Antenna question...

[nike_holley]

Hey all...

Trying to get my antenna to work with a led flat screen...

As I understand it, the tv is 'digital' so I don't need a converter box...

I have an old (2003) batwing crank-up...

I'm not getting anything but fuzz on the tv...

Help..!!..

do I need a new head (Jack)..??..

I have read about 12v power to the head...

How do I test that..??..

Thanks...

Nike

.

[Community Alumni]

SCVJeff wrote:
It is also quite possible that the fans and windshield motors all generate RFI (Radio Frequency Interfearence) and can easily tear up a an already finnieky DTV signal. The interfearence is being radiated out the power lines of the brushed motors, and being picked up by the antenna. This is also common with many LED lamp regulators. Turn on porch light, good by TV.

"Rewiring" will not necessarily fix this unless you install RFI filters: .01uf caps and ferrite chokes.

If, when the motors come on, the picture quickly freezes, then goes to black, that's a good sign this is the cause.

(Edit: iPad "spelling correction")

Well now that you mentioned it that could be the cause I do know that it only happens with the over the air antenna and not cable or satellite.

Thank all

JimR

[Community Alumni]

wa8yxm wrote:
If the TV fades out when you turn on a 12 volt something then one of several issues exist... ONE: your 12 volt somethng is plugged into the antenna wall plate.. BAD IDEA, plug it in elsewhere..

In this case the current draw of your 12 volt device is lowering the voltage enough that the amplifer says "I give up".

2: Very bad wiring in RV, (M

That outlet might be good for a voltage monitor or a "night light" (I have a nice 12 volt night light, picture on it, Cigarette with bar-sinister on top of it, nivesal NO SMOKING sign) but not much of anything more.

Get your 12 volts for device elsewhere and see if that helps.

I do think that there is a draw on the 12 volt system there causing the drop out I do think the wiring is to small for the load.

JimR

[Snomas]

I just installed a VIZIO 29" LED TV in the bedroom w/same problem and had to change the menu setting to AIR TV and scan for channels now it works great on the old crank up antenna. Even got clear HD on some of the local channels! Best $200 I ever spent! Now I am ready to tackle the front overhead TV w/ a new LED.

[SCVJeff]

It is also quite possible that the fans and windshield motors all generate RFI (Radio Frequency Interfearence) and can easily tear up a an already finnieky DTV signal. The interfearence is being radiated out the power lines of the brushed motors, and being picked up by the antenna. This is also common with many LED lamp regulators. Turn on porch light, good by TV.

"Rewiring" will not necessarily fix this unless you install RFI filters: .01uf caps and ferrite chokes.

If, when the motors come on, the picture quickly freezes, then goes to black, that's a good sign this is the cause.

(Edit: iPad "spelling correction")

[wa8yxm]

If the TV fades out when you turn on a 12 volt something then one of several issues exist... ONE: your 12 volt somethng is plugged into the antenna wall plate.. BAD IDEA, plug it in elsewhere..

In this case the current draw of your 12 volt device is lowering the voltage enough that the amplifer says "I give up".

2: Very bad wiring in RV, (M

That outlet might be good for a voltage monitor or a "night light" (I have a nice 12 volt night light, picture on it, Cigarette with bar-sinister on top of it, nivesal NO SMOKING sign) but not much of anything more.

Get your 12 volts for device elsewhere and see if that helps.

[Bill_Satellite]

You need to take a look at whatever device keeps your batteries charged. It sounds to me as though your converter/charger is not keeping up as the antenna needs a good continuous supply of 12V+ power for proper operation.

[Community Alumni]

Was going to do a separate thread on this but since this is about reception here is what is happing to me and may be happing to others too.

Right now I am watching TV with the over the air antenna with fair reception and a few but tolerable fade outs. However if I use something electrical (12 volt) up front where the TV and switches are located the TV will fade out and not come back on till I turn off the appliance. This happens when I operate the electrical windshield shades and or the two fans up there. My assumption is that the pull on the 12 volt electrical pulls power from the antenna and fades out the TV to a blue screen. Makes me wonder if anyone else is having this problem too. I assume the fix is some rewiring and getting maybe some bigger and better electrical components.

One other thing that I have had issues with is when doing a search on the TV if I do the easy search the TV may not do a search for digital channels as one wound assume it should I need to tell the TV to do a digital channel search before I can get the channels.

JimR

[donn0128]

Thanks,
At least one of you fellas on the MH forum are decent enough to give me a good explanation without bashing me to death.

[wa8yxm]

donn0128 wrote:
:E

Don, Now I understand your confusion....

Antennas, As I said, do not care if it the signal is AM, FM, Digital, Analog, Other.

HOWEVER, you said "How come there are so many digital converters"

That is easy.. The RECEIVER (Tevision) Does care Older televisions, like the Toshiba I'm watching as I type, want a mix of Am and FM analog in a format called NTSC (Never twice same color.. er, national television standards committee). The TV can not deal with the modern ATSC (American Television Standards) signal, it does not know how to process.

The digital adapter/converter simply decodes the ATSC signal, and re-transmits it as an NTSC signal on chan 3 or 4 (VHF LOW) or sends it out over A/V to my DVR's so that they can properly receive the signal and process it for my viewing pleasure.

Antennas work at the RF end (radio frequency) of the business, the digital adapters work at the "convert to audio/video" level, Same as the TV does with NTSC signals.


This is why if you get a new widescreen, You do NOT need the adapters (normally) the can process ATSC (And NTSC as well) signals. And usually a few other things as well (HDMI, VGA/(E/X/SVGA) and A/V)

Oh, you might also ask how come there are antennas advertised as DIGITAL on the market... Well.... It adds to the price, I have seen some of those antennas,,, Both in the box and layed out on a table after someone took 'em apart... And they are identical to the same antenna sold 40 years ago back before "Digital" was even a twinkle in a broadcast engineer's eye.

[chipndip]

Ozlander wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Yes, you need a digital antenna. The old bat wing is not suitable for anything more than a bad paper weight. There are add ons you can get for the bat wing that are suppose to bring in the digital signals. But a decent digital antenna is only about 30 dollars at places like best buy.

BULL DROPPINGS :S

Absolutely, I have a couple homemade antennae made with a piece of wood and coathangers. Google it. BTW it picks up better than the so called $30 HD antenna.

[Bill_Satellite]

If you go from a Batwing that receives "no programming" to a Jack that does receive programming, the only way that happens is if the Batwing was non-functional (broken or not powered). In some cases where your TV programming comes from towers from different directions you can go from receiving some channels to receiving more channels since the Jack is not as directional as the Batwing. You just have to be close enough to all the towers.

[nemo45]

SCVJeff wrote:

deejay41 wrote:
I had a 2003 batwing, and I could not receive anything!!

Then you had a broken antenna, that's the only way a Jack outperforms a Batwing. Any broken antenna is a boat anchor until you fix it.

That may not be true. I can tell you that I purchased a jack and it does outperform my original batwing, that worked great on analog signals and just ok on digital, and that could be because it's not as directional. It wasn't broken. I just installed the jack on the frame the batwing was on. Now, had I purchased a wingman for my original batwing that may not have been the case. Just saying I saw a marked improvement. By the way, an aluminum batwing wouldn't make much of a boat anchor. lol.

[Tom_M1]

wa8yxm explained things quite nicely. To expand a bit, the UHF TV band has been shrunk a bit more. The highest UHF RF (not virtual) channel now is 51. After the shutdown of analog TV, many stations reverted back to VHF. I don't think the FCC will be auctioning off any of the VHF band any time soon.

[donn0128]

wa8yxm Gave me a nice explanation and then two following posts jump right in and slam me with nasty comments. WOW Are we testy during a time of year when we are suppose to be kind. Hope Santa gives y'all a lump of coal in your stocking for CHRISTmas.