New antenna or tv amplifier?

I will add. if you are parked, forever, depending on campground rules, Channel Master does have some rather nice mast mounted jobs... At my Parent's house back in the Analog days I climbed up a 100' tower (Major feet consider I'm an Acrophob) and installed the mast head amplifer in Channel Master's greatest.

Stations over 100 miles away were received clearly.

Jeffrey99 wrote:
Is there a antenna or amplifier that we could buy to better our reception?

Short answer: Perhaps.. Longer follows

You likely have a Winegard Sensar III (Batwing) with the standard indoor module (Power supply and switch, not an amplifier the amplifier is inside the antenna)

Recommendations:
1: WINGMAN.. The Sensar III is a very good VHF antenna, not so good on UHF, the Wingman is a "Uhf Director Array" and brings the UHF performance up to roughly the same as the VHF (very good).

2: SNESAR PRO, this replaces the indoor module it is a 2nd amplifier (Well 2nd pre-amplifier) and also a switch and power supply for the roof top module, it also has a scanner function to find the strongest digital signal, a signal meter so you can peak the signal, and some other features, The amplifier is adjustable from negative to positive gain so you can adjust it depending on where you are parked.

This combination (Winegard with Wingman Sensar II, III or IV)) with Sensar Pro inside.. is the bsst RV antenna made.. it is also what I have.

an amplifier can only help with a weak signal.. can not do anything if nothing is at the antenna..

Over the Air .. height is key.. second is elements on an antenna

get a Home antenna and a long mast.... up, up, up... it needs to look over the curve of the earth AND trees, buildings, hills,... even 50 miles.

Years ago,, I had a 80 foot tower.. with a 20 foot long antenna for the television.. for our home.. and 2 amplifiers.. one on the antenna and a second at the television.

and installed several for the others in my home town.

The winegard Wingman attachment has no effect on the boosting or amplification of your antenna. It does, however, help increase the received signal strength on the side of the batwing by changing the reception pattern of the dipole antenna. It is not an active antenna element. Changes the reception pattern into a longer oval on that side. It also seems to help on the backside of the antenna also. Maybe one of our hams or antenna pros can give you some actual numbers. When I had to replace my old batwing, I went to the Sensar IV, which has the wingman built in, and noted an amazing difference! Please note that on some rigs, this cannot be used due to location next to an air conditioner unit.

Jeffrey99 wrote:

RoyB wrote:
The NATIONAL BROADCAST has moved to the HIGH VHF and UHF channels for their HDTV broadcast from the local towns...

If your roof OTA Crank-up Antenna does not look like this then you need to add the SMALL DIPOLES like shown in this picture. ALot of the older trailers did not include the small dipoles... Takes just a few minutes to mount the kit... You can find these add-on kits on AMAZON

This will help your reception very much...



This BATWING antenna shown here would be pointing to the transmitter station to the right of the photo...

Roy Ken

My antenna doesn't have the Dipoles. A quick look on Amazon and I didn't see anything that looked like those. Will look more later when I have time.

Here it is on amazon. Take a look around, you might find a better price but that's pretty close.
Winegard Wingman

X2 on the SensarIV batwing, and the Sensar pro antenna meter. Adding both made a big difference for us.

Here is what I found out purely by accident regarding getting channels in an RV. And some knowledge from the TV repair guy. Yup even with the new throw away flat screens there still ARE some local TV repair shops that will work on them if the part is cheaper than a new TV!

First of all each TV will have it's own type of antenna reception circuit boards. Some have great ones, some not so great.

Parked in same spot, TV put in exact same spot inside:
MY one TV will get 7 channels the other only 3.

And Size does NOT matter because it is the teenie tiny flat screen TV that got the more channels! :W

This is what I think the main problem is for us RV'ers using an antenna:
These flat screen TV manufacturer's figure '99% of the consumers today are hooking up their TV's to cable/sat.....so there is NO need for the manufacturer's to put an expensive antenna reception board on their TV's.

I took the TV that only got 3 channels and had the antenna connection board replaced at the TV repair shop and now it gets more channels.

In my winter home in Florida which is remote I hooked up the TV inside the house to my MH antenna. Got a couple of channels.

Went out and bought a 50 dollar antenna at Wallyworld that looks like a 8x10 piece of plastic. Slapped it on the wall inside and get over 10 channels, go figure!

At a fixed location, I would use a residential high-gain antenna on a post. Although, with my SensarIV batwing, and the Sensar pro antenna meter, 65+ miles across flat country is no problem. Only thing is that you might need to rotate the antenna for different stations, depending on where the stations are located. 180 Degrees works pretty good with the batwing, 90 degrees drops off pretty fast.

If you are at a permanent location this might be your answer... This is what I use on my house here for OTA CLEAR TV signals (Free)...



This however would not be very manageable is being moved around alot if you are on the road with your camper setup...

This is a link for this antenna panels from SOLID SIGNAL

SOLID SIGNAL


Roy Ken

Here is the link I was referring to from AMAZON...

WINEGARD WINGMAN


I use my setup on my POPUP trailer up on a pole mounted to the outside my trailer. I get lots of stations with setup when camping.


I guess 50-60MILES away might be more challenging... My setup works here in VA at the house with Washington DC 50 miles to the North and Richmond 50 miles to the South. I am in a clear spot here however...

Roy Ken