Good day! Just purchased a new 2013 Flagstaff 26RLSS this past weekend and am wondering about the antenna that comes with it. Do I need to buy one of those "Jack" HDTV antenna's or is the one that comes with the camper just as good? The one that's on it looks like the old analog bat type antenna.
My Winegard Sensar worked great pulling in HD TV. I added the Wingman, and that just added to the great reception.......it helped pull in the weaker channels without pixelation.
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Chap , DW Joy, and Fur Baby Sango
2017 F350 Lariat CCSB, SRW, 4x4, 6.7 PS
2017 Grand Design Reflection 337RLS
Sorry, guess I should have said something about myself since it's my first post. My name is Bret, I bought a small used camper late last year to take to my hunt club but my wife really enjoyed staying it it. We also have a daughter who has a husband and a dog. The little Flagstaff 23LB we had was just way too small.
This new camper has a very large slide, electric tongue jack, electric awning and electric stab jacks. Lot's of things to break, some might say.
We live in SE Virginia and are looking forward to picking up our new camper end of next week. It's a bit of a step up from the LB. And now, I'm looking to outfit it properly starting with making sure the antenna will get the same quality signal the LB got with the HDTV Jack antenna.
Bret, a "HD" tv antenna is a marketing name. all tv antennas, including rabbit ears, can get a HD signal.
it's the tv that has to be HD, not the antenna. we get fine HD signals with our pre-HD Wingman crankup antenna.
but you have to be much closer to the source, to get a HD signal, than you did for the old analog signal. i think it's 30-40 mile range.
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Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
Shawn-Musician/Entrepreneur/Wine Expert
and Zoe the Wonder Dog(R.I.P.)
2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
4pt Equal-i-zer WDH and 1828lbs of payload capacity
In our new 2013 Roo 233S, the TV has a signal meter built in that lets you know if you have the antenna pointed in a good direction! I turn that on and then rotate till it says good. Then I can get just about everything our area offers.
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Mark, Jenny, Adam & Lucy
2013 Rockwood Roo 233S
2015.5 Silverado 2500HD CCSB with Duramax/Allison
yes, looking at buying one of those aftermarket. Too many demands on my wallet so far this year. My brother needs a TARP bailout too (he is the toxic asset); so that will also be putting the skids to any more modifications.
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
While HD is a marketing name, it is different that the old analog signal we used to get with rabbit ears. Digital TV signals fall in the UHF band. It used to be you could get VHF antennas, or the optional, more expensive VHF/UHF combination. While the regular Sesar will capture UHF, it doesn't do it great. When I installed (thats a joke, it's a 5 minute swap) my Jack, I went from 5 channels to 25, and far less pixellation. YMMV, but I like my Jack, and found an improvement.
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Carr, Brenda, Hannah, Callie and Sammy. An F350, a 30WRLTSA, a couple of scooters, and little precious family time. We camp, we ride, we love.
While HD is a marketing name, it is different that the old analog signal we used to get with rabbit ears. Digital TV signals fall in the UHF band. It used to be you could get VHF antennas, or the optional, more expensive VHF/UHF combination. While the regular Sensar will capture UHF, it doesn't do it great. When I installed (thats a joke, it's a 5 minute swap) my Jack, I went from 5 channels to 25, and far less pixelation. YMMV, but I like my Jack, and found an improvement.
Carr, there is some incorrect information in your post.
While TV broadcasts are mostly now digital (some low power local stations were not required to switch to digital), they do broadcast digital signals on both the VHF and UHF bands.
The "Old" Sensar antenna has directional VHF elements (the Bat Wing) and a circular UHF antenna (located inside the white amp box). That made the VHF directional and the UHF omnidirectional. However, the VHF portion could pull in stations from further away than the UHF staions.
If an analog station was too far away it still came in it just was snowy due to interference. With a digital signal, the signal strength must be high enough to "read" the data being carried on the carrier wave. If not you get drop outs (pixelation).
www.antennaweb.org web site will tell you the direction to the signal towers and whether that digital station is broadcasting in VHF or UHF.
The Wingman acts as a magnifying glass and "focuses" the UHF signal on the circular antenna in the white housing. That makes the UHF antenna directional as well. When you want to aim the Sensar or Sensar with Wingman, you just think of the antenna as an aircraft flying towards the broadcast tower. The white housing (or Wingman Fins) is the cockpit and the bat wings are the wings of the aircraft.
The protractor mod is a simple mod you can make that will allow you to aim your antenna directly at the correct tower for the station you are watching without leaving the camper once you set it up.
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Thanks for the info Herk. Some folks have had good luck with the Jack, other folks not so much. I just took delivery of a new V-Lite with a 32 inch Toshiba. I tried the standard antenna first and got 5 channels A 10 minute swap to a Jack got me to 14 channels that were watchable. I did read somewhere that new HD signals were in the UHF band. I'll look for the link if there is an interest and hyperlinks are allowed on the board.
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Carr, Brenda, Hannah, Callie and Sammy. An F350, a 30WRLTSA, a couple of scooters, and little precious family time. We camp, we ride, we love.
I did read somewhere that new HD signals were in the UHF band. I'll look for the link if there is an interest and hyperlinks are allowed on the board.
Digital is on both VHF and UHF. If you go to www.antennaweb.org and put in a zip near a major city you will find HD digital on both VHF and UHF bands.
Here is a Philadelphia Pa product,
Note there are 2 VHF HD digital channels.
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