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Television Reception in an RV

Bordercollie
Explorer
Explorer
We have the typical old Wingard batwing amplified antenna and alternate cable TV connection. Watching "Going RV", there is a lot of emphasis on TV's inside and out. I'm wondering if most full timers and frequent RV users use Satellite TV and DVD players for variety and quality of reception nowadays. We are resuming RV activity after a long lapse. Advice is welcome.
17 REPLIES 17

Bordercollie
Explorer
Explorer
From what I was able to understand, the old Batwing, if all connections are good, and amplifier in the head is working, with Wingman added for improved UHF, is as good as, or better than, the others.

Also for infrequent RV'ers like us now, the cost of satellite TV may not be justifiable. I need to learn more about streaming TV. I subscribed to Discovery Plus, so am getting my feet wet.

Thanks for the replies.

Dutch_12078
Explorer
Explorer
Here's a review done by professional engineer and forum member, SCVJeff, comparing the King Jack and the Winegard Sensar OTA antennas using a high end spectrum analyzer.

Batwing vs. BatMan vs. Jack: The Results..
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F53 chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/Blue Ox baseplate

ron_dittmer
Explorer
Explorer
Any idea what the range is of the King Jack antenna?

I had thought of rigging THIS 80 mile range antenna onto the Wingard mast of our motor home but unlike the one on the top of my brick and mortar house, this one appears to be fragile.

IAMICHABOD
Explorer II
Explorer II
bobndot wrote:
You can update the old bat-wing for a new digital antenna head that's mounted to the OEM crank-hardware. Its a simple bolt off / bolt on exchange, without having to drill new holes.

Go to YouTube and search
"KING JACK DIGITAL RV ANTENNA REVIEW & INSTALLATION"


Here is a clicky to make it easier.

Worked out well for me
2006 TIOGA 26Q CHEVY 6.0 WORKHORSE VORTEC
Former El Monte RV Rental
Retired Teamster Local 692
Buying A Rental Class C

bobndot
Explorer II
Explorer II
You can update the old bat-wing for a new digital antenna head that's mounted to the OEM crank-hardware. Its a simple bolt off / bolt on exchange, without having to drill new holes.

Go to YouTube and search
"KING JACK DIGITAL RV ANTENNA REVIEW & INSTALLATION"

camper19709
Explorer
Explorer
bukhrn wrote:
We use the batwing, if we get anything to watch, fine, if not, that's fine too, we've got about 200 DVD's, or sit outside & watch the campfire.


Ditto !!
Chip
06 SurfSide
30ft class A
2 slides
Ford V10 chassis
04 Chevy Astro van toad

ron_dittmer
Explorer
Explorer
Our 2007 rig still has the original crank-up Winegard antenna. I installed the Wingman to it which increases the range of the antenna by some amount. We rarely use the antenna because we almost exclusively camp where there is no free over the air wave signal. If we were full-timers, I could see investing in satellite technology, but for our limited time with our rig, we resort to DVDs. We enjoy watching movies anyway.

klutchdust
Explorer II
Explorer II
azdryheat wrote:
My trailer has a Wingard automatic dish on the roof. One button and it searches and then locks onto the three satellites for Directv HD. I use my DVR receiver from the house and two wireless Genies so we can watch 3 of our 4 TV's while we're roughing it.

Before sat TV we relied on the coax in the trailer and the picture quality was terrible. With the sat TV we use HDMI connections for crystal clear images.

Recently we've been looking into replacing Directv with a streaming service like Sling or one of the others.


I am interested in how one can use sling or other streaming services. I am dumping Direct because I just realized I am paying 150 a month to watch 3 channels and some music for the garage, The C has been sold, I had DTV in the coach using a receiver from the guest bedroom. If I added RV Direct they wanted to charge another subscription. With my new to me trailer there is a TV and an antenna.TV isn't a big deal to me, I enjoy local news and weather however if it can be had for a reasonable fee I might be interested.
Presently using ROKU in my bedrooms and wife uses everything BUT satellite channels, time to "dump the dish". "cut the cord" or whatever else is the recent lingo as satellite and cable TV goes by the wayside.

Old-Biscuit
Explorer
Explorer
OTA is just fine......
Depending on location we get some or several channels
If not very many then I hoist up the single array antenna and get more

OTA at S&B also

That is more then enough TV and it is FREE

Cable/satellite costs too much for JUNK or 160PLUS channels that hold no interest.
NAH!
Is it time for your medication or mine?


2007 DODGE 3500 QC SRW 5.9L CTD In-Bed 'quiet gen'
2007 HitchHiker II 32.5 UKTG 2000W Xantex Inverter
US NAVY------USS Decatur DDG31

azdryheat
Explorer
Explorer
My trailer has a Wingard automatic dish on the roof. One button and it searches and then locks onto the three satellites for Directv HD. I use my DVR receiver from the house and two wireless Genies so we can watch 3 of our 4 TV's while we're roughing it.

Before sat TV we relied on the coax in the trailer and the picture quality was terrible. With the sat TV we use HDMI connections for crystal clear images.

Recently we've been looking into replacing Directv with a streaming service like Sling or one of the others.
2013 Chevy 3500HD CC dually
2014 Voltage 3600 toy hauler
2019 RZR 1000XP TRE

IAMICHABOD
Explorer II
Explorer II
I looked into all the alternatives,on the same RV as yours, and it seemed that for most of the time I just use the OTR antenna but I changed out the batwing to the Jack antenna It works better for me

I also like to stream programs,it seems that almost every where I go I have cell service and I have a mobile hot spot that will hook up to the smart TV.
I can get Netflix Amazon Prime and a lot of other streaming services. I found that the subscriptions are a lot cheaper than the cost of Satellite and the equipment that go with it.
2006 TIOGA 26Q CHEVY 6.0 WORKHORSE VORTEC
Former El Monte RV Rental
Retired Teamster Local 692
Buying A Rental Class C

JaxDad
Explorer III
Explorer III
I use a combination.

I have satellite TV but it only works a short distance south of the border. At home I have several DVR’s so taking recorded media is easy, and I can skip over commercials!

I have a Jack antenna which the experts say is not as good as a Batwing, but, it works just fine at 70 mph as standing still. A Batwing? Not so much.

I don’t you, I’m not a TV addict either. I’d rather read, listen to an audiobook or (my fave) an old radio show.

YMMV.

Dutch_12078
Explorer
Explorer
We fulltime and use Dish satellite, OTA where available for local channels, and we're finding streaming to more and more be our "go to" choice especially for overnight stops instead of deploying the dish. As cell Internet service and possibly Starlink satellite Internet at some point, keep improving, I expect we'll drop Dish in favor of all streaming at some point.
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F53 chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/Blue Ox baseplate

steelhunter
Explorer
Explorer
I use Dish but mainly watch the campfire and sip bourbon.