Antenna Mod

[Ed Venture]

Over the past two years I have tried a couple of antennas with limited success I had problems even in my own driveway where a should receive a majority of the channels in my region, let alone out in the boondocks or a state campground.

First I had the Winegard Sensar antenna and I could only get a couple of stations. I then moved to The Jack which was a huge improvement, but still couldn't reliably pull stations more than 20 miles away. Out of frustration, I started hunting again and thinking outside the realm of RV type antennas and came across reviews for the ClearStream C2V and I figured I would give it a try.

I picked up the C2V at my local Walmart for $98 last weekend and decided to give it a test. If it stunk, I would take it back, if it was good, I would find a way to modify the mast and make it work. I assembled the antenna and put it on a chair outside next to my trailer, pointed in a general direction towards know towers, and ran a 20' coax cord in to my TV. I turned on my TV and scanned for stations and to my surprise I found several more stations than I did with The Jack! In fact I could now get all my locals - even the ones that were 30+ miles away - and this was all with the antenna sitting on a lawn chair on the ground AND with no amplification or power supply! I knew I had to install this one and get rid of The Jack.

I went out to Tractor Supply and picked up a 4' section of 1" aluminium square tube to match the tube on the existing mast. I raised the mast, took out the pins for the rear aluminum mast post, drilled holes in my new 4' piece to match and installed it. I then mounted my C2V to the end of the 4' mast and made sure that it would go up and down appropriately, clear my FM radio antenna, and not hang off the side or back. After a couple of small adjustments, everything worked like a champ:



(Sorry the picture is so bad - I took it late in the evening when I finished the project. If anyone is interested, I can take additional photos and some detailed shots during the day.)

Now the antenna has decent height when extended, lays flat (see the bumper I built in on the back) for travel, and it misses my FM antenna when raising and lowering by about 1".

If you have any questions or comments, let me know!


Ed

[profdant139]

Nicely done! I wonder if it would work to improve radio reception, too?

[FFX160_CT]

Nice!

[Ed Venture]

Originally Posted by profdant139

Nicely done! I wonder if it would work to improve radio reception, too?

It might, although I have no problems with FM since I replaced the rubber FM antenna with a metal one on a spring base. It doesn't hurt that one of my first mods was to rip out the awful stereo/DVD combo and replace it with an automotive head unit and DVD player.

I ordered up a Kitztech KT-500 and had a chance to play with it today and it is quite impressive! It has super low noise (only .85 db when others are above 2 db) and 17 db of gain. It significantly improved the strength of fringe channels and was even able to grab a few that were nearly 80 miles away (weak, but they came in). This should come in handy increasing reception in poor weather conditions which is when I would most likely be watching TV.

Anyway, the unit comes with a 10 day return policy and I may swap up to the KT-500 that has a FM trap, to reduce confusion and noise from near by FM signals, and a whopping 36 db of gain. I would think that should help significantly when I'm way out in the hinterlands.

If I do that, I will update with my findings.

Ed