Running Antenna Wires

damn in my 337 that hutch doesn't go all the way up. I wonder if there is a better place to put everything? I was hoping for a central location so that the wifi would be well covered.

My other thought was to use a floor cabinet in the hutch and come in from the basement.

What do you all think?
 
I want to put a painters pole on the ladder, which let's me raise up the Weboost antenna. Anyone do something similar? I was thinking of running the cable through the bunkhouse (I have the 311bhs).
 
I don't think elevation is as important to hi-gain cell antennas. I mounted my trucker antenna on the ladder and brought the lead in through the hole left by the backup camera. I also have an extendable PVC mast attached to the ladder that I usually use as a flagpole, but is also available for my diretional cell antenna. Should I need the directional antenna (which uses very large coax about the size of my thumb) I bring it through the slide seal. I hook up the coax then raise the mast as high as the coax will allow.
 
I've actually tested it, and the height had a fairly significant effect on upload speed. 5mbps upload with no boost, 10 with boost, 15 with boost and antenna fully extended.
 
I don't think elevation is as important to hi-gain cell antennas. I mounted my trucker antenna on the ladder and brought the lead in through the hole left by the backup camera. I also have an extendable PVC mast attached to the ladder that I usually use as a flagpole, but is also available for my diretional cell antenna. Should I need the directional antenna (which uses very large coax about the size of my thumb) I bring it through the slide seal. I hook up the coax then raise the mast as high as the coax will allow.

John and Jean, Sorry to be 6 months late to the thread but I'm considering the same flagpole arrangement for my cell booster but I'm wondering where you found 12v in the rear of the rig. My 303 has 12v lights over the rear couch with a switch but I'm not sure where I'd find unswitched 12v power for the router. My wife won't be happy with random holes in the bottom of cabinets. Thank you in advance for your help!!

Don
 
Lots of places to pick up 12 volts - as long as you don't need much amperage.

I usually look for the closest light switch or surface mount light. Get a handful of different size butt crimp connectors and a (good) crimper and go to work. Easy to remove the connector and add a third wire and install a new connector. Sometimes, like in a slide, surface mount conduit makes a neater installation and is much easier than fishing a wire through the wall.

I haven't tapped the light circuit over the sofa (yet) and usually get power from the little cabinet above the TV. Still trying to figure out where to mount the plugs - I don't think the bottom of the cabinet is deep enough.

I've installed half a dozen of the USB and cigarette lighter plug socket things from Amazon. Even easier in some cases, I have an inverter for each TV and both of them have USB ports. No more often than we dry camp these work well.

FWIW, I attached my trucker antenna to the ladder then ran the cable over to the backup camera mount through the split loom that I attached to the exterior to run the video and power wires. The camera is powered from the truck and I fished the antenna coax through the hole under the camera and brought it out in the cabinet. There is also a 12volt wire pair for the camera, but they are pretty light wires and I don't use them. On the rare occasions that I use the directional antenna on the flagpole, I bring the (fat) coax through the slide seal and there are several power sources within reach for the cell booster.
 
John and Jean, Sorry to be 6 months late to the thread but I'm considering the same flagpole arrangement for my cell booster but I'm wondering where you found 12v in the rear of the rig. My 303 has 12v lights over the rear couch with a switch but I'm not sure where I'd find unswitched 12v power for the router. My wife won't be happy with random holes in the bottom of cabinets. Thank you in advance for your help!!

Don

In my testing, I actually found the height to make a big difference, mostly in the upload speed. I've gone from 1-2 megabits up to 12+ just by raising up the antenna. I was in a marginal signal area with trees around.
 
This may be old news, but I wouldn't worry about where in the RV you put your WiFi router. They usually have a range of 200 feet or more and I can usually pick mine up 3 or 4 campsites away. A few feet of distance inside the RV isn't going to matter.
 

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