TV Antenna Installation

[jd1923]

I like when traveling watching a little local news to see what's going in in town. We have the Dish Network Winegard on ours and we're had Dish. It's been painful paying over $120/mo for Dish, though you only have to pay for one month vs. the DirecTV 2-year contract, but still 200 channels with nothing to watch, when most of the time I just want a local station. Wanting feedback from you experienced Oliver Owners (am I opening up the flood gates?) 🤣

I'm not ready to remove the Winegard, which takes so much room up front. Might want more solar later to better utilize that footprint. And the way Oliver runs their coax, multiple connectors along the way, OK for satellite perhaps, but that cable would add too much resistance to the signal. I want a fixed install, no pole mounts, and with the Oliver you can't mount the kind that requires direction control on the interior ceiling. So, we need an omnidirectional antenna. There is room behind the A/C which is where you want to be, so that a short coax will get you to the attic. I really do not want to build some large rear platform and the antenna should be the highest point in relation to other rooftop accessories. 

I just got a great open box deal on one of these: Amazon.com: Winegard Company RZ-8500 Rayzar Automatic Hd Antenna , White : Everything Else This smart unit calculates and sets the direction automatically for the strongest signal and comes in at only 4 LBS.

Where I want your feedback, is I'm thinking of mounting it on top of the A/C. We have the old loud clunker A/C which we will likely replace in a few years, so I do not mind drilling three 1/4 holes through the A/C cover to mount the antenna, large washers on the underside. It fits nicely there adding 6 1/2" in height and in this location the antenna would have no rooftop obstructions. Not thinking of running the A/C while watching TV, as this would certainly cause electromagnetic interference. We often watch TV at night and sometimes in the morning, not in the heat of the day. 

The connection only requires one coax cable. I would cut off the cable terminal, remount it when inside, drill a 1/4" hole and dab of Dicor, or I may try to feed it through the rear camera mount (that we haven't used anyway).

Would the extra height cause an issue? Any other concerns or considerations? Please let me know. Thanks 🙂

[Jason Foster]

6 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

I like when traveling watching a little local news to see what's going in in town. We have the Dish Network Winegard on ours and we're had Dish. It's been painful paying over $120/mo for Dish, good news you only have to pay for a month vs. The DirecTV 2-year contract, but still 200 channels with nothing to watch, when most of the time we just want a local station. Wanting feedback from you experienced Oliver Owners (am I opening up the flood gates?) 🤣

I'm not ready to remove the Winegard, which takes so much room up front. Might want more solar later to better utilize that footprint. And the way Oliver runs their coax, multiple connectors along the way, OK for satellite perhaps, but that cable would add too much resistance to the signal. I want a fixed install, no pole mounts, and with the Oliver you can't mount the kind that requires direction control on the interior ceiling. So, we need an omnidirectional antenna. There is room behind the A/C which is where you want to be, so that a short coax will get you to the attic. I reall do not want to build some large rear platform and the antenna really should be the highest point in relation to other rooftop accessories. 

I just got a great open box deal on one of these: Amazon.com: Winegard Company RZ-8500 Rayzar Automatic Hd Antenna , White : Everything Else This smart unit calculates and sets the direction automatically for the strongest signal and comes in at only 4 LBS.

Where I want your feedback, is I'm thinking of mounting it on top of the A/C. We have the old loud clunker A/C that we will likely replace in a few years, so I do not mind drilling three 1/4 holes through the A/C cover to mount the antenna. It fits nicely there adding only 6 1/2" in height and the antenna would have no rooftop obstructions. We're not thinking of running the A/C while watching TV, and I understand a running A/C would cause electromagnetic interference. We often watch TV at night and sometimes in the morning. 

The connection only requires one coax cable. I could cut off the cable terminal, remount it when inside, drill a 1/4" hole and dab of Dicor, or I may try to feed it through the rear camera mount (that we haven't used anyway).

Would the extra height cause an issue? Any other concerns or considerations? Please let me know. Thanks 🙂

I don't know about the height, but I would think the flex on that cap combined with wind going down the highway would tear the antenna off or at least help you remove the AC shroud for easy cleaning when you get to the campground.  The best spot is where Oliver mounts theirs permanently behind the AC on the hull.  

[SeaDawg]

When we retired our still-functioning dometic ac, the shroud was more eternabond than brittle, relatively thin plastic. A couple bolts weren't doing any good, since the plastic casing around them had broken. 

I'd concur with Jason. I wouldn't mount anything to the shroud. 

[Jason Foster]

Just to give you some food for thought, here are a few pictures showing where Oliver ran their lines.

 

[jd1923]

20 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

... I'd concur with Jason. I wouldn't mount anything to the shroud. 

Thanks @Jason Foster and SeaDawg for your inputs, and you have me rethinking this. I had the shroud off last week, and it looked more like fiberglass vs. thin plastic, it's a good 0.20" thick, no cracks, bolt holes all good, so I was thinking with some reinforcement it could work. But likely the wind force could quickly make it show its age! Thanks again.

Antennas work best when they are installed with a 360-degree unobstructed view. The install shown above on Jason's Oliver will work fine anywhere in East Texas (not West Texas), along the coasts, near the cities, the major TV markets, but you can see how about 150 degrees out of 360 is being blocked by the Truma A/C sitting well above it in height. This install will have reception issues in the distant areas of the West, when you park your trailer in the wrong direction.

For example, for us to get TV reception at home, here in the Prescott quad-cities area (total pop. 150K), the broadcast companies send microwave signals to Mingus Mountain (7500 FT elevation north of Prescott, where Jerome AZ sits), and then they repeat the broadcast from there, 30 miles from us. You must have an antenna facing N-NE from here to receive TV, a few degrees off and you will lose half the channels.

The antenna I have is designed to sit on a flat horizontal section of an RV roof with 2 FT clearance around it (not happenin' on an Oliver). This smart antenna senses the direction for the strongest signals and rotates automatically (see pic). 

Here is a great platform @Wildbrew fabricated, an amazing installation, that would work great for this application. But I did not want to invest this kind of work for a TV antenna (but certainly would for a Pepwave cell router install!).

I'm now thinking of a sheet metal shelf that would sit closely just above the shroud, bracketed to the A/C steel frame vs. mounting directly to the shroud. At this time, I'd rather drill and mount several bolts into the A/C frame than into the fiberglass. (Note the white plastic cover is removed from the antenna in this picture.)

[Bobby and Nadine]

Another option...

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, Bobby and Nadine said:

Another option...

Wow, very nice. Get that beast pointing in the right direction and it can likely receive stations 100 miles away!

[topgun2]

And there is more - 

That looks like a Harbor Freight suction cup that is holding the antenna to the Ollie.  If that is correct then there will be no holes to drill and/or fishing of wires.

Great idea both in form and function.

Bill

[Bobby and Nadine]

Thanks,

Yep, the cup is from Harbor Freight.  The 1" pvc was just a left over from a plumbing project.  The antenna is from WalMart.  Less than $20 bucks for the whole rig and it takes 5~10 minutes to set it up.  No drilling, no pixelation and a crystal clear picture!  The cup's hold is very secure.

[SeaDawg]

Years ago, my mom lived in a small river town in Missouri. Cable was really expensive,  and she was tired of paying over $100 a month just to get PBS, and watch her craft and painting shows.

I went through 7 different antennae, to help her "cut the cord", and get a few local channels, and of course,,PBS, without her having to adjust the "rabbit ears."

I used a website to locate best PBS station, which gave her at least one or two local channels as well.

My exhaustive, and exhausting, search for best antenna for her was this one, from Clearstream.

Since then, I've installed it at our house, my daughter's,  my neoghbor's, my sister's, and we've recently  tested it on our remote mountain camping property in NC. (None of us have had cable, for years.) Since I've already recommended it to several dozen folks, I'll recommended it here.

Put it up on a pole, like @Bobby and Nadine, as a portable install, and you'll likely have success, if there is any signal to be found within 60 miles. It's light, weather resistant,  and it can be made pretty compact for storage. I've used it inside, and out. 

I've also bought them on ebay for as little as $35.

[SeaDawg]

On 1/8/2024 at 3:57 PM, Jason Foster said:

I don't know about the height, but I would think the flex on that cap combined with wind going down the highway would tear the antenna off or at least help you remove the AC shroud for easy cleaning when you get to the campground.  The best spot is where Oliver mounts theirs permanently behind the AC on the hull.  

Yeah, I think we always have to think about the folks behind us, if something detaches, and blows off the roof, into a windshield. 

Always a consideration in mounting something new.

[Jason Foster]

5 hours ago, Bobby and Nadine said:

Another option...

If I didn't have the King, this is what I would do.  Set up in camp, strap it up, break it down, throw it in truck bed.  Uncle Buck knows this stuff.  Just ask his niece.

[Jason Foster]

6 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Thanks @Jason Foster and SeaDawg for your inputs, and you have me rethinking this. I had the shroud off last week, and it looked more like fiberglass vs. thin plastic, it's a good 0.20" thick, no cracks, bolt holes all good, so I was thinking with some reinforcement it could work. But likely the wind force could quickly make it show its age! Thanks again.

Antennas work best when they are installed with a 360-degree unobstructed view. The install shown above on Jason's Oliver will work fine anywhere in East Texas (not West Texas), along the coasts, near the cities, the major TV markets, but you can see how about 150 degrees out of 360 is being blocked by the Truma A/C sitting well above it in height. This install will have reception issues in the distant areas of the West, when you park your trailer in the wrong direction.

 

 

Another option mounted on top of the trailer, truck, a table, etc with sandbags holding it down.  

[jd1923]

Lots of good ideas here, thank you. Though I'm stubborn. Already made my antenna purchase. Winegard is expensive, but a quality product Made in the USA, which is important to me. The less of the money I earn going to the CCP, the better. Just spent $125 on a USA made Klien 25" cable cutter and could have bought the China cr@p for $30.

Other criteria, we don't do extra temporary camping setups. We're not interested in portable solar panels (need a third panel later? will mount it on the roof or TV). We don't use the blue filters or external pressure gauges/restrictors for the water connection, and no portable EMS at the RV park pedestal (just installed the internal PI EMS). I ended up with a portable water filter setup but give me another year or so and I will figure out a slick way integrate it to the 3 Oliver water inlets.

If the Oliver had a rear ladder, I would have a pole mount antenna (permanently installed). There's enough setup in camping regardless but keeping it to a minimum is the goal!