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Drilling roof for antenna

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    rrcbovrrcbov Member Posts: 109
    edited April 2022

    2021 Tab 400 Boondock, 2021 Toyota Tacoma, Juno Beach Florida
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    tomtektomtek Member Posts: 47
    jgriz said:
    Did some testing in a remote location. The internet was good enough to stream 4k videos and video chatting, whereas my phone was barely usable off the wifi. The 5 Ghz wifi band seems to penetrate the Tab's aluminum just fine, as I got 300 Mbps between local devices inside, and good reception outside the Tab.
    The antenna looks sleek, and unlikely to get caught on branches. While a taller antenna might give slightly better signal, I didn't want anything taller than the vent.
    As the Pepwave router can get hot, I'll try not to stuff the cabinet too much.
    I will probably mount it on the left side of the cabinet, as there is a gap when the door is closed for airflow.



    That sounds like quite the success.    What is the service plan you chose?   Seems like pretty solid throughput.  

    I too am concerned about heat some.   I would have preferred to mount with the fins vertical but wanted the Ethernet jacks easy to access.   I have a convention heat plan of putting a thin vent in the top panel above the door that looks nice.   Pretty good sized gaps around outside of door to provide convection air up.
    2009 Dutchman TQ - Sold
    2021 CS-S - Enjoying the new layout
    2011 Outback 3.6r
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    tomtektomtek Member Posts: 47
    rrcbov said:
    tomtek said:
    jgriz said:
    Update: antenna installed. Signal is good. 
    @jgriz  You inspired me to get it over with.   . . . 
    Every time I think I’m ready to give this a try I have another question!

    nuCamp says the aluminum roof is 3/4” and Peplink says the maximum panel width is 19/32 - did you find this to be true and if so, how did you accommodate the difference?
    Yes the nut could only be usable if you use @jgriz way by making the ceiling hole bigger than roof hole.   I chose to not use the nut since it would be difficult inside the wall.   I do think there is room to do it if the nut was trimmed down a little.   I didn't worry about it because double sided tape that it comes with was seriously good and once stuck along with the Dicor Self Leveling caulking added seems like the antenna is stuck plenty good.

    2009 Dutchman TQ - Sold
    2021 CS-S - Enjoying the new layout
    2011 Outback 3.6r
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    jgrizjgriz Member Posts: 10
    @tomtek I have an 800GB T-Mobile plan from mobilemusthave.com and a 150GB Verizon hotspot plan. For VZ, had to buy their hotspot and put SIM card it came with in the Pepwave.

    Also, the carriers throttle certain traffic like video. Using a VPN I got way better streaming video quality. Not that I really need 4k video on the small Jensen TV though.

    2022 T@B 320 S Boondock
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    tomtektomtek Member Posts: 47
    jgriz said:
    @tomtek I have an 800GB T-Mobile plan from mobilemusthave.com and a 150GB Verizon hotspot plan. For VZ, had to buy their hotspot and put SIM card it came with in the Pepwave.

    Also, the carriers throttle certain traffic like video. Using a VPN I got way better streaming video quality. Not that I really need 4k video on the small Jensen TV though.

    Thanks.   I am fairly certain the mobilemusthave.com plans are only available to devices purchased through them.   Unfortunately...    

    But T-mobile has some awesome 5G and Band 71 coverage so I plan on having that as one SIM for sure

    Cheers.  thanks for all the info.   
    2009 Dutchman TQ - Sold
    2021 CS-S - Enjoying the new layout
    2011 Outback 3.6r
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    techietabtechietab Member Posts: 159
    edited September 2022
    Horigan said:

    If you happen to damage wiring, they would be easy to repair.  Turn off the battery before drilling to preclude the chance of having an arc welding incident.

    Just completed this mod on a 2022 302S to install the same attena radome that tomtek did.
    I followed jgriz's info as closely as possible and measured meticulously - but still ended up taking out the neutral wire for the fan with my circular saw. Thankfully I was able to feed a bit of slack up from behind the former microwave compartment and get it reconnected with a shrink-tube butt splice connector. I'm lucky I didn't sever both sides of the circuit, as the hot wire is bonded to the neutral.
    In hindsight I'd use a live wire detector to try to pinpoint the wire more exactly and use that to determine where I drill.
    Northern VA
    2022 T@b 320 S / 2021 Subaru Outback
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    Denny16Denny16 Member Posts: 5,431
    edited September 2022
    Techietab, Glad you were able to get your antenna mounted with minimal/repairable minor damage.  The negative circuit on a DC circuit like the TaB ceiling fan, is a negative or ground connection, not a neutral, which is one of the circuit wires in AC wiring.
     Cheers 
    2018 TaB400 Custom Boondock,  Jeep Gladiator truck, Northern California Coast.
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    techietabtechietab Member Posts: 159
    Denny16 said:
     The negative circuit on a DC circuit like the TaB ceiling fan, is a negative or ground connection, not a neutral, which is one of the circuit wires in AC wiring.
    Appreciate the correction. Becoming a new T@b owner and installing some DC add-ons (LTE modem/router; step-up converter for Raspberry Pi-based media center; SensorPush environmental sensor gateway) has been making me painfully aware that my knowledge of DC circuits is lacking. I've always been a software, rather than a hardware guy.
    Northern VA
    2022 T@b 320 S / 2021 Subaru Outback
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    Denny16Denny16 Member Posts: 5,431
    No worries, welcome to the TaB family.
     Cheers 
    2018 TaB400 Custom Boondock,  Jeep Gladiator truck, Northern California Coast.
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    Basil48192Basil48192 Member Posts: 266

    Here is my home-made TV antenna which actually works pretty well!  I'll remove it for travel, but the keder rail connectors I purchased from Amazon made it east to mount without drilling holes.  An old, plastic cutting board provided a non-marring, no rust mounting pad.  
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    Sharon_is_SAMSharon_is_SAM Administrator Posts: 9,513
    Very smart!
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
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    gulfareagulfarea Member Posts: 507
    I drilled a 5/8 hole and mounted mine this way on top. The antenna is only about 8 inches tall but sure  works, the wire comes out in the A/C area of my 320 2019  Art
    2019 TaB 320 S Boondock Edge
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    Basil48192Basil48192 Member Posts: 266
    @gulfarea - Looks great.  Can I aske what antenna model that is and where you purchased it?  Thanks!
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    gulfareagulfarea Member Posts: 507
    @Basil48192 It is a mixture of 2 parts I made up. This part https://a.co/d/eDCv8QA and this part https://a.co/d/cO4y9Ql
    The top unscrews and screws into that base. Art
    2019 TaB 320 S Boondock Edge
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    Basil48192Basil48192 Member Posts: 266
    @gulfarea
    Thanks!
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