New CB Antenna

The weather forecast for today was heavy rain and winds as a cold front moved through. The worst of it was predicted for late morning so we got an early start as today was a moving day. We have been at the Thousand Trails Pio Pico Preserve near Jamul, CA, about 20 miles SE of San Diego, for the past 20 days and moved to TT Palm Springs. On the way, we detoured to a CB shop in Fontana that had been recommended to us by a RVing friend, Ray Garges. We arrived at the CB shop about 9:30 in the morning. Although it was cloudy, we had no rain or wind during the drive.

We were assigned a tech and he began analyzing our problem. He determined that the antenna was out of tune with the radio and tried to tune it but couldn't. Next, he tried to attach another antenna to the cable on the roof but that didn't work either so I suggested he bypass the cable and install a new antenna on the drivers side of the coach, close to where the radio is located. Around 4:15 PM it began to drizzle and by 4:45PM, there was a steady rain coming down with light winds. Finally, at 5:00PM he was finished and the radio now seems to work great. The real test will be on our next Tracks trip which begins May 18th in Natchez, MS.

We paid for the work and headed east toward Palm Desert. About the time we got to the Banning Pass, the rain stopped and it was sunny and beautiful from there on. We did have a stiff crosswind but the Safety-Steer unit on the rig handled it fine and I was able to control the gusts with no problem. We were the last people with reservations for the day when we arrived at Thousand Trails Palm Springs and the ranger at the gate could take off for the day. This is a very nice preserve.

 

We found a spot and parked although it was very tight. It took a lot of maneuvering to get the rig into the spot between large Palm Trees.

  When I was finally parked and hooked up to the utilities and had the slides extended, I deployed both satellite dishes. Neither of them could find their respective satellites through the forest of trees in this park. I moved the rig forward and backward about 3 feet, 6 inches at a time, but no luck so I finally gave up. We have local TV using the batwing antenna and Internet service with the Verizon air card, so we are fine. I just won't be able to use the DVR to record programs and skip through the commercials like I usually do. Life is tough sometimes.