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Stuart Sweet
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Pub Member / Supporter Cutting Edge
· posted in The Solid Signal Blog
Summer's here! For millions of us that means vacation time, and more of us than ever are taking vacations in our RVs. There may not have been a lot of good things to come from our days in quarantine back in the early '20s, but there was at least one. A lot of folks learned how much fun an RV can be. RV sales took off like a shot when people didn't want to stay in unfamiliar hotels, and they've kept going. You can find very decent deals on older RVs in great shape. If life has been good to you, you've probably looked at brand new RVs with every possible gadget and upgrade. No matter what, you're still probably looking for a way to get even more value out of that RV investment.

Here's one fact you've already figured out


RVs are big chunks of metal, fiberglass, and wood. That makes them particularly good at blocking radio signals. You've probably realized by now that if you want to use your phone, you have to be sitting in the front by the driver. (I don't recommend anyone touching their phone while actually driving, especially not in an RV.) The further back in the RV you get, the worse the signal gets. In some places you may have no signal at all, or it might be so bad that you can't use it.

That might have been ok for your parents when they used to RV back in 1985. But it's not ok for you. The world we live in more or less demands that we stay connected. They used to call it "getting away from it all," but these days that doesn't mean getting away from your phone.

What can you do if you have no service in your RV?


Most people know the drill by now. Rush to the front of the RV when the phone rings, when you get a text or an email. Make sure you make a trip up there every so often to make sure you're not missing out on something important. We all do it. And forget about sharing screen time together… if the RV has a television it's probably pretty useless while you're moving unless you have an in-motion satellite dish. But if you want to stream to that TV, even casting using your phone, it's just not going to happen.

What if that weren't the case? What if the cell service inside your RV was just as good as it was outside? What if you even had more bars inside than you would outside? Would that blow your mind? I'm telling you, it isn't a pipe dream. It can be done.

Here's the upgrade you want



This is the Drive Reach RV from weBoost, and it's going to make your dreams come true.

It's a system that installs easily in your RV and gives you great cell service wherever you drive. If there's service outside, there's service inside. Simple as that. The system consists of three parts.

The outdoor antenna


You get an RV-specific outdoor antenna that mounts easily. Its cable fishes through any opening you have, such as a conduit for an air conditioner or the crack between the cabin and a slide-out.

The amplifier


You get the maximum amplification allowed by law here. The signals coming into your RV are amplified about 10,000 times, and the signals from your phone are amplified too, allowing them to reach towers that are further away.

The indoor antenna


The indoor antenna's about the size of a pill bottle and can sit anywhere. Put it close to the middle of the RV on a table or shelf and you'll blanket the entire RV with great cell signal.

Here's the best part


This is a system you'll buy once and use for years and years. It's future-proof, works with 5G, and only costs about half as much as one cell phone. It works with up to 8 devices in the RV, which should be enough for the entire family. You can install it yourself in under one afternoon and it will sit there, not needing any changes or adjustments, giving passengers great cell service and giving the driver peace of mind.

BONUS suggestion:


If you want to work or stream in your RV, choose a hotspot like this GOTSPOT from gotW3:



This is a simple, easy to use hotspot that comes to you pre-activated and ready to go. It will use cell signals — not a problem since you put in that Drive Reach cell phone signal booster — and create a private Wi-Fi network for everyone in the RV. That means you can connect a laptop, streaming box, whatever you want! It turns your home-away-from-home into a home office!

Here's what you really need to know


You can get these great devices by shopping at SolidSignal.com. We're one of the most trusted names in RV electronics. No one does more RV entertainment system activations than Solid Signal. If you need help choosing, if you have questions before, during, or after the sale, you'll want to keep this number handy: 888-233-7563. That's the hotline to our support department. We'll be happy to help you with whatever you need. We're here during East Coast business hours and beyond. If you call and get the automated attendant, just fill out the form below and we'll get right back to you!


The post What's the best upgrade for my RV? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.

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0 Replies · 349 views
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne


Get it?


An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68657 Replies · 2680157 views
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sdfntx
I Care About Detroit - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
dishstaller
I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith
Bobby
98.6 - Keith
harshness
I'm Easy - Keith Carridine
gms49ers
It's Easy - Boston
R
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
Lately my eight year old Dell laptop has been shutting off even when I have a full battery. I have had to keep it plugged up all the time to keep this from happening. Any idea what is causing this? I replaced the battery about three years ago.
2 Replies · 37 views
arlo
A recalibration might be needed. Even if it shows full, the individual cells may have become unbalaced. And the BMS chip in the battery reports false information to the pc.
Try this. Start it up in the bios/uefi and leave it there until the battery dies and it shuts off.
It might just keep running longer than in Windows. Or run for a short while and shut off.
If it's the first case. Probably just needs a balancing. If the latter, the pack might just be dead.
Not throwing stones but perhaps just a cheaply constructed battery with substandard cells. Could be.

Patience. Keep restarting it in bios/uefi until it won't fire up anymore.
Then plug the charger in and let it complete a full charge. And see what happens. If it's better.
Do the same thing one more time. Run it until it dies dead-dead. Then just let it charge, pc shut off.
When charged, it might be better. It might not be.

There are bench jigs that read the actual BMS and override it to let a tech manually monitor and charge the separate packs. They can also reset any "time bombs" in it that cause an otherwise good pack to show bad.
Maybe Santa will be good to me some year.

You might just need a new battery. Maybe the PC power management chip is going. A Dell common thing.
Leaving a laptop plugged in with a full battery is known to reduce the life. Asus for one recommends that you don't leave the charger plugged in all of the time even when shut down. And setting Windows to charge the battery to 85% instead of 100% increases life.
That's all I got.
dishstaller
That's all I got.
That was quite enough....I definitely learned something from your post. Thanks
TRG
TRG
Pub Member / Supporter
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
5 Replies · 276 views
b4pjoe
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
If you can't get into the router to reserve an IP address just don't use DHCP on the device that needs connected and assign it to a specific IP address in the network settings.
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HipKat
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
They are not. Your best bet is to set up a third-party router, attached to the Starlink for your server, that you can get into, like a Linksys, etc
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Reactions: Foxbat
Foxbat
…it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.
The Starlink V5 Install Kit I just got comes with the Mini Router. It is pretty limited in what it can do. For example, it can provide only one IP subnet at a time, no Guest Network, but it does support the pass-thru to a third-party Router. You can also split the Wi-Fi into separate 5 GHz & 2.4 GHz SSIDs to help some IoT devices that don't support 5 GHz bands to work.

The larger Starlink Router that still comes with the V4 Kit does support a Guest Network with separate IPv4 Subnet, but it's $120 from Starlink. And it still won't do DHCP Reservations.
harshness
If you can restrict the DHCP address space to assign addresses to one end of the subnet (i.e. x.x.x.50+), you can manually assign the IP address on pretty much any operating system. This is a default behavior on several popular routers. As the Router Mini only supports 235 devices, I expect that's already done.

Another option is to use a router that supports PoE to power the antenna. This article discusses that option (under PoE Power heading):

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Foxbat
Now that I've had the v5 kit with the Mini Router, it's not as bad as I first thought. Yes, no DHCP reservations, but you can set up multiple SSIDs that have separate IPv4 subnets, and like the big brother, you can select from 192.168.x.0/24 or 10.x.0.0/16 (where "x" is 1-4).

You can also split a subnet and have different SSIDs for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels to handle some IoT devices. I haven't discovered what subnet the 2nd NIC on the router assigns, I'm guessing it's the first subnet.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
2 Replies · 45 views
dishstaller
Sorry for posting the wrong link. Just corrected it.
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

2 Replies · 49 views
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Reactions: Jimbo
Jimbo
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

They will have to look at the switching sections to determine WHY 2 trains were on the same track ... at the same time.
dishstaller
Thought this article might be of interest to some of you who might travel via train.