Camping and Traveling Tips

 Title
Contributor
 
 
 
1)

Keep your feet dry !

Tim Moran
 
2)
Don't leave the black water valve open. Empty the black water tank only when there is enough fluid in it to flush out solids & paper.

Jim Bailey
 
3)
When raising the TV antenna, place some sort of flag or card on the crank to remind you the antenna is up.

Jim Bailey
 
4)
When driving, keep jalousie windows tightly closed. Don't let them "flutter". The fluttering will cause the base support rod of the window to eat through the window frame allowing the window panes to fall out.

Jim Bailey
 
5)
After children have played in the RV, check the latch on the emergency exit window to make certain the window has not been released. If released, it will fall out while you are driving.

Jim Bailey
 
6)
Check tire air pressure while they are cool prior to driving. When stopping during your travels, touch each tire to see if they are equally warm. A "hotter" tire means low pressure.

Jim Bailey
 
7)
Weigh each axle to determine the weight carried by each tire. Inflate the tire to carry the proper weight. Do not inflate to the maximum allowed pressure unless it is necessary in order to carry the weight. Over inflated tires wear out the tread in the center of the tire & ride rougher than necessary. Over inflated "steering" tires increases "road wander". Proper inflation based on your type of tire & the weight you carry can be found at www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf

Jim Bailey
 
8)

After you have everything loaded up & are ready to go, make an entire "walk-a-round" to be certain you haven't forgotten something.

Jim Bailey
 
9)

How often do we get to an RV park and wonder "In what direction do I point the TV antenna in order to pick up the most and best stations?".

Well, There is a FREE Android phone App. called TV ANTENNA HELPER FREE and it is just what it says.... The app is available FREE in the Android Play Store.

When loaded, the App. will determine your precise location and altitude. It will then survey all of the TV stations detected around where you are and report how many TV stations it has found and tell you whether they are Strong, Moderate, Weak, or Very Weak. The App.

It will then present those stations to you in several forms:

1) By Name, Call Letters, compass direction, distance, UHF/VHF band, Elevation, and Signal Strength (in DB).
2) On a Satellite Map showing YOUR location and the locations of each of those TV stations.
3) On a Rotating Compass showing North and the directions from your location to each of those TV stations.
4) Based upon the type of TV signal strength, the App will recommend the best TV antenna to pick up that signal. That doesn't really help us too much as we all have pretty much the same antenna.

REMEMBER that TV signal waves propogate horizontally. That means that your TV antenna must present its LONG, FLAT, side (NOT the pointed end) towards the TV Station. Unless you have an add-on UHF antenna such as a Winegard Sidekick, it does not matter which flat side you point towards the TV station.

In most rigs, there is a roof crank that raises and lowers the TV Antenna. Around that crank is a ring with a stationary arrow and a rotating arrow. As you know you line up those two arrows before we lower the antenna. That arrow indicates when the antenna is rotated so that the ENDS are in line with the length of the RV.

Do NOT point the rotating arrow towards the TV stations indicated by the phone App. Point the rotating 90 degrees to the indicated TV station.

PS: There is probably something similar available for iPhone owners

Tim Moran

 

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