Lengthing the Winegard Elevator Tubes LTE/Wifi Omni & Directional antennas

[BoldAdventure]

Has anyone ever lengthened the elevator tubes that make up their winegard tv antenna to achieve greater elevated height?

I'm talking about these two tubes



I haven't been back out to my Airstream since the new one was born, to take measurements but have been thinking about this. We don't watch TV, as in NEVER. I haven't had cable or even over the air in the last 10 years. I have no intention of caring just because we're traveling.

I plan on ripping the TV antenna off the top, and getting aluminum bars from Home Depot, and lengthening the elevator tubes. Raised it measures 30 inches or 2.5ft. I'd like to get to 4 or 5 ft in the air.

My plan is to add a 9.5 inch Surecall Omni and a Yagi Directional Antenna.





I've got a switch so I can swap my modem over between omni and directional based on signal strength.

Using the original leveler I should be able to keep the Omni in the upright position, so it doesn't have to always be raised when I'm somewhere with good coverage.

But yeah, anyone ever think of this or try it and have advice?

Still need to see how much room there is for extending the brackets.

[SteveH]

I've not done a mod like you describe, and doubt anyone else has. And from what I know about TV reception, I seriously doubt you can get enough height increase to make a significant difference. A better antenna, however might help some.

[BoldAdventure]

Yeah, I'm thinking that two feet isn't going to make as much a difference as say 10ft would.

I know some folks who use a telescoping pole. I was just looking for a method to crank it up and turn it. Probably not worth the hassle, but I may explore the theory more.

[BoldAdventure]

Actually I've been doing some experimenting, and I think I can build 10ft elevator tubes. They are 1 inch aluminum tubes, and the mechanics are really simple. I am even going to reverse the direction the antenna lays.

I've been experimenting with the mechanics of it all, and it's very simple. Even the leveler works very basically. I'm going to fab my own out of two pieces of aluminum to mount my antenna too.

I'll have to come back to this thread once I've put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

[KJRitchie]

Will the longer tubes cause too much stress on the base mechanics if there is some wind?

Kelvin