Over-the-air digital TV reception?

[laplatarosa]

We are heading to AZ. for our winter stay. Our site is under a steel cover. We want to pull the Class A MH in front ways, instead of backing in. This puts our bat-wing style TV antenna way under the cover. No (very limited) over-the-air reception.

If I added an external antenna, how would I get the signal booster on the existing antenna to improve the signal strength?

Can I run a coax cable from the external antenna (mounted to the steel cover) to the MH cable-in? How do I boost the signal strength?

I have a switch in the MH that says On - antenna - Off - Park Cable. There is a coax connector on that switch. What is this for?

All ideas and help are appreciated.

Thanks,

laplatarosa

[shastagary]

my house is about 20 miles from most of the stations but i am below a hill from them and even my roof top antenna has some trouble during the day. we have more than 60 digital channels from about 10 tv stations in the area. (some of the tv stations broadcast up to 7 channels) so it depends on your location and antenna height. my seasonal camp site is 60 miles from the same stations and i can receive about 6 of the stations or about 31 channels with my batwing antenna.

[Bumpyroad]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
If you have an attic you can install a large array antenna up there but with the digital signal I would plan on a roof or chimney mount antenna. You are not going to have much luck in a house 50 miles from TV towers with anything less.

OK, thanks
bumpy

[Bill_Satellite]

If you have an attic you can install a large array antenna up there but with the digital signal I would plan on a roof or chimney mount antenna. You are not going to have much luck in a house 50 miles from TV towers with anything less.

[Bumpyroad]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
what is a good reasonably priced "indoor" antenna to pick up stations about 50 miles away. too much hoopla and bs in the packaging.
thanks
bumpy

I doubt that there are any antennas you could install inside your RV that would pick up stations 50 miles away. That can be a challenge for a Batwing!

sorry I wasn't clear, this is for the S&B
bumpy

[Bill_Satellite]

Bumpyroad wrote:
what is a good reasonably priced "indoor" antenna to pick up stations about 50 miles away. too much hoopla and bs in the packaging.
thanks
bumpy

I doubt that there are any antennas you could install inside your RV that would pick up stations 50 miles away. That can be a challenge for a Batwing!

[Bumpyroad]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
what is a good reasonably priced "indoor" antenna to pick up stations about 50 miles away. too much hoopla and bs in the packaging.

My in-laws dumped cable. They live about the same distance. We happened to have a "window sticker" antenna and they tried it in the kitchen and it got all the major stations except one !

We also bought them an RCA (?) inside antenna at Walmart for the living room. This was sort of a flat bar on a small stand that they placed on top of the cabinet. Not obnoxious to look at ! It also had a small amplifier. Less than $50Same results.

I was quite surprised and they were very pleased.

thanks, I have to figure out where the convertors are that the old TVs needed as I "assume" I will need one on some of my older TVs. thinking of paring back dish and think I pay extra for "local" channels.
bumpy


With digital TV you either get a GOOD picture, or you get nothing. Rain/snow/leaves can cause pixelation. Putting your antenna on top of a bookshelf/cabinet DOES help.

[theoldwizard1]

Bumpyroad wrote:
what is a good reasonably priced "indoor" antenna to pick up stations about 50 miles away. too much hoopla and bs in the packaging.

My in-laws dumped cable. They live about the same distance. We happened to have a "window sticker" antenna and they tried it in the kitchen and it got all the major stations except one !

We also bought them an RCA (?) inside antenna at Walmart for the living room. This was sort of a flat bar on a small stand that they placed on top of the cabinet. Not obnoxious to look at ! It also had a small amplifier. Less than $50Same results.

I was quite surprised and they were very pleased.


With digital TV you either get a GOOD picture, or you get nothing. Rain/snow/leaves can cause pixelation. Putting your antenna on top of a bookshelf/cabinet DOES help.

[wa8yxm]

I would put a high end antenna with rotor on a short (20 or 30 foot) tower provided there are not CC&R's or HOA restrictions.. Bring it in via the park coax and don't bother with the booster.. OR if you need Boost. use a mast head pre-amp on the antenna and the matching power inserter between the antenna and the RV... No need to re-wire the RV that way.. All plug and play.

Fact: I am acrophobic (Fear of heights) So naturally I had to install the mast head amp in the antenna at my parent's house 100 foot above ground.....

(Suffice to say I have great faith in my safety harness).

We got television from over 100 miles away.. Channel Master's #2 antenna as I recall.. HEIGHT IS MIGHT.

[Bumpyroad]

what is a good reasonably priced "indoor" antenna to pick up stations about 50 miles away. too much hoopla and bs in the packaging.
thanks
bumpy

[Bill_Satellite]

You could install any kind of a home style antenna on a pole outside the shed and run the coax to the cable connection in your coach. Just turning off the OTA TV power supply (not a booster) in the coach would send the signal from the new antenna to the TV's. This would give you a simple connection with no modifications to the coach necessary.

[theoldwizard1]

Okay some techno-speak. Skip if you are not interested.


The old TV standard was call NTSC, named after the National Television System Committee. The new standard is called ATSC, named after the Advanced Television Systems Committee. No one is the US or Canada is permitted to transmit NTSC.

ATSC use much less "spectrum" to transmit many more channel. Think of "spectrum" as how many "lanes" are reserved to TV transmission. NTSC was sloppy, so "empty lanes" in between were required. Even though the lanes are still the same width, ATSC can get 3 channels in that lane and there is no need for an empty lane in between. This is also why the new antennas are so much smaller.

In NTSC, channel numbers were related to a specific frequency (which lane) In ATSC, channel number or only for humans. Channel 2 may be the right most lane in you area and the left most lane in my area. Part of the incoming signal tell your TV what chanel number it is, irregardless of the frequency.

The government (FCC) has taken back many frequencies and will likely reclaim more. These are redistributed for different purposes.


Cable is a whole different story.

[theoldwizard1]

laplatarosa wrote:
We are heading to AZ. for our winter stay. Our site is under a steel cover. We want to pull the Class A MH in front ways, instead of backing in.

First, go to https://www.antennaweb.org/ to find out where the station you want to receive are located relative to your location. It will also give you an estimate of what kind.size of antenna your should have.

laplatarosa wrote:
This puts our bat-wing style TV antenna way under the cover. No (very limited) over-the-air reception. If I added an external antenna, ...

Second, I ASSUME by EXTERNAL you mean out from under the steel roof. That is the only real chance you have of pulling in a large number of stations. Trees/leaves can have a negative effect on reception. The higher the better.

There are a lot of good antennas out there. Several good designs.

Link 1 Link 2 Link 3

Note that the third one is just double the second one !

laplatarosa wrote:
how would I get the signal booster on the existing antenna to improve the signal strength? Can I run a coax cable from the external antenna (mounted to the steel cover) to the MH cable-in? How do I boost the signal strength?

If you have a good antenna at adequate height you won't need a booster. Just plug into the jack that you would normally use for cable TV and you should be good. If you need an amplifier, the easiest place to insert it is outside the MH, but there are 2 problems. They are not weatherproof and they require power. Unused ports should use a F-connector terminator.

Of course that assumes you have good wiring inside of the coach ! If the wiring is questionable and if you have more than 1 TV, then I would run new wire inside and an amplifier splitter like this onelike this one.

laplatarosa wrote:
I have a switch in the MH that says On - antenna - Off - Park Cable. There is a coax connector on that switch. What is this for?

I can't really help you here. My SWAG is that it switches all the internal TV port for one to another and may power up an amplifier splitter.


Last tip. Use RG6 wire. A bit thicker than RG58 so it is more durable. Also use Snap-N-Seal connectors, SNS1P6, color code blue for RG6 and SNS1P58, color code orange for RG59. These are cheap, as is the wire, on eBay. 50mis a lifetime supply and you will have plenty for the neighbors too ! These do require a special tool to install. Several different versions are available. I like the IT-1000 tool because it also strips the end of the wire to the proper length.

[TakingThe5th]

darsben1 wrote:
I have this on that I put on a pole near my permanent 5er in Arizona. Has worked well for 2 years now

Clicky

rotates to pick up different stations

[darsben1]

I have this on that I put on a pole near my permanent 5er in Arizona. Has worked well for 2 years now
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008I92LIY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

rotates to pick up different stations