I'm just curious, as we are getting terrible reception even when camping locally. We literally, are getting 2 channels, and channels that no one would ever watch when we go to our usual spot, i mean less that 10 miles from the house.Shouldn't we get the local stations?My antenna looks like this:but inside, at least visible, there isn't a place to raise it. That left me to believe that they orientation it was mounted, was just it's permanent spot.Something my FIL said last weekend kind of got me thinking, and then something i read yesterday kind of refreshed my memory on the topic.We do turn our booster on, we go ahead and let the tv auto search, it even apprars to find channels, but all we ever get are the terrible two.Any insight from anyone?

Fix position/fixed elevation........lousy receptionAll you need to do is scan while slowly driving RV in circles :E

There is a button on the outlet plate where I connect the TV coaxial cable, that switches the input from cable TV over to the antenna. If you have one of those buttons maybe you're on 'cable' mode. We use HDTV quite often and when I have the button in the wrong position I have the same symptoms you do - poor reception and fuzz everywhere. My antenna does have a crank for raising it, but that's another issue. If you have transmitters that close than almost any antenna should work provided it is correctly connected through to the receiver in your TV.

We camp alot off the power grid and use our BATWING antenna big time. IT does raise however and looks like this GOOGLE SEARCH photo. Also has the UHF DIPOLES which helps big time...I have never seen the BATWING antenna that wasn't a raise type... You would thing as big as the BATWING antenna is it would hit the air conditioner or something if it wasn't raised up...I have seen some newer trailers come out with the no raise KING JACK antenna which will probably do what yours is doing... This antenna does ROTATE however..[img][/img]I am assuming you are going to your TV MENU and selecting ANTENNA and then also pushing in the BUTTON on the ANTENNA PANEL (LED COMES ON) that sends up 12VDC power for the roof antenna BOOSTER AMPLIFIER inside the BATWING antenna housing.The trick is to point the antenna to the local towns where the NATL BROADCAST CLEAR TV stations are located and then scan in the digital TV Signals before you can view them... Somtimes we don't see any digital station start being counted in scan menu and then we stop scanning and move the antenna one way or the other a few degrees and start scanning all over again... Here on the East side of the US we most always get at least 6-36 CLEAR HDTV signals.There are places especially out West where there are fewer towns and it may hard to find any CLEAR TV channels.Roy Ken

MattFromPA wrote:There is a button on the outlet plate where I connect the TV coaxial cable, that switches the input from cable TV over to the antenna. If you have one of those buttons maybe you're on 'cable' mode. We use HDTV quite often and when I have the button in the wrong position I have the same symptoms you do - poor reception and fuzz everywhere. My antenna does have a crank for raising it, but that's another issue. If you have transmitters that close than almost any antenna should work provided it is correctly connected through to the receiver in your TV.ya know, i think our last camper had this switch. i believe there is a spot to make the change in the tv settings, would there be something separate from that too?i bet somewhere, somehow i'm missing something....

My Jensen antenna neither raises or rotates. It's sort of saucer-shaped because it's omni-directional. The one in your picture looks like it should rotate however.

Do all TV Antenna's Raise? | Good Sam Community

wa8yxm
Explorer III
May 05, 2015
Not all raise but the best ones do, and not all that do are "Best"

What is local? If you have a 'droid phone or tablet with GPS there is an app TV Antenna Helper (Free)which will give you the distance and bearing for your "local"stations.

For example..The station I am watching just now (OTA) is 45.2 miles on a bearing of 21 Degrees. I can tune it in on cable as well, but the signal is better OTA

Once they hit about 60-70 miles...I am out of range

Winegard Batwing..+ Wingman + Sensar Pro.Very tight aim.

Without the wingman and Sensar pro... NO SIGNAL.
SoundGuy
Explorer
May 05, 2015
thirtydaZe wrote:
I'm beginning to think my antenna is stationary, and i'm going to have to deal with it.

If having reliable television reception while camping is important to you there's no need to just "deal with it" ... replace that stationary antenna with a Winegard Sensar IV, even augment it with a Winegard SensarPro signal booster. I've done both and this is about as good as it gets in an antenna small enough to still fit on the roof of an RV.
thirtydaZe
Nomad
May 05, 2015
This gives me some stuff to look at, thanks.

I'm beginning to think my antenna is stationary, and i'm going to have to deal with it.

Worst part is, we bought a Winegard Carryout 2 years ago, and have never been able to get it to work.....
PghBob
Explorer
May 05, 2015
Check your TV as well. Ours has a "set-up" menu that you find with the TV remote. It allows you to switch the TV from Cable to Antenna mode. If your TV is not switched to Antenna, you will get the symptoms you describe. Wanna guess how I know?
MattFromPA
Explorer
May 05, 2015
Yeah your TV probably has a menu setting for cable versus over the air...they are different frequencies. Forgot about that part.

thirtydaZe wrote:
ya know, i think our last camper had this switch. i believe there is a spot to make the change in the tv settings, would there be something separate from that too?

i bet somewhere, somehow i'm missing something....
RoyB
Explorer II
May 05, 2015
This is somewhat of a spec sheet on what you have...

OMNI Directional RV ANtenna

Omni-directional RV antennas sure do have their downsides... It appears this not only does not raise up but also does not rotate...

Roy Ken
Dave5143
Explorer
May 05, 2015
My Jensen antenna neither raises or rotates. It's sort of saucer-shaped because it's omni-directional. The one in your picture looks like it should rotate however.
thirtydaZe
Nomad
May 05, 2015
MattFromPA wrote:
There is a button on the outlet plate where I connect the TV coaxial cable, that switches the input from cable TV over to the antenna. If you have one of those buttons maybe you're on 'cable' mode. We use HDTV quite often and when I have the button in the wrong position I have the same symptoms you do - poor reception and fuzz everywhere. My antenna does have a crank for raising it, but that's another issue. If you have transmitters that close than almost any antenna should work provided it is correctly connected through to the receiver in your TV.

ya know, i think our last camper had this switch. i believe there is a spot to make the change in the tv settings, would there be something separate from that too?

i bet somewhere, somehow i'm missing something....
RoyB
Explorer II
May 05, 2015
We camp alot off the power grid and use our BATWING antenna big time. IT does raise however and looks like this GOOGLE SEARCH photo. Also has the UHF DIPOLES which helps big time...

I have never seen the BATWING antenna that wasn't a raise type... You would thing as big as the BATWING antenna is it would hit the air conditioner or something if it wasn't raised up...

I have seen some newer trailers come out with the no raise KING JACK antenna which will probably do what yours is doing... This antenna does ROTATE however..
[img][/img]

I am assuming you are going to your TV MENU and selecting ANTENNA and then also pushing in the BUTTON on the ANTENNA PANEL (LED COMES ON) that sends up 12VDC power for the roof antenna BOOSTER AMPLIFIER inside the BATWING antenna housing.

The trick is to point the antenna to the local towns where the NATL BROADCAST CLEAR TV stations are located and then scan in the digital TV Signals before you can view them... Somtimes we don't see any digital station start being counted in scan menu and then we stop scanning and move the antenna one way or the other a few degrees and start scanning all over again... Here on the East side of the US we most always get at least 6-36 CLEAR HDTV signals.

There are places especially out West where there are fewer towns and it may hard to find any CLEAR TV channels.

Roy Ken
MattFromPA
Explorer
May 05, 2015
There is a button on the outlet plate where I connect the TV coaxial cable, that switches the input from cable TV over to the antenna. If you have one of those buttons maybe you're on 'cable' mode. We use HDTV quite often and when I have the button in the wrong position I have the same symptoms you do - poor reception and fuzz everywhere. My antenna does have a crank for raising it, but that's another issue. If you have transmitters that close than almost any antenna should work provided it is correctly connected through to the receiver in your TV.