Digital signal booster

[Greg13]

I am new to camping and recently bought a new camper. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about boosting the signal of the digital antenna to try to pick up more channels.

Thanks in advance

[96Bounder30E]

Moved from Tech Issues

[SoundGuy]

wa8yxm wrote:
First what antenna do you have. Options include the "Jack" from King Controls and assorted Winegard models

The OP already said earlier back on Page 1 of this discussion -

"I have a new Aspen Trail, and it has a crank up antenna, looks like the batwing."

Since his trailer is new his antenna is sure to be either a Sensar III or Sensar IV, the only difference being the latter is already equipped with the optional Wingman UHF array. If he has a Sensar III then his first step would be to add a Wingman, if he has a IV then that's about as good as it gets. If he's looking for further improvement then he'd want to replace the stock non-amplified wall plate with a SensarPro which is capable of +/- 10 db signal amplification / attenuation. I've added both to my own Sensar III and while the combination does result in improved reception up to ~ 50 to 60 miles from the transmitting antenna is about as much as he should expect for a consistently viewable picture that won't break up.

[ktmrfs]

Johno02 wrote:
It is already boosted by the amplifier in the head of the antenna, PROVIDING that you have the power button to it ON, with the red light shining. For the correct answer to your question, yes, there is the Winegard Sensar Pro meter and amplifier that replaces you regular antenna power supply and switch. In my case, it seems to work very well. Just remember that too much boost can overload the TV input, with worse results and what appears to be signal loss.

yup, i have the sensar pro and you hit the nail on the head. works well, but be careful in strong signal areas and reduce the sensar pro gain or it can easily overload the TV input

[wa8yxm]

As it happens.. I do that...

First what antenna do you have. Options include the "Jack" from King Controls and assorted Winegard models

Sensar II or III (The good old "Batwing"
Above with the addition of the WINGMAN (If you do not have, this is mod #1)
Sensar IV (already has Wingman)
Roadstar (junk)
Rayzer (Not sure on this one but ... The engineer in my says not that great)

OTHER makes

With out knowing a lot more about the "others" the Winegard Sensar IV or the II or III with added wingman, are the BEST RV TV antennas current market

Now what is inside the RV Two choices

1: A wall plate. it has a switch, and LED, a 12 volt outlet and an antenna jack

2: A Matrix Switch (box of many buttons or BOMB)


If you have the wall plate.. Then the Winegard SENSAR PRO is for you.. Simply replace the wall plate.. NOTE.. The Sensar Pro does not have a front antenna connection, cables come out the rear, You can however "notch" the wall or box it mounts in so you bring the TV-1 Cable out to the front and connect.

If you have the BOMB

Get a standard outlet box and the SENSAR pro.. You will need to tap into the 12 volt leads to the BOMB, unhook the ANT lead from the BOMB and attach to teh ANT lead on the Sensar Pro (Which you will mount in the outlet box) Using a coax jumper (RG-59 or RG-6, I really like RG-6) connect the TV-1 out from the Sensar Pro to the BOMB's ANT jack..

The Sensar pro is a 2nd Pre-amp, adjustable... Plus a scanner, Plus a signal meter, and a few other functions Really makes peaking the signal easy.

[Johno02]

Looks a long shot for Lexington stations, unless they have a repeater tower a lot closer. With my Sensar and Sensar pro, about 60 miles or so isw about it. Check which way the other fellow has his pointed, and check there. Good Luck!!!

[rk911]

Greg13 wrote:
I am new to camping and recently bought a new camper. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about boosting the signal of the digital antenna to try to pick up more channels.

Thanks in advance

there is no such thing as a digital TV antenna or a digital TV signal amplifier. all existing TV antennas and amplifier are capable of detecting digital TV transmissions. to market antenna as otherwise is snake oil. some really old TV antennas built before the creation of UHF channels 13-72 (decades ago) won't receive some new digital stations not because they are transmitting digital signals but because they are transmitting on frequencies outside the range of frequencies the ancient antenna is designed to receive.

in the case of your new camper the existing antenna (is it a crank-up Winegard batwing, Jack antenna or some sort of round permanently fixed antenna?) it is designed to receive both VHF and UHF frequencies and likely already has an amplifier. The Winegard crank-up batwing has an amplifier built into the head which requires a 12-volt power source to activate. there should be a switch near the crank to do that.

the batwing is a directional antenna meaning it must be turned so that the broad side of the wings are facing in the direction of the TV transmitters. the wings receive VHF transmissions, the UHF receiver is built into the head of the antenna. there is an add-on to the batwing called a Wingman (check google) that helps focus and direct more UHF signals to the amplifier in the antenna head.

getting good TV reception in campgrounds has gotten progressively more difficult since the change from analog to digital for lots of reasons that are really germane to your question.

if you tell us the make and model of your antenna we may be able to give you additional information.

[Greg13]

Yeah, I'm in KY. I have a new Aspen Trail, and it has a crank up antenna, looks like the batwing.
I was hoping to get the Lexington channels. A friend was in a different area of the campground and picked up one Lexington channel.

Thanks for the help.

[Johno02]

With the Sensar IV antenna, and the Sensar Pro, I have received good signals from 60+ miles away. Flatland, and a strong station. Other places, nothing. Regardless of what you use, if there ain't no signal, there just ain't no signal! Nowadays, about 70 miles is the max for any station, without a repeater.

[Big_Katuna]

The Winegard batwing with the Wingman. The new ones have it built in.

But what REALLY adds channels is the Winegard Sensar Pro amp and signal strength meter.

This allows you to read the signal strength so you can turn the antenna and peak the signal.

It also has an adjustable amp so you can tune the strength.

I doubled my channels at my house. Worth every penny.

[Johno02]

If KY, what you have is probably about it.

[RoyB]

It is very hard to beat one of these WINEGARD BATWING antennas. This has a booster amp built-in that gets activated when you push in the button on the ANTENNA WALL PANEL...

Some of the newer trailers are coming out now with inferior round and low profile omni-directional antennas...

If you have this Batwing crankup antenna on your trailer it is one of best ones you can find... NOTE the added dipoles





Don't forget this is just like your HDTV setup in the house as you have to select ANTENNA and then scan in the digital stations from the HDTV menu setup... When you are hooked up to CABLE TV at the camp grounds yo have to select CABLE from the HDTV menu and do the scan again...

Roy Ken

[Johno02]

Lake Cumberland, what state?

[Greg13]

OK thanks. I picked up 3 channels this weekend, but all local public broadcasting channels. I didn't know there was a power button for it. I will have to check it out some more.

[Johno02]

It is already boosted by the amplifier in the head of the antenna, PROVIDING that you have the power button to it ON, with the red light shining. For the correct answer to your question, yes, there is the Winegard Sensar Pro meter and amplifier that replaces you regular antenna power supply and switch. In my case, it seems to work very well. Just remember that too much boost can overload the TV input, with worse results and what appears to be signal loss.