New Winegard antenna is it worth it

[cj7365]

Im about to pull the plug and spend $50 bucks on the new Winegard RVW-205 Sensar IV White Antenna Replacement Head

Reviews are mixed on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-RVW-205-Sensar-Antenna-Replacement/dp/B003ZOH63W/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8


We don't really watch T.V. when we go camping, but we are taking a trip out to California to visit relatives, and will be spending some time in the R.V. so thought it would be nice to watch the local channels.

My old one receives the digital channels fine, any real reasons to upgrade??

It does say the range is 55 miles for the new head, not sure what my old one is

[Dutch_12078]

ct78barnes wrote:
We got a kings small replacement at camping world .You just take the old one off and install the new one. It you look like the ones on the new coaches they are small and do not crank up. I have one but I can still crank it up. It is better can get more stations and if you have a newer tv it will be even better. It took me about 5 min to in stall.I would not get the up grade to your old one for the same money you can get better results.

I tried a borrowed King "Jack" head from a local dealer on our coach and got fewer stations than I was getting with our Sensar III plus Wingman and Sensar Pro. The lo-VHF stations that we got just fine with the batwing disappeared or became heavily pixilated along with a few of the more distant hi-VHF and UHF stations. Using the Jack with the Sensar Pro brought back a couple of the missing stations, but not all of them.

[cj7365]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
If this is on your 1995 Brave....get the Sensar IV

Yes this is for my 95 Brave

[ct78barnes]

We got a kings small replacement at camping world .You just take the old one off and install the new one. It you look like the ones on the new coaches they are small and do not crank up. I have one but I can still crank it up. It is better can get more stations and if you have a newer tv it will be even better. It took me about 5 min to in stall.I would not get the up grade to your old one for the same money you can get better results.

[jerseyjim]

My Batwing is original....2001...and works just fine when needed. I'd estimate that 90% of the cgs I go to have cable TV anyway...and when on a multi-month snowbird trip (way out of the satellite "spot-beam") where the motorhome sits for those months, I set up my satellite dish...everything is run thru a passive switch-box, and if I need local networks, I simply push the "ant" button, turn the Batwing "on" and go from there.
My satellite "system", btw is bare bones. Tripod, dish, strength meter and compass. I've heard too many stories of roof-top units failing ($$$)...and of course, being unusable when under trees.

[wa8yxm]

cj7365 wrote:
My old one receives the digital channels fine, any real reasons to upgrade??

You have answered your own question

IF it is not broke... Do not fix it.

The SENSAR IV might get you a couple more stations in a deep fringe area

The SENSAR PRO indoor module likely is a better upgrade if you need an upgrade

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DIGITAL ANTENNA... All antennas are RADIO antennas... Television is a form of radio be it digital or analog it is still radio and still on the same carrier channels 2-69.

[Old-Biscuit]

If this is on your 1995 Brave....get the Sensar IV

[cj7365]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Yes, it's worth it but it may not be necessary. Sounds like you already have a Batwing and you do need the 90 degree element that you see on the Sensar IV which in not on your older Batwing. If the body of your current antenna is airfoil shaped like the Sensar IV then just buy a Wineman and snap it on (about $30). If your current antenna is older it will be symmetrical (same shape front and rear of the body) and I recommend you buy the Sensar IV. Just be sure that you have an extra 10" of width beside the current Batwing where the new add-on part will lay down.

Thanks Bill, I already have a batwing, not sure if it is airfoil shaped, but even if it is, another $20 for a brand new unit isn't that bad, will have to check about the extra 10" in width.

Thanks again

[Bill_Satellite]

Yes, it's worth it but it may not be necessary. Sounds like you already have a Batwing and you do need the 90 degree element that you see on the Sensar IV which in not on your older Batwing. If the body of your current antenna is airfoil shaped like the Sensar IV then just buy a Wineman and snap it on (about $30). If your current antenna is older it will be symmetrical (same shape front and rear of the body) and I recommend you buy the Sensar IV. Just be sure that you have an extra 10" of width beside the current Batwing where the new add-on part will lay down.

[donn0128]

To be honest, in 10 years I have never raised my TV antenna. Just a waste to me. It would already be in the junk except for the hole in the roof.

[SCVJeff]

Depends on what you have now...

1st there is no such thing as a digital antenna, what you have will work fine as you've noted. The question is what do you have now and what's it's condition? This is a replacement head for an existing Batwing, so I'm assuming you already have one? iF you done have the Wingman UHF attachment on your existing antenna, you can either add it or just replace the entire head. It does make a difference when trying to receive UHF at a distance.

[Johno02]

Depending on how old your current antenna head is. I replaced ours with the new Sensar, and was able to receive signals that I had not ever seen before. Currently, we are in flat country, with the Atlantic ocean on one side, and am watching a station over 60 miles line-of-sight. I flakes out a bit, but is very acceptable. I was well pleased with the results after the replacement. I have purchased, but not installed yet, the Sensar signal strength panel, which has some additional amplification built in. Eager to see if it helps.