OK folks, I, like others have had crappy reception from my antenna so I finally got up on the roof and took a closer look. There is a small red(18ga?) wire next to the coax that is cut and not connected to anything. Is that the booster power wire? Or does power go through the coax?

Normally the 12v goes threw the coax, no need for separate wire. Did you turn on the power for the antenna amplifier? Red button next to the TV coax fitting, a red light should come on.

You need to post the brand/model number of the Antenna. Doug

IN general Omni Directional antennas are... ****.As for the red wire. No clue. may have been for a different antenna. Do you have both of the cut ends? if so there is a way to hook it up safely.Jumper the two cut ends as follows:Get a License Plate Lamp socket and lamp from auto-parts-r-Us (generic name) I like the wedge based lamps for this and use a dash lamp instead of a license plate lampUse the two leads to "jumper" via the lampIf you jumper into a short. the light comes on. Else it should stay off since the pre-amp draws a fraction of what it takes to light a license plate lamp. IF it lights very dim. use a bigger (license plate instead of dash) lamp.THe light bulb becomes a self resetting protection device may be left in or removed.. I have a circuit on my RV protected that way.

All I needed was if the power was through the coax. Thanks for the replies. I know the omni directionals are basically junk. I do get channels but for a supposed 50 mile range... it isn't. Probably going to replace it anyway.

Replaced our junk with a winegard. Great reception now.

Omni directional antenna | Good Sam Community

Tom_M1
Explorer
Oct 02, 2018
ken56 wrote:
I know the kingjack is another omni directinal but it has good reviews. Who knows if it will be an improvement.
The King Jack is directional and would be better than the one you have. You would need to purchase the model that has the base unit. I replaced my original antenna with a Winegard Sensar 'Batwing'. People were touting how well the Jack worked, so I tried it. It worked well for the most part, but it does a poor job receiving VHF channels (RF channels 2-13). Most TV stations broadcast on the UHF band but there are many that are now on the VHF band.

I highly suggest getting the Winegard Sensar IV. It is probably the only RV antenna that works well for the VHF channels. When I installed mine, I had to position it so that it stowed to the side since I could not stow it to the rear.
MFL
Nomad II
Oct 02, 2018
My Omni antenna works quite well, when towers are not too distant. Mine doubles as the radio antenna also, so did not want to remove it. I did buy a Jack antenna head, the one that fits on a mast. I use it, fastened to my ladder, when towers are too distant for the Omni. I just fasten the coax to the cable-in on the outside of my FW. Works great for me!

BTW...I think the Jack roof mount antenna requires quite a large hole through the roof and ceiling.

Jerry

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