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!

[MNtundraRet]

Yes. Exactly what I did.

You do have to be careful with adding the removed element to the main antenna head. The amplifier is inside somewhere and you do not want to hit it or cause a possible leak.

Maybe gluing the element to the head might be safer.

It was the following spring that I installed my Radio Shack in-line amplifier. It greatly improved my range and made up for any possible loss of range from modifying the Wingman.

Mark :B

[CoCoDave]

MNtundraRet wrote:

Windsor Dave wrote:

Thanks,

***

The Wingman attachment has two small elements of equal length. I just sawed off the last element by cutting the plastic extension holding the elements close to the second element of equal size. That gave me the few inches necessary to clear the pod and lower the antenna to the roof in the proper location.

You need someone inside to lower the antenna in the correct orientation for storage. Have them stop lowering when the Wingman first touches the obstacle. The Wingman will work with only one of the small elements. If you need more clearance than loosing one element you are out of luck.

****

Look at the owner's manual/installation instructions for WINEGARD RV ANTENNA. One of the pages has "ORDERING REPAIR PARTS".One of the pictures shows the Wingman for cutting purposes. I drilled out the piece holding element to the plastic and used a small screw to attach the element to the main antenna cover. Use a sealant to seal the screw-hole. The element could be screwed the plastic base of Wingman instead. You might not need the removed element.

****

Cutting the element may not give you your current range. It as a $30 gamble for me if it did not work out right, and the same for you.

Thanks, Mark. Is this a rough approximation of what you did?

[Bill_Satellite]

Properly handled, the entire Batwing assembly can be rotated a bit to provide clearance. It would mean removing the caulking and screws and hopefully rotating exactly one or 2 screw spacing so you would not create additional holes, just need new caulking. The interior hardware would need to be removed first and measurements made on the roof to ensure you would not have to rotate too far or that the newly rotated antenna would not hang off the edge. I would not go beyond about a 30 degree rotation.

[MNtundraRet]

Windsor Dave wrote:
For MNtundraRet:

Mark, Back on 07/03/12 You posted the following:

"I ended up cutting off the last element section close to the outer edge by middle element. There is no wiring between elements to worry about. I refastenned the removed element on top of the casing over large element keeping spacing between small elements similar."

I just installed a Wingman on my pre-2004 Sensar. It significantly improved performance. Am in an RV park north of Phoenix and am reliably getting Tucson stations 120 miles away in addition to all (that I'm aware of) Phoenix stations. Pre Wingman, we were not getting all of the Phoenix stations.


That's the good news. The bad news is that the Wingman prevents complete lowering/stowing of the crank-up Sensar/Wingman assembly.

Do you have an image or sketch of what exactly you did in the way of modifying the Wingman to clear your obstruction? I really like the Wingman and want to continue using it if at all practical.

Thanks,

You would first need to see how much of the Wingman attachment would need to be removed to miss your air-conditioner cover and lower into the correct position on your roof.

The Wingman attachment has two small elements of equal length. I just sawed off the last element by cutting the plastic extension holding the elements close to the second element of equal size. That gave me the few inches necessary to clear the pod and lower the antenna to the roof in the proper location.

You need someone inside to lower the antenna in the correct orientation for storage. Have them stop lowering when the Wingman first touches the obstacle. The Wingman will work with only one of the small elements. If you need more clearance than loosing one element you are out of luck.

I first tried laying the antenna down on the roof by aiming it across the roof in front of the air-conditioner. The problem with doing that is there is no "U" bracket as found on the Winegard antenna base to hold the lowered uprights in place. When driving the RV the antenna could rotate on the roof and loosen the nut inside the gear housing on the roof.

Look at the owner's manual/installation instructions for WINEGARD RV ANTENNA. One of the pages has "ORDERING REPAIR PARTS".One of the pictures shows the Wingman for cutting purposes. I drilled out the piece holding element to the plastic and used a small screw to attach the element to the main antenna cover. Use a sealant to seal the screw-hole. The element could be screwed the plastic base of Wingman instead. You might not need the removed element.

If you could find an alternate way to install a "U" bracket on your roof to keep the down antenna in one place that might work but cause a possible roof leak if not done right.

Cutting the element may not give you your current range. It as a $30 gamble for me if it did not work out right, and the same for you.

[CoCoDave]

For MNtundraRet:

Mark, Back on 07/03/12 You posted the following:

"I ended up cutting off the last element section close to the outer edge by middle element. There is no wiring between elements to worry about. I refastenned the removed element on top of the casing over large element keeping spacing between small elements similar."

I just installed a Wingman on my pre-2004 Sensar. It significantly improved performance. Am in an RV park north of Phoenix and am reliably getting Tucson stations 120 miles away in addition to all (that I'm aware of) Phoenix stations. Pre Wingman, we were not getting all of the Phoenix stations.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the Wingman prevents complete lowering/stowing of the crank-up Sensar/Wingman assembly.

Do you have an image or sketch of what exactly you did in the way of modifying the Wingman to clear your obstruction? I really like the Wingman and want to continue using it if at all practical.

Thanks,

[SCVJeff]

wa8yxm wrote:

MNtundraRet wrote:
You have it backwards here. Signals are always easier to get at night. No interference from the sun.

True as far as it goes but... Have you ever read the license terms on a broadcast station... A station that is say 10,000 watts in the day might cut back to 1,000 at night (Numbers out of thin air intended to represent only not be exact).

And thus though there is less interference, there is also less signal.

There are other factors too, but that's the only one I wish to type about this morning.

tom is correct.. Thats AM Broadcast only when they are protecting out of local market co-channel stations. It doesn't apply to TV or FM, although there are rare exceptions that still shut down late at night.

[Tom_M1]

joebedford wrote:
How many channels do you want to lose?

Zero.

[joebedford]

How many channels do you want to lose?

[Tom_M1]

I have a Sensar Pro and find it to be a very useful tool. I can see where it would be a bit confusing for some people. Most people aren't aware of the difference between real channels and virtual channels. The Sensar Pro only displays real channels and TVs only display virtual channels. Another problem with the Sensar Pro is that it is possible to set it for too much gain. My TV will display both signal strength and signal quality. Sometimes as I increase the gain the signal strength will level off and the signal quality will decrease. You have to find a gain setting where both signal strength and quality are at their highest.

It has been suggested that TV stations reduce power at night. I come from a TV broadcast background and am not aware of any stations that reduce their power at night. It is common for AM radio stations to reduce power at night because of the long distances that the low frequency signal can travel

[wa8yxm]

MNtundraRet wrote:
You have it backwards here. Signals are always easier to get at night. No interference from the sun.

True as far as it goes but... Have you ever read the license terms on a broadcast station... A station that is say 10,000 watts in the day might cut back to 1,000 at night (Numbers out of thin air intended to represent only not be exact).

And thus though there is less interference, there is also less signal.

There are other factors too, but that's the only one I wish to type about this morning.

[phays]

I have a friend with one of these http://tinyurl.com/lupcmak

He likes it.

[Fredzo]

WyoTraveler wrote:
Never compared my Jack antenna with the newer crank up but I've had no problems getting reception on my Jack antenna. One big advantage is I don't have to worry about forgetting to crank it down.

With both First Class Licenses, don't you remember that the more meat you have up there to receive the signals (especially VHF), the better off you are? You can match a shorter antenna to the signal, but at the cost of far greater loss than an amp can make up. The noise factor of the amp, the signal loss thru matching devices, etc., more than eat up the signal lost by the shorter, less efficient antenna.

I also have/had both commercial licenses. Don't have the First Phone anymore. Lost it to the General Class. I spent 10 years in Marine Radio/Radar systems and thirty in commercial and aerospace, primarily in antenna design and implementation; everything from ground to space-based to shipboard, and never tried to trim the antenna length when I could help it!

[MNtundraRet]

az99 wrote:
SVC Jeff- That probably was the case when I tried adjusting the amp that I was just too far out or very weak signal. One place we used to go the NBC station came in fine during the day with the amp at 10?. But at night it would go away. No amount of fiddling with aim or amp would bring it back. Next morning fine again.

Like you said book time.

You have it backwards here. Signals are always easier to get at night. No interference from the sun. The best time to run a new scan to get signals that were close "misses" during the day.

However; maybe the station cannot afford to transmit at night for lack of viewers (commercials), so they shut down overnight.

Any chance that you have installed some LED lights? Some brands can easily wipe out a television signal when turned on at night. :B

[wa8yxm]

I would recommend against it. The crank up is directional and this means it is a gain antenna (Plus there are some other things about it) rather than replace it I'd upgrade it

Winegard Batwing
Upgrade 1: Add wingman
Upgrade 2: Sensor Pro

Results.. One CG where reception was poor in the analog days, and zero in the digital it's now about 75% of what I'd get if I put up a 100' tower with a high gain Channel Master atop it. (But of course that is not easy to do if you are an RVer)

[az99]

SVC Jeff- That probably was the case when I tried adjusting the amp that I was just too far out or very weak signal. One place we used to go the NBC station came in fine during the day with the amp at 10?. But at night it would go away. No amount of fiddling with aim or amp would bring it back. Next morning fine again.

Like you said book time.