Better TV antenna?

Good photo of a Sensar Pro (mine is black) Nice strong signal on carrier chan 15. I love mine.

Since my coach has a matrix switch (Box of many buttons) I mounted a standard outlet box in an area that i9s next to useless on my coach and mounted the Sensar Pro there.. Works greatr and easy to see when adjusting antenna.

One of my comnplaints against the JACK..

I was in a THOR class C trying to figure out how to get park cable to deliver to the TVs. (Found it) there is a 120 volt DUPLEX recpitacl in a cabinet with a wall-wart power supply plugged in (For the Jack Sure-Lock)

The Wall Wart hid the switch plate with the light, switch LED and antenna conneciton (jack uses it too)

I suspect but am not sure the Sensar Pro would work with the jack as well

But still Independent lab tests TRULY independent, done by another forum member.. Show the Jack can not beat the Batwing+Wingman even without the Sensar Pro inside. Best mod I did was installing the Pro.

I did a few other mods (mostly cabling) and now have one Rube Goldburg system Includes a pair of DVRs that can go OTA or Cable under THEIR control (Channel number decides) and a comnputer to serve up Electronic program guides..

All the advanced features that only our 100/month or more service can provide per the advertisers.... I got 'em.

wa8yxm wrote:
The Jack brags about their "SureLock" device.. This helps you point the antenna to the strongest TV stationl. Compared to the Sensar pro it's junk

Couldn't agree more, the SureLock is pretty useless but fortunately for me someone else didn't agree so I managed to sell it, which was better than having it sit gathering dust in my workshop. I also tried the Jack antenna and while it had a wider angle of acceptance it certainly wasn't any more sensitive so I returned it for a refund and ordered a Wingman so I could upgrade my Sensar III to Sensar IV specs, then installed a SensarPro, the combination of which is about as good as it gets in an antenna system suitable for RV use.

All the assorted antennas have advantages and disadvantages

The BEST by my standards is the upgraded version of the antenna you have now (And I have as well)

The Winegard Sensar II and III are decent (Good in fact) VHF low/high antennas. They do not do as well at UHF however.

Adding the "Wingman" (30-40 bucks) is a very fast job If you need tools a pair of standard p pliers is all you need. (You remove 4 rubber feet from the Batwing, hold the Wingman up under it and push 4 push pins in, I did it with fingers only)

This brings the UHF performance up to the same level as the VHF..

Still, there is room for improvement.

If you have the standard wall plat with 12 volt outlet, light, switch, and antenna connection replace it with the SENSAR PRO.. (about 100 bucks)

If you have a box of many buttons this can be added IN FRONT of that box
(Antenna---Sensar Pro---BOMB---TVs)

The Jack brags about their "SureLock" device.. This helps you point the antenna to the strongest TV stationl. Compared to the Sensar pro it's junk

The Sensar pro if turned OFF, pases park cable same as the switch plate did
If turned on to the first ON position (Scan) it will scan and display the carrier channel of the strongest signal it also displays signal strength.
On the 2nd ON setting it will scroll through (manual scroll) the channels it has found, displaying strength so you can peak on the 2nd strongest or 3rd strongest if you wish (or whatever strongest)
In the next position you choose the channel to display the strength of using the scroll up/down button EVEN if the antenna did not see it.. I use this feature often in areas I frequent because I know the carrier channels.

Next position you can adjust the GAIN of the Sensar Pro's built in booster from zero (Which you would use if parked say.. In the TF Transmitter Parking lot) to 20 (Which I use 45 miles from the station I'm watching)

And the final ON position... Well if the Sensar Pro is poorly mounted where you can not see it as you turn the antenna directional knob.. This is the volume setting for the annoying signal strength beeper just like the sat folks use.

Advantage: Longest range (highest gain) of any antenna made for RV
Disadvantage: Narrowest "Window"

The Jack: They have teh Sur=Lock but unlike the Sensar Pro it does not have an adjustable gain amp nor can you pick the carrier..

Advantage: Wider field of vision (Window) Disadvantage Less gain (Can not see as far out. Does not do well on VHF epically VHF lo

Rayzar: Sorry I have no info but this too is not designed for the lower frequencies.

There are still some stations in the lowest band

In this post I use the phrase "Carrier Channel" What is that....

IN days of old when folks where bold if you tuned your TV to say Channel 7.. It listened to a specific frequency which was described as channel 7...

Today if you tune it to 7-1.. Well in Detroit I think that is carrier channel 41 or 46 (not sure which) Who is using Channel 7's old frequency? Channel 2 of course.

in some palces though it may still be using the original channel 7

YOU only need to know the carrier channel when using the Sensar Pro to aim

And once you have a signal,, you TV will gladly (in most cases) tell you what it is. Since It has to know (it figures it out when you do a channel scan)

Go to Add/Delete to figure it out or signal strength in most Models.

VIZO is not most models.

interesting geometries compared to the simple batwing.... the square antenna is using a fractal design - clever to see it in use at such low frequency.

And if anyone is curious about the Jack here it is,the blunt part is the front,the part that you aim at the Antenna.

If you are curious what the above antenna looks like inside.
Took a pic of mine.

I installed a Rayzar several months ago.
When I bought my RV it had a Batwing that was not working, I cleaned up all connections and tested to see if it was broken, it was,so I replaced it with a new bat wing then ran a Channel Scan I was not impressed with the amount of channels that I got. This was done in my driveway here in the south bay of So Calif using my SensarPro.

I then went out and got a Wingman add on, that put my channel scan up to 47,but I had a clearance problem with the Wingman

So I opted to put a Jack on and my channel scan went up to 60

I then went with the Rayzar as you can see it fits in the same space.
I opted not to put it on the supplied 13 In. arm. I kept one arm of the Winegard mast and mounted it that way,there are instructions in the kit,it is very easy to do. This way I had it in the same space and got the maximum height when deployed.

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The Bi-Directional feature is great and easier to use than the Jack and I get several more stations.

This should get you in the ball park for aiming.

App for smartphone

If SCVjeff chimes in, he can give you the details, he's scoped s/n signals on all the antennas out there for RV's, the Sensar scored highest. Maybe do a search for his post to find it.

I did a test a few weeks ago. It was at my home which sets between cities with multiple tv choices. I checked at 8 locations around the RV. I tested the Sensor with wingman vs the Jack on the winegard mast. The results were extremely close. The number of channels received was the same. The signal strength was slightly better with the wingman. I left the Jack on the mast rather than change it back. I guess the true test would be by someone who lives in an area where it is difficult to get channels

The amplifier switch is a wine guard so I'm assuming the antenna is also.

Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated.