Tv antena

If you can live with a manually operated TV antenna it is really hard to beat one of these crank up BATWING antennas. I live almost half way between Washington DC and Richmond here in northern Neck Virginia and get good Digital HDTV signals from both directions. The two local towns are 50-60miles away from my location...

Of course those that can afford the high end TV Antenna systems probably would want to get one of those automatic motorized roof type antennas... Too rich for my blood... Others will dime in on those...

Hard to beat one of these batwing antenna with the added dipoles like shown here...

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this is my setup for my off-road POPUP trailer...

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Roy Ken

Moved from Forum Technical Support

BATWING x 2.

There will likely be those chiming in here to tell you that the Jack is the greatest thing since sliced cheese. Take it with a grain of salt and simply look at the masses endorsing the Winegard Batwing. There simply is no comparison between the Batwing and anything else in RV service

This guy ^^^^^^^^^^ knows his stuff and has tested most all of them. The Batwing (Sensar 4) is the best.

The first reply said it;s hard to beat one of these Batwing.

In fact the photo looks like a Winegard Sensar IV and .. When it comes to antennas designed for RV use.. it is not "hard to beat" that unit. it is impossible.. Both lab and field tests prove it is superior to anything else on the markewt.

But there is room for improvement.. Winegard makes a module called the Sensar Pro. If you have a wall plate with a switch, light, 12 volt outlet and antenna connection.. (The standard Winegard Wall plate) inside the RV this 100 dollar (About ) device relaces it, directly.. But is vastly superior.. it adds:

Signal seek and strength indicators
Ability to scan received carriers (see note below) and pick the one to peak on
Ability to MANUALLY select a carrier frequency and peak (or look for) it.
Adjustable GAIN from attuention to about 10db from what we think
Audio feed back (Also adjustable volume, mine is set to ZERO)

Makes it very easy to "Aim" the antenna and imroves signal quality once you are on target.

If like me, you have a matrix switch instead of the wall plate.. Still works (I should know) ask if you have issues understanding how to install it.

I doubt the Jack is an significantly better than Sensars. When the model year changed, Grand Design switched from Sensar clone (they did not have a true Sensar) to the King Jack.

My guess is that the Jack is better than the clone, but cheaper than the Sensar.

Next it seems the manufacturers are not QAing the antenna connections. When I discovered the Sensar clone and replaced it with a real Sensar Razor, I found the antenna connections were quite loose. If the dealership is close to the transmitters at inspection they will probably do fine. However, after driving, age, and longer distance to the transmitters not having these connectors properly locked down might weaken performance.

At the home QTH I am easily close to 50-60 miles from the transmitters which will magnify any problems. The system works OK, and better than the bat wing clone.

The SensarIV/SensarPro combo is very hard to beat short of larger residential setups. And as more stations switch to high and low VHF from UHF over the next few years, the advantages of the Sensar batwing will become even more apparent.

The best addition after Winegard IV or Razar Air antenna is adding a in-line adjustable RF amplifier. I use a Radio Shack model ($30.).

Range about 125 miles so any fool can use it with gain to 20 decibals. Just aim off either front or side of RV. One search will find almost all networks from one or more metro areas. No need for a second search unless you are getting greedy.

ng2951 wrote:
I doubt the Jack is an significantly better than Sensars. It is a considerably better antenna on UHF, and especially VHF When the model year changed, Grand Design switched from Sensar clone (they did not have a true Sensar) to the King Jack.Sounds like GD simply cheaped' out


Next it seems the manufacturers are not QAing the antenna connections. When I discovered the Sensar clone and replaced it with a real Sensar Razor, I found the antenna connections were quite loose. If the dealership is close to the transmitters at inspection they will probably do fine. However, after driving, age, and longer distance to the transmitters not having these connectors properly locked down might weaken performance.Weak in the mount is one thing. But loose and moving around can and does break the solder tab on the board its mounted to

At the home QTH I am easily close to 50-60 miles from the transmitters which will magnify any problems.This is precisely the issue. The Batwing is simply a better antenna than Jack, or any of the others out there, and fringe coverage is where this will show up. Even with an external amp attached, you cannot amplify what cannot be heard in the first place. Thats why you ALWAYS start with the best antenna, then work forward. The system works OK, and better than the bat wing clone.

I spent allot of time several years ago testing these antennas with the same or likely better gear than they were designed with, and posted the results here. Where that went I don't know. Mebbe one of the search Guru's like OLDMAN2, etc. can figure out where its hiding