Over-the-air digital TV reception?

Okay some techno-speak. Skip if you are not interested.


The old TV standard was call NTSC, named after the National Television System Committee. The new standard is called ATSC, named after the Advanced Television Systems Committee. No one is the US or Canada is permitted to transmit NTSC.

ATSC use much less "spectrum" to transmit many more channel. Think of "spectrum" as how many "lanes" are reserved to TV transmission. NTSC was sloppy, so "empty lanes" in between were required. Even though the lanes are still the same width, ATSC can get 3 channels in that lane and there is no need for an empty lane in between. This is also why the new antennas are so much smaller.

In NTSC, channel numbers were related to a specific frequency (which lane) In ATSC, channel number or only for humans. Channel 2 may be the right most lane in you area and the left most lane in my area. Part of the incoming signal tell your TV what chanel number it is, irregardless of the frequency.

The government (FCC) has taken back many frequencies and will likely reclaim more. These are redistributed for different purposes.


Cable is a whole different story.

laplatarosa wrote:
We are heading to AZ. for our winter stay. Our site is under a steel cover. We want to pull the Class A MH in front ways, instead of backing in.

First, go to https://www.antennaweb.org/ to find out where the station you want to receive are located relative to your location. It will also give you an estimate of what kind.size of antenna your should have.

laplatarosa wrote:
This puts our bat-wing style TV antenna way under the cover. No (very limited) over-the-air reception. If I added an external antenna, ...

Second, I ASSUME by EXTERNAL you mean out from under the steel roof. That is the only real chance you have of pulling in a large number of stations. Trees/leaves can have a negative effect on reception. The higher the better.

There are a lot of good antennas out there. Several good designs.

Link 1 Link 2 Link 3

Note that the third one is just double the second one !

laplatarosa wrote:
how would I get the signal booster on the existing antenna to improve the signal strength? Can I run a coax cable from the external antenna (mounted to the steel cover) to the MH cable-in? How do I boost the signal strength?

If you have a good antenna at adequate height you won't need a booster. Just plug into the jack that you would normally use for cable TV and you should be good. If you need an amplifier, the easiest place to insert it is outside the MH, but there are 2 problems. They are not weatherproof and they require power. Unused ports should use a F-connector terminator.

Of course that assumes you have good wiring inside of the coach ! If the wiring is questionable and if you have more than 1 TV, then I would run new wire inside and an amplifier splitter like this onelike this one.

laplatarosa wrote:
I have a switch in the MH that says On - antenna - Off - Park Cable. There is a coax connector on that switch. What is this for?

I can't really help you here. My SWAG is that it switches all the internal TV port for one to another and may power up an amplifier splitter.


Last tip. Use RG6 wire. A bit thicker than RG58 so it is more durable. Also use Snap-N-Seal connectors, SNS1P6, color code blue for RG6 and SNS1P58, color code orange for RG59. These are cheap, as is the wire, on eBay. 50mis a lifetime supply and you will have plenty for the neighbors too ! These do require a special tool to install. Several different versions are available. I like the IT-1000 tool because it also strips the end of the wire to the proper length.

I have this on that I put on a pole near my permanent 5er in Arizona. Has worked well for 2 years now
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008I92LIY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

rotates to pick up different stations

one other option is to remove your current antenna from the top of its mast if it is a Winegard batwing antenna it only takes 2 c-clips and removal of the 2 pins to pull it off the mast. disconnect the coax antenna cable and extend it to the new location and get a new piece of square tubing to mount the antenna where you want it. mount it and aim it the right direction. coast would only be the coax cable extension a female cable coupler and a square tube to mount the antenna and fasteners to do that.

Your best option using an external antenna would be to also use an external amplifier if one is needed. Assuming you have one of the common Winegard OTA RV antennas, the amplifier is actually located in the antenna "head" on the roof, not at the switch plate that turns it on and off. With a residential style multi-element antenna mounted as high as practical and correctly aimed, you may not need any amplification at all with the signal connected to you RV at the "cable" input connection and the inside antenna switch turned off.

My RV sits under a medal roof when it is stored at home. I can pick up over fifty digital channel without even raising my antennae. I think the medal roof helps the reception.Just my opinion.

Your switch is the booster. When it is on you are on your antennae. When it is off you will be connected to the park cable if you have park cable and are plugged in.