Connecting radio to Winegard batwing antenna

OK, thanks for all of the replies and for the help. The idea to tee the radio antenna into the batwing lead came from this thread earlier this year.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29559143/srt/pa/pging/1/page/2.cfm

In this thread it is not real clear where the antenna was tee'd into, whether between the wall face plate and the antenna or between the face place and the TV. When I first read it I was thinking between the face plate and the antenna, but I never gave a thought to the 12V feed up that cable to power the batwing booster and the problems/damage it could cause.

Anyway, here is where I am at on this as of now. As ScottG suggested I re-installed the Jensen wall face plate and connected the radio antenna lead to the radio antenna port on the Jensen face plate. I tested this face plate and it sent 12V up the coax just like the Winegard face plate did. I am concerned about the FM filter in the batwing amp mentioned in several posts and how it will affect the FM radio signal.

The camper is presently inside my steel shop building so I cannot test it and the last 24 hours the weather conditions have not been the best here in western Iowa. In fact, the power in our small town was out for most of the night. If conditions improve some later today I will try to get it out and test the TV and radio reception.

I still have the metal base of the Jensen Omni antenna on the roof and the hole for the coax in the roof and it would not be hard for me to install a dedicated AM/FM radio antenna if I knew it was going to be a decent improvement. Anyone have a recommendation for an antenna. Would it make sense to install an Omni antenna just for radio use?

Thanks again!

OK, I tested this antenna setup this afternoon. As my shop sits at the very bottom of a hill that blocks the direction (Des Moines) that the closest towers are at, I drove to the highest point in town. According to TVfool.com the closest towers are over 62 miles away. A scan picked up 14 OTA TV channels which only one of them was weak and pixelating. Given my distance I can live with that.

The FM radio reception seemed pretty good, but there was no AM at all, not even a very local station less then 15 miles away. Is there such a thing as an AM/FM splitter where I could leave the FM connected to the batwing and put a separate AM antenna up? Or anyone have recommendations for a good roof mount AM/FM antenna?

Thanks!

pirlbeck wrote:
OK, I tested this antenna setup this afternoon. As my shop sits at the very bottom of a hill that blocks the direction (Des Moines) that the closest towers are at, I drove to the highest point in town. According to TVfool.com the closest towers are over 62 miles away. A scan picked up 14 OTA TV channels which only one of them was weak and pixelating. Given my distance I can live with that.

The FM radio reception seemed pretty good, but there was no AM at all, not even a very local station less then 15 miles away. Is there such a thing as an AM/FM splitter where I could leave the FM connected to the batwing and put a separate AM antenna up? Or anyone have recommendations for a good roof mount AM/FM antenna?

Thanks!

Yeah, I expected that FM might somewhat work and AM would not.

As far as a AM/FM antenna, simply choose one, not hard to do.

HERE is a quick search at Amazon..

Now, as a primer, short length antennas perform terrible, LONGER length antennas work MUCH BETTER.

Many short antennas tend to be the rubber ducky type (14" or so), longer ones look a lot like the old time auto mast types (20"-28")..

Stay away from so called "hidden" antennas which may be a simple foil or circuit board that you stick on a window, those perform terrible.

Anyone have any experience with these tunetrapper antenna's?

http://www.mcssl.com/store/electroniccontrolservicescorp/tune-trapper-hidden-amfm-stereo-car-antenna-tt-2c

I think I could tuck it in a cabinet and would not have to mount it on the roof. After I got to looking at it I think any antenna I mount on the roof on the old omni base plate is going to interfere with the operation of the Winegard batwing.

Thanks!