Words by Trevor Klassen
We have all been there, you arrive at your favourite camping spot and crack your first cold beverage of choice. Once you start setting up camp you realize you forgot your cooler full of food sitting in the driveway at home. In the past. you would need to get into your truck, drive 20-30 minutes to the last known location you had cell reception to make a phone call and hope you catch one of the members of your group, so they can stop and grab your forgotten items before they leave town.
While the Connect RV65 by WeBoost will not prevent you from forgetting your cooler at home, it could connect you with the people you need faster and with far more convenience.
Installation of the RV65 is a piece of cake. If you can hang a picture on the wall and connect a DVD player to a TV you should be able to install this cell booster into your RV thanks to easy to follow step-by-step instructions. An average person should be able to install the system in about an hour.
This kit consists of an outdoor antenna connected to an 8 m (25') pole that is then attached to the side of the trailer with some automotive grade 3M adhesive double-sided sticky tape, an indoor booster, indoor antenna and all the cables required to connect from point A to point B.
On my Jayco RV, I was able to run the outdoor antenna coax cable directly into the sat/cable connection on the exterior of the trailer and tie my indoor booster into the indoor sat/cable connection. I then connected the indoor antenna coax cable and plumbed the wire through the back of my cabinets towards the front of the RV. The installation instructions require you to keep the indoor and outdoor antennas a minimum distance apart. No recommendation is listed in the instructions but after contacting WeBoost customer service they informed me that they want to see it a minimum of 8 m (25') away.
Once we had all the wires connected and the booster unit was plugged into the wall it was time to test how well it worked. Almost immediately my cell phone went from 2 bars to a full 4 bars of service. Keep in mind that you can increase weak signal strength by rotating the exterior antenna towards the nearest cell tower or through trial and error by simply rotating the antenna ¼ turn at a time. Ideally, you want the indoor booster to have all 4 lights lit up green. By rotating the antenna, we could see a big difference in signal strength. With the antenna facing away from the cell tower we were getting 1 green light and 3 red lights. When we had the antenna in the ideal position, we were up to full strength with 4 green lights.
Over the next several months I look forward to putting the RV65 to the test so keep an eye out for a long-term real-world review in an upcoming issue.
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Perry Mack and Trevor Klassen
This kit is well packaged, and all boxes are labelled for an easy to follow step-by-step installation process.
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Perry Mack
The most involved process of the installation is mounting the outdoor antenna to the 25' pole. All mounting hardware is provided, and it doesn't take more than a few minutes.
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Perry Mack
Make sure you find a straight edge to measure the mounting points of the pole supports. Your RV may not be perfectly level and you do not want the pole to be at a different angle than the windows or doors.
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Perry Mack
Connect the coax cable to the existing TV/Sat connection on the exterior of the RV or use the provided flat coax cable to run through the slide gasket or a window.
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Perry Mack
Install the indoor antenna mounting bracket to the wall and maintain a minimum of 8 m (25') between the indoor and outdoor antenna.
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Perry Mack
Once the installation is complete turn the outdoor antenna ¼ turn at a time to find maximum signal strength.
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Perry Mack
With the proper orientation, the booster gives a green light for all wavelengths.