questions about antennas

Can you replace it with a Jack?

Read the manual and see if it something you want to do. Installation

I have my best luck with the BATWING antenna in my travels...

Been to Camp Doris many a trips back in the 60s and 70s while living in Wichita Falls... Back then tent camping was the normal for Wichita Mtns….

This is my OFF-ROAD POPUP at Camp Doris using the BATWING antenna...


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Did a whole of testing here in Virginia where I live now and I am half way between Washington DC and Richmond Antenna Towers...

The BATWING antenna does the best for me as it is more broadband beam then the JACK antenna has... The JACK probably had more gain but pointing to the Washington DC Channels I would have to slightly move the JACK antenna to pick up the stations on both sides of Washington DC... Using the BATWING I still get great reception and can pick up both sides of DC Antenna towers with one direction setting...

Do a lot of camping off-road here in Virginia now and the BATWING does great for us just about everywhere we end up... One place in Texas it failed me was at GOBER TX haha... Nothing worked there... My wifes mother is buried there so we used to picnic at the cemetery there a few times...

I mounted my BATWING up on a easy to put up antenna mast and I can reach through a window flap to turn the antenna to point at the transmitter towers...


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Actually one of my best antennas was one of the $90 lowes yagi antennas but it stuck out on both sides of the POPUP trailer roof and always hit a tree limb or something. It finally self destructed from taking it up and down all the time... This was back before the FCC went to digital TV stations a few years back...


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Anther antenna that worked great was one of those BOW TIE flat arrays but they are not suited well for RV's... I have the four bow ties per panel on my house now to use for picking up TV stations when the CABLE TV here goes out...


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Roy Ken

RoyB wrote:
The BATWING antenna does the best for me as it is more broadband beam then the JACK antenna has... The JACK probably had more gain but pointing to the Washington DC Channels I would have to slightly move the JACK antenna to pick up the stations on both sides of Washington DC... Using the BATWING I still get great reception and can pick up both sides of DC Antenna towers with one direction setting...

Although your own personal experience would indicate otherwise the fact is the Winegard Sensar antenna is more directional than the King Jack TV antenna which has a wider acceptance pattern. In terms of RV antennas the Winegard Sensar IV is still the best in the business - add a Winegard SensarPro and you have the best combination for RV use. If that still doesn't serve one's needs then the only choice is to instead use a larger antenna array designed for home use - cumbersome but about the only thing better than a Winegard Sensar IV w/SensarPro.

The King Jack omnidirectional antenna on my Coachmen is junk.

Lynnmor wrote:
Read the manual and see if it something you want to do. Installation

Thats what I want to do. Just not sure if its doable. Will the sensor fit into the hole that the jack is in, will it fit on the roof etc. Has anybody made the change.
Also what about those new flat amplified antennas I have seen on tv and amazon. Will that work. easy to install and a lot cheaper.

bob2194 wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Read the manual and see if it something you want to do. Installation

Thats what I want to do. Just not sure if its doable. Will the sensor fit into the hole that the jack is in, will it fit on the roof etc. Has anybody made the change.
Also what about those new flat amplified antennas I have seen on tv and amazon. Will that work. easy to install and a lot cheaper.

Only you can answer the questions about fitting it. Maybe you can pull the original and see what is inside the roof. You also need to measure for location and space when the antenna is down, per the instructions.

Antenna amplifiers often do little, they cannot amplify what isn't already there. What they do is overcome signal loss between the antenna and the receiver. Using the flat junk is just a matter of luck getting stations, for example; the trailer needs rotated since the antenna will not.

Last summer I tried out a 2-bay bow-tie antenna. Bought six 4' fiberglass antenna masts and had the antenna about 24' above the ground. I also used TVfool.com to figure out where to aim the antenna. Worked much better than our Winegard batwing antenna with wingman booster.

I wanted to bring it with us on our current 3 week camping trip but couldn't find the bow-tie anywhere at home. I put it somewhere so it couldn't get damaged and I guess I did a good job of it. :M

Sometimes you can't get a sat signal due to trees and obstructions and sometimes CG cable is cr@p. It's nice to be able to get some OTA channels when you can't get TV otherwise. I've found that sometimes you get some great OTA channels & shows you can't get on cable or sat.

As mentioned, an antenna amp will NOT improve an already weak signal. The amps are supposed to me mounted at the antenna and they are designed to compensate for signal loss in the co-ax from antenna to TV. We have a Winegard SensarPro signal finder but I find it doesn't help a whole lot. I find that TVfool.com is better so you know where the originating TV transmitters are located and can aim accordingly. It also tells you what the signal strength of various stations is.

I'd love to try out a large yagi style antenna but they're too big and fragile to travel around with. The antennas with a rotator that claim reception up to 150 miles are a waste if $$ and contradict antenna wave theory.

drsteve wrote:
The King Jack omnidirectional antenna on my Coachmen is junk.

The King Jack antenna isn't omnidirectional but rather directional, which is why it needs to be rotated for best reception. The King OmniPro / OmniGo are omnidirectional.

myredracer wrote:
Last summer I tried out a 2-bay bow-tie antenna. Bought six 4' fiberglass antenna masts and had the antenna about 24' above the ground. I also used TVfool.com to figure out where to aim the antenna. Worked much better than our Winegard batwing antenna with wingman booster.

I wanted to bring it with us on our current 3 week camping trip but couldn't find the bow-tie anywhere at home. I put it somewhere so it couldn't get damaged and I guess I did a good job of it. :M

Sometimes you can't get a sat signal due to trees and obstructions and sometimes CG cable is cr@p. It's nice to be able to get some OTA channels when you can't get TV otherwise. I've found that sometimes you get some great OTA channels & shows you can't get on cable or sat.

As mentioned, an antenna amp will NOT improve an already weak signal. The amps are supposed to me mounted at the antenna and they are designed to compensate for signal loss in the co-ax from antenna to TV. We have a Winegard SensarPro signal finder but I find it doesn't help a whole lot. I find that TVfool.com is better so you know where the originating TV transmitters are located and can aim accordingly. It also tells you what the signal strength of various stations is.

I'd love to try out a large yagi style antenna but they're too big and fragile to travel around with. The antennas with a rotator that claim reception up to 150 miles are a waste if $$ and contradict antenna wave theory.

Folks, you NEED to get over these JUNK "BOWTIES", PERIOD.

In the USA MANY STATIONS ARE NOW GOING BACK TO VHF LOW BAND (old analog channels 2-6 frequencies), UHF BOWTIES WILL GET YOU SQUAT FOR VHF LOW BAND COVERAGE.

OP was asking if they could replace their CURRENT "JACK" antenna which is a omni-directional antenna with a WINEGARD which is a directional folded dipole.

The answer is YES, it MAY BE possible and YES, it will be SOME WHAT of an improvement (it still is limited but does have some forward and backside GAIN over a omni-directional (JACK).

To install the Winegard you will need to cut a hole in your roof, you may need to additionally reinforce the opening which may be a bit tricky to do.

IF you don't mind carrying and setting up a external antenna that might be the better route and net you more signals.

Something like this..



Channel Master CM-2018 which has not just UHF but VHF antenna elements. This antenna does not have a preamp, may also wish to consider a two piece antenna preamp, one piece which the amp mounts at the antenna and the other is the power injector which hooks up in between the antenna and TV INSIDE your RV..

Channel Master CM-7777 or CM-7778 are topnotch choices for LOW NOISE and HIGH GAIN preamps.



Downside with better gain antennas is they get more directional and often stations are spread out in different headings requiring you to go outside and manually aim the antenna each time you change stations.