Forum Discussion

sealevel_ram's avatar
sealevel_ram
Explorer
May 31, 2015

Alternative to Winegard Switch Box

I have had two of the Winegard boxes in my motorhomes. Both appear flimsy and the contacts are not real positive. In other words I think they are junk.
Anybody have a different brand or any model that appears to be of good quality? Looking for experience and recommendations. Thanks.
  • I suspect no one has replied to your query because we have no idea what you mean by a Winegard "switch box" :h ... a "wall plate power supply" by any chance? :@
  • If You are referring to the Switch Box to choose the input and output for the RG6 Cables ,they never were what I would call heavy duty devices. Of course Those are pretty much redundant with Today's HDMI connected systems! The only reason that We even still have one in Our Rig is that it is tucked away inside a cupboard ! I haven't used it in years!
  • IIRC, there is (was?) one other comparable unit, but they really are not used any more- Winegard doesn't make that unit now. In a new normal setup, the only signals to switch would be antenna and park cable- everything else is HDMI. The antenna/cable switching is easily handled by the standard Winegard (and King Controls) wall plate power supply.
    Keep in mind some Winegard boxes supply power to the antenna.
  • I deleted mine when I converted to flat tv. I use the tv as my switch box.
    OTA, DVD, sat box go to the tv. I made sure the tv had a digital optical sound out that goes to the surround amp.

    Use the remote to change inputs and don't have to change anything on the amp.
  • Well excuuuuuuuuuuuse me. Guess I will have to update.

    How about if you have antenna and cable and satellite input as well as dvd/tape player-recorder and TWO tvs? How do you do the switching?
  • sealevel ram wrote:
    I have had two of the Winegard boxes in my motorhomes. Both appear flimsy and the contacts are not real positive. In other words I think they are junk.
    Anybody have a different brand or any model that appears to be of good quality? Looking for experience and recommendations. Thanks.
    I understand now they are called BOMBs, box of many buttons.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Well there is no direct replacement.

    But several companies sell matrix switches which let you feed several different sources to several different devices in any manner you want (2 ANT one Cable, 1 Cable 1 Ant One DVD,,All DVD,and so on and so forth)

    the problem is they do not provide power to the antenna booster in the antenna.

    SO.. put a Winegard Sensar Pro in front of the switch box on that line and ENJOY.
  • Antenna and cable are switched by winegard antenna panel. Satellite box uses av cable or hdmi. Dvd uses hdmi2. Select with tv input selection.
  • Winegard discontinued the Coax switch box assbly years ago when HD became standard. The Winegard rep told me 2 or 3 years ago, when I asked why they no longer have them as a replacement, he stated that about 50% of the ones imported tested defective and Winegard dropped the switch box. Doug
  • Still have my BOMB in my rig and usually just switch from cable to antenna. I converted both my TVs to flat panels and the only input I have other than the park cable and OTA is the BluRay player. One TV has auto input selection and the other requires using the input selection section in the menu.

    Now to answer your question, I can only recommend the BOMB I have and it's 26 years old, however, I was at Walt's Parts and Surplus in Corona, CA and they have some in stock. They were about $10. Ron is the owner and his numbers are (951) 270- 0015, 270-0051 and (909) 421-1107 and his online site is www.stardeckrvs.com. He bought out the old owner and still has the same stuff but I feel the prices were better.

    Email Ron and ask about one of the input/output switch boxes. He'll let you know how much etc.