A SIMPLE REMINDER TO PUT YOUR CRANK UP ROOF ANTENNA DOWN BEFORE YOU DRIVE

On not so older Roadtreks, on the roof there is a crank up, directional television antenna on the roof. There is a crank on the ceiling inside, near the passenger side coach door. The crank is pulled down  and you turn the crank and the antenna lifts from flat on the roof to straight up into the air with flaps opening on the top. Around the crank inside is a ring that when it is turned the antenna is turned - which makes this type of antenna perfect for digital television broadcast signals - even more so than when there were analog signals which it worked well for also. The newest Roadtrek's have a multi-directional antenna that just sits down on the roof surface and does not lift or turn. I will reserve my opinion about those antennas. I very much like the Winegard Sensar antenna on my 2011 Roadtrek.

Everyone with an RV that has a crank up roof antenna knows that you never drive with that antenna still cranked up into its upright position. Aside from potential damage to the antenna as the wind pushes against it and around it as you drive, it adds height to the RV and if you come to an overpass or a low hanging tree branch it is going to hit and rip it right off the roof. This is an RV "No-No!" 😭

But it happens!

So, what can you do to make sure this NEVER happens? Getting underway when leaving a campground, or wherever you have been set up for the night before, gets hectic! You may be on a schedule and have to get going. You may think you have gone through everything that needs to be done before you leave - and believe - "Oh yeah, of course I put the antenna down - I think! It must be down. Let's go!"  You might even wonder why all those other campers sitting outside their RVs as yo pass are yelling and waving at you! They are not trying to tell you to have a nice trip. They see that antenna up - and they know what is going to happen.

So - easy, easy, easy -

1, Get a sock. A white sock is most obvious but the color is up to you. (Socks with holes in the toe or heel are OK! 😉 )

2. When the antenna is down on the roof, put that sock over the crank handle that is on the ceiling of your RV.

3. Leave that sock there.

IF THE SOCK IS ON THE CRANK HANDLE THE ANTENNA IS DOWN!

4. When you are about to crank the antenna up, remove the sock.

5. Take the sock IMMEDIATELY over to the steering wheel and put the sock on the gear shift lever.

6. Leave  the sock there.

IF THE SOCK IS ON THE GEAR SHIFT LEVER THE ANTENNA IS UP!

7. ONLY WHEN YOU CRANK THE ANTENNA UP DO YOU PUT THE SOCK ON THE CRANK HANDLE.


SO SIMPLE - You are ready to start driving. You put the key in and turn it. The engine starts. You are about to start driving. You go to put the gear shift in Drive or Reverse and you FEEL SOCK. Even without looking, you now know that your roof antenna is UP! And if you just take that sock off the gear shift and start driving - Well!  You won't. You are going to go and crank up the antenna and put the sock back on the crank handle and then come back to the driver's seat and get on your way.

Adding a Digital Antenna Signal Finder

One of the most frustrating things about digital television is that the signal is directional. In order to see all of the digital broadcast channels that are available in an area the antenna must be turned in the direction of the signal being broadcast. There are websites and apps that will tell you by zip code or GPS on the phone or tablet that the app is installed on what the directions of these signals are - but the GPS has a hard time finding a GPS lock inside the Roadtrek in the middle of the night and you don't always know by zip code.

Roadtrek has now discontinued using the Winegard Sensar directional antenna on the roof and now uses a multi-directional antenna that does not have to be turned. The model that they are now using may work very well, but it has been my experience when trying this type of antenna out at home that they still need to be turned to get the best signal reception. I like the Winegard. It can be easily turned to find all of the digital broadcast signals - but in what direction? Until now it has been trial and error. Turn, scan for channels on the TV (which can take up to ten minutes or longer) and then turn and scan again if you did not have the correct direction - and this repeats until you have found the correct direction for the area that you are in.

I had seen a device in the RV shop at my Roadtrek dealer that eliminated the guesswork. I always looked at it when I was there and each time I put it down for the $70 price tag. After a few frustrating nights of trying to find a signal, I decided that I would get this device. It happens that I found it on the Walmart website and had it shipped to my local store after ordering it. I paid  $50 for it. It is called the King Controls SL1000 Digital TV Signal Finder or Sure Lock. 

Installation is easy and can be temporary or permanent. I decided to rearrange the A/B box and add a second A/B box into the cables for this installation. 

What you need - the Sure Lock, a cable A/B switch found at any home electronics store or department, and coax cable with connectors. 

Let me state right now that I have had a lot of experience making cable television coax cables of various lengths and I cut and made cables to suit my needs. You may wind up with a lot more cable in the cabinet that you might like so for some steps here you want as short a cable as you can get.

Now, the installation ->

I wanted to move the Roadtrek's A/B box to within easier reach from the front of the cabinet door so I did move that box first. In this photo you will see the Roadtrek's splitter that has an input that connects to the antenna's coax cable and splits that signal to

1) the antenna input of the Roadtrek's A/B black box.
2) the home entertainment center where it is connected to the back for FM radio reception.

I wanted a connection to the antenna and I wanted it before it went into the Roadtrek's A/B box. For this I went to the Roadtrek splitter and disconnected the output coax that goes down to the Home Entertainment Center (DVD, etc). To that leg of the splitter I attached a short piece of coax and that coax was attached to the input of a new A/B switch that I bought in the Walmart TV department for $6.00. To that new A/B switch's  A output I connected the coax that used to be connected to the splitter that went down to the Home Entertainment Center. Now that was connected just as it had been. To the other output of the switch - the B side I connected a six foot length of coax cable connected to nothing on the opposite end. Below you can see the additional A/B switch installed. I attached this to the floor of the cabinet with heavy 3M velco like plastic strips to keep it in place. I labeled which side to slide the switch to for radio or for antenna scanning. When slid to radio everything works exactly as it did before.

What I had then was a completely working TV connection to the antenna just as it worked before AND a completely working Home Entertainment Center FM radio just as it worked before - provided the new A/B Switch was slid over to the correct side of the switch. I also had at that point was a coax cable connected to nothing that I could connect to the Sure Lock signal finder. The photo below shows the cabinet connections completed. The coil of coax on the right is ready to connect to the Sure Lock when I want to scan. I attached a push on coax connector onto the end of the coax for easy on and off of the scanner.

Now, when I need to scan I take out the scanner - stored in a zipper bag in this cabinet - and attach it to the end of the coax with a simple push on. There are two coax leads on the top of the Sure Lock that will enable you to attach it between the coax coming down to the TV from the antenna and a new coax going into the TV for a permanent installation behind the TV. The problem with this is the crank/direction bezel for the antenna is in the front of the Roadtrek and you need to easily see the scanner as you turn the antenna. This is why I have used six feet of coax in my set up. So I now take my scanner connected to the loose coax in the cabinet and walk over to the crank. 

You turn the scanner on with a switch on the side. It runs on a 9 volt battery. Turn down the adjustment knob at the top as per the instructions. And start to turn the antenna. When four LEDs (or as many LEDs will light if in a weak area) you stop turning the direction of the antenna. Then you turn the adjustment knob up until the last light just goes out. Next you slightly adjust the antenna direction a fraction until that LED comes back on. You have now found the best direction for your antenna and that is where you leave it. Next - as always - you turn on the TV - go to channel source in the menu and make sure it is on Antenna and then in the menu below, scan for channels. You should see as many channels as available in that area lock in to the TV. 

We tried this on our driveway and it worked. The real test was on a trip and we were at the same campground that we had problems finding channels at the trip before. I scanned and found the direction - and all channels came in. 

If you are going to be in the same campground site for a few days and will be moving the Roadtrek to leave the campground at any point to visit the area, you want to be able to find the exact same direction for the antenna without having to scan again - so I came up with an idea. I bought removable peel and stick round color labels and placed one right at the antenna's direction pointer on the ceiling of the Roadtrek. It comes right off without leaving a mark and it will stay up for as long as you are at that campground. 

 

 With the level markers that I put down on the ground on the site next to the tires to show where to park that is level, I always come back to very close to the same position on the site, so all I need to do is move the antenna pointer to the middle of the dot and all of the TV channels are back where they need to be.  When moving to the next campground or home, just peel off the dot and throw it away.

This little gadget works. It saves a great deal of the frustration of a directional antenna. There are units that do the same thing that are built into the ceiling at the crank but these involve cutting into your Roadtrek. This little Sure Lock does it without any permanent changes to your RV.

Lubricating the Crank Up Roadtrek TV Antenna

My 2011 Roadtrek has a television antenna on the roof that cranks up and also turns to tune in digital television signals from different directions. Recently, Roadtrek stopped using this type of antenna and replaced it with a mulch-directional, fixed antenna. Much older Roadtreks had a fixed antenna embedded inside the roof (which since the national switch from analog to all digital tv broadcasts does not work very well any longer). If your Roadtrek has the crank up antenna like mine, you will see inside on the crank and turn control a sign that says "Lubricate Antenna Twice A Year". When I saw this, it baffled me. Where do you apply lubricant and what type of lubricant do you apply?

I started by asking the service center at our dealer. I felt that if this was something that I could do rather than have them do it for a fee, I certainly would do it myself. They told me to use white lithium grease as a lubricant and that there were gears on the antenna unit on the roof to apply this to. I did a little more digging and found a manual for the antenna online. Here is a link to that manual and you want to look at "Page 5" for what you need to know and see about lubricating the antenna. This summer I did the job myself and I will tell you about it and the step by step on how it is done.

 First, the manual says to use silicone spray - and NOT white lithium grease. The two may work just as equally well, but I decided to go with what the antenna company (Winegard) recommends. I found silicone spray lubricant in a hardware store. I just found it at Lowes and it is now made by the WD-40 company.  The advantage of their can is that it has the red detail spray straw as a permanent part of the nozzle. You will need the spray straw to do this job! (And those buggers when you get them just taped to the can get lost very easily and they are not available on their own for sale anywhere!)  So get yourself a can of Silicone Spray Lubricant - with the spray straw to do this job. DO NOT USE REGULAR WD-40 - IT WILL DAMAGE THE RUBBER PARTS!

Next, you need to get to the roof of your Roadtrek and I used a six foot aluminum ladder to do this. It was barely just tall enough to get me to where the antenna is and be able to work. This is a bit precarious and have someone hold the ladder when you do. If you have a ladder that leans against what you are climbing up, cover your Roadtrek with a thick blanket between the Roadtrek and the ladder. It is just too easy to do damage to your Roadtrek with the ladder scraping along the side.  I am not found of ladders or heights and the Roadtrek roof at 8 foot 9 inches tall is a bit more than I was prepared for. Once you get up there, get comfortable because you need two hands to do this job.

When you are up at the roof you are going to be applying the silicone spray to two different places. The manual says to do this first step three to four times a year. For the time being I think I will stick with two times a year which is required for both steps.

Lubrication Point 1 - The Lift Gear

When you get up to the roof and look down into the antenna unit you will see the teeth of a gear. Here is a photo.

You see the gear right there in the middle. With the spray straw on your silicone lubricant nozzle, spray a liberal amount of silicone spray onto the teeth of the gear. Do this with the lift in the DOWN position. Get into the parts of the gear that you can't see with the straw.

                                                                                  

Once you have applied the spray, climb down from the ladder. Go inside your Roadtrek and crank the antenna up and then down again a couple of times. This will distribute the lube all over the gear.  Leave the antenna now in the UP position so that you are ready for the next lube location.

Lubrication Point 2 - The Rotation Gear

Climb back up the ladder and get yourself into position again. You are going to need to get to the far side of the antenna base. You are now looking for a plug that you are going to have to pull out - AND NOT LOSE! The plug is black rubber.

                                                                                   

                                                                                     

 Remember that you must do this with the antenna UP. Remove the plug by getting under the edge and gently lifting up, and put the silicone spray can straw into the hole that you have opened when you removed the plug. Spay down into the hole and around the EDGES of the gear housing (inside the hole). When you have sprayed the lubricant, climb down the ladder and go inside your Roadtrek and now turn the outer direction ring all around and back again and around again to rotate the antenna and spread the lubricant all around the gears. If it is stiff to turn, go back up and spray some more lubricant into the hole. When you are satisfied, climb back up and replace the plug.

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The manual goes on to another lubrication point - the worm gear rubber ring. I was not about to disassemble anything and it appears that the rubber ring they are talking about is inside the lift mechanism below the lift gear that you have just lubricated. I put so much lube down onto that gear that some of it had to have gone down into this assembly. I may be wrong, but I am hoping that I lubed this rubber ring in the process. **

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One thing to be very aware of is that silicone spray has an ODOR and after I finished lubing the antenna I could smell the spray inside the Roadtrek. Do not do this job if you are about to go out in your Roadtrek on a trip (or even a drive). The smell does go away in a few days.


That was all that was involved in lubricating the antenna. I did see a big difference after this in how much more easily the antenna rotated, so the lube does help. For me the hardest part was getting up on the ladder. If you are comfortable on ladders this job is a cinch! I will do it twice a year. I am not sure really when to space it out. After we de-winterize I will do it again and then, I think, I will do it in the Fall.

(The photos used in this article were taken with the inspection camera that I wrote about a few weeks ago. In daylight, the quality was a little better, but getting the extension arm of the camera to where it needed to be to take these photos was ridiculous. It wound up taking both of us. Me to maneuver the lens to almost where it needed to be - while up on a tall step ladder and Meryl to hold the monitor and take the picture. The camera has been returned.)

**ADDENDUM: 

When this article appeared a reader asked about the third lubrication point that I talk about above as not accessing. This "rubber quad ring" is what keeps rain and water from coming down through the mechanism into the inside of your RV. By lubricating this ring, Winegard says it will keep the rubber from drying out and cracking. This sent me to do some research on how to lubricate the rubber quad ring as recommended by Winegard. I was able to find out how to do it but also found a warning from an RVer about doing it. Take a look at the first photograph above in this article. At the back of the gear housing you see a black hexagonal shape. It is made of plastic. This is suppose to unscrew to access the shaft and the worm gear that raises and lowers the antenna. According to Winegard, unscrew this nut (cap) and very carefully take it off (without moving the shaft that it attaches to). Take the straw on the silicone lube can and spray silicone lube down that hole and you should be able to reach the rubber quad ring that needs to be lubricated by the lube that will drip down. Carefully return the hex nut and tighten it back on.  Now, here is the warning that I found. One RVer who seemed to know what he was talking about advised not to open this as you run a risk of moving the shaft out of position and then the antenna lift will not work properly if it is out of alignment. Good warning to heed. I am not recommending doing this process. Do it at your own risk. Others comment about this quad ring as I had above - soak the gear enough and you will get plenty of lube on all of the parts including this one. Decide for yourself and if you do this, do it cautiously.


 **MORE IMPORTANT ADDENDUM:

The following is from a Winegard company service technician who trains dealers on Winegard Tech:

"My personal recommendation is that you NOT remove this plug as you can get the exact same result buy spraying some dry silicone spray into the opening while stowed (you can see the gear and the worm drive), spray a bit more while it's up and the spray a bit more while someone is cranking it up and or down.
Do this twice per year and you should never have any issues." 

That, friends, is the ultimate in advice. Do what the man says and don't unscrew the hex nut cap to lube the quad ring.

Living in the Roadtrek - Watching TV

At home you turn on your TV and sit down and watch. You can do this in your Roadtrek also, BUT there are a few things that you have to do first - in each new location you travel to.

Roadtreks have always included televisions. In some models the TV has been an option, while in many the TV is standard equipment. Without getting into details of the entire entertainment system (I will get into that in another article), you now get a digital HD television, a rooftop television antenna, and an antenna booster. Your television can be connected to the antenna on the roof or a cable connection to the campground. The cable connection is outside just to the side of your city water connection in a little box with a flip up lid. Open the lid and you will find a standard cable screw on coax connector - exactly like the cable connector you have on the back of your TV or cable box at home.

You must be connected to 110 volt power either by electric line, generator, or inverter to have power to the TV system in the Roadtrek.

The antenna set up can be confusing, because, frankly, the new digital transmissions are confusing to those of us - most of us - who are just used to connecting an antenna wire and turning on the TV. I will talk about the antenna first - step by step. (I am talking here about the system that is in my 2011 190 Popular which will be similar to most of the newer Roadtreks.)

1 - In the front of your Roadtrek on the ceiling there is a crank. Around the crank is a disk with a triangle on one end. That triangle lines up with a mark on just in front of it. When the antenna is raised, this disk rotates and turns the antenna. That triangle must always be pointed to the mark on the front when you raise or lower the antenna.Unfold the crank and start turning. When it stops your antenna on the roof has fully raised straight up and the large wing that is attached to the top of the antenna unfolds. You have just raised your antenna. But this is JUST the first step.

2 - You can now turn the triangle around with the disk. The direction it points is the direction that the antenna will point. Digital signals are directional and if you want to receive them you need to be pointed in the direction of the signal tower. Just reach up and turn the disk.

3 - What direction you will need to turn the antenna changes with your current location. There are websites that will tell you what direction the channel signals are. There are also apps that do this. Without anything else, figure out what direction the nearest large city is in and most likely you will connect with channels.

4 - Go into the cabinet above your TV. There will be an A/B switch inside. A or B is determined by which side the installer connected the wires from the antenna and the cable system. My cables were marked by Roadtrek. Push the button for the antenna wire.

5 - Look above on the ceiling of that cabinet and you will see a wall plate with a little green led button in the middle. This is your antenna booster switch. It should be lit green which means it is on. I just leave mine on all of the time.

6- Turn on the TV. Go to the settings menu. Choose Signal Source and pick Antenna.

7 - Turn your antenna to the direction you need. I have a compass so that I know which direction I am turning the antenna. Get it to approximately where you think it should be.

8 - Go back to your TV settings menu and find "SCAN CHANNELS". Click that and this will take several minutes to scan and lock in digital channels. If you have only a few channels lock in after this finishes, it means one of two things. Your antenna is pointed in the wrong direction OR there are only those few digital signals in this area. I have been to areas with more than 40 channels and other areas with four or five. If you get no signals, your antenna is pointed in the wrong direction or you failed to do one of the steps above. This is often an trail and error - and timely process. Don't blame the equipment or Roadtrek - blame Congress for deciding that television had to be all digital. This is the nature of digital antenna television - even at home.

9 - If you have a lot of channels you are done setting the antenna. And you only have to do this again if you travel to a new location. As long as you stay where you are the channels will remain locked in.

Turn off the settings menu on your TV. You will now see a picture on your TV. If there is no channel on a number you should get a blue screen. If the signal is weak you will get a picture broken up into small boxes.

Now, you may not have any sound. Roadtrek has wired the TV sound into your Home Entertainment Center unit. Turn that on - there are TWO switches to turn it on - POWER and STANDBY. Set the mode to AUX (this may vary depending on how the connections were made - the home entertainment unit display screen is hard to see anyway so just push the mode button until the TV sound comes through) and you should get TV sound coming out of most of the speakers in your Roadtrek - but not all the speakers. I will get into this in another article as this is a bit complex. The two or three speakers that have sound now are more than adequate. Also be aware that in that same cabinet where the antenna booster and the A/B switch is, there is a turn knob with three positions on the ceiling of the cabinet. One position is to put the sound from the dash radio into the RT speakers. The opposite position is to connect the home entertainment unit to the speakers. I have no idea what the middle position does. Make sure this is switched to the home entertainment position.

I decided that I did not want to use the Home Entertainment unit for the TV sound. Why have to turn this on when the TV has perfectly good and likely surround sound speakers built in? All I had to do was go to the side of the TV and find the headphone jack. In that jack was a plug that came from the wires coming to the TV from above. I just pulled the plug and let it hang down and - PRESTO - sound from the TV speakers. No need to turn on the home entertainment unit. If I want to have sound from the Roadtrek speakers all I have to do is plug it back in. Simple. Easy.

Next - cable TV.

1 - Buy a standard cable TV coax cable long enough to reach from your Roadtrek to the campground cable connection. Go outside and connect your Roadtrek cable connection to the campground connection which is on the pedestal near the electric box. Just screw an end of the connector on to each connection. Twenty five feet should be a long enough cable. (A tip- you can get a cable with or buy adapters to add on - to make the screw on connections to push on connections and these are much easier to deal with.)

2 - Inside, go to your A/B box and select CABLE.

3 - Turn on the TV and go to the Source menu. Select "CABLE".

4 - Go to the Channel Scan menu and scan for channels - yes, you must do this also for cable.

5 - The TV will scan for all available cable channels and lock them in. In most campgrounds you are locking in ANALOG channels. We were in only one campground so far where there was a mix of both analog and digital channels coming through the cable.

6 - When finished turn off the menu and you should now be able to see the cable channels provided by the campground.

You do not have to do this again until you connect to cable at another campground. If you also scanned with your antenna and then connected to watch cable - AT THE SAME LOCATION - your antenna channels will still be available if you switch back - so you can switch back and forth as long as you switch the A/B box and the TV source menu.

Campgrounds use various providers for their cable TV. Some use a cable company and some use a satellite provider. So that you don't need a cable receiver box for a specific cable company in your RV, the campground gets the signal where it comes into the campground and converts it electronically to analog which will then play through your TV without a special and specific tuner box from the cable or satellite company. The cable channel selection, of course, varies by the campground and they usually give you a list of the cable channels available and their corresponding numbers on the back of the campground map - or in the literature they give you when you check in.

And you thought it was easy to just sit down and watch TV! After the first night at the campground, it is, but this process needs to be done at each campground or for antenna at each place that you stop for the night.

Some say "campers should not need TV". I like TV and so does Meryl. We look for campgrounds with cable connections.