Show Us Your Rig [8]

ThrashZone said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

ThrashZone said:

Wow that just shows my network is too simple :)
Yikes wireless I dread those type of internet connections they are so weather sensitive almost as bad as dish :/

Nothing wrong with simplicity as long as it meets your needs.

The outdoor antenna is for a cell phone connection and, so far, weather hasn't been a problem.

I'm still worried about how well an indoor antenna will hold up to my harsh climate. Again, does anyone have any ideas for how to protect the antenna from the elements?

Not much other than getting a exterior grade antenna :/

Any suggestions? The only ones I saw that came close were too heavy for the connection. The existing antenna is five inches long if it tries hard and weighs a whopping 1.5 oz. The smallest outdoor whip I could find was was 15" long and weighed well over a pound.

That doesn't sound very heavy 1lb :/
I'd also be weary of attaching antenna's on the side of a house anyway they make very good lightening rods
Seeing the house is already aluminum ?

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/696075

ThrashZone said:

That doesn't sound very heavy 1lb :/
I'd also be weary of attaching antenna's on the side of a house anyway they make very good lightening rods
Seeing the house is already aluminum ?

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/696075

No, it's not heavy except that the aluminum that would be supporting it is very thin and would not be able to support that kind of weight.

Thanks for the link. Sadly, the links it has are out of date. I tried Sierra Wireless' site directly but it was hopeless to find anything on it (heck, it didn't even have a search engine).

I'm looking into mounting an antenna directly to the edge of the roof and running a short cable from it to the bulkhead connector on the side of the trailer where the present antenna is mounted. Before going to that extreme, I'll wait a while to see how well the one there holds up to the weather. I'm not worried about lightning on the present one since it sticks up over the edge of the roof only a couple of inches. The one I found would stick up only 19". My TV antenna sticks up five feet (at night, in the moonlight, it looks like a small flying saucer is hovering over the house). There are tall palm trees either side of my home that would catch a lightning strike first.

Yea I'd ask Verizon a couple of the links worked I wasn't sure if they were just boosters or what :/

Lady Fitzgerald said:

...I have one problem, though. The antenna is a hard plastic indoor antenna and I don't know how long it will last out in the weather; the sun here in AZ can get pretty ferocious. I've been racking my brain (all three cells of it) for some way to weatherproof it. I thought maybe paint but paint pigments are either metallic or carbon and would cut signal strength. I don't think clear paint is UV resistant. Dipt (liquid vinyl coating) will weather pretty quickly. This is what the antenna looks like up close:

Attachment 381204

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Well, my search for a suitable outdoor antenna was fruitless but I may have come across a way to weatherproof the existing antenna. The old product I used to use for dipping tool handles was just a vinyl product and wouldn't weather well but there is a newer coating out—Plasti dip—that is supposed to be far more durable. A lot of car enthusiasts use it to protect and enhance car rims, logos, body panels, and even entire car bodies and it holds up for a year or more under that harsh of an application so I got a can of the stuff.

Since I couldn't get an extra antenna from Huawei or Straight Talk, I bought another transceiver just for the antenna, although I'll be keeping the transceiver for a spare (although I paid $30 for the package, it came with a $15 airtime card as part of the promo so the antenna cost only $15 and the transceiver was free...or was it the other way around?), tied a string on the connector end and masked off the connector with electrical tape, then dipped five coats of the stuff onto the antenna, letting it dry 45 minutes between coats. After letting it dry for four hours, I cut away the coating over the connector. This is the result:



I tested it inside the house by disconnecting the outside antenna cable from the transceiver and connecting the coated antenna to the transceiver. When I first got the transceiver, the antenna was able to get one bar of reception inside (the reception strength, from low to high, is one blinking bar, one bar, and two bars). The coated antenna also got one bar so the coating didn't affect signal strength any. I'll have to swap out the coated antenna with the one that is currently outside later (I just don't feel like dragging out and climbing the ladder today). Time will tell how well the coating will hold up to the weather but it should last at least a year, hopefully more. If it does fail, at least the coating will be easy to peel off.

Plasti dip is incredibly durable it's used for covering cars and what not for months.

Cleaned the rig today just before it started to drizzle !

Looking good Alan :)

Nice case Alan, have the same one. It's heavy.

Thanks guys,
Cheers for that. The case is very heavy but having that handle makes all the difference in the world. As does an air compressor for that matter.