TV antenna amplifier replacement

My apologies, the wall unit power supply is dead, the antenna (with built in amplifier) is new.

firemedic1992 wrote:
I replaced my old antenna with a King HD TV antenna, but could not get it to work. After troubleshooting it, I found that the amplifier was dead. What should I replace it with?
I was thinking of the Winegard Sensar Pro. Is that a good choice?

The Sensar Pro is an excellent unit.... I have one and love it.

Now; one fault: you said "The amplifier is dead"... You tossed the amp in the trash with the rest of the old Batwing,, What you have inside is only a power supply and switich (At least in most cases)

The Sensar Pro, however *IS* an amplifier, as well as a power supply for the "Mast head" amp (Same as the old wall plate) and a switch, and a scanner, and a signal meter and... well you get the idea.. Very nice and handy

Not sure if it could apply here, but one thing I have run into a couple times is that the coax going to the roof antenna that is supposed to carry the 12v was screwed onto an "un-powered" stub in the Winegard splitter back behind the Winegard panel instead of onto the one that is "powered."

enblethen wrote:
Is there 12 volts DC getting to the switch?
It could be blown fuse in DC panel or in the back of the unit.
I would not replace just the coil replace the complete power supply.

agreed.. The 1st question is do you have 12V coming in ?

Changing that choke (coil) is a last resort, but if you have an ohm meter, pull the power supply plate out and do continuity checks from the input to the switch, through the choke, etc., and see where the loss is.

Is there 12 volts DC getting to the switch?
It could be blown fuse in DC panel or in the back of the unit.
I would not replace just the coil replace the complete power supply.

I did try the wall outlet switch but cannot get the LED to turn on and as I said before, measuring the coax with the switch in either position, could not get any voltage reading. Therefore, I assume the wall unit power supply is dead. You mention replacing just the coil? Where to purchase a coil?

firemedic1992 wrote:
I replaced my old antenna with a King HD TV antenna, but could not get it to work. After troubleshooting it, I found that the amplifier was dead. What should I replace it with?
I was thinking of the Winegard Sensar Pro. Is that a good choice?

The amplifier is in the antenna itself; both the Batwing and the Jack, and neither will work without it (meaning if I'm reading this correct, the Batwing is likely still good). As it sounds you've discovered that the wall plate is simply a DC power inserter into the coax. IF the coil on the wall plate is burned up, it can be replaced, OR you can use the Sensar Pro which is an excellent device and solves several other problems with RF distribution and locating ATSC stations.

i.e. all you needed to do was connect the COAX to the KING JACK antenna and then push the PUSHBUTTON to "ON" located on the Antenna Panel... This should supply the 12VDC the KING ANTENNA needs to operate the internal PRE-AMPLIFIER that is inside the JACK ANTENNA.

The small IN-LINE insertion device you are calling the JACK AMPLIFIER is just a way to get 12VDC up to the antenna much like the antenna WALL plate does. The Antenna Amplifier is located inside the KING ANTENNA mounted on the roof.


Either way is fine just easier for me to not use the JACK Antenna In-Line Power Insertion module but rather continue to use the ANTENNA WALL PLATE.

The JACK Antenna here just replaced the BATWING antenna on the roof and connected up the same coax connection. Then push the WALL PLATE pushbutton to ON. You will see a LED LIGHT on the bottom of the JACK ANTENNA come up telling you have 12VDC feeding the antenna.

The wall unit is a power supply that induces 12 volts DC onto the coaxial cable to power the antenna booster which is in the head.

The Sensar Pro is a good option and will work with the Jack. The additional features of the Sensar Pro was enough for me to swap out my old working power supply.