New Antenna?

Well here we go again... Dodge Guy obviously has the only Jack on the planet that performs better than a clearly superior Batwing.

Many times he has tried to beat me up and make fun of how I test with equipment worth well over twice what his RV is worth but never once come back with any evidence proving his claims other than it just is.

So to the OP: Believe Dodge guy, or go look at the real world tests done by someone that knows what they're doing and make your own decisions. As clearly stated, this was done real world at my coach with all the equipment sampling off the same piece of coax that feeds the TV. There are plenty of tekkie's here that understand the test specs that will back it up, and plenty more that have done the test themselves. If anyone has a Jack that works better than a Batwing, the Batwing is broken. Something apparently Dodge Guy refuses to acknowledge..

Sorry for being cranky but I put too much time and effort into those posts for the benefit of this forum to have it challenged by someone clearly unqualified to do so and just wants to argue and I'm getting tired of it. There's always one..


HERE is the testing done between the Wingman equipped Batwing, and the Jack.

And HERE is the original test between the original Batwing antenna with and without the Wingman.

PM me if you have any questions on what it all means.

If your antenna is 10 years old, install a new Sensar IV head for less than $75. It is much better than the old Sensars. And only two pins to remove and replace to change! When I changed, we could see a very significant increase in the available channels, and the signal on all the others. As we are now in a very weak signal area, I bought and installed a new Sensar Signal meter with an addition booster internal. Signal strength almost doubled. Watch channels from 65+ miles away, as we already know that weather affrects signal here, we are waiting to see what the overall effect is going to be.

30BR wrote:
My TT is an '05, and it has the typical (for that time) the crank up Weingard rotatable antenna. It has the antenna outlet inside with the booster on/off button. Is there a better, more gain, over the air antenna available now?

Yes Yes Yes and NO

First: If your rig is an 2005 it might be time for replacement coax.. Same antenna but new coax MAY (or not) make it work better

Add the WINGMAN to the basic batwing.. This will give it better UHF performance and range

Finally replace the switch plate indoors with a SENSAR PRO.

And you will then have the very BEST RV antenna made per independent lab testing by forum members.

I just compared it to a neighbor's JACK..I got 5 She got 4 (plus their sub channels of course).

I agree with those that support the Winegard Batwing with the Wingman component, AND adding the Sensar Pro switch plate. You will have the best combination you can get. The others are good too, but for overall reception go with the Winegard Batwing.

Having said that, and been in many state park campgrounds with plenty of trees there are still many places that you will go that reception is spotty, non-existent, or good one moment and pixelated (gone) the next.

SCVJeff wrote:
Well here we go again... Dodge Guy obviously has the only Jack on the planet that performs better than a clearly superior Batwing.

Many times he has tried to beat me up and make fun of how I test with equipment worth well over twice what his RV is worth but never once come back with any evidence proving his claims other than it just is.

So to the OP: Believe Dodge guy, or go look at the real world tests done by someone that knows what they're doing and make your own decisions. As clearly stated, this was done real world at my coach with all the equipment sampling off the same piece of coax that feeds the TV. There are plenty of tekkie's here that understand the test specs that will back it up, and plenty more that have done the test themselves. If anyone has a Jack that works better than a Batwing, the Batwing is broken. Something apparently Dodge Guy refuses to acknowledge..

Sorry for being cranky but I put too much time and effort into those posts for the benefit of this forum to have it challenged by someone clearly unqualified to do so and just wants to argue and I'm getting tired of it. There's always one..


HERE is the testing done between the Wingman equipped Batwing, and the Jack.

And HERE is the original test between the original Batwing antenna with and without the Wingman.

PM me if you have any questions on what it all means.

I see we'll disagree on this forever! :B

I have also done real world testing and it shows that the Batwing does not perform as well as the Jack! The only evidence I have is the stations I now get compared to what I used to get. 3 different trailers ( 4 if you count my buddy's) and none of those Batwings ever did pull in that many stations.

So if you are saying mine was broken then there are a significant amount out there that are broken also!

I have no reason to make any of this up, just posting what i have found for others to use.

dodge guy wrote:
I have also done real world testing and it shows that the Batwing does not perform as well as the Jack!

So you've done "real world testing" by turning on your television and noting the number of stations you received with your Jack TV antenna vs what you call a "batwing" antenna without specifying exactly which version it was. Meanwhile SCVJeff has provided a detailed report of results gathered using test equipment which as he's reported is "is worth well over twice" what your RV is worth. Hmmmm ... now who, and which tests, would I tend to believe? :S Gee, such a tough decision. :R

SoundGuy wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
I have also done real world testing and it shows that the Batwing does not perform as well as the Jack!

So you've done "real world testing" by turning on your television and noting the number of stations you received with your Jack TV antenna vs what you call a "batwing" antenna without specifying exactly which version it was. Meanwhile SCVJeff has provided a detailed report of results gathered using test equipment which as he's reported is "is worth well over twice" what your RV is worth. Hmmmm ... now who, and which tests, would I tend to believe? :S Gee, such a tough decision. :R

I would believe the guy that is not trying to "substantiate" his multi thousand dollar equipment! but rather his before and after comparison. it`s very simple and doesn't need to be complicated!

dodge guy wrote:

I would believe the guy that is not trying to "substantiate" his multi thousand dollar equipment! but rather his before and after comparison. it`s very simple and doesn't need to be complicated!

I used a $40 converter with built in signal meter, and 2 brand new antennas. The Jack brought in slightly lower signal levels across the board, other than our channel 2, which is still a VHF carrier, and it was significantly worse with the Jack.

Because I make a larger profit on the Jack, one would think that is what I would recommend. I do not, other than in some circumstances (a rental where the operator cannot remember to crank the antenna down, a roof with very limited space, or someone who wants to watch OTA TV while traveling.

Sorry, you are simply flat out wrong, unless you are only saying that a working Jack is better than a broken Sensar, in which case, well.... yeah, no surprise.

dodge guy wrote:
I have also done real world testing and it shows that the Batwing does not perform as well as the Jack!

SoundGuy wrote:
So you've done "real world testing" by turning on your television and noting the number of stations you received with your Jack TV antenna vs what you call a "batwing" antenna without specifying exactly which version it was. Meanwhile SCVJeff has provided a detailed report of results gathered using test equipment which as he's reported is "is worth well over twice" what your RV is worth. Hmmmm ... now who, and which tests, would I tend to believe? :S Gee, such a tough decision. :R

dodge guy wrote:
I would believe the guy that is not trying to "substantiate" his multi thousand dollar equipment! but rather his before and after comparison. it`s very simple and doesn't need to be complicated!

Seriously?! :S Thank goodness manufacturers don't design equipment like this based on your theory "stick it in the air and see what happens"! Using electronic test equipment designed specifically for these sorts of tests is hardly "substantiating" the cost of the equipment, it's common sense, and as forum participants we're lucky to have someone like SCVJeff take the time to do these types of extensive tests and report the results. As for the equipment itself we don't know who actually owns the equipment - perhaps Jeff, perhaps someone else - but the point is he had access to it, one way or another. And now you're questioning the results, insisting your methodology of just turning on your TV and noting what stations you can receive with your Jack TV antenna is the superior testing method?! Good grief! :S

Over the years, I've worked on a number of RV's, particularly TT's, that had non-amplified Winegard batwing antennas, failed amplifiers, and bad wires or connections, all indicated by their substandard performance. I'll trust SCVJeff's scientific test results over the non-scientific anecdotal reports, even my own, thank you.