I know there was a thread back about a year ago that talked about the
Winegard Rayzar Automatic - Automatic RV Antenna that was released last fall. I had looked at these and researched the reviews which there wasn't a ton of them. I did find some mixed reviews for this antenna on some of the other rv forums. I recently got one of these antennas and this is what I have to say about the install and the performance. The thing that interested me was of course it being fully automatic and it is supposed to have a better signal quality.
First off this antenna is a lot smaller and lighter then I figured it was going to be. The diameter of the mounting area is a little over 18" and the height is less than 10".
Before I started I checked my reception with the current antenna and was able to get 22 channels with a few of them not coming in vary strong. I also checked the signal strength which was roughly around 90. When doing my research I noticed that I needed to have the booster less than 30' in cable length to the antenna. So here is my first challenge!
On our floor plan they put our booster in the entertainment center behind the TV which is in the back half of the kitchen/entertainment slide out and the antenna at the front of the unit.
My second challenge was the coax cable configuration which again was in the entertainment center part of the slide out behind the fireplace. Since I needed to move the booster to the bedroom that meant I would need to change how the antenna cable ran and where or how the splitter was configured.
My first challenge was solved by finding a non switched power source that ran through the ceiling to the light in our bedroom front closet. After pulling down lights and removing some ceiling A/C vents I was able to find the wire I needed. I tapped into this wire and ran the wire through the ceiling over to the TV hook-ups in the bedroom. With this accomplished I now needed to address my second challenge the coax cable issue. I went onto the roof and removed the antenna and attached a short piece of coax that was supplied with the antenna to the existing coax. I then pulled this cable into the inside and routed it through the ceiling over to the new booster location. This new cable went into the antenna in on the booster. The old antenna cable was now connected to the TV out on the new booster. The original coax that came into the bed room is now connected to the cable in on the new booster. Now I have to address the coax configuration where the old booster was. I removed the old booster from the wall and removed the original antenna in cable (which is now my TV out cable from the new booster) and attached it to the in side of the splitter. I then removed the cable in coax and attached it to the bedroom TV cable (which is now the cable in on the new booster) from the splitter. The last cable which was attached to the TV out is now connected to the new wall plate and the other end is attached to the open spot where the bedroom cable was connected on the splitter.
After I finished with all the coax I then went onto the roof and located where I would place the new antenna. The instructions said that it needed to be a minimum of 12" from the edge of the trailer and a minimum of 24" from the front of the trailer. Once I had the location I then went back into the trailer and powered everything up to make sure everything worked before screwing everything in place and sealing up the roof. I hit the power button on the booster and everything powered up with no error messages on the display. I then hit the search button and could hear the antenna rotating and could see the indicator lights moving on the new booster. After about 2 or 3 minutes the antenna was done searching and the panel said that it had located 9 viewable channels. According to the instruction book the display wont show the numbers of sub channels. So I turned on the TV and did a new channel search. When it finished I again had 22 channels the same as what I had with the other antenna. I then checked the signal strength which read 100. I then scrolled through the channels and found that I again still had 2 weak channels. The new booster has manual controls on it as well which I could of used to try tuning in the 2 weaker channels but I was satisfied with the results so I didn't bother. As for the picture quality I would have to say that it was considerably better. Some of the channels that were previously grainy seem to be more clear and the colors were more vibrant. I would say that the picture was as good as our home satellite picture.
We will be interested to see how it does on our trips this spring and summer but if what I have seen so far is any indication I think we wont be disappointed in the results.
So in conclusion I would say that if you want the simplicity of not having to search for channels by turning the antenna manually and guessing if you are aiming the right way, not having to worry about cranking the antenna up and down, wanting a better picture, and not to concerned about having to do some extra work at installing it (like the mess I had to deal with) or the hefty price tag (retail price around $350.00) then this is something I would recommend checking into.
Linear Mode
