Little Wil- High SWR When Antenna Moves

[GigaFish]

Hey everyone!
I finally have got my radio sorted out, and now (naturally) am having antenna issues. I have been running a Little Wil on my truck for a few months now, and thought all was performing flawlessly. Was getting a little work done on my radio recently and my guy at the shop wanted to hook his meter up to my antenna- no biggie. SWR was good, but then he told me to "whip" the antenna as if I were driving (I did not hold onto it), and my SWR jumped up past 10 with each motion of the antenna. He said that it likely was "shorting to ground", and that this was a common problem with the new WIlson antennas, and that they are having a high failure rate. I am still very new to this, and just wanted to make sure I am not getting duped into a new antenna. I did hook my little meter up and was able to duplicate the issue.

Went to the truck stop (shop doesn't sell antennas, says he can't compete with truck stop prices) and picked up a K30 because the Little Wil's were all sold out. Hooked it up, and, sure enough, there was not nearly as much oscillation of the meter when I whipped the antenna.

All is good, right? Not quite; Got home before I realized that the K30 doesn't pick up NOAA stations for SQUAT, I can't get one of the stations compared to the 6 that the Wil gets.I guess at this point, I am gonna be returning both.

Is my best bet to just get another Little Wil and test it in the parking lot?
Thanks for helping me with all this; I have been enjoying learning more and more.

[jessejamesdallas]

When the whip of the antenna "moves", if your looking at a SWR meter, the needle is going to jump around some...That's just normal.

I agree tho that the Wilson antenna's are crap...and the lil Wilson at the top of the crap-list...K40's ranks right up there with Wilson too...

Check out the Sirio line of antenna's...Made in Italy, about the same price range as the Wilson 5000, but better built...(also taller than the Wilsons, but that's a good thing.)

[The DB]

What kind of meter did he use? Was it a standard meter that you need to set the forward then flip a switch to check SWR (or a standard SWR meter)? Or was it an antenna analyzer like the MFJ259b?

If it was a meter that you need to set the forward before flipping a switch to check SWR this information is no good. If it were an antenna analyzer type meter then he may well be right.

That being said, I have not personally seen that as a problem with these antennas, so his "common problem" has been so common with the ones I have looked at...


The DB

[GigaFish]

Thanks for the replies! I figured some movement was normal, this one was pegging his out as it whipped.
I believe it was the exact analyzer you posted, the MFJ259b. It is good to know that data from a little meter can't be trusted for this, as that is all I have and wasn't sure there was a difference in what they were doing. I guess with these cheap antennas, it does come down to quality/quantity.

[DevilDog66]

Definitely check out the Sirio's, I have a Sirio Performer 5000 Fighter edition and that antenna is a boomer! Right out the box I had a 1.1 to a 1.2 SWRs across the 11 meter band! The RX on my Uniden 980SSB is pretty darn good stock but after I matched it with the Sirio nuff said! Oh and by the way the TX range I think probably doubled and I live in a heavy urban environment, I regularly talk to stations 8-10 miles without a "box" just a power mic.

[MDYoungblood]

Yes the SWR will deviate when the whip is swaying, more so with short antennas, what is happening is the radiation pattern is changing and so does the meter's calibration. Longer antennas do the same thing but the SWR should stay in an acceptable level. I've never really been a fan of the radios with the NOAA channels, those receivers are too cheaply made, the smart phone app's are much better. I don't have a clue why it won't receive using the CB antenna, there is nothing that needs to be tuned for their frequency because it is just a receiver, you could stick a #2 pencil in the center pin and receive, (try it).

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

Yes the SWR will deviate when the whip is swaying, more so with short antennas, what is happening is the radiation pattern is changing and so does the meter's calibration. Longer antennas do the same thing but the SWR should stay in an acceptable level. I've never really been a fan of the radios with the NOAA channels, those receivers are too cheaply made, the smart phone app's are much better. I don't have a clue why it won't receive using the CB antenna, there is nothing that needs to be tuned for their frequency because it is just a receiver, you could stick a #2 pencil in the center pin and receive, (try it).

3's

Greg

I've ran into that problem more than once with some antennas not matching up with NOAA weather channels. Most recently my RCI 2980wx the weather channels won't work with my MaCo shooting star...wouldn't work when I had my L4 quad up either...but did work with my Mr.coily ground plane antenna.

[ Post made via Samsung Galaxy S5 Active ]

[GigaFish]

I am not sure why the NOAA channels don't work with it either! I know it isn't a huge deal, I guess I just want it to work since the radio has it built in! Now I am experiencing a new issue that may be best mentioned in a new thread. Using either antenna (Wilson or K30), the radio now isn't showing any "output" when going into transmit; it does say the word "transmitting". However, I hooked a spare setup up in another vehicle and I could still hear myself fine coming from my radio, and it still shows power on an external little meter. Just the tx "bar" on screen does not show anything.

[443 Arizona]

Wilson antenna's are crap...
Sirio .Made in Italy, about the same price as the Wilson 5000, but better built.

i am just wondering what makes them better, the lack of silver contacts or made in a fer'in country or what? just askin,
if somebody wants to send me a sirio i'll compare it to a 5000. might have to wait a few weeks for the lightning strike test, but the baseball bat test is easy enough. as for structural integrity, well if thats an issue now with newer wilsons then that i have not heard of that.
i will just have to take each one apart to test all that, so somebody should send at least 2 of each, heck make it a dozen each.
i think they are within a few inches of each other in heigth,,,so maybe no perceivable performance difference there.
i'm sure i can test the theft aspect of them over in south phoenix or Mesaco could also incorporate the bullet deflection test
any other tests ???

[jessejamesdallas]

Wilson antenna's are crap...
Sirio .Made in Italy, about the same price as the Wilson 5000, but better built.

i am just wondering what makes them better, the lack of silver contacts or made in a fer'in country or what? just askin,
if somebody wants to send me a sirio i'll compare it to a 5000. might have to wait a few weeks for the lightning strike test, but the baseball bat test is easy enough. as for structural integrity, well if thats an issue now with newer wilsons then that i have not heard of that.
i will just have to take each one apart to test all that, so somebody should send at least 2 of each, heck make it a dozen each.
i think they are within a few inches of each other in heigth,,,so maybe no perceivable performance difference there.
i'm sure i can test the theft aspect of them over in south phoenix or Mesaco could also incorporate the bullet deflection test
any other tests ???

Several things make them "better"...

They tune taller
Water tight.
Better "Quality Control dept."

Just a Superior built product....

[The DB]

Wilson antenna's are crap...
Sirio .Made in Italy, about the same price as the Wilson 5000, but better built.

i am just wondering what makes them better, the lack of silver contacts or made in a fer'in country or what? just askin,
if somebody wants to send me a sirio i'll compare it to a 5000. might have to wait a few weeks for the lightning strike test, but the baseball bat test is easy enough. as for structural integrity, well if thats an issue now with newer wilsons then that i have not heard of that.
i will just have to take each one apart to test all that, so somebody should send at least 2 of each, heck make it a dozen each.
i think they are within a few inches of each other in heigth,,,so maybe no perceivable performance difference there.
i'm sure i can test the theft aspect of them over in south phoenix or Mesaco could also incorporate the bullet deflection test
any other tests ???

Several things make them "better"...

They tune taller
Water tight.
Better "Quality Control dept."

Just a Superior built product....

Need a like button... See this as me liking jjd's post.

Their are plenty of reports here and elsewhere of people who have switched from the Wilson to the Sirio and many of them report better results. No one has reported worse results, well to my knowledge anyway.

Their is a seven inch difference between the antennas, at least that is what I measured the last time I had the two of them side by side (that is magnet mount and all). To many that is more than a "few inches" of each other. If they were mounted 30 feet off the ground then I agree that you wouldn't notice any difference in performance, but being near the earth makes smaller changes like this much more noticeable. That is just the nature of having an antenna mounted that close to the earth.

I see no good reason for anyone who has made the change to go back.

As someone who had handled and tuned their fair share of both of these antennas, I will agree that the Sirio is the better built antenna, their really is no comparison, but then I always thought the Wilson's felt cheaply made.

And I don't have a dog in this race, I am a fanboy of either as I run a 102" whip mounted on the roof of my SUV.

As long as you don't have a problem either choice is a good option, but if you are buying knew I recommend the Sirio over the Wilson as, from first hand experience working with both, it is the superior antenna in pretty much every way, shape, and form.


The DB