Community Forums

okmunky · 10-31-2012, 07:54 PM

The head on my Winegard crank up TV antenna needs replacement. What works best at a reasonable price?

Gary - K7GLD · 10-31-2012, 08:00 PM

Another Winegard head works best - not really much in the way of direct replacements I have ever seen...

Magumba · 10-31-2012, 09:51 PM

Make sure you get one that is setup for digital TV.

okmunky · 11-01-2012, 09:38 AM

I found this Jack head online. Is it any better than the original?

Amazon.com: JACK OA-8000 Digital TV Antenna: Electronics

Also, I'm confused by some of the terminology I have seen. Am I wanting an "on air" or "off air" antenna to pick up local TV broadcasts?

TXiceman · 11-01-2012, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magumba

Make sure you get one that is setup for digital TV.

NO such thing as a digital or HD antenna. They simply receive a signal of a certain frequency band. The TV is what converts the signal into a picture. The sihnal happens to in a digital format.

Also, the Sensar IV wineguard works better than the Jack antenna.

OFF-Air refers to signals that are transmitted over the air ways. Never heard on-air used.

Ken

Triker56 · 11-01-2012, 09:51 AM

The Winegard head gets a better review rating then Jack

TN Bill · 11-01-2012, 09:55 AM

I have better reception with the Jack antenna.

SCVJeff · 11-01-2012, 09:57 AM

"Also, the Sensar IV wineguard works better than the Jack antenna."

Do you have proof of that?
I did a performance test between the batwing with and without a Wingman using my $50k spectrum analyzer and did a post about 2 years ago. Now I hear people claim the Jack is better, and I'm not sure I buy that. "Better" as in more channels because its not as directional, or?

I may go buy one just to run another side by side test with a batwing and put this to bed (for me)

Magumba: Nice RV ur standing next to..

TN Bill · 11-01-2012, 10:49 AM

With the Jack I get more channels and when I get a channel I do not loose it the way I did with the batwing with the added wingman.

UFO Pilot · 11-01-2012, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okmunky

I found this Jack head online. Is it any better than the original?

Amazon.com: JACK OA-8000 Digital TV Antenna: Electronics

Also, I'm confused by some of the terminology I have seen. Am I wanting an "on air" or "off air" antenna to pick up local TV broadcasts?

I replaced my original with this one and am very happy with the performance.

shaman52 · 11-02-2012, 09:31 AM

Replaced Wineguard with Jack this year. I got the Jack model that is a fixed height. No more cranking up, cranking down, and worrying if it really was cranked down as you go in motion. Reception is the same, no difference. The Jack has a standard peaking led meter on the interior ceiling rotation base. To do this with a Wineguard requires an extra cost accessory. You can peak your antenna position before running your television's Over The Air Digital channel setup. That being said they both are fine products.

SCVJeff · 11-02-2012, 10:16 AM

And that really what I expect to find. I'm going to buy one long enough to test it and see how it looks on real gear. The winegard simply has more metal in the air and is going to be more directional; that's a blessing and a curse if you don't pay attention to pointing. What I'm really interested in is the difference in the amplifiers... That's where Jack might make up ground since Winegard's is way long in the tooth, and 600MHz+ starts to get really important how things are designed.

dsurette · 11-02-2012, 10:45 AM

Last week I replaced my batwing with a Sensar IV. My RV was in covered storage when I did the replacement. Without searching for signals, just cranking it up I got 18 channels with the batwing and 33 channels with the Sensar IV. I'm quite happy with the change.

Gary - K7GLD · 11-02-2012, 11:24 AM

Just one comment on the "digital vs Analog" antenna bit - while it IS true that an antenna does NOT know, or CARE, whether the incoming signal is digital or analog, it DOES care about what FREQUENCY it is most suited and designed for.

Older Winegard RV antennas - those prior to Digital TV - were basically designed for the lower 2-13 TV channels, since THAT is where most TV transmissions were located - later, some higher frequency TV stations came along - but for most, the primary viewing channels were still in the 2-13 range.

Digital TV changed all that, since they are all located up in the higher frequence ranges where the older style Winegard antennas are NOT as efficient! Winegard has tried to correct that to a small degree, by offering the "wingman", which is merely a rather small and inefficient add-on element array designed to sorta extend the OEM batwing frequency range up into the new digital TV frequency ranges - but in truth, that approach is simply "too little, too late!"

These later aftermarket "Digital" compact antennas, for the most part, offer potential improvement up into the higher digital TV frequency ranges - but ALL of them *I* have seen - and I have 2 of them myself - are VERY poorly and cheaply made, and are most certainly NOT rugged and reliable enough over the long haul for long term RV usage.

Hopefully, outfits like Winegard, will wake up, and offer NEW RV antennas actually designed for rugged - and efficient - operation up into the digital TV frequency bands where MOST of all our viewing has now shifted!