|
|
12-31-2019, 02:28 PM
|
#1
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Brookfield,WI
Posts: 593
|
TV Antennas
I want to replace the factory antenna/dish combo that came with my 2000 Alpine. And as I research I have never seen a more diverse and contradictory bunch of product reviews than those you can find for RV antennas.
Im wondering if the really negative and really positive reviews are more related to the particular camping site in a particular location with different OTA signal strengths and proximity of broadcast signals than it is related to the actual antenna hardware.
Specifically, the King Jack OA8500 is highly rated by amazon users and several youtube RVing channels, but here some iRV2 posters rated it the worst.
Whats a shopper to do?
__________________
Brianna
2000 Alpine Coach 36 FDS
Wisconsin
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
12-31-2019, 02:45 PM
|
#2
|
Senior Member
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Cut n Shoot, TX
Posts: 207
|
Beware
__________________
Dawn & Steve Byrd
2003 Alpine
Cut n Shoot, TX
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 03:01 PM
|
#3
|
Senior Member
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Hoodsport Wa
Posts: 3,100
|
Brianna, one of the first upgrades we did to our Alpine was to remove the Winegard sat/dish/frisbee affair and replace it with the KingJack OA8500.
It seems to perform quite well and I'm happy we did it. Your results may vary, and no OTA tv antenna is magical by any means.
One thing to note, I did purchase the optional mounting foot to cover the old holes from the Winegard crank up affair. Worked quite nicely with Dicor and silicone. Additionally the instructions say to drill the existing hole in the roof out to 2.5". DONT...the existing hole is plenty big enough.
FWIW, we live in the sticks many miles away from any broadcast towers.
The old Winegard got zero channels. The KingJack gets 11 digital OTA channels from our driveway. Fox and ION mostly, and a bunch of shopping junk, but I thought that was fairly impressive. We even got 5-6 channels on the southern Oregon coast last week. (Winchester Bay, put it on your list) Oh, additionally one more bonus thing to not have on your preflight check,they don't require to be lowered down.
__________________
2000 Alpine 36 FDS #74058
04 Jeep Wrangler TJ
"On the road to find out..."
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 04:10 PM
|
#4
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,383
|
...I am probably the only one left who was still using the OEM Winegard combo- crank-up dish and OTA "frisbee." When the world went digital, the frisbee was useless so got the KingJack head unit, which directly mounted on the old crank-up Winegard arms....only issue is that KingJack and dish end up pointing in the same direction--eg, south/southwest....
IMHO-- the digital signal is way more dependent on direction and needs a line-of-sight to the signal source.....accordingly, the KJ head works better if pointed toward the station tower and works less well if there is an obstacle in between--like a hill or rise.
__________________
Old Scout
2015 IH45 Foretravel
2003 Alpine 40' MDTS [Sold]
New Braunfels, Texas
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 04:27 PM
|
#5
|
Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ball Ground GA
Posts: 435
|
First of all.. there is no such thing as a "digital OTA antenna" or for that matter an HDTV OTA antenna. It is just marketing hype, the old school antenna and the "digital" antenna both operate on the same frequencies - the old school OTA antennas still receive the digital signals just fine.. I had the old Bat Wing antenna that came with my coach and a couple of years ago, I upgraded to the King Jack.. put it on the same mount so it can be raised and rotated. I really can't tell much difference in how many stations I receive. I guess the King Jack looks nicer. The digital signal is less forgiving for reception than the analog signal was.
__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Hugh 'n Deb - USAF Retired B-52 Pilot
2004 Safari Zanzibar 40', F-150, BlueOx TowBar, SMI AF1
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 05:37 PM
|
#6
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 5,309
|
The powered Winegard Batwing of any age with the Wingman add-on ( the same as the Winegard Sensar IV) is the best overall antenna you can by for an RV. Ignore the hype of digital this or that, hd or no hd. If you’re getting less than optimal reception check for corrosion at the connections or obstructions.
__________________
Tom
2016 Newmar Bay Star Sport 3004
2021 Jeep Gladiator Sport Willys
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 05:44 PM
|
#7
|
Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club Forest River Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,323
|
Size shape and height are king with antennas. Rv antennas esp the ones that you don’t point ( Omni directional ) Or can’t raise above the air conditioner and other obstructions are all equally pretty poor in all directions . Add trees or other obstructions and uhf reception difficult.
__________________
2023 Coachmen Encore 325SS
2002 Ford Escape toad
2020 GMC terrain
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 05:57 PM
|
#8
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 196
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugmongous
First of all.. there is no such thing as a "digital OTA antenna" or for that matter an HDTV OTA antenna. It is just marketing hype, the old school antenna and the "digital" antenna both operate on the same frequencies - the old school OTA antennas still receive the digital signals just fine.. I had the old Bat Wing antenna that came with my coach and a couple of years ago, I upgraded to the King Jack.. put it on the same mount so it can be raised and rotated. I really can't tell much difference in how many stations I receive. I guess the King Jack looks nicer. The digital signal is less forgiving for reception than the analog signal was.
|
Correct.
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 06:33 PM
|
#9
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Modesto, CA
Posts: 257
|
Not a recommendation, but a similar question. I have a king jack mounted to a powered retractable mast. When retracted, the king jack bounces on and off the roof from wind while underway. Very annoying. Would anyone have a suggested fix or replacement? Thanks all! And Happy New Year!
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 08:44 PM
|
#10
|
Moderator Emeritus
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Bryan, TX when not traveling.
Posts: 22,942
|
The Winegard Sensar IV will out perform any King Jack antenna.
Ken
__________________
Amateur Radio Operator (KE5DFR)|No Longer Full-Time! - 2023 Cougar 22MLS toted by 2022 F150, 3.5L EcoBoost Tow Max FX4 Lariat Travel with one Standard Schnauzer and one small Timneh African Gray Parrot, retired mechanical engineer
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 09:05 PM
|
#11
|
Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Oklahoma City
Posts: 62
|
I have a King Jack HDTV directional. And love it. I can usually pick up 15-20 channels anywhere I go. Just my 2 cents
__________________
Ken & Judi
2003 Monaco Windsor 40 PBD
98 Holiday Rambler Imperial SOLD!
|
|
|
12-31-2019, 10:22 PM
|
#12
|
Senior Member
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Hoodsport Wa
Posts: 3,100
|
Our friends rig has a Winegard Sensar IV. Also a very good antenna, but in our unofficial camping field tests it does no better or worse than the KingJack. Also have other friends who use a $20 eBay el cheapo duct taped on a stick they temporarily clamp onto their ladder. It does just as well. Don't get too wrapped up on the internet hype about this, that or the other antenna. They all basically work the same, and yes, there is no such thing as an "HDTV" antenna. A 1960's set of rabbit ears or old school yagi roof mount antenna will still work to pull in hdtv digital broadcast signals. In our case the old original Winegard frisbee antenna was corroded beyond salvaging.
What sold me on the KingJack was the built in signal strength meter. Set it to the strongest signal before performing a channel scan on your tv. EZPZ
__________________
2000 Alpine 36 FDS #74058
04 Jeep Wrangler TJ
"On the road to find out..."
|
|
|
01-01-2020, 06:29 AM
|
#13
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,383
|
...upon reconsideration....my OEM frisbee disk was pretty corroded inside when I replaced it...but it did seem to still "work" with analog signals but not so much once digital came in????.....true story--we often winter in Glendale AZ during Jan/Feb....first year we had the Jack head mounted to OEM satellite arms [so pointed south/southwest]….we could only get 2 of the 3 network OTA stations [CBS,NBC,ABC]...as luck would have it, Super Bowl was on the station we weren't getting. So turned Jack head to north and got that station--had to "assume" it was a directional thing??? The built in signal meter is interesting but direction tends to determine signal strengths.
PS--to this day, have no idea where OTA station towers are physically located in Phoenix area?????
__________________
Old Scout
2015 IH45 Foretravel
2003 Alpine 40' MDTS [Sold]
New Braunfels, Texas
|
|
|
01-01-2020, 06:45 AM
|
#14
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Brookfield,WI
Posts: 593
|
Thanks everyone.
And 36, I'm adding winchester bay to my list.
I was at cape lookout campground near tillamook last month (without the alpine). That's a really cool set up they have there.
__________________
Brianna
2000 Alpine Coach 36 FDS
Wisconsin
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
Similar Threads
|
Thread |
Thread Starter |
Forum |
Replies |
Last Post |
Digital Broadcast TV in 2009 vs. stock Wineguard antennas
|
Steve n Dar |
Technology: Internet, TV, Satellite, Cell Phones, etc. |
4 |
10-30-2007 02:09 AM |
antennas
|
namesiw |
Technology: Internet, TV, Satellite, Cell Phones, etc. |
4 |
10-23-2007 10:49 AM |
cellular phone antennas
|
Jim |
Gear and Product Discussions |
14 |
12-09-2006 02:08 PM |
Cell Phone antennas
|
Bill Davis |
Technology: Internet, TV, Satellite, Cell Phones, etc. |
7 |
08-08-2006 09:39 AM |
cb antennas
|
ironpro |
MH-General Discussions & Problems |
3 |
04-08-2005 08:21 AM |
|
» Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|