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pirlbeck's avatar
pirlbeck
Explorer
Apr 14, 2018

Connecting radio to Winegard batwing antenna

I am replacing the Jensen Omni antenna that blew off last summer with a Winegard Sensar IV. With the old antenna setup the Jensen radio antenna lead was connected to a port on the back of the Jensen amplifier face plate. As this pickup camper only has one TV, can I just connect the radio antenna lead to the second TV connection on the rear of the Winegard amplifier face place, same as it was with the Jensen antenna? Or would it be better to tee it in the coax before the wall plate?

How will this affect AM radio reception? Is there any way to improve the AM reception?

Thanks!

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  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Apr 14, 2018
    RoyB wrote:
    Just keep in mind 12VDC is sent up to the BATWING ANTENNA when in use. Whereever you tap into RG Cable just be sure you will not get into the 12VDC that run along the same RG cable to power up the RF Amplifier inside the BAT WING housing...

    Might keep your BATWING antenna from working normally...

    Might also burn up something in your radio circuit too...

    Just check for 12VDC before tapping into the RG cable circuit...

    Roy Ken


    Good point, a splitter could allow that 12V to back-feed into the radio.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Apr 14, 2018
    Just keep in mind 12VDC is sent up to the BATWING ANTENNA when in use. Whereever you tap into RG Cable just be sure you will not get into the 12VDC that run along the same RG cable to power up the RF Amplifier inside the BAT WING housing...

    Might keep your BATWING antenna from working normally...

    Might also burn up something in your radio circuit too...

    Just check for 12VDC before tapping into the RG cable circuit...

    Roy Ken
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Apr 14, 2018
    I ran into this same problem. I replaced the Omni directional ant. on the roof with a Jack ant. The Omni's power supply (wall plate) had a connection for the radio but the Jack ant. power supply did not.
    I called Jack and they told me as long as the power supply is putting out 12V to the ant. itself, the existing Omni's P.S. would be fine.
    So that's what I did; I used the old antenna's power supply for the new antenna with the radio connected to it.
    It works flawlessly.
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Apr 14, 2018
    you can, but you might want to use a tv/fm splitter on that line, so as to send only the right band to the radio, and reduce possible interfernce

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