Review and Installation of Wilson Sleek and Directional Antenna: Part 2

by | Apr 22, 2015 | Boondocking, Communications: Mail & Cell, Uncategorized | 40 comments

The antenna in it's pipe hangers and clamped with spring clamps in place.

The antenna in it’s pipe hangers and clamped with spring clamps in place.

In my last post I described how pleased I am with my Wilson Sleek cell phone amplifier and the Wilson directional antenna I bought to work with it. In today’s post I’m going to tell you what I bought and how you can get it too. If you haven’t read my last post, you should before reading this one.  Before I do that let me say that there are many other choices of amplifiers that might do a better job of increasing your voice and data signal both from Wilson and from other manufacturers.  I considered them all and decided against them for these reasons:

  • They cost a lot more! A minimum of an extra $200 and probably much more than that.
  • Many of them are 3g only. For some reason amplifiers are lagging behind the industry and many of them won’t work with 4g. That’s unacceptable to me because I usually get a 4g signal in my travels and I need to be able to boost it.
  • They are much more complicated. I considered them and was willing to pay the money for a few but putting them together was really hard and if they came as kits the prices were outrageously high.

My suggestion to all of you is to start with a Sleek because it’s very simple, works with 4g and only costs about $115 right now. They are so easy to set up I’m certain everybody here can do it and you will be very pleased with the results. If you use it for awhile and you are frequently running into locations where it’s not enough, then you can add the directional antenna.  To me that has the advantage of breaking up the cost so you aren’t paying a large amount all at once, plus it smooth’s the learning curve into two parts so you don’t get all the parts in the mail at once and get overwhelmed trying to put it together.

The 4 inch stock magnetic antenna that comes with the Sleek on my roof. That's a Wilson Truckers Cell Antenna beside it. It's very poor compared to the Directional Antenna.

The 4 inch stock magnetic antenna that comes with the Sleek on my roof. That’s a Wilson Truckers Cell Antenna beside it. It’s very poor compared to the Directional Antenna.

But all of our situations are different so do what’s right for you. I think of myself as a very average Joe in most ways and this is what worked for me. But if you have more money or more technical abilities, do what’s best for you.
Another complication that is going on right now is that Wilson Electronics is changing their name to weBoost, so all their new products are coming out with that name. Here is the new weBoost site where they explain that they are Wilson Electronics but have changed their name: https://www.weboost.com/us/.
In itself that’s no big deal, but it looks to me like they are raising their prices as well. For example the Wilson 4g Sleek is $114 on Amazon, and the new weBoost model, the Drive 4gs is $200–its $85 more!  I could tell from the specifications it was the same thing but to be sure I contacted weBoost and asked and they confirmed the differences are only cosmetic, inside they are the exact same thing. I asked her if they would be making any more Sleeks, and she said no.

So, if you think you might ever want a Wilson Sleek amplifier, now is the time to buy it! When they are gone, they are gone and the price will be $85 more! Buy it RIGHT NOW by clicking on this link from Amazon: Wilson Electronics Sleek 4g

Installing the Sleek is very simple because it is literally plug-and-play, there is no software to install or learn or anything to do except screw in the antenna and plug in the USB power cord.  It comes with a 4 inch magnetic mount antenna that goes on the roof and I found it to work very well. I bought a larger trucker cell phone antenna, and it wasn’t enough of an improvement over the 4 inch antenna. It doesn’t work nearly as well as the directional antenna so I no longer recommend it.

This is not a standard co-axial cable, it's at least twice as thick as one for a TV. There are also two different adapters here to get it down from the large co-ax into the small Sleek

This is not a standard co-axial cable, it’s at least twice as thick as one for a TV. There are also two different adapters here to get it down from the large co-ax into the small Sleek.

The Antenna:

Now let’s talk about the directional antenna. In my last post I told you how pleased I am with its performance and in this one I’ll tell you what to buy and how to install it.
The good news is it’s all available from Amazon and isn’t too expensive; the bad news is it’s not at all clear what you need to buy to make the antenna work with the Sleek; in fact it was so complicated I couldn’t figure it out.  First I went to the Wilson website and tried to find the information I needed but their website was not helpful for someone like me who knew nothing about electronics. I finally gave up and had to write Wilson’s customer service to get it right. They told me what to buy and I got it all from Amazon. Fortunately for you, I’ve done the leg-work and here is a list of what you need from Amazon:

  1. The antenna: Wilson Directional Antenna
  2. A cable for the antenna: Wilson Electronics 20-Foot Ultra Low Loss Coax Cable with N Male Connectors
  3. An adapter from the cable: Wilson Electronics 971107 N Female to FME Female Connector
  4. And another adapter to make the cable work with the Sleek: WILSON ELECTRONICS 971119 Fme Male to Sma Male Connector

Putting all that together is easy you just screw the pieces into each other and into the Sleek. Again, there is no software or learning, they just start working with each other. But you still have to attach the antenna to a mast and get it up in the air. I like to do things as easily as possible so here is the very simple system I put together:

A Painter’s Pole as a Mast For the Antenna:

I wanted to be able to get the antenna as high in the air as I reasonably could to pick up very weak and distant signals but the mast had to be short enough to carry inside the van and light enough it was easy to handle. A painters pole was the perfect solution because:

  1. It was made of fiberglass and aluminum so it was very light and also very strong.
  2. It extended out a long way and then collapsed down to a smaller size. The one I bought is 6 foot at its shortest and 12 foot at its longest. That’s high enough for me and yet still short enough to be easy to carry in the van. Mr. Long Arm Painter’s Extension Pole, 6-to-12-Feet. If you are tight on space you might consider the 4 to 8 foot model. Mr. Long Arm Painter’s Extension Pole, 4-to-8-Feet
    If you want to get as far up in the air as possible, you might want to get the 6 to 12 to 18 foot model. MR LONGARM 6-Feet to 18-Feet Painter’s Pole
  3. They are reasonably priced, you can get them for either $17, $25 or $55 depending on length.
  4. I’d prefer a non-conductive material so I would be at less risk from lightning, the painter’s pole is half fiberglass so that helps.  It’s a fallacy that the pole would attract lighting, it doesn’t attract lightning. But, if lightning was going to strike at or very near to the van anyway, it would strike the highest point of the van which was the pole.
A directional antenna presents a lot of surface area to the tower but ignores all the other directions. In remote areas where the tower is often far away, that's just what you need.

The plate and U bolt come with the antenna so mounting it to the pole is easy.

The antenna came with a mounting plate and U bolt. In this picture you can see how I easily mounted it to the painter’s pole with the U bolt.

Mounting the Pole to the Van:

Next I needed to find a way to mount the painter’s pole to the van. If you have an RV it’s easy to attach it to the ladder on the back or if you have a truck camper with jacks you can mount it to one of the jacks. You can use hose clamps or even tarp bungees with the little balls on the end to mount it to anything long enough. Many RVs have a 4” x 4” rear bumper and if you do then I recommend you follow RV Sue’s mounting method—you can find it on this page of her blog: http://rvsueandcrew.net/8014-2/
None of those things would work for me with a van so I had to create my own method. Whatever I did it had to do three things: 1) hold the mast securely upright, 2) keep the antenna from being blown in a circle by the wind and, 3) be fast and easy to set-up and take-down because I’d have to do that on every trip to and from camp.

I already had these pipe hangers so I decided this was the simplest way to mount the antenna so it is strong, stable and also easy to take on and off.

I already had these pipe hangers so I decided this was the simplest way to mount the antenna so it is strong, stable and also easy to take on and off.

My first though was a length of PVC screwed into the back of the van that the painter’s pole would slide down into, but I couldn’t think of a good, simple way to keep it from being blown in a circle by the wind. So I thought maybe I could use a spring clamp to hold it at the top, maybe that would be enough. Then there was the question of how to mount the PVC tube to the van and I thought I would use plastic wall hangers because I had four of those on hand from a previous project, but I still had the problem of how to keep it from turning in the wind. Finally it occurred to me to forget the PVC tube and just use the four wall hangers; so that’s what I did. That made it remarkably simple, all I had to do was drive 8 sheet metal screws into the van.
The pipe hangers and the screws.

The pipe hangers and the screws.

Of course whenever you drill into the side of the van you have to be worried about rain getting in so I used self-tapping sheet metal screws that come with a little rubber gasket that forms a seal around the hole—any hardware store sells them. If you’ve ever installed a metal roof, you know these rubber gasketed screws are the only thing keeping it from leaking. I believe they will work just as well here.
The painter's pole is down in the hangers and the spring clamps are attached. So far this has worked incredibly well and meets all my needs.

The painter’s pole is down in the hangers and the spring clamps are attached. So far this has worked incredibly well and meets all my needs.

You can see in the pictures the painter’s pole slides down in the four wall hangers and I clamp each one down with a spring clamp. It’s simplicity itself, but works extremely well! It’s very simple to clamp and unclamp it and it’s low enough to just slip it in and out of the hangers. The clamps grab it tight and I can’t imagine a wind that would turn the antenna.

Conclusion:

So far I am extremely happy with the whole setup:

  • I get great data reception even when the cell tower is 20 miles away
  • Setting the antenna up and down is extremely fast and easy.  I just slide it into the pipe hangers and clamp them down.
  • With or without the Smartphone App finding the tower is simple and takes me about 5 minutes.
  • Mounting the mast to the van was cheap, simple and easy—all I had to do was drive 8 screws.

So there you have it a reasonably priced way to dramatically improve you cell and data reception that is easy enough for just about anybody. If you are going to give it a try, I strongly suggest you do it now because the price of all of it is going to skyrocket once the current supply of Wilson-branded gear is sold-out.


40 Comments

  1. rvsueandcrew
    rvsueandcrew on April 22, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    Excellent information, Bob, as usual! Thanks for providing your readers with a link to my blog. Sue

    • Dust In the Wind
      Dust In the Wind on April 22, 2015 at 6:19 pm

      Got my Wilson stuff all ordered and on the way. Thanks Bob!

      • Bob
        Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:31 pm

        Thank you Dust in the wind!
        Bob

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:32 pm

      Thank you Sue for being my inspiration! I hope all my readers subscribe to your blog!
      Bob

  2. Doug Rykerd
    Doug Rykerd on April 22, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    Thanks for the heads up on the price increase. I’ve been wanting one of these for quite some time, as even when I’m at my home base I have a week signal. It’s funny, when you open up the link for Amazon it also shows you a “newer model available”. It’s the weboost for $199.00! I should have mine by next week. I just ordered the Sleek and will decide if I need the directional antenna after trying it. Thanks again for the great info as always, and the chance to save some money. Every little bit helps.

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:32 pm

      Your’re very welcome Doug!
      Bob

  3. Al Christensen
    Al Christensen on April 22, 2015 at 8:22 pm

    I assume there are cables shorter than 20 feet.

  4. Omar Storm
    Omar Storm on April 22, 2015 at 9:22 pm

    Bob,
    Thanks for the great information. I just ordered the entire package from the links you provided.
    Omar

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:19 pm

      Thank Omar, I appreciate that! I think you will be very pleased with it.
      Bob

  5. T
    T on April 22, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    Wilson Sleek’s price is climbing. Already up to $122.20 as of a few minutes ago. Here’s my question: While at Lake Shasta, my Verizon LTE signal was pretty non-existent, and I was mostly stuck with 3G. Will the Wilson Sleek boost that to a 4G LTE signal, or do you have to already be getting 4G to boost your signal? Thanks for all this great information!

    • Al Christensen
      Al Christensen on April 23, 2015 at 12:06 pm

      It depends on whether there’s 4G coverage there at all. An app like Technomadia’s “Coverage?” would help you know whether there’s any 4G to be had.

    • Ming
      Ming on April 23, 2015 at 2:03 pm

      I have a similar question: will the 4G booster improve a weak 3G signal, or do I need to carry 2 different boosters?

      • Bob
        Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:15 pm

        Hi Ming, no it will work on both, it is a very wide band it picks up.
        Bob

      • Al Christensen
        Al Christensen on April 23, 2015 at 10:15 pm

        It will boot 3G and 4G.

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:18 pm

      T, it will work on both, it’s a wide spectrum antenna. It’s just as good with 3g. BUT, 3g will never be as fast as 4g. All the Sleek will do is make it the best 3g signal it can be–it will still be 3g.
      Bob

  6. Biz Crate
    Biz Crate on April 23, 2015 at 5:40 am

    Big thanks from me, too, Bob! Amazon price up another $2 but only 2 Sleek left in stock now – after I ordered mine!

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:17 pm

      You got in under the wire Biz Crate!
      Bob

  7. Kevin
    Kevin on April 23, 2015 at 6:50 am

    Thinking this is also a great set up for a two meter amateur radio antenna to hit repeaters in the distance. Thanks for the great ideas for the mechanics of this.

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:16 pm

      You’re welcome Kevin. I can see this would get any antenna up in the air pretty good and then be easy to take down.
      Bob

  8. Curtis M
    Curtis M on April 23, 2015 at 11:53 am

    Excellent review Bob, appreciate the information.

    • Bob
      Bob on April 23, 2015 at 10:15 pm

      You’re welcome Curtis.
      Bob

  9. Ming
    Ming on April 24, 2015 at 11:01 am

    nice, simple, and effective mast!

    • Bob
      Bob on April 24, 2015 at 10:33 pm

      Ming, you could be talking about me, or the mast.
      bob

  10. sprintersnale
    sprintersnale on April 26, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    Signed up to say, big thanks Bob. Been looking at Wilsons for awhile. Now was the perfect time to dive in. Seems like we’re on the fringe of reception in most our favorite spots…until the Sleek 4g arrives. The setup detail and accessory links are appreciated. Dale

    • Bob
      Bob on April 26, 2015 at 10:37 pm

      I hope it works as well for you as it did for me!
      Bob

    • Bob
      Bob on April 26, 2015 at 10:38 pm

      I hope it works as well for you as it did for me Dale.
      Bob

  11. Josh T
    Josh T on April 28, 2015 at 7:51 am

    I’ve had this exact setup since last summer at my off-grid cabin. It’s amazing. I go from no data to strong 4g.
    Bob I didn’t see it mentioned but when you put your phone on the amplifier, it will allow you to make normal voice calls in areas where you never could’ve before. I find this to be as important as being able to get online using the MiFi

    • Bob
      Bob on April 28, 2015 at 8:42 pm

      Josh, tha’s a very good point! I have used it for that, but I rarely talk on the phone so it isn’t a priority to me.
      Thanks for reminding us.
      Bob

  12. Bob G
    Bob G on May 5, 2015 at 10:15 am

    Some of your readers may be interested in a permanent mount for the painter’s pole antenna. If you have a flat space on your bumper, you can do what I did:
    http://i57.tinypic.com/2gwf5a1.jpg
    At Home Depot I bought a flat base flange and a two foot length of iron pipe that screws into it. The flange is attached to the bumper with 4 short bolts. Everything else is pretty much like yours. It goes up and down via the paint pole, and the whole thing rotates for tuning via the threaded flange at the bottom. I also put in a hook to contain the top of the paint pole to keep it from vibrating in travel. The paint pole fit almost perfectly into the inside diameter of the iron pipe. I added a bit of tape and some epoxy on the pole to make it tight. It’s all one piece now.
    This arrangement has been working without trouble for several years. It’s not suitable on your van, where you have to remove it regularly to open the back door, but if you don’t have a clearance problem it is a lot less trouble to leave the pole permanently mounted.

    • Bob
      Bob on May 5, 2015 at 1:21 pm

      Thanks very much for that Bob!! Great idea!

  13. Alan
    Alan on May 10, 2015 at 1:25 pm

    I got my Wilson Sleek 4G in time. I was going to wait a couple months originally. Thanks for the heads up!

    • Bob
      Bob on May 10, 2015 at 8:56 pm

      Glad to her that Alan!
      Bob

  14. Steve
    Steve on June 1, 2015 at 7:52 am

    Hi Bob,
    2 questions:
    Is it normal for the Sleek to get hot? I’ve been using my USB outlet.
    That coax cable is pretty thick. Any creative ideas on bringing through into the interior without cutting holes in metal?
    Thanks for your help,
    Steve

    • Bob
      Bob on June 1, 2015 at 2:29 pm

      Steve, yes, mine does get hot. I try to lay it on it’s side so it can cool a little bit but it still gets hot.
      It is a huge cable isn’t it! I’m just taking mine in and out and running it in through a rolled-down window with no permanent mount.
      If I were going to make it permanent I would bring it in through the floor and fill the hole in with caulk.
      Bob

  15. George
    George on June 23, 2015 at 12:09 pm

    Maybe I missed something. I’m not clear on exactly how this setup works. The directional antenna plugs into the Sleek 4g via the cable and various adapters and the cell phone itself sits in the Sleek 4g cradle so it’s physically tethered? How do you get internet? Is there an SMA connector for a wireless router?

    • Bob
      Bob on June 23, 2015 at 9:20 pm

      George, it depends on what device you are using. I use a Verizon Jetpack and it sits inside the cradle and gets the greatly amplified signal. So it isn’t physically tethered (except it is actually touching but not connected by a wire) it’s just getting a much stronger cell signal from the Sleek. The Jetpack then rebroadcasts the cell signal as a wifi signal which all my devices can read. If you have a smartphone, you do the same thing and set the phone up as a Hotspot and it rebroadcasts the signal as wifi.
      For voice, you will want to use a Bluetooth headset so you don’t have to hold the phone in the cradle to your ear. It has a lot more radiation than just a cell phone.
      Bob

  16. George
    George on July 1, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    Got it. Thanks Bob. Your website is a goldmine of information as I prepare to go nomad.

    • Bob
      Bob on July 1, 2015 at 9:28 pm

      Glad to help, George.
      Bob

  17. Wilson Amplifiers
    Wilson Amplifiers on September 14, 2020 at 9:02 am

    Now it doesn’t seem so complicated. Thank you for your guide!