How To Power-Up A Winegard WiFi On A Jayco RV

I discovered how to do this after seeing a lot of people searching for how to do it. Winegard makes a type of aerial mounted on the roof of RV's and campervans. They look like this.

Above. There is an orange LED under the cover to the right of a SIM card. If this is not lit any color then the 'Connect 2.0' is not getting 12V power. On earlier Jayco caravans there was a 'WiFi' switch inside. Later campervans have no switch.

Above. The control panel. 'Light 3' is switched on and a radio telescope icon has been allocated to it. It also enables lights somewhere in the camper. This is because it draws little power for the 4G antenna and these light switches really enable physical light switches. I found light switch 1 or 3 will power-up the Winegard on my RV.

Above. This is what's inside a Winegard dome. 2 cell phone antennas and 2 WiFi antennas connected to a main board and a break-out board. I bought a second-hand unit on Ebay just to activate it on the bench. It was cheap.

Setting-Up a Winegard Cell Phone to Wifi Network

In Australia I used a Telstra pre-paid 4G SIM card. I followed the manual that comes with this unit. You can use a mobile or a laptop - they both work. I found the web browser method easier. Once it's powered-on you can detect it's wifi network but use the correct password. There is a unique password for each unit. The LED changes color from solid red, yellow, blinking green and finally solid green.

Once the wifi is detected install the SIM card and enable the cell phone network as it's internet source. The manual has some out dated pages here but I used a 'single internet source'. After the cellular network is working I updated the software which is downloaded and then installed. There was nothing special about detecting the Telstra SIM card.

 Why Do This?

Good question. Once 5G has been rolled-out across Australia the mobile or cell phone system will compete with satellite-based internet. 4G is faster but the mobile network has broad use and acceptance. That means more money is available for further development.