tv antenna - no/poor reception

Make sure your preamp is turned on.

Make a Gray Hoverman single bay and you'll be good out to 75 mi. if on the flats. I made one in an afternoon and have it attached to a 6' mast. The mast fits into a bracket on the side of my trailer. The picture quality from this antenna with the broadcaster being 30 mi away is better than the cable inside my house.
The single array is something like 28" x 30", so transportable. I leave mine connected to the mast and throw it on a bunk when on the road.

Goto TVfool.com and plug in your current address where TC is parked, and see what stations you should hope to be able to get.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

While I made a high gain antenna that could pick up everything available, it was too big to travel with.

I bought a small single rabbit ear type antenna in the hope of getting just one or two of the strongest stations, and Much to my surprise, got about half of what was available, some that TVfool said were too weak for anything but a huge amplified antenna.

http://www.amazon.com/August-DTA102-Extendable-Telescopic-Impedance-Signal/dp/B007KDGE1O/ref=sr_1_436?s=audio-video-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1441862776&sr=1-436

Don't forget to run an autoacan in a new location/antenna position, and if your rig is old, it might not have a digital TV.

If they are fuzzy, they are one of the few analog(NTSC) stations still allowed to broadcast in the TV spectrun.

Today one Needs an ATSC Digital tv to pick up OTA stations, or a converter box.

Wilson makes a "short-stick-type " TV antenna. Is it like this?

You might be better off with an amplified antenna.

In "straight stick antenna", do you mean a whip? I've seen only a few whip antenna used for TV and they don't usually work well. They are usually attached inside on the TV. That sounds like it could be your problem.

VHF TV antennas are usually balanced, meaning the signal element and ground element are the same size. Some have "rabbit ears" which are usually mounted on the TV. The work marginally at short distances. That would give you a 300 ohm balanced line. UHF antennas are usually a loop, about 10 inches. They will usually pull in signals a bit better than the VHF.

Most campers have a whip antenna for the radio.

I previously had an Omni-directional antenna. It was a disk that mounted on the roof and didn't work too well.

Currently have the crank-up directional Winegard with an amplifier. It pulls in stations from 50 miles away pretty good.

When we're traveling we watch almost no TV, but we do like to check the weather. I think it's worth having even though your smart phone will give you more weather info. The smart phone won't work 50 miles from a tower.

Never heard of a straight stick antenna, you might be looking at the radio antenna. You may not even have a TV antenna, as they were an option and only the wiring was standard.

DH just said that. He'll run the lines. Beyond that, any other suggestions?

It might be a coax cable or connector problem.