Radio Shack amp & Winegard: Update w/ HDTV

As long as you preface your posts as saying you have nothing else to do and don't mind doing too much work to get the results you want then everyone will be able to separate out your posts from those who are looking for an actual solution.
I don't call doing more work than necessary "pushing the envelope" but if that works for you that's terrific. If you want easy, you install a Sensar Pro!

Bill.Satellite wrote:
You ALWAYS have to do a TV channel scan at all new locations whether you use a Sensar Pro or not. My way I do ONE. Your way you have to do TWO. The Sensar Pro also adds a secondary inline amp which will bring in those weaker channels.
Again, you method also only works IF the TV has a signal meter and mine do not so it would be a moot point.

Normally I do one since I carry printouts of stations in each state near where we camp. I have my GPS and maps and know where I wish to aim. One try will get all the networks. The information is get what the system is capable of picking up.

Being retired with free time I like to test my system just like the hay-day of Shortwave radio. With my current range of close to 200 miles (night and cloudy days) it's fun to aim in many directions to see what I can find. Besides; my TV only takes 3 minutes to do a new scan.

If people are happy with what the got that's fine with me. Some of us like to push the envelope.

You ALWAYS have to do a TV channel scan at all new locations whether you use a Sensar Pro or not. My way I do ONE. Your way you have to do TWO. The Sensar Pro also adds a secondary inline amp which will bring in those weaker channels.
Again, you method also only works IF the TV has a signal meter and mine do not so it would be a moot point.

Bill.Satellite wrote:
None of my TV's have a signal meter. Even if you did, you have to do the work twice when you can do it in one step with the Sensar Pro. Get where you are going, point the antenna using the Sensar Pro and do one channel scan.....Watch TV. Not sure how long your TV takes, but one of mine takes up to 5 minutes. I would hate to have to do that twice.

Using the Sensor Pro will not allow me to get the much better range.
:B. The manual for Sensor Pro asks you to use TV scan after using it.

My Insignia TV's both had a strength meter in the menu for zeroing in on the signal. The current one also has a Bar meter with channel program information when button is pressed. My Sony TV also had meter with much more information.

None of my TV's have a signal meter. Even if you did, you have to do the work twice when you can do it in one step with the Sensar Pro. Get where you are going, point the antenna using the Sensar Pro and do one channel scan.....Watch TV. Not sure how long your TV takes, but one of mine takes up to 5 minutes. I would hate to have to do that twice.

I would like to comment about a recent post by an OP who complained about the non-working Winegard Antenna on his "new to him" used RV.

The OP replaced the antenna head with a King Antenna. Replacing the antenna head with a Winegard head would have fixed the problem too. Winegard was treated unfairly by the OP.

One of the replies mentioned the OP had an in-line Radio Shack amplifier. Not sure if the same model as mine since there are others.

It should be pointed out that the inline amplifier will not replace a non-working amplifier in the antenna head. That needs to be working for my additional re-amplification of the signal just before the television.

However; there really is no need to have the SensorPro unit to locate signals.
The extra amplification will allow the TV to find stations in the usual expected range of (60 to 70 miles) off the side of the Winegard antenna. no need to initially aim. Use the television's strength meter (or bars) to zero in the signal. Now do a new scan to get any missed weaker signals. More found after dark.

7/30/14 update:

It's amazing what 20 decibel amplification and aiming in the right direction (lucky aim) can do.

Last week while in Clear Lake, Iowa I aimed towards the east to get the usual stations wanted. It was 6:00am on a partly cloudy morning.
Somehow I managed to get one of the major network channels out of Madison Wisconsin which is 200 miles to the east (straight line).

I watched the news on the channel for about 45 minutes before the rising sun wiped out my 1-bar signal. :(

The station was WKOW on 27.1, 27.2, and 27.3 with ABC being on the main channel.

We were camping down by Lake Pepin (Mississippi River). The river bluffs are 600 or more feet above the river making getting channels from Minneapolis area (70 miles), St. Cloud MN (130 miles) hard except at night.

I hade switched to a 3 foot RG6u Coaxial cable from a longer 14 foot version. This week with a little help of about 80% cloud cover I got 52 channels which I could still watch after sunset with or without the cloud-cover.

The short coaxial blocked the usual interference from trains passing through the signal, along with other RF interference (only occurs with less than 2 bars). I was quite surprised by the large increase from around 20 channels to 52 channels (includes all the weaker stations in the area).

The shorter the coaxial between 2nd amplifier and television the easier to get a usable signal of only one bar(20% signal strength at TV).

In what some people call the "good old analog TV days" I would like to point out that we could only get one or two channels during the day back then in this location. Maybe two more channels at night time.

Getting television signals is better than ever now, with the exception the programing content may have been better then. Getting the old programs on many more channels is an improvement to me. :D

I just found out that storm clouds can greatly increase range when playing with 20 db's of amplification.

Down ln Clear Lake Iowa. Got cities up 185 miles away during daytime and kept at night. Cleared Tuesday and back to around 100 mile range. Storm this morning and cities to the east gotten up to 185 miles.

We are sitting home for a few days waiting for our MH to get some scheduled routine service.

I have had some time to check out the new internet site I found for transmitters located for our state of Minnesota (site covers all states and Canadian provinces).

It solved one problem I have seen when scanning with up to 20 dBs of amplification.

Normally I will scan for channels after getting to a new park (middle of the day). I will always find quite a few and be happy with it until later in the evening after the sun drops below the horizon.

Then I will run another scan while the current program my wife and I may be watching starts playing commercials. It will bug the wife but the scan only takes about 3 minutes to complete. The scan almost always locates more channels than the day scan.

The next morning while the wife is still sleeping, I will check the "channels found" list under one of the TV menus. Sometimes I would find what would look like duplicate listings (i.e. 5.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.2). Both would show up before sun would rise, than one of each channel might not of up for watching.

With the new internet listing I now understand that my location for camping has allowed me to get some of the larger metro area's channels stronger signals from around 100+ miles away along with getting a lower powered transmitter's channels being rebroadcast from one of the larger towns located across the state (20 to 50 miles away). They usually have one of their own local TV stations broadcasting at least one network.

It explains how I can easily get 2 or 3 channels showing ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc. If I cut back on the amount of decibel amplification I am using some weaker signals will drop off. It is possible for me to miss some close by channels by searching with too much amplification.

With the new lists of transmitters I have a better idea of what is located where, and the range of each station being transmitted. It seems that an ideal amplification would around 12 to 16 decibels to locate all the networks broadcasting in most states "over the air".

My current system is 10 dBs (Winegard alone) and 12 dBs to 20 dBs, adjustable, with the Radio Shack in-line RF amplifier turned on. This works fine if you understand that sometimes running the same scan at 12 to 15 dBs might pick up a closer channel than 20 dBs may have over-amplified and wiped out the signal.

It would be nice if Winegard would increase the amount of amplification they use in the antenna systems. 10dBs used to be the norm for the analog days but more is required today for digital transmitters using much less power than the past.

More amplification works fine with the newer coaxial cables, RG6u, which have quad-shielding.