Digital TV Antenna

[Possum]

I live in an area of no off cable TV. I will be doing a major east west east trip in the spring and would like to know if buying an omnidirectional digital antennae will be a good purchase. DW is addicted to TV and wold like to watch when we overnight at campgrounds.

I admit to liking watching the evening news so I have purchased a 30" flat screen LCD and want to hook up an antennae and I know the built in one on the motorhome will not work.

Any suggestions of what I should do will be greatly appreciated. TIA.

[Arch Hoagland]

I experimented with a Samsung LED TV I bought recently and connected a set of 30 year old rabbit ears on the antenna input connector. I got about 10 TV stations clearly here in the Fresno, CA area.

So you might want to experiment a little bit and see what happens.

[Possum]

Thanks Arch, but I want to have it installed and ready to work because I have a 3 hour drive before I get near a TV broadcast city. I live way out in the mountains on Vancouver Island. That's why I want to know what I have to do and have done before I set out next May 1st.

[Mr_D]

If you have the standard batwing antenna you don't need anything else, there is no difference between a digital and analog antenna although you might get better reception by adding the "Wingman" to it.

[justaroamer]

Get rid of the Wing and get a Jack that is a 5 min. upgrade to the Wineguard crank up. Comes with a power injector if you need it. More distance, more stations.

[Steve N Sal]

I installed the Wingman to our Wingard OTA and it really helped with picking up more stations. Traveling East to West you'll find that as long as you are near major cities your reception will be a lot better then when you get into some of the remote areas of the country where you will virtually get nothing. If your wife is that hooked on tv you may want to look at a satelite service of some kind, after all you mama happy.

[damdannyboy]

The jack works great!

[Wayne M]

Hey Possum!

Don't be mislead by those advertisements for "digital" antenna's. An antenna is an antenna is an antenna. The better the antenna the better the signal to the tv, in most cases. Just make sure that it is designed to pick up VHF and UHF signals. The only difference between the vhf and uhf antenna are the elements. The higher the frequency the shorter the element, so an antenna is designed to pick up one or both sets of frequency spectrum's.

The more directivity an antenna has typically means the better a signal can be obtained, but the problem with those type of antenna's, like our present day batwing is we have to get up and turn it when we are in those areas where the towers are separated by some distance. I have also thought of buying an omni-directional antenna so my lazy butt can stay in the chair when I change channels.

So for ease of use, I'm seriously thinking of going with an omni-directional one. I just don't want to drill holes so I'm thinking of the old antenna poles that come in 5 foot sections. Slip the antenna on the end of one, tighten it down, slip as many poles as necessary together and clamp it to the ladder or some other object.

If you get one, let us know which one and how it works. I've done a search on the Internet and there are several out there and I think Winegard even makes one. Radio Shack had one a year or so ago that I saw set up at an RV. I was able to ask the owner about it and he said it worked very well.

Good luck.

In regards to your original question, they do make an omnidirectional antenna

[DGShaffer]

I didn't try the adapter for the batwing but just replaced it with a Jack TV antenna. I tested my reception before and after installation and there was a noticeable increase in the amount of channels received. I also put in a digital reception meter that allows you to instantly point it towards the strongest signal.

[lllkrob]

There is no such thing as a "digital antenna". A pair of rabbit ears will work with a digital tv. However to receive the optimum reception you do need a antenna that is "tuned" to the digital frequencies used for digital broadcasting. If you have a crank up Winegard bat-wing on your MH now then the addition of the "Wingman" is all you need to receive all the digital stations possible for your location. You also need to use this site to tell you where to aim your antenna and what stations you can expect to receive: The Digital TV Transition: Reception Maps

[Stevegd007]

You all did not say if your using a "digital" ready TV. This would be a new style flat screen type TV. If you still using only analog type TV, it will not pick up digital without the use of a "converter" box. The antenna digital upgrade helps, but only if you have the converter box.

[Possum]

Just an aside. The original antennae on "Tinker" was destroyed by a tree branch that it didn't duck for when the previous owner was camping in southern BC. I took all remnants of it off when I was installing the awning on the unit and decided that it was a great time to recoat the roof surface.

I need an antennae for the flat screen and will have to install something so thought one of the advertised omnidirectional units would be a good fit. I grew up watching 'snow' so poor reception is no problem, its the no reception that is the problem.

Satellite is not an option because we get dinged like crazy when we move our unit so we had that disconnected. I will be doing something based on the information gleaned from this august group.

[Possum]

30" Toshiba HDDigital is what we will be using 1080 whatever-you-call-ems.

[Stevegd007]

OK. I still have the old analog TV, using a converter box and the "add-on" digital antenna to my bat-wing antenna. Using the add-on really increased the strength of the digital signal an pulled in more stations.
On a side note, I am planning to step up to a flat screen, just need $$ and time to install. Ya that's all. LoL.