Omnidirectional TV antenna by Radio Shack

[DonandJudy_12]

Has anyone in MOC land installed this antenna to replace the Wineguard batwing ? With the switch from analog to digital TV, it is more difficult to receive a good signal unless the batwing is in alignment with a station, thus excluding other stations in range. I am interested in installing the Radio Shack antenna on the Wineguard mast if testimony is out there as to the efficiency of the Radio Shack antenna. The antenna is compatible with RV use and may be the answer for those of us without satelite(sp?) Thanks in advance for any and all replies- Don

[H. John Kohl]

I made a statement once that I needed an omni directional antenna with more gain. The two statements are opposite in functionality. A senior engineer took 15 minutes of his busy time to educate me on the difference. An Omni directional antenna has little gain. The only way to obtain gain is through directivity. The Wineguard is directional and one edge gets a stronger signal than the other.
With Digital signals I feel you need the strongest signal to prevent it from cutting out. That is what you are experiencing off the ends of the batwing. Therefore, I feel going to an omni directional antenna is counter productive. I do not recommend it.
If you do go with the omni directional antenna please let me know how it works and if I was wrong.
Good luck.

[firetrucker]

A directional antenna will give you a much stronger signal than an omni, as John said. If the Winegard had a rotator on it, that would go a long way to solving a lot of problems, both analog and digital. I'm looking for a rotator with a remote control that has memory capability, as well as an antenna with more gain (a bigger yagi).

Bob

[jpbcny]

Check this one out:

VHF UHF OUTDOOR HDTV DIGITAL Off-Air ROOF TV ANTENNA

Comes with: BUILT IN ROTOR, CONTROL BOX IR REMOTE, 50FT COAX CABLE

Just saw it on eBAY, I don't have any experience with it...

JP

[H. John Kohl]

Not sure you can store that antenna for transport. Now it could be mounted off the rear ladder and coax ran to the cable connection in the outside center. You still have to get the rotor cable into the control box.

[Waynem]

I posted in another thread about the Radio Shack omni-directional antenna, with link. I camper next to us had one and I did not know at the time what it was. He told me and stated that it worked great. He had it on a 20ft pole, guyed to the ground.

Eventually, all the new digital frequencies will come back down into the frequency spectrum presently used and your present antenna will suffice. When we were 20 miles North of Houston in our new S.O.B. I Popped the batwing up and viola all analog and all digital channels. Quite a difference in signal quality between the analog and digital reception.

Here is some education on Digital TV Frequencies

and

DTV Transition In The USA

[OxyVegas]

Ok, I'll keep my Wineguard and my DirectTV but....when I don't have my DirectTV box and dish with me I'm assuming that I will have to buy a digital to analog converter box and hook it to the Wineguard cable coming in?

[DonandJudy_12]

A converter box is required to receive digital signals on an analog tv- Digital signals are of lower power than analog and have less range so the reception is of poorer quality or non-existant in fringe areas where the campgrounds are- Some dilema, huh? Don

[DonandJudy_12]

Thanks to all who replied- I'm temporarily delaying any action until I can price the necessary changes to the Wineguard mast- I will be pursuing the changeover until we are set up in Az- I will post the results when completed- Don