Forum Discussion

AlmostBoatless's avatar
AlmostBoatless
Explorer
Jun 27, 2016

antenna TV question total newbie

Thanks again for your help. We are in a rustic CG in Tamworth, NH for the summer, no cable TV. We only have our new Winegard batwing for antenna TV and we ONLY get one channel (ABC network). WE have tried moving the antenna, nothing more. We would love to watch NBC (for the Olympics) in August.

We understand just enough to be dangerous about TV reception and antennas and are definitely not tech savvy, so any advice would be appreciated. I went onto local Craigslist and typed in satellite tv and found one result advertising this: Trackvision R6 In Motion Satellite Dome $395 within a few miles of us. We don't want to spend $500 on a satellite dish on TV for 3 months as we will not be in the camper this winter.

Does anyone have Direct TV only for 3 or 4 months and how does it work? either that, or beg our neighbor to watch their TV or go to the local pub which would entail many calories I need to avoid! haha!

Yes, we are not tech savvy at all and need much advice so thank you all again!
  • sremsing's avatar
    sremsing
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2016
    If you are in a remote and rustic area and batwing only picking up one channel, then about your only other option is satellite. Winegard G2 or tailgater.
  • dmck413's avatar
    dmck413
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2016
    try antenna pointer to find stations and directions in your area
  • rk911's avatar
    rk911
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2016
    Bucky Badger wrote:
    After you rotate your antenna are you rescanning channels?


    good question. and is your neighbor getting his TV from a batwing or from satellite? if he's getting TV from a batwing that tells me that you can get more than one OTA (over the air) station. is your batwing power turned on? if yes try turning the batwing to the same position as your neighbor's and then rescan.

    you can get DISH Network satellite TV on a pay-as-you-go basis but you may find the receiver/antenna costs not worth the bother.
  • dockmasterdave's avatar
    dockmasterdave
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2016
    Do you have the wingman uhf antenna added to you batwing? It makes a big difference and is cheap.
    we use orrs and check antennapoint.com.
    It gives me the best heading to point my antenna to, and identifies channel, distance and direction to transmitter.
    Just enter the zipcode where you are.
    I've done it by location and found no transmitters, did the same scan with zipcode and found I could get 10.
    Worst I've had was about 6 channels, best so far is 46, all in HD.
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jun 27, 2016
    You have to know which direction are the TV Transponder Towers, how far away they are and IF you can get the channels.........

    This will help you find that info......LINK

    Or this one........LINK

    Enter the CG information (address/zip code etc)
    Move pointer to your exact location for better info
    Then 'AIM' the front (HEAD) of antenna in direction indicated
    Then SCAN for channels
  • rk911's avatar
    rk911
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2016
    Old-Biscuit wrote:
    You have to know which direction are the TV Transponder Towers, how far away they are and IF you can get the channels.........

    This will help you find that info......LINK

    Or this one........LINK

    Enter the CG information (address/zip code etc)
    Move pointer to your exact location for better info
    Then 'AIM' the front (HEAD) of antenna in direction indicated
    Then SCAN for channels


    if you're going to go to all that trouble remember that the broad side of the batwing antenna is where the signals are captured...not the ends. for example, if the transmitters are north of your location you would point the batwing so the arms point east and west.

    but, it's a lot faster and easier to either point your batwing antenna the same way as your neighbors in the CG OR orient the antenna wings north/south and scan for channels. then re-orient them east/west and re-scan to see which produces the better result.
  • jcpainter's avatar
    jcpainter
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2016
    Direct TV will not allow you to subscribe only for a few months. If you want that flexibility, you will need to contact the RV division of Dish. I'm sure someone on the forum has that info.

    There are several things you can do to improve your over the air antenna reception. Go to www.antennapoint.com and it will tell you exactly which way to point your antenna to get the best reception for a specific network. Sometimes CBS is to the East and ABC is to the West, etc.

    It will also show you how far away the station you want is from your current location. If the station you want is marginal, you can add some things to your antenna to help bring it in. If you're beyond broadcasting range, satellite is probably your only option.
  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    Jun 27, 2016
    If you are in the mountains and/or more than 50 miles or so from the nearest city with multiple OTA stations available, you are probably out of luck with your bat wing antenna.

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