Bounder: tv antenna

[wrinkles]

Hi
I have a analog antenna and two hd tvs. When I am at home in mpls. mn I receive clear picture on all channels, however when out of city I receive nothing. I plugged my tv into outlet marked booster but no help. does anyone have a solution?

Thanks
Wrinkles

[RickO]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

First of all, I don't believe there is any such thing as a "digital antenna". Receivers in TV sets are digital or analog but I don't think the antenna knows the difference.

When you say that you get clear pictures on all channels when at home in Mpls... do you mean that the two TVs in the coach receive clear pictures, while in the coach and using the rooftop antenna? Then you lose these channels when you travel very far from home?

That would actually be pretty normal and you'd have to do a "channel search" using the menu on your TVs whenever you travel to a new location.

Rick

[Clayobx]

Yep! Got to reprogram and do the Chanel search every time you move!

[wildtoad]

Assuming you have a Winegard Sensar "Batwing" antenna you may also want to invest in the Wingman addon or swap it out for a Jack antenna. Both options add "umph" to the signals.

And as the others have said everywhere you go you will have to do a channel search to find the channels in your area. The instructions that came with my Jack replacement head said to raise the antenna, turn on the booster, and do a channel search noting how many channels you find. Rotate the antenna 90 degrees and do it again, and again, and again. At the end you should have a good idea which direction provides the most channels. Rotate the antenna to that direction and do one last search.

[Brockx]

Originally Posted by wrinkles

Hi
I have a analog antenna and two hd tvs. When I am at home in mpls. mn I receive clear picture on all channels, however when out of city I receive nothing. I plugged my tv into outlet marked booster but no help. does anyone have a solution?

Thanks
Wrinkles

Yep, have to re-scan everytime you change area or go through all the channels one by rather than the pre-selects the tv has found. Also, if your. booster is like mine be sure it is turned on. Mine is hard wired to both tv's from the back of booster, the front one was just extra, like for putting antenna feed to a VCR, DVD, X-box whatever.

[wa8yxm]

The person who said there is no such thing as a digital Antenna is correct. All antennas are Radio Frequency Devices, they do not care if the signal is digital, analog, binary, CW (Which is trinary) or what. All they care about is WAVELENGTH. and polarity, Ideally the polarity is horizontal (it is) and the wavelength is 2x the wingspan of the antenna's active element (At least one of them).

However that said, There are basic antennas, there are antennas with some gain and there are antennas witih much more gain.

Sticking strictly to Winegard products:

Roadstar (The Flying Saucer job) No gain, some loss, junjk, replace it.

Sensar II (Basic Batwing) Good, but low power (Note there is a Sensar 1 but I doubt you will ever see one, it is vhf only)

Sensar III (A II with the added wingman) Much better, almost works wher I am,, Almost. Near as I can tell the JACK from king controls is somewhere near here.

Sensar IV, Add a Sensar Pro to the III and you have one dang good antenna, Several channels wher I"m parked just now, Most of them sharp as a tack.

When I first park I use the Sensar PRO to scan, it finds the strongest channel then lets me peak it by rotating the antenna, Then it tells me what other channels are around. In my case, thanks to Antenna Web or just flat having been to the tower site I know where the transmitters are so I kind of cheat. (www.antennaweb.com I think) But you can also "Quarter" this is where you turn the antenna to one end of travel, Let the Pro scan (or let your TV scan which takes longer) then turn it 1/4 the way to the other end of rotation, Scan again, and again, and again and then you pick the direction with the best results and peak a station.

A signal strength meter is a must, not all TV's have one, the Sensor Pro IS one. (In addition to the other functions it performs) It also is an adjustable amplifer.

If you are parked say at 10 mile and the lodge in the Detroit area.. You might want to run gain down to, say, about zero (you can actually SEE the tower for WXYZ tv from there, in fact if it falls over you might get hit and this is not an exageration.

Howver if you are parked next to me.. 20 works better. (Max gain).