I remember, years ago when I was a backpacker, I was quite disdainful of RVers. It appeared that they were always watching TV. They'd set up their satellite dishes as soon as they got parked - TV was that important. I remember thinking, 'why do you bother to leave home?' Of course, now I are one! But, I also realize that for many of us - we didn't leave home ... this IS home.

Anyway, we now have an antenna for just about every purpose. From left to right in the photo below:
TV antenna (regular broadcast TV)
Wi-Fi antenna (more on that later)
Wilson Trucker Cellular antenna
Datastorm 2-way Internet satellite dish antenna


Sometimes I think we should name our motorhome 'starship enterprise'. The TV antenna works great - it's just run-of-the-mill broadcast antenna. Remember the old days? Before Cable? When you used rabbit ears, and, if that wasn't good enough you put an antenna on the roof? Well, when it comes to TV, that's us - in the dark ages. The cellular antenna is great - turns 0 bars into 4.

The Wi-Fi antenna is something we're just trying out. 6 months ago, we couldn't find any such thing as a Wi-Fi antenna that was made to mount outside. Now, there are dozens. This one is marketed for boats and RVs! It is omni-directional, non-line-of-sight, and multi-polarization. All of which simply means it will enhance your signal even if you don't know where it's coming from and there are lots of obstructions all around. We got it here. We've been showing a few other people. Jim mounted it on the top of a telescoping scrubbrush pole so he could take it out and about and try it at different people's homes and RVs. I'm the 'pole-holder'!



One other RVer agreed to try it - and even liked Jim's 'patented' pole-mount. It has clearly improved his connection, but it's not a magic bullet for all issues in Wi-Fi. I know that other folks out there are experimenting with external antennas - we'd love to know your experiences. Email us if you have tried one.



But, of course, our most special antenna is the Datastorm 2-way Internet Satellite Dish. This is the one we spent $6,000 on, and this is the antenna that gives us the confidence to know we will always be in business, no matter where we are.

So, have you noticed? We don't have satellite TV. The basic requirement of the majority of RVers is to have satellite TV. We have the satellite dish, but it doesn't get TV - just Internet. Now, there IS an attachment we could buy. It's called 'Bird-on-a-Wire' and it uses the same dish. We'd have to pay for the attachment, and then we'd have to pay a monthly subscription for the satellite TV service. Jim would love it, especially during football season! I've put my foot down and said 'no more monthly bills!'

Do you think this will make him happy?