28 TE TV/Antenna Installation

[Chris & Dale]

Another in the ongoing project list to prep "Steel Hers" for cruising...a television. Was an interesting project to say the least. Had removed the GPS antenna from the port side radar arch and chose that side to mount our new Jensen Omni-directional antenna. Had a local welder cut & drill the aluminum plate and weld it to radar arch, planning to run the wires into the radar arch where the GPS wire ran, I thought down the port side roof support. Surprise - no holes anywhere there! Turns out all wires were run down the starboard side...wasn't that fun trying to pull 40' of coax thru (always buy more & cut, before you ask). Persistence prevailed. Then you have to run down the starboard side like I did for the windlass, but then come across the bow to center. I also had to pull the pre-installed cable coax back from the port side of the anchor locker back in and to the center. Dropped the wires down thru the platform and installed the Jensen switch box about 3-4" away from the 110v outlet and connected. Ran the 12v wires down the backside of the liner and tapped into the bowthruster 12v for power (closest & easiest access). Now I can switch between cable or antenna easily. Bought the swivel arm mounting bracket from Walmart and thru bolted to the anchor locker using s/s and a 3/4" piece of starboard as a backing plate...solid as a rock. Mounted the 26" Sharp LED, went thru the setup, and had 13 digital channels. My neighbor's antenna on a 43' Jefferson gets 4-5 and is a lot higher, so I'm tickled with it. The challenges of wire pulling, etc., the whole project took about 3 days and at several points, 2 people were needed. Here's a few pictures of the project:

Jensen Mounted.JPG

Base Plate.JPG

Stbd Wire Channel.JPG

p.s. Based on another post on this site I thoroughly inspected both pilothouse roof arches and found no cracking or problems, which was reassurring.

Jensen Switch.JPG

TV Mounted.JPG

TV.JPG

[JackK]

Nice job on the install. I'd like to put a larger tv in myself.

One question though, have you tried your radar since the install? I'm just wondering if having the TV antenna in the radome sweep may foul up your radar reception on the port side.

Jack

[RobS]

Yes, no fun pulling cables through that arch pipe.

I do not think the tv antenna location will effect the radar return targets but it is not recommended to have other electronic devices in the path of the radar beam in fear of damages to same from the radiation (not an issue with broadband). Raising the radome with a 4" of 6" scanstrut tower or similar would solve both issues..

[DougSea]

Okay, last one! I promise! (Old posts brought back, that is...)

Reading over this I would think it would not have been all that hard to bring a new hole down through the port side of the arch. (I think I did this on ours, but I can't say with 100% certainty) You just mirror what's on the starboard side. And use a good hole saw.

What I can say for certain, is that I enlarged the holes in the base of both the front and rear tubes so I could get a LOT more wires through. It was actually quite simple. Get a piece of oak flooring or some other "sturdy" wood. Use a hole saw to drill the size of the new, enlarged hole through this piece of wood. You can angle it if it works better for the application (such as a raked radar arch!)

Now, clamp this piece into position on the underside of the arch base, and use it as a guide to cut the enlarged hole. You don't need the pilot bit, so remove it from the mandrel. This way you won't accidentally drill through something that you shouldn't drill through... Once cut, use care and a piece of sandpaper to round the edges. A Dremel (sp?) tool works wonders.

I used this same technique to enlarge a hole in my dash when I wanted to put a 3"+ remote where a 2" piece had been. It works any time there's an existing hole that prevents you from using the pilot bit on a hole saw.

I'll stop now.

Maybe.

I really need my boat fixed!

[Chris & Dale]

The hole problem wasn't in the radar arch, it was getting a hole through the pilot house roof down to the raceway. You can't do it from the inside because you can't get a drill up in there, so the only option was to remove the radar arch, drill the hole, run a chase line, and reinstall to pull new wires. Decided pulling thru to the starboard was easier. So far I haven't noticed any interference from the antenna, but I hadn't been paying that close attention to it from that perspective either. Going out today, so I'll double check. Stay tuned...I have a story coming on our recent haulout....waiting for a rainy day versus a boating day.