RV ANTENNAS.... AGAIN

[down_home]

The Winegard has been doing well for 15 years but...hand cranking it up and down and then experimenting to find the msot or best signals is old.One of the winegard that is omnidirectional and enclosed in a housing and is cited for more range is nearly $400.00 sound fine except for the price. We are in Kingman and getting Phoenix etc right now but I want a self steering no cranking up or down model.
Anything less than $400.00????

[dieseltruckdriv]

wa8yxm wrote:
Winegard has a "Dome" type antenna that is directional. not sure how it works and not sure how well it works but there are 2 or 3 ways it might work. It is also "Self pointing" (Automatic) Please do not ask me more about it.

I use a Sensar IV with Sensar Pro indoor module Works well but due to hills and trees kind of starange
I'm east of Flint MI
Way N.E. of Lansing and I get Lansing better than flint.

I looked at one of those for my use, but there were way too many comments about the lack of durability. The Air 360 was about 80 bucks and a VERY easy install, but it is an omni directional, so that means it works equally bad in all directions. It's just better than what I had.

[wa8yxm]

Oh.. I will say this. I've read many folks brag how well this or that antenna works... And depending on where you are parked they are all right believe it or not.
The Winegard Sensar IV (Built in Wingman) I have is the best LONG RANGE RV antenna from what I can find out.. Now a amplified Home type antenna on a tall mast may well be better (more on that later) but in terms of an RV antenna. None better made that I've found.

An electronics type here in the forum compared it to the JACK antennas and it was the hands down winner (I think he used a Sensar III with wingman)

Jack however does better of you are closer to the towers as it has a wider field of vision.

Think about sitting in the nosebleed seats at Detroit's Masonic Temple looking at the ant size actors on stage (Phantom of the Opera) (Been there done that)
Well you grab a pair of "Opera Glasses" (Low power binoculars) and you are visually somewhat closer Say 1st Balcony. (Nosebleet seets are 2nnd or 3rd forget which. also known as "The Gods" cause you are way nearer my got to thee)

You grab a good pair of FIELD Glasses (Higher power Binoculars) you are now sititng on the main floor visuall but.. YOU CAN NO LONGER SEE THE ENTIRE STATE.

Same with TV antennas. The farther they see. the narrower the field.

As for putting an antenna higher up

Once was using my new hand held 1 watt into a little "Rubber duck
flexible antenna radio to talk to some other ham radio operators via a repeater many miles away.. That antenna has "Negative gain" I"m guessing my effective power was in the quarter watt range.

Another ham not far from me. attempted to join in running 10 watts with 6DB gain (effective 40 watts) at 30 feet.. He did not make it.
He had 160 times the effective power and he did not make it
I was close enough to see him
I was also about 250 feet above ground on the top floor of a skyscraper.

[MrWizard]

That $400 Dome is not omni directional
It seeks finds and records which stations are coming from what direction
And then you choose what you want to watch

When you change locations you do a New antenna search before doing a channel search on the TV

[Bill_Satellite]

down home wrote:
The Winegard has been doing well for 15 years but...hand cranking it up and down and then experimenting to find the msot or best signals is old.One of the winegard that is omnidirectional and enclosed in a housing and is cited for more range is nearly $400.00 sound fine except for the price. We are in Kingman and getting Phoenix etc right now but I want a self steering no cranking up or down model.
Anything less than $400.00????

Keep (or replace) you existing Batwing. If you don't have the Wineman, add it to your existing setup or your replacement Batwing will already have it. Now, ADD the Winegard Sensar Pro. It takes the guess work out of pointing the antenna and adds a booster. Best choice out there, still.

[Dutch_12078]

sehunter wrote:
Have you tried using these services that provide the direction of your OTA stations?

https://www.antennaweb.org/results

http://tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

I use Winegard's free "TV Signal Finder with AR" app:

TV Signal Finder with AR

[wa8yxm]

Winegard has a "Dome" type antenna that is directional. not sure how it works and not sure how well it works but there are 2 or 3 ways it might work. It is also "Self pointing" (Automatic) Please do not ask me more about it.

I use a Sensar IV with Sensar Pro indoor module Works well but due to hills and trees kind of starange
I'm east of Flint MI
Way N.E. of Lansing and I get Lansing better than flint.

[sehunter]

Have you tried using these services that provide the direction of your OTA stations?

https://www.antennaweb.org/results

http://tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

[rk911]

dieseltruckdriver wrote:
I uninstalled an OEM batwing style antenna that did not work well. I installed an omnidirectional Winegard Air 360 that doesn't work nearly as well as my previous campers crank up Winegard batwing but much (MUCH) better than the cheap knockoff that came on this 5er.

I do still carry a pole and a gain antenna (both VHF and UHF) that I can strap to my rear ladder for those places we don't get anything on the Air 360.

and that's likely the best solution for RV OTA TV but not very convenient to store, put up and take down. IMO the winegard batwing sensar iv with tw/the wingman add-on and good RG-6 coax is the best RV OTA TV solution.

[dieseltruckdriv]

I uninstalled an OEM batwing style antenna that did not work well. I installed an omnidirectional Winegard Air 360 that doesn't work nearly as well as my previous campers crank up Winegard batwing but much (MUCH) better than the cheap knockoff that came on this 5er.

I do still carry a pole and a gain antenna (both VHF and UHF) that I can strap to my rear ladder for those places we don't get anything on the Air 360.

[lryrob9301]

The OP is referring to the Winegard Rayzor Automatic antenna. It is a auto rotate and find small dome OTA antenna. It is not omni directional. It's reception is much better than a omni but not near as good as the batwing crank up type.

[GordonThree]

Camping in a "trailer park" outside a major metropolitan area, an Omni is a great choice.

Camping out in rustic and rural areas, directional is the choice.

[rk911]

i'd be leery of any omni-directional RV antenna. and i don't believe the range claims. TV signals are line of sight and an antenna a few inches above your roof line won't, IMO, be very effective. you're getting Phoenix TV via a transmitter located in Kingman that's linked to the Phoenix transmitters.

[Dutch_12078]

Keep in mind that antenna experts refer to omni-directional antennas as "equally bad in all directions." You'll also need to make sure that any OTA TV antenna you choose needs to be able to receive both high and low VHF channels as well as what's left of the UHF channels.