen a lot of vehicles with an antenna that is about 4' long and has a very large cylinder or paddle-looking thing at the top. Curious about what they are - is that some kind of radio antenna or is it a cell phone or cellular internet booster?
 

dstefan

Well-known member
If it looks like this its definitely a WeBoost, or at least their truckers antenna.
We spent 12 days in early May up in the SR Swell and the Maze. the crazy UT spring winds were intense at times with two significant dust events. REALLY made me want to check the forecast. We were in several area where there was faint cell signals, but not strong enough to get a forecast. So, I did this:
View attachment 726099
View attachment 726100
I had Jay install the awning (shipped straight to him during the build) and they did me a big favor by not using the two mounts (10 lbs!) designed for roof racks that came with it. They made two light, but stout alu brackets:
View attachment 726101
There are two corresponding brackets on the awning:
View attachment 726102
The vertical wall sticking up has two holes and the two halves of the bracket mate when mounted and are secured with two bolts per bracket. Its a bit fiddly to take it down and put up, but not really hard. Great mounting system.

I made a bracket out of 2”x3” 3/16 alu angle I had left from another small project and made an antenna mount that bolted on to the back of the D side bracket on the awning using the top existing bolt from the awning and added two more. Like a dummy, I didn’t take a picture of that detail.

View attachment 726103

I attached a scrap piece of 1 sided track 8020 15 series and bought an 8020 15 series pivot hinge to mount to it. Used another piece of the 2x3 alu angle for the top bracket the antenna is bolted into. It’s all very heavy duty. Thought about using the Rhino Rack antenna mount, but it was $100 vs $25 for the 8020 and sold out everywhere. May switch to it later if needed. It’s marginally easier to use as it has a knob to tighten and the 8020 hinge needs an allen wrench or hex head bit, but otherwise the 8020 one is real easy to raise and lower.
View attachment 726104
Drilled a 3/8s hole with a grommet (circled on red in earlier picture) for the cable pass through. Went larger than the WeBoost cable needed to allow for stubbing out wires for a future flood light. I also tapped the four end holes in the 8020 flat extrusion in the mounting bracket to attach the flood …somehow.

Used 3m 4200 adhesive/caulk and Butyl tape inside on top to seal the hole. Was gonna use a cable gland for the pass through, but side entry ones bend the cable too much and the top entry one I did get was too thick to fit behind the awning and not crimp the cable, so went with the marine vent cover. BTW the ugly caulk job on the awning track is my doing, not Jay’s!

The antenna cable is just routed along my other wires under the bed rail and terminates at the booster box next to my batterybox. I decided not to try to take this into the cab. I may add a mobile router later.

I used both antenna exensions for a 43” reach to clear the camper top when raise. I don’t plan to drive with it raised, but guess I could, at least according to WeBoost.

My house has terrible cell reception. Trying it in my driveway, it was able to boost 1 bar to 3, and in multiple speed tests went from ~5 mbps speeds 4g/LTE to ~15- 20 mbps, so it works! It even works a bit with the antenna folded down. Should make some difference at times in the wild. YMMV!


I’ve been real satisfied with mine. Wont conjure up a signal out of nothing, but typically if there’s a little signal it will make it better to a lot better.
 
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Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
If it looks like this its definitely a WeBoost, or at least their truckers antenna.



I’ve been real satisfied with mine. Wont conjure up a signal out of nothing, but typically if there’s a little signal it will make it netter to a lot better.

Interesting. Does it attach to your phone or does it just reflect signals? is it powered?
 

4000lbsOfGoat

Well-known member
Interesting. Does it attach to your phone or does it just reflect signals? is it powered?
They are powered.

It doesn't "attach" to the phone physically. The system has 3 components -
1) an outside antenna (what this post is about)
2) an amplifier
3) an inside antenna

The outside antenna picks up the cell signal, the amplifier boosts the signal and the inside antenna then provides the boosted signal inside the vehicle. Your phone then needs to be near the inside antenna (the closer the better) in order to pick up the boosted signal from the inside antenna.

In my experience the weBoost will often bring "one bar" of service up to "four bars".
 

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