Yesterday was a “fix-it” day. I had a couple of things that needed done around the motorhome, and with only a few days left before the Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally starts, it seemed liked a good day to get them out of the way.
So, I stood back and let Mr. Fix-It, aka/Greg White, do his thing. What, you expected me to pick up a tool? Are you nuts? Do you have any idea how much havoc I can wreak with something as simple as a Phillips screwdriver, or a crescent wrench? Before I’m allowed to even walk past something like a Dremel Tool or an electric pencil sharpener, we have to file three dozen different forms with the government, a couple of insurance companies, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The first order of business was to fix the brake lights and turn signals on the van, which work fine except when hooked up to the motorhome while we’re towing.Then they weren’t working at all. Greg said we needed to start at the source, the motorhome, and work our way back toward the van. Since my total involvement in this project was basically saying “Uh huh” and nodding like I knew what was going on, I said “Uh huh” and nodded, just like I knew what was going on.
Fortunately, Greg did know what was going on, and he discovered that a couple of wires had come loose inside the plug that fits into a receptacle on the bumper of the van. The whole plug looked pretty funky, so we (Greg) decided to get a new one.
After a quick trip to a nearby trailer supply shop and the purchase of a new plug, we (Greg) discovered that wasn’t the only problem. There was still no power at the plug. After some testing and some head scratching, we (Greg) decided that the actual converter box, which feeds the signal from the Winnebago’s wiring to the van, was also bad. We (Greg) think that the loose wires in the plug caused some kind of short that fried the converter box. It was too late in the day to get another box, so we (Greg) will finish that job today.
But we (Greg) weren’t done yet! A few days ago we (Miss Terry and I) bought a new Winegard Wingman TV antenna upgrade to go on the crank-up batwing antenna on our roof for better digital signal reception. So we (Greg) climbed up on the roof of the motorhome and installed it. “We” sure had a busy day!
But “we’re” not done yet! Today “we” will get the new tail light converter box and we (Greg) will get that job finished.
A couple of months ago, the original television that came with our motorhome died, and we (Miss Terry and I), bought a new Samsung LED model to replace it. We like the new high definition TV, but there was a problem. Late last year we (Miss Terry and our pal Mark Didelot) installed a digital converter box in the motorhome, to pick up local TV stations with our crank-up batwing antenna. This was necessary because after all “air” broadcasts went digital, our old TV could not pick up their programming without the converter box.
Now that box isn’t needed, and may be causing problems getting the digital signals over the air from local stations. So we (Greg) will take it out.
I sure hope all this gets done without any hassle, because we (me) needs a nap after just reading all of this!
Thought For The Day – Why is it called tourist season if we can’t shoot them?
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Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick, Not so fast on removing that converter box. Your converter box will show channel signal strength when you need to point your antenna. How else do you find the direction to point the bat wing? (Most new digital TV sets do not have a channel strength indication.)
If it does come out, I know where it can find a good home in my rig!
Gene
I can see why you need a nap Nick,….you must be exhausted!!!! Try to pace yourself today and not overdo it!
Nick, to my knowledge there is one making LED TV’s yet, only LCD. Maybe you should also have Greg write the blog while you nap.
Ours is an LED. Here’s the rlink to Samsung’s website http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/tv-video/televisions/led-tv/index.idx?pagetype=subtype&cid=ppc_hdt_goo_LED_LED%20General_LED%20TV
Rossnpam, you doubt Nick’s writing! He may not be too good at fixing stuff, but he’s usually pretty accurate when it comes to his writing. (Just doing a little “tough in cheek” here). Actually LED televisions have been out for quite awhile now.
We bought our daughter an LED TV for Christmas at Best Buy in Oklahoma City
In response to Gene’s comment, if you go to this web site http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/ you can find the direction and strength of each station transmitter in the area. I use it each time I move and find it very accurate and easy to use. Check it out.
One of the things I used to do when we got to a new campsite was to see which way everyone else was pointing their TV antenna, and then point mine the same way. Now that we have gone digital, I find them pointed every which way. Go figure.
I’m curious whether the addition to your attenna improved your picture. I’ve seen that addition on a lot of bat wings and talked to people who put them on and most haven’t realized any improvement at all.
Also, as for pointing the bat wing to get better reception, in my experience, it doesn’t really seem to matter which way you point it, the picture stays about the same. The problem I have is, I get too many religious stations and Spanish speaking (only) stations and too few good weather stations. (I’m not being bigotted, I just don’t speak Spanish, Although I think it might behoove me to learn. Some of the programming looks pretty interesting.)
We were at Ft. Desoto in Pinellas County, FL last weekend and received 39 stations, and, you guessed it, there was nothing on.
Here is a quote from wikipedia:
“LED-backlight LCD television (called LED TV by Samsung Electronics, Panasonic, Toshiba, Philips, LG Electronics, ProScan and Vizio and not to be confused with true LED displays) is an LCD TV that uses LED backlighting[1] rather than fluorescent lights used in traditional LCD televisions.”
I hope this clears things up a bit.
Paul
Nick I have always thought that “we” sounds much better than “I”