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Old 05-27-2018, 10:48 PM   #21
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2018 30' Flying Cloud
Gig Harbor , Washington
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 96
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daquenzer View Post
The suction cup works well. I use it and put the cup on the windows. I then route the wire through the storage compartment and under the bed. I don’t have to drill any holes, and when I’m done I shut everything up tight. Before you decide which side of the AS you put it on walk around AS with phone and figure out the best reception.
The window is a good idea! I'm taking it you have a front bed and run the cable through the storage compartment behind the battery compartment? How many suction cups do you use?

Thanks,
Hoagy
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Old 05-29-2018, 10:49 AM   #22
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2017 25' Flying Cloud
Bushnell , Florida
Join Date: Jul 2015
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoscoMN View Post
I wonder if the suction cup mount on the side of the Airstream could cause some separation of the nearest sealant joint for the panel you attach to given how much the wind moves the antenna mast some days.

I use the Flagpole Buddy attached to our Fiamma rack in the back of our 25 rear bed Airstream and tie it into the Satellite Antenna connection on the side of the Airstream.

I could see using a plate on the ground and drive a tent stake through it to keep it from moving. Then attach the mount similar to the Flagpole Buddy's to the front A-frame.

Here is what I have:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._detailpages00
Wilson Electronics 700-2700 MHz Wide Band Directional Antenna with F Female Connector $53

http://www.shop.flagpolebuddy.com/16...6016AL-Kit.htm
Flagpole Buddy 16 ft Aluminum Pole & 2.0 Mount Kit $170

http://www.verizonwireless.com/home-...er-with-voice/
Verizon 4G Broadband router with voice + wifi Free with 2 year contract
6Gb Data Plan + Access for 1 device = $80/month

Router is powered by a CUI, Inc. PYB20-T & PYB20-U 12 volt DC to 5 volt DC Inverter:
http://www.cui.com/product/power/dc-...pyb20-t-series

DHT Electronics RF coaxial coax cable assembly SMA male to F female 6''
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
DHT Electronics RF coaxial coax adapter RP-SMA male to F female

http://www.amazon.com/Reecom-RA-1601...ilpage_o01_s00
Unique Reecom RA-1601 Weather Alert Radio External Antenna $42



Here is an example of the plate that one could drill a hole or two in for tent stakes:
This pole setup you have is along the lines of what I'm envisioning although I'm wanting to mount the pole on the front Jack. I'm hoping that short distance between the base at the tongue and just under the jack motor would be enough to support the pole. The length of the antenna pole for the Weboost RV 65 model will cause storage challenges for us. I'm also thinking of getting the omni directional antenna instead of the one you have to point towards the tower. Any input on using a maximum 16 foot pole with omni directional antenna would be great.
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Old 05-29-2018, 10:54 AM   #23
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2017 25' Flying Cloud
Bushnell , Florida
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 128
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joohntooth View Post
Here are some pictures of how I mounted my WeBoost antenna to my AS and how I brought the cables into the trailer. I drilled a 2 1/2” holes thru each skin and mounted electrical input doors on each side with closed cell foam in-between to push the cables through.
What size pole do you use with these brackets? This is exactly what I want to do. Someone else posted about a 16' aluminum flagpole so I'm leaning that direction too. Did you get the hardware at just a local hardware store?
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Old 06-01-2018, 08:33 PM   #24
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2018 30' International
Boulder , Colorado
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 99
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Originally Posted by Tarcoola View Post
Great advice in previous posts for antenna location. What/where is the best way to bring the cable into the AS with minimal drilling or screen cutting. Also internal location of equipment. Thanks.
Has anyone tried using the coax satellite input (2018 30RBQ) on the exterior of the rig for the antenna wire and the other end inside to the booster? I'm new to the Weboost idea and am assuming it uses coax between the outside antenna and the inside booster.
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Old 06-01-2018, 11:41 PM   #25
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2016 26' Flying Cloud
Bastrop , Texas
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 60
Hey Motozen, really interesting point you made about the coaxial outlet on the outside of the AS. I presume it connects to the TV inside.

Could you use the outside coaxial access point to connect to the antenna, and connect the TV end to the router? Therefore you could use existing AS infrastructure to enable the wifi.

This would probably mean that you couldn't have TV and wifi at the same time, but maybe a switch could unable you to go between each one easily.

Thoughts??
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Old 06-02-2018, 05:49 AM   #26
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2017 30' Classic
2022 Interstate 24X
Carlisle , Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 15,684
Hi

You can use the TV coax for WiFi. It will work very poorly. WiFi is up at 2.4 or 5 GHz. The loss in the coax will be a killer ....

Bob
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Old 06-02-2018, 06:42 PM   #27
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2018 30' International
Boulder , Colorado
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 99
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarcoola View Post
Hey Motozen, really interesting point you made about the coaxial outlet on the outside of the AS. I presume it connects to the TV inside.

Could you use the outside coaxial access point to connect to the antenna, and connect the TV end to the router? Therefore you could use existing AS infrastructure to enable the wifi.

This would probably mean that you couldn't have TV and wifi at the same time, but maybe a switch could unable you to go between each one easily.

Thoughts??
Our rig is in the shop getting all the niggly punch list items warrantied, otherwise I would just go out and find the other end of the Sat cable. It should come out over near the Blu Ray player, and is intended to plug into a Sat receiver. The post after this one states that the signal degradation would be huge, but that post also mentions WiFi and I thought we're talking about a 4G/3G cell phone signal booster. I'm not an electronics guy, so maybe he's right and this is a no go. Sure would make the install easier and cleaner if it worked using the Sat coax.
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Old 06-03-2018, 04:47 PM   #28
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2015 19' Flying Cloud
2017 25' Flying Cloud
Rosemount , Minnesota
Join Date: Oct 2015
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The Weboost or cellular hotspots are using cell phone frequencies around 700 MHz to up to something a little over 1 GHz. While the standard coax inside the Airstream is not the best solution it has been working for me.

One could get the right, low loss cable and run that inside the
Airstream to gain back some dB lost but until I have the time to string the coax through the cabin to an appropriate area to host the equipment the existing wiring works well enough.

Spending the money on better than standard big box store RG-6 coax to go from the external antenna to the Sat/Cable connector on the outside of the Airstream would be worth the money/effort. Just make sure that you match up the impedance of the antenna, Airstream coax and device you are connecting it to - probably all are 75 ohms. Some antenna and devices are 50 ohms. The outside cable run is at least 3 times the length as inside the Airstream so it is 3x more important.
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Old 06-04-2018, 07:42 AM   #29
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2018 30' International
2016 28' International
2010 25' FB Flying Cloud
St Augustine , Florida
Join Date: Jul 2015
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoscoMN View Post
The Weboost or cellular hotspots are using cell phone frequencies around 700 MHz to up to something a little over 1 GHz. While the standard coax inside the Airstream is not the best solution it has been working for me.

One could get the right, low loss cable and run that inside the
Airstream to gain back some dB lost but until I have the time to string the coax through the cabin to an appropriate area to host the equipment the existing wiring works well enough.
Does anyone have a newer 30FT (2017 or 2018) that can inform us where the internal connection is to the SAT TV? Older models it used be under the dinette but its now been moved somewhere else. I thought it was going to be moved to the DVD Cabinet but I was unable to locate it there. A picture would be great.
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Old 06-04-2018, 02:47 PM   #30
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2022 27' Globetrotter
Asheville , North Carolina
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I know this isn't what you are asking for but we tried to do what you wanted and then gave-up because it blocked the front windows and required making a hole in the trailer. In the end, we created a mast using 1/2" EMT and attached it to the side front plexiglass cover on our 2016 FC 25FB which travelled over 14,000 miles without a problem. The stainless steel cable ties held it to the hinges of the plexiglass curved door but we used normal tie-wrap mounting blocks at the top to hold the truck booster portion onto the airstream. After 1-year, the glue held but the cushion part of the mounting block crumbled away. Moreover, it made it difficult to impossible to open the plexiglass to clean inside.

So we went the VHB tape route and used a couple of Stimpson elbows to mount the mast directly to the side of the trailer. I'll figure out later how to remove the remains of the old mounting block glue but here is how we did it using all Home Depot parts. Could have gotten fancier but I didn't have the metal working tools and I wanted a simple solution:

3 Simpson-Strong-Tie Model A21Z Galvanized Steel Angles
3 Halex 1/2" EMT two-hole straps
6 10-24 Stainless Steel Screws, Lock Washers & Nylon Locking Nuts
1 Halex 1/2" EMT Inside Corner Pull Elbow
10' of 1/2" EMT from which two pieces were made measuring 72" and 12"

Online I ordered 1" 3M VHB tape.

Per the photo, the Simpson elbows were drilled to accept the 2 hole straps. The EMT was assembled using the elbow and then everything was painted once with primer and then again with Seymour Alumi Blast paint. I used Alumi Blast because I have it for my car engine stuff but just paint to whatever color suits you.

I learned the hard way not to paint the area where the VHB tape was going to go because the paint peeled right off. So I used the VHB to peel off the paint from the other 2 elbows and then installed 3 pieces of fresh tape on the bare metal.

There will be one additional bracket as overkill also mounted with VHB to help support the oscillation of the antenna and serve as an emergency additional containment strap.

The wire was fished through the emergency egress window by making a tiny slit in the rubber gasket allowing the window to close securely over the wire. That wire was run inside the trim of the window, popping out by the electrical outlet by the TV, then through a hole in the wood allowing it to transverse the shower coming out above the TV in the lounge. This was designed to give the maximum distance from the mast to the TV that I could reach. When plugged-in, it boosts by 1-bar, sometimes two but if I upgraded the internal antenna I'd get more boost.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1H2...Ddh7SbKQLc-UZ7

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r1...0q1GXJHGOjp20D

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Wq...UjKlwbmk5qJF_i
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Old 04-14-2021, 06:35 PM   #31
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2019 27' Flying Cloud
Portland , Oregon
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 3
Cool Best Answer

Step 1: Running the Antenna into the cabin. Remove the TV Antenna Booster and add a Y, then run another coaxial cable from there into the cabin through the same hole as the TV/Satellite cable. That way you can attach the Antenna using the TV and/or Satellite hookup on the outside. As with cable, you need to turn off the TV Antenna Buster when in use for the cell antenna. We used a cable long enough to run the cable behind the sofa cushions to underneath the dinning table. Who needs cable when you have cell service and have Roku or Apple TV?

Step 2: The best method we have seen for supporting a weboost antenna pole is a manufactured aluminum hitch. The hitch has a 12 to 18 inch tube, instead of a ball, that will hold the antenna. If you extend the hitch enough it won't interfere with the window nor awning. You will of course have one more thing to carry but it seems to be the most secure, safe and user friendly way to deal with the antenna on an airstream. We saw several of these in the keys and the solution was not impacted by wind. We plan to manufacture ours so that the tube can be removed and both the tube and hitch can be stored in the bumper compartment.
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