Is the Winegard wallplate a power supply or a booster?

[D_E_Bishop]

It depends. I needed to replace my Winegard PS/Splitter with wall plate and went to my catalog for a part number. Guess what I found, Winegard makes both a PS for batwings with the amp in the head and a booster for non-amplified antennas.

I've never seen a non-amplified batwing that I was aware was non-amplified and if they did sell them at one time, they don't advertise them now.

Here is my CYA statement, I have never had an RV mounted antenna that was not an amplified batwing, therefore, I can't make any personal evaluation of the booster or what it was intended for other than what Winegard says in their description in the catalogs I have on hand.





The above image shows descriptions for both. One is called a Signal Amplifier and the other is called a Power Receptacle. What I needed was the Power Receptacle for my batwing.

[D_E_Bishop]

wa8yxm, first of all this is not about me replacing my batwing's power suppy/splitter, it was due to reading in another post that the wall plate is not a Booster(amplifier) it is a power supply for the PCB in the head. The poster was forcefully making a totally inaccurate statement in that there was no booster behind the wall plate. He did know know but assumed the OP had an amplified batwing and that there were no non-amplified batwings. None of us really knew what the OP had. It was as much a matter of symantics as anything else and I got in a discussion with someone who replied to my attempt to clarify what I felt was misleading and inaccurate information. I should have taken the batteries out of my keyboard.


I don't really need a Sensar Pro, I can receive one station from San Bernardino, one from Santa Barbara and at least one from San Diego from my home among the 160+ stations my TV will find on a search. This tells me that my batwing is doing great. We normally do not watch much TV while on the road. We may check on the network headlines and local weather in the evening and once in awhile in the morning. I just like to have all the features in my rig working and I was trying to fix a problem with the wall plate, the power supply/signal splitter board behind the wall plate kept falling out of the slots it was mounted in and I dribbled super glue a little when I glued the PCB to the plate and it went into the power switch and I could no longer turn the power supply on.

Problems solve and I hope no hurt feelings and I have to remember to re-read things before I make comments.

[wa8yxm]

Replace it with the SENSAR PRO module.. Please do it that way

The Sensar Pro should work on a 2002.. Some of the earliest Winegard antennas were not amplified,, but by 2002 I do not think those were being installed.

Why do you need to replace it?

If you have a short coax jumper try this.. Remove the wall plate but do not disconnect... Attach a short coax jumper to the ANT connection (Looking at the back with the 12 volt outlet at the top this is the left one) Turn on Switch and CAREFULLY measure voltage at other end of jumper.. 12 volts.. it's a power supply. ZERO.. Well, read the model number off it and then go to Winegard

But the Sensar Pro replaces the power supply ones And greatly improves operation.

[Johno02]

We are doing good to get 3 stations, and at least one of the major networks most of the time. Does wonders for my blood pressure not having all the world news to worry about. Just as long as we are out of range of the bullets from Jackson.

[D_E_Bishop]

Okay Johno02 you are correct, I reread the thread that had me thinking about this question and RoyB from WV did clarify the question and even gave Winegard part numbers for the booster and power supply.

I was bothered with your comment regarding the Catalog getting the pictures mixed up, you mentioned that it should have been the SensarPro in the picture. Well as you stated later there are several different wall plates for several different purposes. I was only addressing the fact that there is a wall plate that powers the amplifier in the head and there was one for boosting the signal for non-amplified heads, I wasn't thinking about the SensarPro.

I apologize for not understanding what you were trying to say and sometimes I do misread things. The next time the subject comes up and I decide to reply, I will make mention of all three wall plates that use 12vdc power for signal amplification and how they differ.

I guess I am spoiled in regards to getting good TV reception, we live on a hill in the Northeast corner of Los Angeles and have line of site to the antennas on Mt. Wilson. The local governments and the stations agreed on Mt. Wilson for a lot of reasons but mostly because of the area it covers. The other day I worked on my video system in the RV and decided to check everything when I was done. My rear TV set would only pull in 35 stations. It was missing several network stations. I touched the F type connector on the cable and go fluctuation in the signal. I gently tugged on the cable and it came out of the connector. I changed from a no tools needed connector to a 3GHz connector and rescanned. With the new connector on I get 164 channels. Many of those are funky locals in analog and several that are up for lease and believe it or not, there are quite a few music stations transmitting in the range that can be picked up on the TV.

Once again my apologies and I'll try and be clearer by listing specific part numbers where appropriate.

[Johno02]

Sorry, error in original post for one URL. Try these

Try these.

Winegard power supply
http://manuals.solidsignal.com/RV-7042.pdf

Winegard antenna amplifier
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/uploads/2451489.pdf

[Johno02]

I give up!! in the two URL I posted, one clearly says "Power Supply" and the other clearly says "Antenna Amplifier". That is the difference, and they are not interchangeable.

[Bill_Satellite]

D.E. Bishop,
I read your original post and I can't tell if you are asking a question and if so, what it is.
So here is an explanation of the 2 units (which are not interchangeable). The really old Winegard antenna(s) did not have built in amps so you plugged the antenna into a booster which provided less effective amplification. Once the amp moved to the head itself you plugged the antenna into a power supply and allowed the antenna to send an amplified signal down the line.
If you want to add a booster to your existing Winegard antenna you can install a Sensar Pro or buy a signal amplifier from somewhere like Radio Shack which would be installed downstream from the Winegard power supply (not between the power supply and the antenna).

[D_E_Bishop]

Johno02, Okay, I've read over and over the posts you mentioned and I don't see any discussion about the difference between a Winegard Power Receptacle and a Winegard Amplifier. I really don't want this to go any further and the next time I see where someone says that there is no booster/amplifier behind the plate, I'll ask the OP what model he has.

Please accept my apology if I caused anyone to become upset, I just was trying to say there can be a difference between the two and how they are different.

[Johno02]

Many of the folks on here either are not old enough to remember, and many others have not been around RVs long enough to remember. A few of us old Fa--s have seen and remember all the way back to black and white tvs. But I would guess that there are still a few of these Sensar I and IIs around. Here is the link to the non-amplified batwing antenna
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=RV5095&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=rv5095&gclid=CjwKEAjwk6K8BRDM3aCSkdCtzSQSJAA3Vf387WbEWa7sEXUIjdgIBJd3v1OAmX5cFf1QOgF_JIbPAxoCSZXw_wcB

[Johno02]

Try these.

Winegard power supply
http://manuals.solidsignal.com/RV-7042.pdf

Winegard antenna amplifier
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/uploads/2451489.pdf

[Johno02]

Here is one thread v:http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28956011.cfm

Here is another :http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28954040.cfm

Here is another: http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28954040.cfm


To actually find out what yours is, probably take a good look at the CB in question for a brand name or number, then look that up on the internet. As tere are a number of different brands and types out there, It is a difficult question to answer. One idea might be to compare the CB to another on that is a known type. Another is that it the one in question is a power supply, then you should be able to measure 12v on the connector to the antenna. If it is designed to be used as the booster, then there would be no need for power to the antenna, and probably would not be. Would be good if there were some type of identifier on the CB.

[D_E_Bishop]

Johno02 wrote:
Yes, there used to be a non-amplified version, but that was a long time ago, and are no longer available except from someones obsolete stock room. The wall plate is a different matter, there are several different ones that all look about the same, and do about the same function. What you need depends on what you are trying to replace, and depending on if you want to upgrade what you have, or just replace. This subject has extensive coverage on lots of threads in this forum. Several have been posted, answered very well and closed within the last week.

Johno I am sorry if I haven't read all the post since 2000 but recently there was a thread that did not answer the question about what the little CB behind the plate did. Several folks stated flatly that the plate with the switch is a power supply for the PC board in the head and it is not a booster or amplifier. My post was only intended to show that there are at least two different plates, there are plates that have a power supply and splitter and there is a plate that is a signal amplifier and looks identical to the one that is the power supply type. The Booster type is NOT for antennas that have the PCB in the head, it is a booster for none powered head signals. The amplifier type is an RA 7296 the power supply type is a RV 7042(for a white one). There are a LOT of guys that feel all the batwings have PCBs in the head and that there and no amplifiers. They are wrong. That is what I had to say and I don't buy that it has been settled. Then again I have been wrong before and will apologize if proven wrong. Just send me a couple of ULRs that lead to the question being answered.

[Tom_M1]

In 2010 I replaced my TV antenna. The original did not have an amp in the head but had the amp in the wall plate. I purchased a non-amplified Winegard Sensar III.

Here's a non-amplified Sensar from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-GS-1100-Gray-Non-Amplified-Antenna/dp/B002XIXZ7M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&...

[Johno02]

Yes, there used to be a non-amplified version, but that was a long time ago, and are no longer available except from someones obsolete stock room. The wall plate is a different matter, there are several different ones that all look about the same, and do about the same function. What you need depends on what you are trying to replace, and depending on if you want to upgrade what you have, or just replace. This subject has extensive coverage on lots of threads in this forum. Several have been posted, answered very well and closed within the last week.