10May18
Hi Rick,
Thank you for the comments re shower water valve and ham radio antenna installation. Additional detail you requested is below.
Re the hand sprayer shut off switch -
I don't think the switches in the handhelds are engineered to have water bypass; I think they are just not of enough quality to be true shut off's. Perhaps someone can defend that they are meant to do that but darn it, they just leave a mess. In a house is one thing but in an RV where the water supply is rocking back and forth while driving, the slight pressure is enough to leave more than a trace in the shower tray. Since the shower is part of the bathroom and in the case of the 59K, the closet, having wet feet on that floor means it gets tracked all around.
From what I interpreted from James at FITRV (see link below), he seemed to indicate that he could not find any valve that did not drip. I find that to be true even with the valves we have on the wall to shut off the water to toilet tanks in our homes. Those things often spray a bit of water while you rotate the shaft. And then when you have them closed (always worry if you torque too much, they will break off), most of them seem to still have just a tiny bit of water pushing through. I used the valve that James recommended for his 59G that he sourced from AMAZON with similar drip issue and he is right, it truly shuts off all flow.Not sure how long this valve will properly work but so far my wife and I are enjoying no dripping from the shower head, after whatever water is left in the head itself. Thought about ordering the wood deck-piece that is now included in the 2019 bathrooms of the 59K's. We discussed this and ultimately decided it would invite dampness, soap scum and hair to remain below the deck. That depends a lot on how often one lifts this out to clean underneath. The temptation of leaving it in place because what you can't see... we do not profess to be zealots to have everything perfectly clean but for this multi purpose floor area, we decided to not mask buildup, and keep it within reason, clean and dry as we travel.
James used a KES brand shut-off valve and in his case, added a CAMCO check valve in his 59G. The plumbing is slightly different in the 59K but probably would benefit from both additions. I decided to start off with the KES shut off valve only. It seems to solve the issue for us but I do note that the shower control valve in the 59K needs to be in the fully clockwise position to prevent cold water pull-through which then dilutes the hot water a bit. Perhaps that position would not be necessary if I also added the check valve he describes. But we both are in the habit of rotating the control valve to the Off position after we shower and we have no issue with hot water at the kitchen sink. Burning hot water is available if we ask it to provide that level of hot.
https://www.thefitrv.com/rv-tips/how...our-rv-shower/
Re HF antenna -
I am not an expert in antennas. But I do avoid the temptation of mounting antennas where the bulk of the radiator is aside vertical surfaces. Especially metal but even glass or other materials. In the worst case, a damp or wet glass or fiberglass surface will definitely effect an RF radiator.
It sort of amuses me how JEEP Wrangler folks often chose a bracket that installs on the rear spare tire carrier for CB, VHF and/or UHF, base loaded antennas. Depending on the frequency, these antennas are all (that I have seen) under 4 feet total height. There is a huge advantage for mounting these "shorty" antennas here because of one factor: Less likely for the upper whip to get damaged by low tree limbs or garage door openings, etc. I get that. I actually have one of these brackets on my Jeep with coax wired to it but do not connect my VHF/UHF radios to it. I have used it for "guest" riders with HT's and I have used it with an occasional additional radio but the performance is definitely not optimal. The bulk of the shorty antenna is sandwiched between the heated wire glass rear window (if composite roof in place) and the rear tire aluminum rim right next to the base load. Just not ideal, but super location from a damage control, and somewhat Stealth perspective.
Hitch receiver mounts are another place that I avoid. The good news is these are super convenient, solid location mounts. The bad news is they are like the rear door JEEP shorty antenna mounting bracket location; not ideal for RF radiators. Again the antenna is parallel-near vertical surfaces that like to reflect signals back into the antenna. Is it real bad? Well thousands of ham radio guys that have mounted antennas here have managed to work contacts ok from this mount location. Nonetheless I would rather be as nice to my radios PA finals as I can and put an antenna where it's base is above the vehicle sheet metal. A nice 5 foot piece of a ROHN section, welded to the floor of the vehicle and sticking up through the center of the roof of a sedan will work fine. One or two full sections of tower up will be needed to get up through RV roofs. Obviously that isn't going to happen. If you have a significant other who is not a died in the wool ham operator, they just wont get that.
So what do I do? I use an ALPHA MOTO antenna. From an efficiency standpoint, this is NOT the most efficient radiator, or collector of wee little signals floating through the air. Because on low Hf frequencies, you need more surface area to collect/send with all of the factors of antenna "math" to be in the groove. And I am not talking about just the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) aspect which is of course a good thing to get in the good to excellent range. We also have a higher chance of common mode RF snaking its way back toward the radio. And we have all kinds of new noises in a moving vehicle to contend with. Surface static on the radiator. Electrical noises from all sorts of sources in your vehicle and the folks driving by you. And power lines we pass by or under.
In most cases I find todays vehicles to actually be rather quiet compared to the point-ignition or point and capacitive discharge ignition based systems of earlier years. No ground straps from the factory. Poor chassis to body grounding versus some improvement of unibody designs. And more. Don't go strapless. Add a lot of ground straps from front to rear. My JEEP needed that. Admittedly I have not added any straps yet to my Travato. Fortunately so far, the attack of the annoying noises has not caused me any stress in the Travato. But then I a am only operating HF stationary when the vehicle is shut off. No testing with the generator running yet.
As for the choice of using the ALPHA MOTO (AM) versus say, your xBTV vertical, the trapped down size but still much larger xBTV will definitely work better on the 4, 5 or 6 bands it covers, depending on which HUSTLER xBTV you pick. Your mounting, like mileage may vary. The AM antenna I use is certainly a compromise in some regards. Except it will match up to every band from 40 up to 10 meters and passable on 6. Matching or as kids today call it, tuning comes with efficiency loss but usually way better than leaving the match at some horrible mix of what the radio itself sees as inductance, capacitance, resistance. For this the AM antenna is very cool to work with.
A common builtin 3:1 matcher in todays radios will get the stars and planets in alignment in seconds on each of the aforementioned bands. And QSO's across the planet are fairly easy. The db level of received signals is NOT as strong as a larger radiator. But the signal to noise level is pretty good and I have indeed found it a fairly capable DX antenna. Also good for making contacts particularly from Colorado to the East Coast, Hawaii, Japan, etc. here from Idaho. I don't know the characteristics of this antenna, as-mounted for sky wave versus ground wave but it is doing the job quite well, even if signals are a bit soft in many cases. I run a TS-480SAT usually set to 85 watts or less by the way. Add an amplified external speaker is a good idea in some QSO cases.
The base of the AM antenna is mounted nearly roof line high at the rear of my Travato. I posted pictures in the Class B Forum photo Gallery. The vertical radiator itself is on a stainless steel quick disconnect (I like brass better), and is all above the roof line. I do not operate while driving; leaving the whip off the antenna base until I am parked/stationary. Even with the shorter 5 foot whip in place, it's still not going to win any tree branch contest if vehicle in motion. I have a taller whip that works a bit better. And I have a long wire that I can attach to this AM base coil that makes a terrific performance, end fed antenna if I feel like stringing that up instead of using the vertical whips.
I do have to climb my ladder to plug in/unplug the whip or attach the long wire. I have the AM base coil mounted with a very sturdy bracket to the side of my Travato's optional roof rack, ladder bracket on the left rear door. I will add a ground strap from the ladder bracket to the van body but right now I am depending on two grounds: (1) a cable strap between the door and the van body, at the lower hinge point of the door and (2) the stainless steel "rivet nut" used to secure the ladder bracket to the left rear door. I sanded (grinded actually) the inside of the door where this rivet goes through so that the stainless rivet's back side and the doors inner side with some paint on its surface, has metal to metal contact here. I was able to do this because I ordered the roof rack and ladder bracket through dealer parts department and installed the rack, ladder bracket and ladder myself. That is NOT a project I recommend anyone take on. There are a couple of things during the install process that if you do them wrong, your not going to be a happy camper that Rivet Nut for example is not something most people are familiar with how to install properly. It's actually super simple but advise one practice first before doing the actual deed on your expensive RV.
Take a look at ALPHA ANTENNAS web site. Check out the ALPHA MOTO. No, I am not related to them in any way. I just like Steves engineering and results on the air. Yes the 4BTV/5BTV/6BTV installed properly will do better. Ground installed with radials or elevated install without. Either way, not practical for an RV that hasn't been parked permanently. Will the xBTV or other tall vertical work on the rear hitch and without ground radials? Yes, is the answer. But before you do that, you might try that AM antenna. Taller whip. Or use a wire instead of the whip as an end fed. That works really good for me although I confess I almost always just use the more convenient whip on top of the AM's base. I can break camp and drive to town or go home faster with a quick ladder climb to quick-disconnect the whip and drive off.
A number of YouTube videos on this antenna. Steve from ALPHA ANTENNA's original video (URL link below) is probably the best re how he installed it. Some other customer videos online re how they installed it and how it worked for them. I use a similar mount because it is SOLID and adjustable angle. Those that use the lip mounts; not totally sold on those mounts - two set screws holding an antenna that rocks back and forth? neeaaah. Tough on the sheet metal. Not a good or stable ground contact. neeeah.
The current AM antenna now has a very nice stainless steel housing for the base coil. Mine is the original like the one in Steve's video which is PVC plastic housing but otherwise electrically identical and same mounting stud.
Good luck in whatever direction you go. many solutions and all have pros and cons.
Re VHF if your interested- I absolutely love the folded dipole, slot antenna in March QST by W6NBC. Works OUTSTANDING on my metal RV roof (no ground required) and at 3 inches tall, very low profile. I set it on top of my JEEP JK Wranglers roof just to prove it worked on top of that composite plastic roof. Worked there too. Worked on my back yard patio table. Simplex range outstanding. Repeater range therefore good too. 0 gain antenna. Very nice SWR and other analyzer characteristics across entire 144 to 148 megacycle range. Nearly perfect omni directional per W6NBC. Real world results for me on the road or stationary with just a 50 millwatt/1 watt/5 watt HT used (TH-D72A); stunning.
Gene
Winnebago
Linear Mode
