Ours GFC is going on a Jeep Gladiator, so the normal magnet on the roof of the truck won’t work.
Looking at options for mounting up the weBoost, and not sure if we want to rig it through the Jeep or the GFC. Considering the 90 deg bracket and 4G OTR Antenna Truck Edition as a way to mount the external antenna.
The benefit to being inside the truck is easy of turning on while driving, though with the AUX switch I would make it work. The benefit of inside the GFC is that it would be easy to turn on and strongest when working on a laptop in the back.
We loved the one in our van, and found the inside antenna broadcasts a big enough range that we think it being near the GFC window should punch through enough into the cab to work up front and cover the camper, or if we mount behind the back seat of the truck that it should punch into the camper well enough.
I’ve got the 4G OTR with the module and internal antenna mounted in the gfc. I mounted the external antenna to the upper extrusion on the gfc using some ram ball mounts so I can lay it flat over my awning when not in use or flip it up when necessary.
Although the internal antenna is mounted pretty close to the cab in the gfc, I’ve found that it doesn’t seem to work when in the cab. I plan to get a second antenna to mount in the cab when driving.
I ran mine down the black roof rack mount track, down the edge of the windshield, through the hood into the cab and under passenger seat. Power comes from the standard cigarette outlet. Fastened it to the extrusion with a piece of 1.5" aluminum angle…basically a ghetto GFC antenna mount. Typically just is sit the phone by the interior antenna and use the phone on speaker, the hands free in the truck or tethered to the iPad.
We run the Drive Reach under the driver’s seat, with the 4G OTR antenna (with the spring, which has come in handy the couple times I’ve forgotten it was up there on the trail ) mounted to the GFC antenna mount. Just ran the cable through the driver’s side door seal under the rain gutter.
I did disassemble the 12v power adapter and hardwired it to 12v ingition switched power, so we could still use our single solitary 12v port (80s truck problems) for other stuff in the cab.
We really had pretty low expectations as most of the boosters we’ve used over the years have been more-or-less useless, but with our current setup we feel it was worth the investment.
It doesn’t create a signal where there isn’t one, but during the month we spent exploring Idaho/Montana/Wyoming there were numerous instances where it took a nearly non-existent signal and made it usable enough to work remotely.
Awesome, thanks for that link. (Also “thanks” for another website to spend a couple hours exploring…)
Any experience with the Reach Extreme? I was thinking of putting it behind the rear seat to hopefully get signal to the cab and the camper. I did see your admonition to put the phone directly on the antenna, but was wondering if this more powerful interior antenna might work.
I did a little research today and the main difference I see been reach and reach extreme are the antennas. Extreme versions (RV or marine) have a higher powered and much larger interior antenna (white box vs small black puck antenna).
Looks like in order to meet FCC regulations the large interior antenna is limited to a lower power when the device is moving but can output more power when stationary. The difference in operation appears to be a way to utilize more power output that is allowed in buildings vs lower limits in mobile situations.
The difference between exterior antenna for reach vs otr and extreme versions are the smaller antenna in the reach vs large extendable otr antenna in the more expensive versions.
Personally I’ll probably pull the trigger on the Reach OTR on Monday (waiting to see if there will be a sale). If the interior antenna range is frustrating I can always upgrade to the larger antenna, looks like it costs the same as the price difference between the two kits.
I definitely wouldn’t count on getting good signal in between cab and camper though. A window will pass some signal but the panels will block most of it. I’m going to test run with a single interior puck in the cab, find it’s typical range, then buy a tap to route a second one to the camper.
Interesting idea to split to two pucks…that is why I was hoping the bigger extreme would cover both areas. I wonder if the extreme knows that you’re moving and automatically powers down? Would it make sense to argue starting with bigger and then splitting if needed?
I don’t know about sales, but if you sign up for their emails–or just leave it in your cart with your details but not finishing checkout–Wilson sends you a 5% off coupon. Better than a stick in the eye.
Yes, I agree that it would reduce coverage area of both lines that are split, but there could definitely be some benefit of having two locations. I’m imagining a signal bubble of two feet at each location; enough to get a useable signal while driving or using the common location in the back. That is why I mentioned my plan of testing the typical performance of the puck then deciding if I need to upgrade or if I can split the line into two locations.
Another option would be a switch instead of a tap. Any connector whether length of wire or adapter will drop signal strength there is no way around it. But I could take a minute loss and use an active switch to control which location is in use (cab vs camp) or if the power level is high enough I could use a tap and take the bigger hit against signal distance.
The size difference of the extreme is driving my answer to both your concerns. I definitely think that it uses part of the bigger footprint to hold some logic system (microcontroller, asic, etc) that controls power based on movement. No idea if it is using acceleration, GPS, or something I’m forgetting.
As for starting with extreme vs upgrading to extreme, personally I really don’t want to find a place for another big electronic box so I’m hoping that the puck is enough and potentially splitting it.
I just finished the majority of electrical upgrades on my truck (solar, 2 batteries, inverter, DC DC charger, control systems, the whole works) and my plan didn’t include locating another big box lol.
Despite the potentially stronger interior antenna with the RV extreme, we couldn’t get around the size for in-cab mounting either. And I’d suspect you’d still have to have the phone/hotspot on, or extremely close to, the broadcast antenna for it to still be effective.
Also, have you had any issues with the antenna being threatened by trees? The spring seems enormously strong, so much so that the plastic antenna breaks before the spring gives.
@Mercy: Yep, @jedgar got it - it’s the GFC mount and it works great. We’ve knocked it a few times at slow speeds on the trail and the antenna’s spring gave enough to forgive the impacts - but at higher speeds I’m sure it wouldn’t do much. Thankfully the antenna is relatively cheap compared to the booster itself.
) mounted to the GFC antenna mount. Just ran the cable through the driver’s side door seal under the rain gutter.