Gil_J
04-15-2015, 10:54 AM
I think most realize the batwing antenna that came with your coach was not tuned to the UHF band were most digital (ATSC) broadcast are now found. Sure your Winegard or Concorde antenna will receive digital broadcast in the UHF band, but not as well as an antenna tuned to that band. There's also the amplifier that came with your antenna (if it has one). Those too often provide the best gain in the VHF band, the band that channels 2-13 are carried on. So, what's the fix?
Many have changed the batwing head of their Winegard antenna out with the direct replacement Jack antenna head and its amplifier. The good news is that this directional antenna has probably the most gain of any direct replacement antenna available. The bad news is that directional antennas can be a pain to aim. Unlike analog TVs of past, you can't simply tune to a channel and then aim the antenna for best reception. You either have to rely on a TV finder application and compass or an add-on signal meter. If you have the Concorde batwing antenna I don't believe a direct replacement head is available.
The next best ATSC antenna is the round antennas that are from the marine market. There's no aiming required. The down side is the gain is somewhat less than the directional antennas. The other good news is these are normally stand mounted and don't require raising. So, you never have to worry about lowering your antenna. I have used one of these for a few years and have been pretty pleased with its performance.
Winegard recently introduced what should be the best solution for local digital reception, the Winegard Razar (click here) (http://www.winegard.com/rayzarauto). Here's a directional antenna (best gain) that has its own aiming intelligence. It seeks out the strongest and most channels and automatically aims in their direction. It also displays other directions with fewer or weaker channels were found if want to change to that direction. This is a good feature when you are between two broadcast territories. One thing I hate about Winegard is that they never publish antenna gain numbers. Lacking the actual numbers, they did take the right approach with amplification. The amplifier is at the antenna. Many others are remote so they have a much weaker signal to amplifier. Amplifying weaker signals with these cheap amplifiers also means more noise. The other good news is that this was designed for the RV industry. The omni-directional antennas that were designed for the marine industry weren't really designed for highway speeds. If there's any shortfall to this antenna it's that it needs to be as far away from roof air conditioners as possible. The best location for this antennas on most coaches would be at the rear cap seam of the roof. This limits path obstructions to just one roof air. The another benefit to this location is that most conversions have their AV distribution system in the back of the coach.
If I didn't already have a functioning Omni, I'd go this route. If someone wants some help installing one of these in my neck of the woods I'll give you a hand. I'd like to see how it actually performs.
Many have changed the batwing head of their Winegard antenna out with the direct replacement Jack antenna head and its amplifier. The good news is that this directional antenna has probably the most gain of any direct replacement antenna available. The bad news is that directional antennas can be a pain to aim. Unlike analog TVs of past, you can't simply tune to a channel and then aim the antenna for best reception. You either have to rely on a TV finder application and compass or an add-on signal meter. If you have the Concorde batwing antenna I don't believe a direct replacement head is available.
The next best ATSC antenna is the round antennas that are from the marine market. There's no aiming required. The down side is the gain is somewhat less than the directional antennas. The other good news is these are normally stand mounted and don't require raising. So, you never have to worry about lowering your antenna. I have used one of these for a few years and have been pretty pleased with its performance.
Winegard recently introduced what should be the best solution for local digital reception, the Winegard Razar (click here) (http://www.winegard.com/rayzarauto). Here's a directional antenna (best gain) that has its own aiming intelligence. It seeks out the strongest and most channels and automatically aims in their direction. It also displays other directions with fewer or weaker channels were found if want to change to that direction. This is a good feature when you are between two broadcast territories. One thing I hate about Winegard is that they never publish antenna gain numbers. Lacking the actual numbers, they did take the right approach with amplification. The amplifier is at the antenna. Many others are remote so they have a much weaker signal to amplifier. Amplifying weaker signals with these cheap amplifiers also means more noise. The other good news is that this was designed for the RV industry. The omni-directional antennas that were designed for the marine industry weren't really designed for highway speeds. If there's any shortfall to this antenna it's that it needs to be as far away from roof air conditioners as possible. The best location for this antennas on most coaches would be at the rear cap seam of the roof. This limits path obstructions to just one roof air. The another benefit to this location is that most conversions have their AV distribution system in the back of the coach.
If I didn't already have a functioning Omni, I'd go this route. If someone wants some help installing one of these in my neck of the woods I'll give you a hand. I'd like to see how it actually performs.