Broadcast TV Antenna and MacDonalds

[Bud]

Hi all,

I really do like being able to use the MacDonald's Drive Through rather than getting out of my B, 05/04 Roadtrek 190. Hey, good black coffee, Egg McMuffin, and at this time of the year, a PARFAIT IN A PEAR TREE! It does not get much better.

With the talk lately about broadcast tv antennas, I finally decided have something better than the built-in roof thing. BUT I like my cake and eat to, like the parfait with fruit. Now what, I'm not giving up the drive through.

The Winegard Rayzar seems ideal, just stick it on the roof - no, too tall. I could just place it on top of the B with each use in less than a minute, but those thing are not small (storage).

If there were something to stick on the top, I would want:

- Stealthy

- Amplified

- Light

- Small obviously

- Omni-directional

- An Excellent drag coefficient. So I got to thinking what do aliens use to fly into the earth's atmosphere? Yes, you guessed it! A Flying Saucer, and there are Plenty of video's to prove it, not so many with bigfoot.

Took awhile, but Bingo, I found something for $49.99 delivered to my garage that meets what's cited above pretty much. Size, look up at your Fantastic Fan. Almost the same diameter as the hole where the air goes out, the screen - maybe 1/4 inch larger diameter AND about 3 inches thick.

I started testing, but the problem is my driveway is too darn good, reception wise. I've never had the reception traveling like home except once. That once beat home plenty, and was quite beautiful at night with all the lights. I was parked maybe 500 feet above the Salk Lake Valley, Point of the Mountain. This is a Utah State Recreational Area today, a Flight Park - paragliding/hang gliding. pg and hg pilots can not stay up at night usually, and it is illegal. I could have launched and climbed right on up, illegal is last on my list of 3: Others and my Safety first, then being polite, and finally legal. The second one was the problem, would been very wrong.

I'm hoping to beat a Razar that is mounted to the top of a B for a fraction of the cost, unlikely but doable? I'm waiting on another pieces part, more later.

Xmas,

Bud

[mkguitar]

My brother in law loved driving through at jack in the box.

when they did some work, they lowered the roofline over the drive through.

aside from bashing in his fiberglass cap...he was on the hook for about $20K in building repairs.
all told the repairs were about $40k and his insurance policy didn;t cover it.
his van was never the same

I'm the kind who parks out where there is room and walks, I need the exercise.


my clearance was 8'10 but is now 9' 4" after adding a cover to the fan- now i can leave the vent open driving or in heavy rain when parked.

we have the winegard crank up

here's my post on swapping to a rayzar with pics- may not work for you...but I get tucson towers- 111 miles away from my house

http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f8...-mod-5776.html

mike

[Bud]

Thanks Mike, it was Your posts that got me off my rear. Thanks.

And Dan did the same, probably saving me a bunch of $'s.

Ok, the challenge is to beat 111 miles. But I had not mentioned yet, I plan to cheat a little.

Later, as my next pieces part won't be here for about a week or so.

Bud

[mkguitar]

DTV is very directional , so your kite or balloon will need a control to point it in the right direction and keep it there

esp with an amp, make sure your cable is well shielded for a good signal to noise ratio

Mike

[Bud]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

DTV is very directional , so your kite or balloon will need a control to point it in the right direction and keep it there

Mike

balloon, kite - good guesses Mike, but............

Bud

[Davydd]

I have the portable Winegard Rayzar that people put up in attics at home. Mine is mounted inside the air conditioner cover. I'm satisfied with the results. Generally after the major channels you are going to get nothing but religious and Spanish channels. Still on the mountains to the west overlooking Phoenix I picked up 74 channels. At home in my driveway I am getting 34 last I checked. It is non-directional obviously. We don't watch that much TV on the road except to pick up news and weather and maybe a major network.

Keep in mind the corporate prototype canopy height for McDonalds was 9 foot the last time I had anything to do with their design. It appears that hasn't changed. McDonalds for us is an alternative rest stop, coffee break and wifi connection, so we always go inside anyway.

[Bud]

" It is non-directional obviously."

Davydd, I read your post recently about this, and thought that I understood. It appears that I did not.

You may not have noticed in my post "Rayzor". The Winegard website does not seem to have what you describe. I was thinking that the Rayzor was this:

Winegard Rayzar Automatic - Automatic RV Antenna

Bud

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I have the portable Winegard Rayzar that people put up in attics at home. It is non-directional obviously.

I thought that the Rayzar installed on RVs had some internal seeking program that searched and aimed the antenna in the direction of best signal strength for the channel selected.

[gregmchugh]

Winegard makes at least 3 different antennas with Rayzor in the name...

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

Winegard makes at least 3 different antennas with Rayzor in the name...

The Rayzar model I saw that was promoted would do a search for usable channels, determine the azimuth for the best picture for each channel only requiring the operator to surf the usable channels. If the performance is up to the hype, it seems like a pretty good system. I have seen some caveats that this particular model needs to be mounted well clear of other metallic objects and some complaints that it died after a brief period of use.

It was reviewed in detail in the May 2015 Motorhome magazine. I believe they are standard equipment on Pleasureways.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

I thought that the Rayzar installed on RVs had some internal seeking program that searched and aimed the antenna in the direction of best signal strength for the channel selected.

Something like this. It works fine. I figure if you are into serious TV watching you need satellite.

Winegard Flatwave Razor Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna-FL5000H - The Home Depot

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Something like this. It works fine. I figure if you are into serious TV watching you need satellite.

Winegard Flatwave Razor Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna-FL5000H - The Home Depot

it would depend on distance from tower, signal strength, frequencies ( not all are equal), terrain and obstructions.

it's not the number of channels- it is grabbing signal and digital is 1's and 0's you either have signal or not- it's not like the old analog signal where they may be snow but you get "something"

at my home, something like shown above will get some of my local network channels ( 17 miles) , but not all, and if truck drives by- the signal is interrupted.


mike

[Bud]

Project 98% Complete:

The goal was McDonald's Drive through and beat the roof antenna in an 05 190P. At one point I thought about just permanently attaching the Rayzar Automatic, but maybe Mike's jack in the box story saved me. I would have at some point ...............

Reception with flying saucer 18+ feet over the ground matches the antenna in my attic. It is very large and 'tuned' fairly well.

If someone handed me the telescopic pole that I will use, it will be attached to the 05 190P spare tire sitting on the bumper in seconds using only velcro. If mounted semi-permanently per trip, < 60 seconds. It is one them poles painters and others use. Attaching the coax cable and raising it to full height, not sure but maybe 60 seconds +/- 15. That is if I don't just place the flying saucer on the roof, very quick and beats the roof antenna. Both sitting on the roof and 18 feet up can be fine tuned per channel without leaving the B.

The flying saucer: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't really know how good it is as my driveway is too good reception wise, need to go somewhere.

Bud

[Davydd]

The corporate standard clearance height of a McDonalds drive through canopy is 9 feet the one time I reviewed their standards for a project. Whether that varies or not is unknown to me but I suspect would be the vast majority and I know from experience with chain projects the standard can be higher or lower in specific instances. The Roadtrek 190 is currently listed as 8'-10" high. So, if those heights are accurate I would say you are taking a chance as is. So the answer is simple, you shouldn't install an antenna that would increase your current height. Roadtrek says including air conditioner for height. You wonder if they take in account all roof conditions.

[Bud]

You mentioned this kind of thing earlier, and I thought about it. The 05 is cited as being 8' 4". I don't recall today, but it would Not have been like me to thrust that, period, depending on consequences (risk management 101). And I knew Roadtrek got some stuff wrong back then, not just today. I would have verified the height myself. I may recall actually do it an hour from now.

Although I do look at that 9' sign, sure enough, stuff happens called old habits. If I mounted the auto rayzar, would I drive through McDonald s inadvertently. Heck Ddavydd, I might drive through with a new 9' 6" B.

Broadcast tv was not important to me, but I finally decided to improve on the roof antenna. I use a sat com (size of a laptop) for satellite tv. Now, setting the flying saucer on the roof only takes about 10-15 seconds longer. I did not mention it earlier but if it were raining a lot, I can place the flying saucer on the roof without leaving the B.

Off to the B, another project.

Bud

[Davydd]

I've read enough converter specs and checked them independently to know quite a few are full of errors. Don't trust them for critical dimensions if it is close.