Replacing Antenna

[Hondavalk]

I currently have a Jensen Omni directional antenna on my TT. Not very happy with it at all. Thinking about replacing it with the Jack antenna. Wondering how happy people are that have done it and was there a need to run any additional wiring. Thanks

[_40Fan]

The Jensen omnidirectional is pretty worthless unless you are close to a major city. If you want television and have DTV or Dish, get a setup off of ebay that has the dish, tri-pod, cable, compass, flat window cable and maybe sat finder and take one of your recievers with you.

I have been out in some very wooded areas and was able to pick up a good signal.

Example. http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIRECTV-Satellite-Dish-Tripod-Kit-for-RV-Tailgating-/270774759102?pt=US_Ante...

[ScottG]

Well we camped at a CG where I've never been able to receive any stations before and got 10 stations with the new Jack ant.
They were lousy but I got em!

[Hondavalk]

baldag wrote:
Our old trailer had the crank-up/rotate antenna. Our new trailer has the omnidirectional. Don't really notice a difference, except I don't have to rotate the antenna to get different stations and never have to worry about whether i cranked it down when leaving.

If I really want great reception, I'll go with a satellite dish. Otherwise, my DVD player works just great.

Lol, agree about the blue-ray player working great. Also thinking about satellite but concerned about reception at the wooded sites I prefer at the State Parks.

[baldag]

Our old trailer had the crank-up/rotate antenna. Our new trailer has the omnidirectional. Don't really notice a difference, except I don't have to rotate the antenna to get different stations and never have to worry about whether i cranked it down when leaving.

If I really want great reception, I'll go with a satellite dish. Otherwise, my DVD player works just great.

[emonkemeier]

I also had the Jensen antenna and was not happy with the reception. I installed a Winegard Sensar IV next to it. The radio is hooked up to the Jensen and the television to the Sensar. This antenna is definitely worth installing. The number of channels went from 18 to 38. We are located about 20 miles west of NYC.
Ed

[Kansas_couple]

WayneAt63044 wrote:
I can tell you from my television servicing days that most RV antennas are still designed primarily for the VHF frequencies (ch 2 -13) which leaves a lot to be desired for the UHF frequencies where all the digital stations are now.

The second part of your sentence is incorrect. While many digital TV stations do broadcast on the UHF frequencies, there are plenty of stations that use channels 7-13 for their digital broadcasts. And here in my neck of the woods (NW Kansas SW Nebraska) there are a few stations broadcasting on channels 2-6!

[Campfire_Time]

I just replaced my Winegard Batwing with a Jack. Its a 5 minute replacement, however, its the included bracket is a direct replacement for the batwing. I'm thinking its a bit more involved to replace the Jensen. I have not used the Jack yet, we don't go again for a few more weeks so I can't yet speak to its performance.

Here's a thread I started some time ago asking about the performance of the Jack. Jack antenna quesiton

[ScottG]

I just installed the Jack ant. in my TT - it's the one Roy shows at the bottom of his post. Unfortunately I was not able to use the add-on style nor was I able to put it in the same place as the old one. So I had to snake the single co-ax from one side of the TT to the other. There are no other wires than the normal coax.
As far as placement, the instructions don't indicate there will be any blockage issues if it's close to the AC. They only wan't you to place it far enough away that the rotation of the ant. doesn't interfere with the AC or any other obstacles. Mine ended up about 10" away and I'm getting 31 stations. The Jack is not quite as tall as the AC for those with clearance concerns.
A neat feature is the signal strength indicator on the rotator inside. It make it easy to figure out witch direction to aim the ant.
I haven't had a chance to use it yet but we're going to a CG today that I have never been able to get a single station at so it will be a real test.

[RoyB]

This is the first I have ever heard of this antenna... It appears it has a built-in pre-amp



I have both the BATWING and JACK antenna on two different applications here. The BATWING works great for picking up the OTA Natl Broadcast digtial HDTV signals from the local towns on my OFF-ROAD POPUP. My BATWING has the UHF dipoles and looks like this but is mounted on a stationary pole up the side of my POPUP... No complaints at all...


My JACK antenna is used at my house location and also does a good job picking up the OTA Natl Broadcast digital HDTV signals from the local town. Mine is mounted on a stationary PVC pole up the side of the house about 15-feet in the air. On the house mount I don't require to rotate the antenna.


You hear alot of good results from RV'ers on using the JACK antenna. I would probably get this version which doesn't have to be extended up but still rotates from inside the trailer. If your other antenna is close to the air conditioner on the roof this might not be a good place to use the JACK that might get blocked by the tall air conditioner roof unit.


Just some of my thoughts
Roy Ken

[WayneAt63044]

I'm not sure how much better a crank up antenna will be for you vs. what you have as I have not tried an omni-directional. Directional will always get a better signal. I cannot answer the difficulty of installation question. I can tell you from my television servicing days that most RV antennas are still designed primarily for the VHF frequencies (ch 2 -13) which leaves a lot to be desired for the UHF frequencies where all the digital stations are now. If you are always near a metro area when camping upgrading to directional would be OK. If you are over 30 miles from the transmitter you are probably better off with satellite. My solution, read more, watch less TV when camping. I do things differently when camping like identifying plants and animals, geocaching, hiking, campfire gazing vs watching tv. Feels good to get away from the normal activities of home and then appreciate home again when there.