New Antenna?

[30BR]

My TT is an '05, and it has the typical (for that time) the crank up Weingard rotatable antenna. It has the antenna outlet inside with the booster on/off button. Is there a better, more gain, over the air antenna available now?

[dodge_guy]

SCVJeff wrote:
Well here we go again... Dodge Guy obviously has the only Jack on the planet that performs better than a clearly superior Batwing.

Many times he has tried to beat me up and make fun of how I test with equipment worth well over twice what his RV is worth but never once come back with any evidence proving his claims other than it just is.

So to the OP: Believe Dodge guy, or go look at the real world tests done by someone that knows what they're doing and make your own decisions. As clearly stated, this was done real world at my coach with all the equipment sampling off the same piece of coax that feeds the TV. There are plenty of tekkie's here that understand the test specs that will back it up, and plenty more that have done the test themselves. If anyone has a Jack that works better than a Batwing, the Batwing is broken. Something apparently Dodge Guy refuses to acknowledge..

Sorry for being cranky but I put too much time and effort into those posts for the benefit of this forum to have it challenged by someone clearly unqualified to do so and just wants to argue and I'm getting tired of it. There's always one..


HERE is the testing done between the Wingman equipped Batwing, and the Jack.

And HERE is the original test between the original Batwing antenna with and without the Wingman.

PM me if you have any questions on what it all means.

I see we'll disagree on this forever! :B

I have also done real world testing and it shows that the Batwing does not perform as well as the Jack! The only evidence I have is the stations I now get compared to what I used to get. 3 different trailers ( 4 if you count my buddy's) and none of those Batwings ever did pull in that many stations.

So if you are saying mine was broken then there are a significant amount out there that are broken also!

I have no reason to make any of this up, just posting what i have found for others to use.

[wildtoad]

I agree with those that support the Winegard Batwing with the Wingman component, AND adding the Sensar Pro switch plate. You will have the best combination you can get. The others are good too, but for overall reception go with the Winegard Batwing.

Having said that, and been in many state park campgrounds with plenty of trees there are still many places that you will go that reception is spotty, non-existent, or good one moment and pixelated (gone) the next.

[wa8yxm]

30BR wrote:
My TT is an '05, and it has the typical (for that time) the crank up Weingard rotatable antenna. It has the antenna outlet inside with the booster on/off button. Is there a better, more gain, over the air antenna available now?

Yes Yes Yes and NO

First: If your rig is an 2005 it might be time for replacement coax.. Same antenna but new coax MAY (or not) make it work better

Add the WINGMAN to the basic batwing.. This will give it better UHF performance and range

Finally replace the switch plate indoors with a SENSAR PRO.

And you will then have the very BEST RV antenna made per independent lab testing by forum members.

I just compared it to a neighbor's JACK..I got 5 She got 4 (plus their sub channels of course).

[Johno02]

If your antenna is 10 years old, install a new Sensar IV head for less than $75. It is much better than the old Sensars. And only two pins to remove and replace to change! When I changed, we could see a very significant increase in the available channels, and the signal on all the others. As we are now in a very weak signal area, I bought and installed a new Sensar Signal meter with an addition booster internal. Signal strength almost doubled. Watch channels from 65+ miles away, as we already know that weather affrects signal here, we are waiting to see what the overall effect is going to be.

[SCVJeff]

Well here we go again... Dodge Guy obviously has the only Jack on the planet that performs better than a clearly superior Batwing.

Many times he has tried to beat me up and make fun of how I test with equipment worth well over twice what his RV is worth but never once come back with any evidence proving his claims other than it just is.

So to the OP: Believe Dodge guy, or go look at the real world tests done by someone that knows what they're doing and make your own decisions. As clearly stated, this was done real world at my coach with all the equipment sampling off the same piece of coax that feeds the TV. There are plenty of tekkie's here that understand the test specs that will back it up, and plenty more that have done the test themselves. If anyone has a Jack that works better than a Batwing, the Batwing is broken. Something apparently Dodge Guy refuses to acknowledge..

Sorry for being cranky but I put too much time and effort into those posts for the benefit of this forum to have it challenged by someone clearly unqualified to do so and just wants to argue and I'm getting tired of it. There's always one..


HERE is the testing done between the Wingman equipped Batwing, and the Jack.

And HERE is the original test between the original Batwing antenna with and without the Wingman.

PM me if you have any questions on what it all means.

[dodge_guy]

I have the Jack and love it! It picks up way more stations than my Batwing ever did! I get 70 OTA stations in my driveway in the Chicago suburbs, compared to the 8 or so I was able to get with the batwing. My buddy has the batwing with the wingman he was never able to get more than the 8 I got. He is installing the Jack this weekend because he seen how well mine works!

Yes I know there are members that have told me the Jack isn't better, well I've proven it to myself that it is which is all that matters. The best test is yourself. I'm glad I have it! And so are others that have switched!

[30BR]

I can still get channels, but curious if there was a better antenna since mine is 10 years old. And no,mine does not have the Wingman addition. I will get one and install it before my next outing. All connections appear to be OK. Thanks all for the info.

[Chris_Bryant]

Quite a while ago I wrote a blog post on tuning up a standard Sensar- Good Sam has wiped it out (along with all my blog posts 😞 ), but thanks to Archive.org, you can still find it here. I believe it is still relevant, particularly in the cable prep area.

[DutchmenSport]

Agree with handye9. We also have 2 televisions and they both behave different with the same old-style bat-wing factory supplied antenna.

For what it's worth, my mother's house has a television antenna mounted on a pole that reaches about 5 feet higher than the highest point on her house. That antenna has been "up there" for over 50 years. It currently has only 1 prong left (you know that aluminum stick that use to be part of many many more that was shaped into an arrow and it pointed toward the general direction of most of your local broadcasting (50 years ago.)... Well... that old antenna with only 1 prong left, that is over 50 years old and ready for recycling junk, pulls in Digital Television absolutely wonderful! My mother still captures around 50 channels (over the air).

If you want "my" opinion, I think the "supposed" new antennas that advertise all the latest and greatest is just a scam to make everyone "think" they have to have something different (and as a result purchase one, parting with their money).

I think you will find if you simply check your connections, unscrew your coax connections at the antenna, behind the plug in the wall (yes, remove them and get behind them, unscrew and screw it back it ... breaking any oxidation or corrosion affecting the signal)... I think you will find you can save yourself a bunch of money and no need for a new antenna.

[RoyB]

General consenses is there probably NO BETTER OTA Antenna then the WINGARD BATWING. Your 05 model probably does not have the UHF DIPOLES which are available from AMAZON and can be added very easy. This improves the reception of the new DIGITAL OTA FREQUENCY plan for NATL BROADCAST TV stations.

Your OTA ANTENNA should like this google photo...

This ANTENNA is pointing to the right of the photo...

I have tried the KINGS JACK ANTENNA which will mount on the crankup assy with just the two bolts shown and just connect the original RG cable. This worked better in some place but over all was the same and the BATWING for me. The BATWING with its longer main Elements maybe was better for me when camping off the power grid.

This JACK ANTENNA is pointing to the right of the google photo

There are several low profile omni-directional antennas on the markek which suffer big time for more distance reception. These would definitely not work for us for the OFF THE POWER GRID out in the woods places we like to go to.


We use our BATWING OTA antenna all the time even when we are campgrounds with CABLE TV connections. The DIGITAL NATL BROADCAST 'CLEAR ANTENNA' TV signals is transmitted to the public for free and is full blown HIGH DEFINITION DIGITAL TV. Alot of the campground cable connections is still using converted ANALOG TV signals.

The LOCAL TOWNS that transmit CLEAR HDTV signals are allowed to have six channels and you can find alot of other things in addition the NATL BROADCAST main station. Most have a full time 24/7 RADAR going from the local area which is great for us in our OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer.

We always get many digital HDTV signals to view from our BATWING antenna just about everywhere we go. You do have be almost pointing directly towards the DIGITAL HDTV CLEAR STATIONs as with digital TV it either works 100% great quality or nothing at all - Not like the old analog TV SIGNALS days where you could pick up a snowy picture screen and rotate the antenna to 'TUNE IN IT BETTER'...

Roy Ken

[handye9]

I have a wingman attached to the original batwing antenna, on one camper, and a Jack antenna on the other. Reception is pretty much the same.

You may also notice a difference in reception, if you change the television.

I've got two TV's in the TT, they don't always pick up the same channels, even though they are working off the same antenna. There is a difference in the tuners.

[RollandB]

Just curious if you are having problems with yours? If so you might check its connections. I've had both the Jack and Sensor 4. Both worked well. I found out through the school of hard knocks the Jack since it sticks up will lose the battle with tree limbs. IMHO it needs a stronger mast.

[SoundGuy]

Campfire Time wrote:
There is still much debate on what is "the best". The Wingman addition is certainly excellent, as is the King Controls Jack replacement head. You would not be unhappy with either of these.

Well perhaps the "debate" continues but it seems to me there's little doubt the Winegard Sensar IV is still the best there is in overall performance for an OTA antenna that's compact enough for use on an RV. I too have tried the Jack antenna and while it's acceptance angle is broader it's also certainly not as sensitive across the broadest range of channels as is the Sensar IV, as confirmed in measured testing by forum member SCVJeff. I'm currently running a Sensar IV powered & boosted with a SensarPro but given the opportunity I wouldn't be adverse to at least trying out the new bi-directional Winegard Rayzar to see how it compares to the Sensar IV. Hmmm, I smell yet another testing procedure for SCVJeff! 😉

[Campfire_Time]

There is still much debate on what is "the best". The Wingman addition is certainly excellent, as is the King Controls Jack replacement head. You would not be unhappy with either of these.

An alternative to the Wingman signal finder is also from King Controls. Either way, a signal finder is a big help in locating the strongest signals.

[Chris_Bryant]

This has been discussed a bunch, along with actual measurements, and the Winegard Sensar (Batwing) is the best you can get- the Wingman addition adds directional gain to UHF, and the Sensar IV head with the wingman built in might be a worthwhile upgrade (simply because it will be 10 years newer).
The replacement Sensar Pro power supply is a great addition, as well.