"Jack" digital antenna

My qualms about stationary antennas like this one and the disk one is tree branch hazards. I am planning to put a vent cover over mine to deflect any branches up and over. I just hope it does not affect signal. I don't think it will.

I just installed mine yesterday and all i can say is WOW!!! Even when my trailer was new i was lucky to get maybe 9 stations in the chicago suburbs. That went to 1 blocked up dropping out station since the switch to digital. Well the Jack pulls in 73 stations! No that's not a mistype, 73 stations. Yes some of those are substations that i will never watch, but it pulls them in nice and strong. I hope it pulls in at least 10 stations when we are out of the driveway. The couple of campgrounds we do go to i stopped getting any stations since digital. So we will see how it does for Memorial Day. At this point the antenna does what they claim!

We have found ours to work well mounted on a pole next to the trailer to clear the peak of the roof.

wmoses wrote:
My Jack replacement head arrived yesterday. Box was a little "used" and had a small 1" dia superficial hole in one corner. It had better be in good shape when I open it. It will be installed next camping trip when I will first see how many channels I get with the Winegard antenna & Wingman and then after installing the Jack head, how many I get afterewards. An update will be posted to this thread at that time. Might not be for a couple of months. :( :(

UPDATE
We have been camping at Bastrop SP for the past 2 days and this morning I installed the Jack replacement head in place of my Winegard Sensar IV with Wingman. It does have a little LED light underneath to indicate when it is powered but I was not sure that it was on, despite the fact that there was picture immediately on the TV and the wall plate power was on.

While my tests were by no means scientific (no instruments used to test signal strength before and after, etc.) I did compare how many channels I had before and after and which channels were strong and which were weak.

All I will say at this point is that it appears that the Jack pulls in more channels than the old antenna, and even those that have a weak signal (littlest bar on the signal strength triangular scale) were being displayed without breaking up etc.

The Jack came with an adapter and a dongle to connect at those wall plates without built-in amplifiers. I installed this in the bedroom TV and it made absolutely no difference in pulling in weak stations. I may disconnect it again.

Even though it appears to be pulling in more channels than the old one, I will be conservative and reserve final judgement on performance over several trips - only fair since I live with the only one for 8 months now. I am looking for consistency and "ease to live with". I am not one to fiddle with perfect antenna tuning - especially when I go camping (where TV is secondary).

I can however say that I do like the smaller footprint on the roof, and the less weight on the mast.

Caveman Charlie wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:

VAfan wrote:
---snip---

Way too many variables and unknowns for an accurate comparison; just like tow vehicle MPG. I’m going with the test equipment and similar conditions post.

Overall my Winegard III does a great job….but would love to have a next generation antenna that pulls in that one fuzzy local station – especially when storms are brewing.

When I did those tests, it was on an average day, reasonably dry, and I did it fast to eliminate the chance of conditions changing and skewing the readings.

BTW- There are no more fuzzy stations... :)

No, now they just block up and drop out. I find that more annoying then the fuzzy stations. You could watch through the fuzz but, watching a show that you get half way through and then the wind picks up and the show starts dropping out is really annoying.

I'll bet you a cup of coffee and a doughnut that the mast on your antenna is not right. My guess would be that an O-ring isn't good or either the mast or fixture is deformed. You could also check all the coax connections, that can be another wind inspired problem.

SCVJeff wrote:

VAfan wrote:
---snip---

Way too many variables and unknowns for an accurate comparison; just like tow vehicle MPG. I’m going with the test equipment and similar conditions post.

Overall my Winegard III does a great job….but would love to have a next generation antenna that pulls in that one fuzzy local station – especially when storms are brewing.

When I did those tests, it was on an average day, reasonably dry, and I did it fast to eliminate the chance of conditions changing and skewing the readings.

BTW- There are no more fuzzy stations... :)

No, now they just block up and drop out. I find that more annoying then the fuzzy stations. You could watch through the fuzz but, watching a show that you get half way through and then the wind picks up and the show starts dropping out is really annoying.

VAfan wrote:
---snip---

Way too many variables and unknowns for an accurate comparison; just like tow vehicle MPG. I’m going with the test equipment and similar conditions post.

Overall my Winegard III does a great job….but would love to have a next generation antenna that pulls in that one fuzzy local station – especially when storms are brewing.

When I did those tests, it was on an average day, reasonably dry, and I did it fast to eliminate the chance of conditions changing and skewing the readings.

BTW- There are no more fuzzy stations... :)

MNtundraRet wrote:
I see the usual arguing about Jack & Winegard antennas is on again.

My normal range Winegard III and an additional R.S. inline amplifier is 120 miles (day), and 160 miles (night) and up to 240 miles for analog. I have covered the bases by checking all coaxial connections from roof to connections on back of plate. I replaced all original coaxial cable with RG6, quad-shielding (except inside roof and wall. Too hard to do.).

Nothing wrong with the Jack for most people. The reason most think one might work better is that they compare their current campground at different times.

Height matters, along with any specific site in a campground. For example, I have a favorite campground down by the shores of Lake Pepin (Mississippi River). The bluffs are all about 800 feet above the river bottoms in all directions. Dependent on which site I pick in the park I can go from around 6 channels to 35. The transmitters are all located from 60 to 95 miles away. Things can also very because of weather (fog, heavy clouds, storms).

I normally can get 40 to 60 channels, and as many as 99. I think I maxed out the memory of my older 19" LCD TV that time. Being retired I will spend more time locating channels in all directions. I log my channels along with site number in park so I know which site works better when returning there.

Remember. Height makes might, and location, location, location. Sometimes reversing the direction parked on a pad allows front of antenna's need to point exactly at a tower (or getting a signal bounce off an opposing bluff).

2X

Way too many variables and unknowns for an accurate comparison; just like tow vehicle MPG. I’m going with the test equipment and similar conditions post.

Overall my Winegard III does a great job….but would love to have a next generation antenna that pulls in that one fuzzy local station – especially when storms are brewing.

The problem as I see it with height is that here on the prairies the wind almost always blows. Then the antenna wiggles and you loose your reception. Or, I just get nervous having the thing cranked up in the wind so I often leave it on the roof or maybe just a little bit up. A 20-30 MPH wind really gets things blowing around and I don't want my antenna to break off of my roof and end up on the top of the neighbors camper. lol

I see the usual arguing about Jack & Winegard antennas is on again.

My normal range Winegard III and an additional R.S. inline amplifier is 120 miles (day), and 160 miles (night) and up to 240 miles for analog. I have covered the bases by checking all coaxial connections from roof to connections on back of plate. I replaced all original coaxial cable with RG6, quad-shielding (except inside roof and wall. Too hard to do.).

Nothing wrong with the Jack for most people. The reason most think one might work better is that they compare their current campground at different times.

Height matters, along with any specific site in a campground. For example, I have a favorite campground down by the shores of Lake Pepin (Mississippi River). The bluffs are all about 800 feet above the river bottoms in all directions. Dependent on which site I pick in the park I can go from around 6 channels to 35. The transmitters are all located from 60 to 95 miles away. Things can also very because of weather (fog, heavy clouds, storms).

I normally can get 40 to 60 channels, and as many as 99. I think I maxed out the memory of my older 19" LCD TV that time. Being retired I will spend more time locating channels in all directions. I log my channels along with site number in park so I know which site works better when returning there.

Remember. Height makes might, and location, location, location. Sometimes reversing the direction parked on a pad allows front of antenna's need to point exactly at a tower (or getting a signal bounce off an opposing bluff).