Replacing Crank up Antenna Suggestions?

[GACamper]

Thinking about replacing our Crank up TV Antenna with a fixed Roof Mount TV Antenna. I've seen a few on campers going down the road that looks to to stand about a foot tall.
As anybody else replaced their crank up antenna? Does anybody have any suggestions on which make or model of TV Antenna to go with. Not interested in a Satellite System...Thanks!

[dapperdan]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Do a search here for Batwing vs jack antenna. Your Batwing with an added Wingman attachment is a superior performing antenna. Being able to raise the antenna above the surrounding obstructions also make it perform substantially better.

Bill.Satellite is right on! We camped with friends who have a "fixed" antenna on their MH, they got 3 channels we have the "cheap "crank-up batwing style and we had about 15 channels. We were parked in adjacent campsites.

At first I thought that might be a better system because you don't have to worry about lowering your antenna before leaving the campground but after seeing how bad their reception was, well you can keep it as far as I'm concerned. I'll stick to what I have.

Dan

[Tom_M1]

Here's a link to the test that SCVJeff did: Winegard vs. Jack test

According to the readings on the spectrum analyzer, the levels are as follows:

Winegard
-59.08db UHF ch 36
-80.27db VHF ch 7

Jack
-65.60db UHF ch 36
-90.62db VHF ch 7

While the performance of the Jack is poor, it is no where near 30db lower.

[wa8yxm]

In lab testing the WInegard, with wingman was able to see stations far more clearly, in some tests the signal power was up to one thousand times what the jack could deliver. (UHF on axis signal) (On axis means you are pointed to it).

30 db stronger (10^3 times the power) The tests were run by another forum member, posted here, he has a full electronics lab.

When it comes to antennas.. Something like a great big channel master on top of a tall tower works very very well, I highly recommend it and installed one at my parents house (100 feet of tower).. Not practical for RV use however.

A Winegard with Wingman and SENSAR PRO indoor module.. that is as good as it gets for RV use. it is also what I'm using as I type.

[Bill_Satellite]

SCVJeff wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
My guess is that your Jack was not defective. The Batwing is simply a better antenna. Just read the reviews here by JCVJeff.

SCVJeff. 🙂

OOPS! Sorry.

[MNtundraRet]

SCVJeff wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
My guess is that your Jack was not defective. The Batwing is simply a better antenna. Just read the reviews here by JCVJeff.

SCVJeff. 🙂

Less anyone reading takes away the wrong conclusion here. Bill's comment is just a guess.

I agree the Winegard is a better setup, but no one knows if the Jack was a faulty antenna. Owner chose not to replace it with another Jack which was his choice. A working Jack antenna should have worked just as well from his home location of only 15 miles from the transmitter.

The Jack installed was either likely faulty, or a bad connection on the coaxial cable, was corrected when installing the new Winegard antenna head. That is of course if the OP had a problem with it here before replacing it. Either way we don't know if the original Jack worked correctly.

Mark B.

[SCVJeff]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
My guess is that your Jack was not defective. The Batwing is simply a better antenna. Just read the reviews here by JCVJeff.

SCVJeff. 🙂

[Bill_Satellite]

My guess is that your Jack was not defective. The Batwing is simply a better antenna. Just read the reviews here by SCVJeff.

CORRECTED!

[GACamper]

Follow up from when I started this post. I bought and installed the Jack Digital HDTV Antenna Replacement Head. Picture quality when I did receive channels was pretty good. Number of channels received very few if any at times. To be truthful about the this, I think I got a defective Jack Antenna. My old Bat Wing picked up way more channels then the Jack Antenna. The just of it all, buying a new Jack Antenna out of the box that might have been defective I wasn't going to get bit twice. So I returned the Jack Antenna and bought a new Winegard Sensar IV Integrated Amp. Replacement Head Only. Installed it and everything works great. We live in the country about 15 miles from town. With the camper sitting in the yard I'm getting 18 channels..
Very pleased with my new Winegard Sensar IV Antenna.
Note: Old style Winegard 15 channels...New style Winegard 18 channels.

[CoCoDave]

Thanks, guys, for all the information. Most helpful. Right now the Winegard Sensar + Wingman assembly is doing a great job. We're here until mid-March. I'll leave things as they are until then to reduce the risk of degrading the currently excellent performance.

This became a little more of a problem for us when the Datron DBS3000 satellite antenna bit the dust during the trip from Washington state down here to Arizona. That incident pushed us to use more OTA programming while we worked out a replacement for the Datron.

That was resolved with another Winegard crank-up product, the RM-DM46 satellite antenna. Which, by the way, works very well.

I don't work for Winegard but their stuff seems to work. If OTA becomes a greater problem due to the Wingman/heat-pump conflict, I'll look into the Sensar Pro amplifier.

Thanks again for the information.

Dave

[Bill_Satellite]

I can't imagine that setup working at all (that is to say improve anything compared to simply cutting the element off) and the possibility of causing some interference seems to be a reasonable expectation.

[SCVJeff]

SensarPro

[CoCoDave]

Thanks, Mark. I may try that. You mentioned an in-line Radioshack amplifier. I could not find one of that description at Radioshack.com .

What do you think of this one?
Winegard Boost

Dave

P.S. Ooops... just noticed that it said "non-amplified". Forget I spoke!

[MNtundraRet]

Dave:

If trimming the Wingman works to get your antenna to store in the normal location, just save the element and check out the antenna at your current location with one less element on it.

If your range is still okay just save the element in a drawer for possible future use. Once your antenna is raised on the roof you can just set the element on top of the Winegard wing in my position to see what happens (better or worse). Don't forget you just have it laying there after testing.

I would hate to think that my current of up to 160 miles on digital is less than what it could be. :B Mine has been there the last 4 years.

However; Jeff is right about funny things can happen dependent of element placements. That's why some of us keep experimenting for better range.

[SCVJeff]

I would be a little nervous about mounting essentually a reflector right on top of the UHF driven element in the head. That could do all kinds of evil things to the pattern all the way to cutting performance making it worse than even without the wingman installed.

If you have a SensarPro, you can measure the effect. If not, I would recommend against doing that.