TV antenna performance

[mcoley]

We have a bat-wing antenna that came on our '07 StarCraft hybrid. I just bought a new TV. My wife is convinced that we need a new, higher tech antenna to get stations where now we cannot get any. I'm not convinced that they are worth the high price. Can anyone attest to the much better performance and maybe even recommend an antenna?

[ajohn14]

Maybe this is common knowledge but, when aiming the antenna I have the the best results when the small dipoles on the wingman are pointing 180 degrees away from the transmitter. I also strongly recommend the sensarpro for aiming and getting the best signal and most channels

[mcoley]

Thanks to all for your help. I just ordered a Wingman from Amazon. I was going to order a Surelock also but, many reviews were unfavorable. One in particular said it did not detect UHF and I think digital broadcasts are UHF. Any comments on a signal detector?

[Mr_Beebo]

If you are in the hills of eastern Tenn I'm not sure you should expect a whole lot from any device, but our Wingman helps a bit. It just depends on where you are, how high you are, how remote you are, etc. We were in a campground in northern Arkansas last month where there was no radio, tv or cell reception.

[RoyB]

Was scrolling down the list this morning and saw DENNIS MM comment. Then looked over on my desk and there is my Kings COntrol SL1000 Surelock Digital TV Signal Finder. Guess I got it out for some reason hehe... I got mine from AMAZON as well...

Works good for us finding where the local Broadcast transmitter signals are when we first setup at a camp site... I leave mine in-line when we are on the road...

[SCVJeff]

Tell DW to sleep well, the Batman (Batwing/ Wingman), may not be the newest antenna out there, but it outperforms anything else out there intended for RV service when asked to. It's not as pretty as others, but that's why it lives in the roof.

[Dennis_M_M]

With digital TVs you need to have the antenna pointed at the transmission tower before you get anything. I use a Surelock signal finder

That gets you aimed, then the TV can scan for channels.

I added a Wingman, it did improve the signal a bit, but the second trip out the dipoles got caught on a low tree branch dragging across the roof and broke the bat wing at the base. New batwing and the Wingman is lying in the garage!

[RoyB]

I too played with the JACk and BATWING and although the JACK may have out done the BATWING is a few instances the larger size of the BATWING always trumped the JACK.

The JACK really had to be pointed precisely towards the transmitting antenna. The BATWING was more forgiving with its slightly bigger beamwidth...

The best antenna I played with was the Antenna Direct DB8 BOW-TIE antenna. This is what I use today here at the house. It was not a good usable antenna with my RV setup due to its mounting requirements...



If you need to increase the BEAMWIDTH of this type antenna this BOW-TIE setup with the two banks adjustable really works great as well... This allows you to zero in on two different locations from the same same town.


Roy Ken

[n7bsn]

Comparison of various antennas Link

Bottom line, the Bat-wing with the add-on out performs any other antenna.

I've worked, both professionally and as a hobby, on Antennas and there are few basic rules.
*) Omnidirectional antennas work equally badly in all directions (ie directional antennas outperform them)
*) There is nothing better then height. ie the Crank-up antenna works better then the antenna 6 inches above the roof.
*) Bigger works better then smaller.

Our current RV came with a Jensen "flying saucer" Antenna, it doesn't work very well.
I did a bunch of testing, and confirmed that it was properly connected and working "correctly". Only a random chunk of wire, connected to the antenna roof lead-in picked up more stations.
The Bat-wing on the old RV (same location) picked up even more stations.
The Radio-Shack saucer Antenna I bought to use brings in even more. But then it's bigger.

[robsouth]

Winegard Batman is about as good as it gets if aimed properly. Do you have the booster turned on?

[Trackrig]

The Winegard Wingman that RoyB posted helped our TV reception.

Bill

[RoyB]

CHeck your old batwing and make sure it looks like the one in front with the small dipoles... This adds more gain to the older BATWINGS.



Roy Ken

[poppin_fresh]

You can plug in where you are at using a site like http://www.tvfool.com/ and it will tell you which way the stations are and the likely hood you can actually pick them up.

In the hills, like where I live, I can tell you from experience (messing around at my house) that getting signals can be voodoo.

Even trying a couple high end home antennas, I found they gave totally different results and moving them a couple inches would make the difference of what channels I would get. This is even though all the channels I want all beam off the same mountain.

Moral of the story is that odd things happen to the signals when they bend over hilly terrain (flat is not so much a problem). Don't believe the hype of some of the marketing of these antennas that promise to get you every channel.

[HappyKayakers]

You could check out old antenna threads in the technology corner. Your old batwing should work just fine as long as you point it in the right direction.