Poof! HDTV Antenna Gone!

One minute it was there. The next minute it was gone. What is that you ask? The HDTV over-the-air TV antenna that came pre-installed on the Cruiser.

It was on the roof when we were in Keystone, SD. We used it to get the four channels that were available to us while we were camping there. We didn’t realize that the antenna was no longer on the roof until we got to St Vrain State Park this past Monday. That means something happened during the drive from South Dakota to Colorado.

We vaguely recollect hearing a noise that sounded like a rock hitting the windshield. Just a small “crack.” But heard nothing else that would indicate that the noise was from the antenna breaking off, leaving behind only the base plate! Maybe a bird strike? Who knows?

Mui ordered a replacement from Amazon and it was delivered soon after we arrived home on Thursday. Today, he installed the antenna.

The Winegard rep with whom Mui exchanged emails said that he could just remove the base plate on the new antenna and use the existing base on the roof of the Cruiser. Easier said than done. The nut holding the plate and the antenna together wasn’t budging. So, he removed from the roof all the bits and pieces from the old antenna and installed everything from scratch.

They say bad luck comes in threes. In the past week, the bolt latch on the Cruiser’s door broke, the HDTV antenna disappeared into the unknown, and the CR-V’s engine warning light came on, causing us to shorten our camping trip. Time for our luck to shift in the right direction again.Read more