Jack Antenna

I just installed the jack antenna that I bought last month. It's the one that goes on the mast and replaces the batwing. I was leery about getting up on the roof and a friend with an RV told me to do it from a 10' step ladder. I said how? What you do is crank the antenna up and point it so when you lower it, it will be over the side of your coach. Climb up the ladder and 15 min later you are done. Maybe klonger if you are like me and take it off and turn it around a couple of times. But it's pretty easy. I posted pictures on other forums showing it. I aslo added a rubber bumper on the mast to keep it off the roof.

Lobstah wrote:
Should work fine, Scott. Same scenario I had before I swapped out the old CRT TV for the new LED 37" up front. Finally got tired of too many remotes and too many devices. I bought the Jack before making the swap, and had it wired just as you've described...cable coming down from antenna on roof into the Jack powerpack, out of the powerpack into my signal/tv switchbox.

Good luck, and let us know. Btw...don't know what kind of "cover" you're under, but you may not even need to move the coach to test it.

Jim

Jim,
Thanks for the encouragement. Glad to know I'm not the only one who's had odd problems. At least I call it an odd problem anyway. It seems kind of odd that, King Controls, the maker/marketer of the Jack antenna, does not acknowledge that, for those that have Digital converters, that no matter what power insertion is used, either the one in the Multi-switch box, a wall mounted one, or, the one supplied with Jack unit, a Digital Converter Box WILL NOT let the 12V pass through it, to energize the booster in any antenna, much less a new Jack.

But, as long as there's no damage to the Digital converter box because the flow of 12V power is now coming from the antenna end, going into the DCB via "In from Antenna" cable port, vs the way it would normally, via "Out to TV" cable port, then I'm hoping all is going to be well.
Scott

Should work fine, Scott. Same scenario I had before I swapped out the old CRT TV for the new LED 37" up front. Finally got tired of too many remotes and too many devices. I bought the Jack before making the swap, and had it wired just as you've described...cable coming down from antenna on roof into the Jack powerpack, out of the powerpack into my signal/tv switchbox.

Good luck, and let us know. Btw...don't know what kind of "cover" you're under, but you may not even need to move the coach to test it.

Jim

Well Gang,
I too was very interested in the Jack antenna mainly because we NEVER received anything on the Bat Wing, AT ALL!!! No matter where we were, home, camping, multiple places, it never brought any signals in. Now, a tiny bit of history. First, we've got the original Sony, 2004 (three ton version) still in the front. So, that requires the need for a "Digital converter box". Second, I've scanned multiple times, while camping and in RV parks and still received nothing.

So, I just figured the Bat wing was a POS. So, we just went out and purchased the Jack, from Camping World. We'd have got it on line but, in the end, it was only a $4.00 savings and, it would have taken 10-14 business days to get to us. No thanks, it's mounted now!

Well, super long story short, what I found out is, there was no 12V to the new Jack to boost the signal. That was because the multi-switch box had a burnt "choke" in it and that prevented the 12V injector from sending 12V to the Jack or, even the old Bat Wing.

WEll, got that fixed. But, still no 12v to the Jack. Figured that out. It appears the digital converter box will not allow the 12V to pass through the two cable connectors and, travel backwards to the antenna, up the coax cable. So, at this point, about the only way I can get the booster in the Jack to work is, use the 12V Power injector that's supplied with the Jack, in between the antenna and the digital control box. And, not use the built in power injector in the multi-switch box.

I'm about to pull the rig out from under the cover and test to see if I can now get anything. Wish me luck.
Scott

Installed the Jack antenna today. Went from zero stations with the Jensen antenna (omni-direction with boost) to twenty very sharp stations with the Jack antenna with the trailer parked in the same location. Either the Jensen antenna was total junk or the ability to point the Jack antenna using the signal level is a critical aspect of maximizing UHF reception.

2edgesword wrote:
I just ordered the Jack and will report back once I get it installed. It would seem to me that the ability to rotate the antenna along with having the signal monitor will be a help in receiving the maximum number of stations at your location. The strength of the signal I get at home on a television we don't have hooked up to cable is very much depended on the direction the UHF antenna is facing. If you turn it 10° ~ 15°C from what I found to be the optimal direction and the signal strength drops off significantly.

I've found the Jack to be the same way. I can turn it a click away from the best reception (according to the LED's) and the station will drop out completely. So the meter is a must have!

OTOH, we went to ta CG where we've never been able to receive anything before and got several stations with the Jack.

Sorry, I don't know Jack....::B...Dennis

I find they are about the same for vhf. My Jack is much better on ufh.

I prefer the aiming help at "TVFool.com". In some locations I've found it to be more accurate, and the inclusion of your antenna height usually gives a more reliable picture of your choices. TV Fool also includes the Canadian stations that few of the other aiming sites show, which often carry American programming, along with some excellent Canadian programs. They also list the Mexican stations if you're in that area.

I just ordered the Jack and will report back once I get it installed. It would seem to me that the ability to rotate the antenna along with having the signal monitor will be a help in receiving the maximum number of stations at your location. The strength of the signal I get at home on a television we don't have hooked up to cable is very much depended on the direction the UHF antenna is facing. If you turn it 10° ~ 15°C from what I found to be the optimal direction and the signal strength drops off significantly.