A few months after buying our new 5er I changed the antenna to a Jack digital antenna. The thing would only get a very few channels and none at all in places where we had good reception in our previous trailer. Well I fought this on several trips but never thought about changing out the antenna, after all it couldn't be bad it was brand new, right? Wrong!!!!While preparing for our trip this week to San Diego I got up on the roof and changed out the antenna and voila! I now have good OTA reception once again. Now I have a Jack antenna that is a bit over 1.5 years old and I would imagine out of warranty and it was bad right out of the box. Well that is the price I have to pay for not being more diligent in following through with the problem in the beginning. Lesson learned. I have sent an email to King Controls customer service to see if maybe they would do something for me but I'm not expecting them to since it is over a year old, worth a shot though.Steve

It's possible that you got a bad unit out of the box but without knowing how you set it up, that's hard to know. I love my Jack antenna but when I first got it I was pointing it 180 degrees the wrong way. Once I figured that out it's been clear sailing.

HappyKayakers wrote:It's possible that you got a bad unit out of the box but without knowing how you set it up, that's hard to know. I love my Jack antenna but when I first got it I was pointing it 180 degrees the wrong way. Once I figured that out it's been clear sailing.Shouldn't matter which way it is mounted, you can rotate it and point to the broadcast antennas.

Did you fellas see a big difference in the range of where you can receive a TV signal after changing?We are usually so far away from the city I'm lucky to get one channel.

As a tech, I have found that "out of the box" is the most common time for an electronic item to have problems, and it doesn't matter how expensive or high end the item is. It just means that the high end stuff USUALLY has faster and better customer service and more support from the manufacturer.We, being nice people just don't like to have to rock the boat, and call to have things repaired, so we wait, not really using the item, and then we take the hit later to get it repaired. This is a very common scenario I run into with customers, and it's hard for me as a tech because my hands are tied if it is out of warranty, and the manufacturer won't cover it.

57 Panhead wrote:HappyKayakers wrote:It's possible that you got a bad unit out of the box but without knowing how you set it up, that's hard to know. I love my Jack antenna but when I first got it I was pointing it 180 degrees the wrong way. Once I figured that out it's been clear sailing.Shouldn't matter which way it is mounted, you can rotate it and point to the broadcast antennas.My point exactly. I was aiming the wrong end towards the broadcast towers. Once I rotated the antenna and rescanned, life was good.

Jacked by Jack (It's my own darn fault) | Good Sam Community

Veebyes
Explorer II
Jan 24, 2014
Interesting thread. A Jack is on my shopping list. Don't know why I did not research something better long ago. I have suffered with an omni directional OTA & satelite dish for 5 years. Don't have a satelite reciever & camping habits usually have us far from a town with broadcast stations.
remdog_1
Explorer
Jan 24, 2014
I have the Jack and satisfied with reception, Last summer I turned it too far and broke off the small coax cable inside. I called and they sent me a new one for free. Only drawback was I had to remove all putty to install new cable, but once I did that it works fine again.
I would call them and they may replace it.
malojeer
Explorer
Jan 24, 2014
I had a batwing Sensar III and changed it out for a Jack. The Jack got better reception than my Sensar III but a lot fewer channels than my friend who has the Sensar IV latest model. I changed Jack out for a replacement head Sensar IV I bought last week at Campingworld and I get more channels now and HD quality than with the Jack. My advice is go get newest Sensar batwing. I also bought king Controls Sureloc portable signal finder so I can find strongest signal before doing channel scan.
aruba5er
Explorer
Jan 23, 2014
While in the panhandle of Fl I could not get tv and went to an Rv dealer and bought the Jack. It was great, so I bought one for home to replace a 12 ft antenna. works great. Then my neighbor came over so see it work and he ordered a Jack to replace his on the MH. But, He got the complete one that sits on a stand. Much better as that one has led's that light when you have a good signal. SO EASY. I wish I had gotten one of those instead. You don't even have to have the TV on. Just watch the lights. Then you can do your channel scan. You don"t have to try and try. CW had them on sale a week ago for around $117 if I remember for the complete one, not the replacement head although it really works. By the way, if you buy one it comes with a power supply but you can only use just one. So if you have a wiengard bat wing with an amplified antenna, don"t use the power supply King sent along.
Michelle_S
Explorer III
Jan 22, 2014
The Jack vs Bat Wing seems to be one of those cases where it either works better or not as good. I bought a Jack head and installed on our previous Montana and never saw much of any difference, yet as posted here others seem to have very good luck with it.
To bad you can't do a try before you buy.
timmac
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014
My Jack antenna works fine, I can pickup all 40 channels here in Vegas, seems to work well while on trips, besides the Jack looks better than the old outdated batwing.
fishingbob61
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014
This is to BTPO1, was there a big difference between the Jack and the Batwing? I am thinking about changing.
BTPO1
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014
Just a thought on the Jack antenna, when you tried it, was the red LED on the head on. On mine the booster has to be on for it to work. I got the replacement head to replace my Batwing about a year ago and like it. JMO
57_Panhead
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014
rattleNsmoke wrote:
57Panhead, did you buy the Jack antenna 'head' that mounts to the existing mast, or replace the entire antenna w\mast?? I got the replacement 'head' for Christmas and haven't installed it yet. I'm curious if the Jack antenna is worth the bucks.

I have the replacement head that goes on the existing mast. They are worth the $$ when they work. I just had a bad one. I found one from our old trailer out in the barn that I forgot we had and it works fine.

Steve
rattleNsmoke
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014
57Panhead, did you buy the Jack antenna 'head' that mounts to the existing mast, or replace the entire antenna w\mast?? I got the replacement 'head' for Christmas and haven't installed it yet. I'm curious if the Jack antenna is worth the bucks.

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