Upgrading TV in Aspect 26A Winnebago

[cswhite]

Hi, we are English and are travelling around the US in our US motorhome, an Aspect 26A Winnebago. Television is so different here!

We want to change the old original tv and buy a new LED tv. Do we need a provider? Could we just use the Ariel that is on the roof which is what we are currently doing but the program choice is very limited. Someone told us that if we change to a modern television it may not even pick up the limited selection. Is this correct?

Is it possible to get a tv guide without using a provider?

If you have any tips for us we would appreciate it.

thank you
tel: 321-370-3116 Colin and Tina

[billdreamlv]

I will help out as much as I can. You don't need a provider, the endless number of commercials pay for our free service. If you want to watch any of the cable channels you will have to get Directv or DISH network for your provider. This will allow you to be able to pay a monthly service fee to watch the commercials. If you don't have a satellite dish then you probably won't want the satellite service.

The newer tv will have a better reception than the older ones, so no, it is not true that you will get less channels. If you have an old antenna (aerial in British terms) you may want to upgrade your antenna to a stronger one but the older one should work just fine.

And yes, the newer tvs have guides that you can access from your remote.

One more thing; you can not watch the tv when you are driving. And because you will be driving on the right side of the road with the steering wheel on the right, we want you to be extra careful out there. And don't forget the Irish.

Hope this helps.

[Isaac-1]

Over the air television reception is going to depend greatly on where you are located. As a general rule you need to be within 30-50 miles of the transmitter to get reliable reception, with modern HDTV Over the Air reception is all or nothing, there is no more marginal picture quality. You therefore want the best antenna you can get (I have heard lots of good things about the King Jack antenna, although I don't own one myself, you also will want an antenna amplifier (often built in on many RV antenna setups,it is a small button you press to turn on, and an LED light will light up, this is usually on a panel about the size of a light switch). I was recently boondock camping about 50 miles NW of Houston Texas and was surprised that I could not pick up any over the air television stations, upon reflection my guess is I was just barely out of range of a number of stations which transmit from the downtown Houston area, yet was not close enough to pick up anything from the stations in the surrounding secondary cities, likely just a case of being in the wrong spot.

As to what you can expect to pick up over the air, it will greatly depend on the population density of the region. I just bought my class A motorhome in November, I bought it used in Florida and drove it home to Louisiana over the course of 4 and a half days. Each night of the journey I would crank up my TV antenna and set the TV to scan for channels. The first night in the fairly high population density area about 15 miles east of Orlando FL (where Disney World and many other tourist attractions are located) I picked up nearly 30 over the air channels, the next night just outside Jacksonville FL a couple of hundred miles north the count was down to about 15, the next night I spent in a KOA campground in southern Alabama with free cable tv hookup and probably 40 channels, then the final night I spent the night boondocking on the old family farm about 125 miles from home in a very rural part of NE Louisiana (40 miles driving distance to the nearest hospital, parish (county) seat population of under 500, ...) and even here I could still pick up 3 or 4 channels over the air. However as you get out into the open western states where cities big enough to support TV stations are far between, the chances of picking up much of anything over the air is slim.

[hohokam]

Originally Posted by cswhite

... Someone told us that if we change to a modern television it may not even pick up the limited selection. Is this correct?
...

It is actually the other way around. Since we switched from analog to digital older TVs need a special device, which you apparently have, to convert the signal. Newer televisions receive digital signals natively.

[cswhite]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. We have now fitted a digital flat screen tv and will fit a King Jack aerial in a day or two, so fingers crossed!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

COLIN

[BillJinOR]

Originally Posted by cswhite

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. We have now fitted a digital flat screen tv and will fit a King Jack aerial in a day or two, so fingers crossed!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

COLIN

Keep in mind America is a vast land and over the air tv isn't available out of the cities transmitters range. 30-50 miles is about it. Enjoy your travels