Best OTA antenna?

[srt20]

We bought a new trailer and the tv reception is terrible. Im not exactly sure which antenna it is, but it looks like the Winegard Roadstar Omni. Yes, I turned the antenna booster on.
Our previous rv had a crank up batwing that worked decent.
The current one is not a crank up so I don't want a crank up style, just a permanent mount. Trailer is on a seasonal site year round.
So whats the best out there? Thanks

[burlmart]

at home depot they have 13"x13" winegard flatwave OTA amplified indoor antennas for $25. buy 3 and place them facing the towers. we use one for OTA, but no towers are over 25 mi. they claim to reach 50 mi.

[Sam_Spade]

srt20 wrote:

Turning off the booster results in getting no signal at all.

Then that indicates that your existing equipment is working as it should. Given that you have cable and only desire extra local stations, you just need to decide how strong that desire IS. You might be able to use a splitter and feed a new antenna right in with your cable......if there isn't a frequency conflict.

[srt20]

Sam Spade wrote:

srt20 wrote:
I was able to get one channel, and 2 sub channels, but they would break up a lot and it wasn't really watchable.
Thanks!

Did you do the test that I suggested, turning the amp off ?

If the channels you want to get are all in the same general direction, you probably won't have to turn the antenna at all.

And you should be able to mount an RV antenna on a stationary pole instead of the top of the RV. That way you could "convert" it to real RV use later if you want.

Turning off the booster results in getting no signal at all.
The channels are in different areas. One is probably in the 12 o clock position, two are probably around 8-830 position, another is probably 7 o clock position.

Very rural area in northern WI.

[Sam_Spade]

srt20 wrote:
I was able to get one channel, and 2 sub channels, but they would break up a lot and it wasn't really watchable.
Thanks!

Did you do the test that I suggested, turning the amp off ?

If the channels you want to get are all in the same general direction, you probably won't have to turn the antenna at all.

And you should be able to mount an RV antenna on a stationary pole instead of the top of the RV. That way you could "convert" it to real RV use later if you want.

[srt20]

JiminDenver wrote:
Your rig may be new but there are still things to check. The end connection on the cable coming down from the antenna was so poorly installed that it nearly fell off when I got into the outlet box.

There are no OTA signals where we camp so we use a pay as you go portable satellite system.

Yeah, I guess I really should check everything over first before I go spending money. I was able to get one channel, and 2 sub channels, but they would break up a lot and it wasn't really watchable.
Thanks!

[JiminDenver]

Your rig may be new but there are still things to check. The end connection on the cable coming down from the antenna was so poorly installed that it nearly fell off when I got into the outlet box.

There are no OTA signals where we camp so we use a pay as you go portable satellite system.

[srt20]

Ed_Gee wrote:
Original poster has received lots of good information ... and I agree, assuming his stock Omni antenna is working properly, his best choice would be to have a Winegard batwing antenna installed. However, if he does not want to put the required hole in his ceiling, a lot of RVers are having very good results with the Winegard Razar Automatic antenna .... but it is expensive.

Yeah, I don't want to cut a hole into the roof. I would like to get some local channels, but not bad enough to cut a hole in my new trailer. Like you said, sounds like I have a few options I can try first.
Thanks!

[srt20]

Yeah, our site is out in the boonies. Lots of forest and small hills. No buildings. The tv channels are all 30-50 miles away. There's only about 4 channels, not including sub channels. We have directv and get our local home channels, but we are about 180 miles from home. And I'd like to get the local news up north, mainly for the weather and local events happening up north.

The trailer is a brand new 2016 so I'm sure the coax on the roof is ok yet. I will do some research on adding the Wingman to what we currently have. But I have no way of turning the antenna without getting on the roof. So I may just end up having to get a residential style antenna and mounting it on a pole or something.

I like the idea of the Rayzar, though I'm not a fan of the price. But if I can't come up with a cheaper solution, I will buy one and try it.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[rk911]

depends on where your permanent site is located relative to the available OTA TV transmit sites. in an urban environment just about any antenna should produce good results. farther out in the boonies you're gonna want something up as high as you can get it. TV is line of sight and since the switch to digital it's even more critical. and if there is anything between your antenna and the transmit point....a forest, mountains, tall buildings...you're gonna need the height. since your permanent why not get a residential style antenna, mount it on a piece of PVC and clamp it to whatever is handy?

but before I did any of that I'd replace the coax between your current antenna and the roof connector...probably a 3'-5' length. coax wears out over the years due to UV rays. it's a quick and cheap experiment. if that doesn't do the job I'd check to be sure the amp is doing it's job before I spent $ on a new antenna.

and btw, there is no such thing as a 'digital' or 'HD' antenna. ANY antenna engineered for TV reception will receive digital AND analog signals. the receiver in the TV set processes those signals and displays them accordingly. what is different these days is many-to-most of the OTA stations are now broadcasting in the UHF portion of the TV band. adding the Winegard Wingman to your existing antenna will help boost UHF signals to your TV. do some research on that.

good luck.

[Ed_Gee]

Original poster has received lots of good information ... and I agree, assuming his stock Omni antenna is working properly, his best choice would be to have a Winegard batwing antenna installed. However, if he does not want to put the required hole in his ceiling, a lot of RVers are having very good results with the Winegard Razar Automatic antenna .... but it is expensive.

[Tom_M1]

The Winegard Sensar IV (aka Batwing) receives both VHF and UHF channels well. In the U.S. about 25% of full power TV stations are now broadcasting on the VHF band (mostly on channels 6 - 13) so do not dismiss the VHF band. Presently the TV spectrum goes from channels 2 through 51. Channels above 51 have been auctioned off.

[RJsfishin]

It will equal or out perform many very large house antennas, I did the test !

[wa8yxm]

I gave a longer answer elsewhere.. Likely to you.

OF all the antennas made for RV use among the worst is the flying saucer designs like the Roadstar

The Best is the Winegard Sensar IV with Sensar Pro module inside the RV (Replaces the wall plate you have now).

There are better antennas but they are designed for home use.

WARNING: All antennas are simple radio antennas.. They do not care if the signal is AM, FM, Digital, Analog, SSB, CW, or some other exotic format (and there are quite a few)... They only care about one thing. FREQUENCY.

ANalog TV used a bunch of Channels (Defined frequencies) Orignally 1-13 then they dropped 1 and gave it to folks like me (6 meter ham band) and added a bunch more so we had 2-83 then they dropped a bunch of the top channels so in the last about 50 years we have had 2-69

with the move to digital HDTV MOST (not all) of the lower channels (2-6 is VHF low) have moved up and many of the VHF channels (2-13 includes both low and high band VHF) have moved to UHF.

SOME HDTV antennas are designed only for UHF and do not perform well at all on 7-13 and do not perform at all on 2-6.. As someone who designs antennas I know why, but..> Well (has to do with the length of the longest element, The lower the channel nubmer the longer the "wing"

Thus the sensar IV (which includes the wingman) is the best RV specific antenna.

[Sam_Spade]

JiminDenver wrote:
The best out there? A full sized house antenna like years gone by. Those will pull in more than any of the cute so called HDTV antennas out there.

This. However......if you tune in a channel that works and then turn the amplifier OFF does it make a difference ??

Before you do anything drastic, you should make sure that the antenna you have is properly connected.

I have the cheap omni that came with my rig 10 years ago. In a major metro area, it is more than adequate. Away from a metro area......not so much.