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02-18-2009, 02:52 PM
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#1
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Loganville
Posts: 476
M.O.C. #5314
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Digital TV
I am in Charleston,S.C., they have switched some channels from analog to digital already. I bought a digital TV but the signal goes in and out bad and is very weak.
Is this normal with the Batwing antenna? I noticed they sell an attachment for the Batwing to bring in UHF channels better, has anyone got this attachment, and if so how does it work?
Thanks
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02-18-2009, 04:10 PM
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#2
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Montana Master
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Texas City
Posts: 5,736
M.O.C. #7673
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The Batwing works fine on our sets. I am personally holding off on replacing any thing because the UHf frequencies assigned right now to Digital will all drop down to the VHF frequencies once everything goes digital, with maybe a few exceptions.
According to DTV.GOV, you do not need a special antenna to receive digital television. However, you must remember that if you are in an area where reception is poor it will affect your quality. Also, most televisions and DTV converters have a signal strengh meter. Use it to "tune" your antenna by rotating it until you get the best signal strength. Then, rescan for digital channels.
Of course, with that all being said, the bigger and better the antenna, and the higher it is in the air, the better signal strength.
I have actually used an old style metal clothes hanger as an antenna on the back of a television. Not the best, but the signal was viewable. I have also used plain old twin lead (before cable and coax) with the lead split on the far end from the television with one side taped down over itself as a ground plain with acceptable results.
But the better may be a many element log periodic antenna, as far in the air as you can possibly get it and still be legal, with a good rotatory motor on it.
Edited: And don't forget that the reception of the tv signal can be blocked by structures around you.
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02-19-2009, 12:50 AM
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#3
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Loganville
Posts: 476
M.O.C. #5314
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The attachment I am reading about is sold by winegard and it's an attachment to improve your reception on the crankup batwing. I do not have good reception with the digital tv but have had great reception with analog channels.
I was hoping someone has made some changes and could tell me if they work or not. I also get interference on my analog TV from the digital TV.
Thanks for the reply
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02-19-2009, 01:58 AM
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#4
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Montana Master
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location:
Posts: 2,376
M.O.C. #6575
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I am thinking my son told me the other day when the switch is made from analog to digital (June?), that the transmission power for digital will go up. The signal is not near as strong for the digital right now. He has trouble getting some of the off air stations at cable head ends now due to this low signal strength.
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02-19-2009, 03:06 AM
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#5
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Montana Master
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Cooper
Posts: 1,230
M.O.C. #3029
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I understand that the down side of the digital signal is that it is not as forgiving as the analog as the antenna has to have better alignment to the source of the signal. If off a few degrees it might have poor reception or no reception at all.
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02-19-2009, 03:09 AM
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#6
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Montana Master
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Benson
Posts: 3,121
M.O.C. #1658
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Winegard claims 100% improvement with their attachment, we'd be happy with half of that. We tried to get one at Camping World but they don't have any yet. We have found that at the moment the digital signals are very sensitive to antenna location. We have been in places where we would have 1 channel and with just a little turn of the antenna we lost that one and gained another.
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02-19-2009, 03:34 AM
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#7
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Seasoned Camper
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Essex
Posts: 99
M.O.C. #9104
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My rig ('08 324RLQ) has a switch in the bedroom TV cabinet for the antenna booster (electrical) - with it turned off, the signals are terrible, but with it switched on, I've got great signals. I don't know if you can purchase this 'booster' separately, but it really works!
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02-19-2009, 04:12 AM
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#8
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Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: _
Posts: 5,238
M.O.C. #6337
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About 1/3rd of the US stations went ahead with the digitial conversion/dropping of the analog the other evening. All they had to do was advertise they were going to do so.
Just something more to keep us confused.
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02-19-2009, 10:41 AM
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#9
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Montana Master
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Brownsburg
Posts: 1,186
M.O.C. #5634
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David a signal strength meter might help you. I hooked up my converter last summer and was bringing in some digital stations but boy the direction of the bat wing was very sensitive. If you are a ways from the transmission tower you might have to be right on to get the signal. I have rabbit ears on a TV in our bedroom and you can just barely touch it and it changes the quality of the picture.
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02-19-2009, 01:41 PM
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#10
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Loganville
Posts: 476
M.O.C. #5314
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Thanks for the replies. I ordered one of the attachments for the antenna today. I should get it in a week. Camping World was sold out and backordered for two weeks.
I think most of my problems was the wind blowing hard last night and it affected the signal. It was alot better this morning. This TV I have does have a signal meter for each channel so you can fine tune it to each channel. I do hope the signal gets better, I have had no problem with reception till now.
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02-20-2009, 01:57 PM
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#11
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Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Ore City Texas
Posts: 1,648
M.O.C. #2224
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David and Brenda, I hope this may be encouraging news for you. I ordered the Winegard DTV antenna attachment just a few days ago and it arrived exactly on time, the day before we left for this little trip over to Tyler State Park (Texas). It was a five minute job for me to attach the addition to our existing batwing antenna. The biggest part of the job was climbing onto the roof! It is a "no tools" operation. Just push in 4 provided "push rivets" into four existing holes in the main antenna.
We are now in Tyler State Park and are getting excellent HDTV reception on both our living room and bedroom HDTV (LCD) sets. I can't say what the reception would have been without the attachment, but for the price and the easy install I felt it was worth a try. I hope you will have equally pleasant results.
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02-21-2009, 12:03 PM
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#12
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Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Loganville
Posts: 476
M.O.C. #5314
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Time will tell, it's better when the weather is nice, but it still doesn't come in real good. They were talking about how many people were not ready for digital TV and left with no TV.
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