Roof Mounted Antenna: Does it have a hand crank somewhere?

[chaseav]

The manual is confusing but does the Roadstar omnidirectional antennae raise / lower? Mine is loose and needs to be looked at but in the meantime, maybe I could just put it down? I see no hand crank in the ceiling.

I have a 2015 International Signature 25FB.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by chaseav

The manual is confusing but does the Roadstar omnidirectional antennae raise / lower? Mine is loose and needs to be looked at but in the meantime, maybe I could just put it down? I see no hand crank in the ceiling.

I have a 2015 International Signature 25FB.

It is a fixed mount. No adjustment possible.

[chaseav]

They could have written this better for sure.

[chaseav]

But thank you for the reply!

[dick&claire]

The antenna is mounted on a Tar Heel "Lift & Lay" device, which has a 12V motor that is controlled from the desk in the trailer. There are no hand cranks involved, push a button and it goes up; push another button and it goes down.

[Schu]

Originally Posted by chaseav

But thank you for the reply!

Is the antenna loose at the base or the top round part?

Just interested.

[chaseav]

At the base, under the white layer of... plastic, rubber, whatever that is. I think I pulled a branch across it when I was getting out of a tight spot last year. It appears there is no way for me to fix anything without some decent surgery.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by chaseav

At the base, under the white layer of... plastic, rubber, whatever that is. I think I pulled a branch across it when I was getting out of a tight spot last year. It appears there is no way for me to fix anything without some decent surgery.

Picking up on dick&claire's comment, do any of these bases look familiar?

http://www.tarheelantennas.com/mounts

The motorized "Lift & Lay" mount near the bottom of the page, on the left, does refer to RV applications.

Is there a control button/switch at your desk area, as they describe, and does it say what model lift you have, if any?

Your AS owner's manual on p. 5-11 [p. 47/120 of the PDF] seems to show a fixed Winegard Roadstar antenna with no operable lift instructions IMO [for 25' and longer trailers]:

https://www.airstream.com/wp-content...ional_2015.pdf

If you do have a Tarheel lift and lay mount, is there a separate instruction book in your AS packet of mfg. brochures and manuals?

Good luck!

Peter


PS -- Roadstar antenna link FYI: http://www.winegard.com/roadstar

Does the base of your antenna look like the round one pictured here?

http://www.winegard.com/roadstar/roadstar-tech-specs

From their support page you can navigate to a PDF manual, like the one you should have in your trailer, to see the parts available, in case replacing the "Pedestal" is what you need to do:

http://www.winegard.com/support/

Originally Posted by dick&claire

The antenna is mounted on a Tar Heel "Lift & Lay" device, which has a 12V motor that is controlled from the desk in the trailer. There are no hand cranks involved, push a button and it goes up; push another button and it goes down.

[chaseav]

OTRA: Yes, mine looks like the Roadstar one. Circular mount; all screws in tact that I could see (while trying not to kneel on a duct) the entire mount was able to rock back and forth slightly. The aforementioned "skin" moving with it. It did not twist though so I assume it was connected by something hard. I picture loose screws or maybe just one screw... not sure. We almost never use it but would hate to see it depart or cause a roof leak.

[OTRA15]

Any chance of reaching up to see if you can tighten each screw carefully with a manual screwdriver? To make sure it is waterproof might require some scaffolding and more work than you are able to do right now, but would be worth doing when possible IMO, as I imagine you realize already! I would guess that you could remove the mounting screws on that base plate, lift it up carefully, and caulk under it for insurance. [edit -- although it may be already caulked so well that you cannot lift it?]

There is a chance that the base plate is actually through-bolted to a matching base plate inside the ceiling/roof. This would be the right way to mount it IMO, but screws only would permit it to "release" if hit by a tree limb etc.. Kind of a judgment call design-wise here I guess . . . [edit -- probably screws, see PS]

Good luck!

Peter

PS -- edit -- the manual does seem to indicate that the mount is held on by screws, not through-bolts. Go to the following page, click on Support & Guides at the bottom, then navigate to the Roadstar pages, via Mobile Entertainment HDTV Antennas:

http://www.winegard.com/roadstar/roadstar-tech-specs

PDF page 2/12 shows the mounting screws.

[chaseav]

That's extremely helpful. I appreciate the thoughtful reply. It is in fact caulked extremely well. So much so that it looks like they never did any finishing off after using the caulk gun and there are "fishtails" of caulk up there. (Whomever at JC did my unit, went crazy with that thing.)

While here on extended deployment I don't have any ability to get up there to check it again, slippery bugger that she is. When we head home though later this summer I'm planning to drop the AS off for a pre-2yr warranty expiration and let them go to town. I've got my squawk list ready.

To your point about the screws though; none were visibly loose or raised out of their holes so I suspect the subsurface bracket that mounts to the frame itself is what's loose. I should say also that it's not VERY loose or in danger of falling off... it's just not going to get any better up there by itself.

Thanks again!