Ok. How many have ripped off ur antenna?

[Getn off]

Yep. I am officially THAT GUY! Lol
On a 2 week trip from Orlando thru Savannah to Gatlinburg. Using Ford GPS, but bought a Co-pilot as a backup so I dont get caught in undesirable locations! Wasted that damn $40! Both sent me on a journey the last 10 miles on a road that rivaled the Tail of the Dragon....seriously! I was lucky that I came across no low bridges. Power lines were sketchy, but obviously high enough. Tree limbs...nope. Watches my tv antenna roll off the back with some tree branches. Was going very slow, maybe 15.
Nothing that a few hundred bucks and even more beer (to numb my pride) wont cure!
So, how many of you have been in my shoes? All? None? Lol
Wife has been wanting satellite, so mabe this is a good excuse to put one in the tv antenna location?! Is that feasable? 2k or so installed?
I guess it could have been worse...both AC units are fine! On no rips on the roof!
I need more beer...
Troy
Btw, Gatlinburg South KOA is very nice!

[Getn off]

Pic of campground from a Keystone TV antenna-less roof! Haha

[meaz93*]

Nope...never been "that guy"-lol, but hey!> perfect (planned ehh?) time to go satellite!!

[Laredo Tugger]

Pulled away from the office at a small campground in south FL the other day. As I moved forward I felt a slight "resistance". I remember seeing the branch in question before I moved forward. I stopped immediately and discovered light contact on the trailer side above the awning. Got it home after the trip and buffed a majority of the mark out.
Just had a funny feeling and I'm glad I gave in and stopped to check.
RMc

[roadglide]

I had a very close miss near Gatlinburg last week while camping at Elkmont with GPS. Beatufull weather for riding motorcycle. By any chance did you scuff the roof traveling the dragons tail.

[FlyingAroundRV]

Getn:
We jad that problem with our GPS too. In fact we call it "Dory" because it keeps wanting to go on "adventures" cross country. Then we discovered the problem. Instead of having the GPS set for the shortest route, we set it for the quickest route.
When the GPS was set for the shortest route it would send us down a side road half a mile before a turn from one major road onto another major road just to save what seemed to be 20 or 30 yards total travel.
Setting the GPS for quickest route isn't the whole solution but it improved things quite a bit. We also now get a second opinion from Google Maps just to keep Dory honest.

[Getn off]

Funny. I actually used the "econ" rt or longer route thinking that it would be best. I get that the ford or google app lead me in there, but I paid extra for "Co-Pilot" to avoid this crap. What a waste.
About the last mile or so there was even a sign in someones driveway that said, "your GPS Lies!" Wife didnt even chuckle. Some strange phenomenon seemed to suck out all of the laughter in the cab.
Troy

[FlyingAroundRV]

Originally Posted by Getn off

Funny. I actually used the "econ" rt or longer route thinking that it would be best. I get that the ford or google app lead me in there, but I paid extra for "Co-Pilot" to avoid this crap. What a waste.
About the last mile or so there was even a sign in someones driveway that said, "your GPS Lies!" Wife didnt even chuckle. Some strange phenomenon seemed to suck out all of the laughter in the cab.
Troy

Oh dear!
Our first year with Dory, she took us up a road that was supposed to lead to the campground. We ended up at a gate that was the entrance to someone's property. In trying to turn around (in a rented class C) we got well and truly bogged, right up to the chassis. A guy a couple houses down the road from where we were, pulled us our with his 4WD. This was at 9:50pm and we needed to be at the CG by 10:00pm. After he pulled us out he asked why we came that way we told him the road was supposed to go through according to the GPS, which I "updated" the maps the day before. He said that he'd been living there for 25 years and the road never went through in his time, but he believed it did some time before then. So much for Garmin's map "updates".

[Harleydodge]

Originally Posted by FlyingAroundRV

Getn:
We jad that problem with our GPS too. In fact we call it "Dory" because it keeps wanting to go on "adventures" cross country. Then we discovered the problem. Instead of having the GPS set for the shortest route, we set it for the quickest route.
When the GPS was set for the shortest route it would send us down a side road half a mile before a turn from one major road onto another major road just to save what seemed to be 20 or 30 yards total travel.
Setting the GPS for quickest route isn't the whole solution but it improved things quite a bit. We also now get a second opinion from Google Maps just to keep Dory honest.

Do you mean "Dory", the fish? or "Dora" the explorer?

That's funny right there.


I have a severe distrust for any GPS system, and usually have at least 2 running while traveling, after having triple checked my route with Google maps.
I also use an APP on my phone called "Sygic" that has a truck version. It's a paid app but I like it. You can now also plan a route in Google Maps and with a proper browser extension, send the route to the app on your phone (or tablet).

[Northofu1]

In Cape Cod the GPS kept trying to send me the wrong way down a one way street, it was fun. luckily i went with instinct, pulled over and found the right route on google. I'm pretty sure google and garmin don't count trees as obstacles. I use Allstays to help with low bridges. Truck GPS has trailer and height settings. Good luck with satellite install, enjoy your beer

[Scott902]

Passed a guy on the highway yesterday who had his up coming the other way. Hopefully was still there when he arrived at his destination.

As for me, closest I've come is pulling out of the site, and a man walking stopped me to tell me it was up. Crisis adverted.

[FlyingAroundRV]

Originally Posted by Harleydodge

Do you mean "Dory", the fish? or "Dora" the explorer?

That's funny right there.


I have a severe distrust for any GPS system, and usually have at least 2 running while traveling, after having triple checked my route with Google maps.
I also use an APP on my phone called "Sygic" that has a truck version. It's a paid app but I like it. You can now also plan a route in Google Maps and with a proper browser extension, send the route to the app on your phone (or tablet).

Defintely Dory the fish, just as dopey and seems to have the mind of a goldfish. Sort of like "Hey let's turn down this little road here. That looks interesting." "No Dory, we're trying to get to xyz."

[sourdough]

I think I've posted about it before but I have a severe distrust of any of the nav applications. I've had several nav units and every one of them have left me in a lurch at one time or another. The 1st was a GM factory unit in a Hummer that left me staring at what seemed like a dozen lanes of traffic coming straight at me because it routed me into a one way street.

My 1st Toyota nav tried to route me on a highway that was....under water, and had been for years since they had impounded the lake. Tom Tom, Magellan, Ram/Uconnect....all have problems from time to time. I will say the Ram has been the most accurate of all of them.

When I leave now I have the nav in the truck, Google with DW and I print out the routes from Google maps as a fall back....then there's the old atlas behind my seat. Talked to way too many folks that ended up out in the middle of nowhere trying to follow the gps. Sort of like the folks coming up our road at our mountain vacation home; it happens ALL the time. A narrow winding gravel road with overhanging trees and obviously a drive - with a dead end. They always end up backing back down the road and trying to turn around in front of the house. I always go down and intercept them and ask what prompted them to come down the road and end up in front of my house. The answer? GPS said to come this way! I say "really"? "After you've passed 4 signs that tell you no trespassing, dead end and keep out - and you think GPS takes precedence over that"?

I figure you just have to keep your common sense with you when using those devices because none of them are smarter than a human brain.

[JRTJH]

You mean that not everyone drives off the end of the boat launch because the GPS says "that's the road to the other boat launch" on the other side of the lake???????

Hmmmmmm

We've had our share of "mis-routes" with every GPS we've ever owned. Right now, Garmin AND Ford's GPS try to route us down a "jeep trail" on a highway near our house to get to I-75. We bought our first cabin in this area in the 80's and every GPS we've owned has "wanted to take that jeep trail" to get to the interstate. I can't say when, or if ever, there was a road through that part of the swamp, but I can say that the "old geezers" who live around here, some much older than me (and I'm now an old geezer too) not a single one of them has ever known of a road "through that swamp to the interstate".... But all those "electronic guessers" use a satellite to guide them through the swamp, I guess.....

We learned years ago, that the old "folding paper maps" are free at every "rest area information center" so we stop as we cross the state line and get a "backup paper map".... It's saved our butts more than once when "mr (or miss) Garmin has got us "down the yellow brick road" with no way back to the rabbit hole........

[frankyb01]

I'm probably showing my age hear, but, I still prefer having a paper map in my hands, especially for route planning. I only like the GPS for the moving map that allows me to see how streets and roads are around where I currently am, but for relying on it for route planning? NOT IN THIS LIFE, lol. I was actually broadsided at an intersection surrounded by corn fields by a woman who didn't see the stop sign because she was watching her GPS, which was routing her down a narrow country road instead of keeping her on the highway where she should have been. The highway was less than a 1/4 mile away and parallel to the road she was on.
As far as being that guy, I didn't do my mandatory final walk-a-round one evening and pulled out of a parking lot with the entry steps still out. Didn't notice it in the mirror since it was after dark and promptly mangled them against a concrete curve.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by Getn off

Pic of campground from a Keystone TV antenna-less roof! Haha

From this photo of that campsite a mounted satellite tv system probably wouldn't help much unless you were lucky enough to catch a gap in the trees in the right direction, otherwise hope the radio works.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

From this photo of that campsite a mounted satellite tv system probably wouldn't help much unless you were lucky enough to catch a gap in the trees in the right direction, otherwise hope the radio works.

I was thinking the same thing. Unless that photo was "pointing north" and behind the OP's "antenna-less RV" was tree-less, there's not much chance that he'll be "viewing satellite TV with a rooftop system".... At least, not with my luck at getting a "clear view of the southern sky".....

[MattE303]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

I was thinking the same thing. Unless that photo was "pointing north" and behind the OP's "antenna-less RV" was tree-less, there's not much chance that he'll be "viewing satellite TV with a rooftop system".... At least, not with my luck at getting a "clear view of the southern sky".....

This is one of the reasons I opted for a portable dish (Winegard Pathway X2) rather than a roof mount. Takes a bit more effort to setup, but gives me the option of putting the dish anywhere within 50 feet or so of the RV to get a clear shot at the arc.

[Pull Toy]

"WHEN POSSIBLE... MAKE LEGAL U TURN" !

Yeah right! I'm close to 60 feet long, with a hinge in the middle! LOL

As far as the antenna problem goes... Many years ago I learned to hang a large red ribbon by the exit door when the antenna is up. I learned this trick from a Class A friend who hung it from his cockpit rear view mirror, as a reminder.

It is an excellent way to remember. To double down, you can also hang one from the antenna crank. Cheap insurance!

Good Luck,

[sourdough]

"WHEN POSSIBLE... MAKE LEGAL U TURN" !



Haaaaa!! I love it! That thing used to get so annoying! Now DW and I just sit and count how many times it can possibly repeat itself before it decides that, no, he's not going to make that "legal U turn".