Signal breakup when antenna fully raised

Bill.Satellite wrote:
This can happen when the incoming signal is too strong. Try turning the antenna away from the signal somewhat and see if it improves. I am in Jacksonville, FL now and I get the best signal on the NBC station with the antenna stowed. I could also use the Sensar Pro to turn down the gain a bit but stowing works just fine.

GREAT POST AND ANALYSIS IMO. This is something that folks need to understand and is very different than what was the situation with the old analog signals. You can definitely overdrive a digital signal and cause the same issue as too weak of a signal.

Larry

I can tell you right now that the Batwing & wingman combo, or the newer integrated antenna performs WAY better than the Jack ever can.

Changing to a Jack will go only two ways on your problem:
-Too weak signal as I suspect will result in no reception at all
-Too strong as Bill suggests, and it might actually work, but I sure wouldn't swap it to prove that.

Instead spend the antenna money on a Sensor Pro and get an adjustable preamp +-10db preamp

Pixelation and tiling would be the correct terminology for what I am seeing (not flickering, my bad). Audio interruption also.

Going on a short trip next week with RV and will try to diagnose further and report back. Thanks to all!

Doug

SCVJeff wrote:
Have you tried this with the antenna pointed in other directions and/ or locations? What about different channels?
If you have a verified good cable, and it sounds like that's the case, it's likely that when the antenna is raised that it's sitting in a null from the transmitter. You can hear the affect of an RF null on the FM radio if you tune a weak station and drive down the road. Depending on location and speed it will flutter.

If this is all it is then don't worry about it.

Here you go, Jeff is the resident expert on the Batwing. Read his posts on all the tests he ha conducted. He has his naysayers but I don't remember any of them really having the test data he has.

As far as signal strength metering being built into your TV. The one I had in my old rig had it, the one I have in the Winnie doesn't. I truly miss that feature. The other feature the one in the Bounder had is auto switching of inputs. When I turned on the TV and the antenna, it chose that input, if I had the antenna off and the Bluray player on it would automatically chose the appropriate HDMI input.

My very expensive Samsung in the S&B doesn't have either feature and it is the newest of all that we have(6).

I just noticed that you said you got a flicker, usually when I have a weak signal I get pixilation or tiling. Ask Jeff about that.

Sam, I've never noticed a signal strength on my tv. When the breakup occurs, its not a "no signal" or white snowy screen, but a flicker like you get when a digital signal is weak.

Reading up on the Jack antenna, I find some people love them and others say don't buy. Would love honest opinions from those that have long term experience please.


Doug

bennefim wrote:
Contacted winegard and they said movement of the antenna head by wind or other means would cause signal loss. From some of the responses here, that sounds normal.

Maybe, maybe not.

It is not normal or a given that antenna movement WILL cause signal loss. It can but only if the signal is weak to begin with.

Going from a strong signal to no signal is NOT normal.

Does your TV have a display that shows the signal strength ?

Where exactly are you. I really think you are getting a signal so strong that it is swamping reception. Did you try turning the antenna 90 degrees from its current location to see if this helps? I have had the exact same thing happen in Phoenix, AZ where the tower is on the top of the only hill in the area and simply blasts the area with a nice strong signal.

Temporary coax replacement improved number of channels received, but the signal breakup continues. Contacted winegard and they said movement of the antenna head by wind or other means would cause signal loss. From some of the responses here, that sounds normal.

Does anyone know if the Jack antenna head or the newer batwing has the same problem? I may consider changing it out if it doesn't.

Doug

I have the same thing happen, I have no "BOMB" and I have replaced the coax, and it hasn't changed it. The problem doesn't seem to affect how many channels I get, and I usually get as many channels as the others we camp with.
If it bothered me too much, I would try replacing the batwing, but instead I just lower the antenna and know that I don't have to worry about forgetting it when it is time to leave.

While I have only had two rigs, I found that both of them had multiple pieces of cable from the BOMB to the antenna. Your thought of bypassing the factory cabling and trying a separate one piece cable is a great idea.

I did have one antenna head that went bad, to much beach camping and PCB covered with oxidation. Split the clamshell, what a job, no easy and I eventually broke the clamshell trying to pry it apart.

As was mentioned, new head is not that expensive.