Winegard Roadstar vs Sensar IV
After 15 years and 3 RV's with Winegard Sensar (Batwing) type antennas, my 2016 Starcraft TT came with Winegard's RS-3000 Roadstar antenna.
To read the advertising, it sounds like the Roadstar is the latest & greatest antenna available. Despite all the hype, I found I couldn't get favorite stations in the same campgrounds I've used for years.
After doing a little digging deeper in Winegards's own specs, I found the Roadstar is rated at 35 miles. However, they rate their Sensar IV at 55 miles.
That was enough for me. Not wanting to do something I couldn't easily undo, I just bought a Sensar IV head. It has an amplifier built into the head.
For the time being (I'm spending 4 months in Florida this winter) I just mounted it to an 8' aluminum 1" tube and clamped it to the corner of my slideout.
WOW - what a difference. I'm using a digital converter, so I can see the signal strength. Orlando stations 50 or so miles away were showing 46-52% strength with the Roadstar, but are now showing 74-82% with the Sensar IV!
Yes, the Sensar is highly directional, which can be a pain adjusting for someone moving a lot, but I'm stationary in the winters.
The Roadstar is omni-directional (equally midiocre in all directions), which is good for people camping near large cities and moving around a lot. But that doesn't describe any campers I know...
To read the advertising, it sounds like the Roadstar is the latest & greatest antenna available. Despite all the hype, I found I couldn't get favorite stations in the same campgrounds I've used for years.
After doing a little digging deeper in Winegards's own specs, I found the Roadstar is rated at 35 miles. However, they rate their Sensar IV at 55 miles.
That was enough for me. Not wanting to do something I couldn't easily undo, I just bought a Sensar IV head. It has an amplifier built into the head.
For the time being (I'm spending 4 months in Florida this winter) I just mounted it to an 8' aluminum 1" tube and clamped it to the corner of my slideout.
WOW - what a difference. I'm using a digital converter, so I can see the signal strength. Orlando stations 50 or so miles away were showing 46-52% strength with the Roadstar, but are now showing 74-82% with the Sensar IV!
Yes, the Sensar is highly directional, which can be a pain adjusting for someone moving a lot, but I'm stationary in the winters.
The Roadstar is omni-directional (equally midiocre in all directions), which is good for people camping near large cities and moving around a lot. But that doesn't describe any campers I know...
