Antenna -- Silly Newbee Question

[ykcamom]

I have a bit of a silly question? But what is the purpose of this thing? Isn't all cable digital now anyhow?

Will it allow us to get get TV without a cable hookup at the RV park? And if so, can someone please tell me if we need to turn the cable setting off on the wall and TV first?

Just checking as I honestly didn't think one could pick up any TV without a cable line or satellite these days!

[mcfarmall]

I believe most on-air stations are broadcasting in digital nowdays. You might be able to run the antenna feed into one of those digital converter boxes that the government was giving away a few years back but I've never tried it. We hook our TV up to a BluRay player and pretty much use it that way.

Maybe the new campers antennas can pick up the digital signal directly without the use of the converter box...heck, I don't know.

[jtownstumpjumper]

Probably watch more TV in the campgrounds off the antenna than cable because there is no cable...simply reprogram TV to "air" instead of "cable" and if you're close enough to receive the signal you'll pickup that channel....really not out there camping or RVing to watch much TV.

[howie]

Depending on your location, you can pick up over the air channels with the antenna. I haven't bothered putting a TV in our camper, most places we camp you couldn't pick anything up. Some friends we camp with occasionally do have a TV (3 actually) and they do use theirs and can pick up channels. The new TV's will pick up the signal without the converter box.

[Salsa03]

When I went camping early this Spring, I tried the antenna and TV (which came with the TT) and I was getting digital signal over the air.

[namusmc65]

If you have a 2014 unit and it came with a tv, it will pick up digital over the air antenna signals. Not much to it. Just have to re-program your channels each time you go to a different region. make sure your tv is set to receive antenna and not cable and turn on the fm signal boost switch. If you hook up to cable, tv needs to be set to cable and not antenna and reprogram as usual.

[Camper_bob]

We can generally get at least a dozen channels OTA with our antenna, some places more, some less. Generally about half are in English, the rest are Spanish. We will typically choose to use the campground's cable if it's available. We don't have cable at home, just the big antenna, so if the CG has cable it's a nice treat for us; DW binges on Food Network.

Don't forget to turn on the booster though. It took me about an hour to figure that out. I thought I had it on the whole time, I was inspecting cables, reconnecting, fiddling with settings, the whole bit. Then when I had just about given up and told DW "too bad, we'll just have to watch a DVD", I punched the button on the 12V booster, and WHAM! I got TV! It's way back in a cabinet under the TV though, so I couldn't really see it...

Just aim the antenna at the nearest metropolitan area or use an app to find which bearing to use and you're GTG with local news, weather, and shows. Usually NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX with some others smattered in for good measure. And the picture is better than what comes in on the cable, and better than what we used to get on our satellite at home.

[33 RLDS]

I prefer over the air as the picture is always HD. The cable hookups at most places is split so many times, the picture is crap..Next week we will be on lake Ontario and probably will get some Canadian stations as well!!

[SMS1115]

The TV that came with our trailer was not digital compatible. We had to replace it with an updated one. Nice thing is the one we found runs on 12VDC and 120VAC. But we can get at least the local news channels for weather updates, even dry camping.

[Iraqvet05]

Depending on where you go, you can get several stations or you could get only a few channels over the air (OTA) on an antenna. Here is a good site that will tell you the stations in the area and their general direction using a zip code search.

[howie]

Originally Posted by namusmc65

If you have a 2014 unit and it came with a tv, it will pick up digital over the air antenna signals. Not much to it. Just have to re-program your channels each time you go to a different region. make sure your tv is set to receive antenna and not cable and turn on the fm signal boost switch. If you hook up to cable, tv needs to be set to cable and not antenna and reprogram as usual.

Signal boost switch??? My 19H came wired for the TV, but no TV. It ties into the iRV radio/cd to play DVD's. Where would such a switch be if I would get a TV?

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by howie

Signal boost switch??? My 19H came wired for the TV, but no TV. It ties into the iRV radio/cd to play DVD's. Where would such a switch be if I would get a TV?

Assuming your RV has an antenna, most of the signal boost switches I've seen are on a 12V outlet near the cable outlets and such, it looks like a place to plug the lighter receptacle in your car. The switch is a tiny (1/4") plunger switch on the plug plate itself. You click it in, green light comes on, antenna booster is on. If you want to hook up to CG cable, the booster needs to be off. Push the switch again, it pops out, green light goes off and you can use the CG cable feed. Anything coming from the DVD player or head unit to the TV should not be affected by this switch.

[Plowtoy]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

Just aim the antenna at the nearest metropolitan area or use an app to find which bearing to use and you're GTG with local news, weather, and shows. Usually NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX with some others smattered in for good measure. And the picture is better than what comes in on the cable, and better than what we used to get on our satellite at home.

So how do you aim your antenna? I know you pull down on the round part and turn, but how do you know which way is what? I usually end up trying about 15 differant spots until I get good signal on multiple channels. Is it the arrow that you line up when you are getting ready to put it down?

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Plowtoy

So how do you aim your antenna? I know you pull down on the round part and turn, but how do you know which way is what? I usually end up trying about 15 differant spots until I get good signal on multiple channels. Is it the arrow that you line up when you are getting ready to put it down?

No, that arrow is only for lining up the storage position. If you look VERY closely on the rotator knob, there are two TINY hash marks; those indicate the direction you aim the antenna. If those aren't there, just turn the antenna wings perpendicular to the direction of the towers.

In the attached picture, the antenna would be pointed away from the photographer and to the right somewhat. This one has an added piece, but the antenna boom is on the opposite side of the antenna body from the broadcasting towers, and that's the orientation you want; the coax cord comes out the back of the antenna body, again, opposite the direction of the broadcasting towers.

I aimed my antenna directly out the starboard side, then went inside and marked the rotator with a Sharpie (that's how I found the hash marks). Now I just aim the Sharpie mark at the nearest tower (usually just outside a major city) and I get at least some channels. They're not directionally sensitive enough for a couple degrees to make much difference, so you can usually just get it close and it'll work depending on where you are.

[Kellys]

We just recently purchased and installed the jack antenna from camping world it has the i beleive uhf ant. That picks up the free air digital signals i know when i do a channel search it picks up a whole lot more channels its great, best 45.00 dollars i have spent

[Dagwood]

My OTA antenna picks up signal without the boost, or so I noticed tonight. Mind you I'm right in the City and not far from towers. Still the boost will help to bring in a cleaner/stronger signal. It worked great for me when we got out for a few days in the spring. Rotate the Antenna and watch your TV, once you get a nice picture stop. If it's pixelly..you went too far.

I just scored a Winegard MP1 off Kijiji. Tried it out tonight, set the elevation and used my phone to point the dish...walked into the trailer and the TV was working with HD Bell just fine.

Not that I want to watch TV while camping..but when it comes to sports, especially Hockey in Spring/Fall or football, I will be watching.

It will also keep DW and Daughter happy if we get Nasty weather.

Having both OTA and Satellite as options for TV is just a bonus.

[SecretCoveDave]

Go NHL/CFL.

[ykcamom]

Well, we did eventually pick up a few channels, but they were so fuzzy they were not worth watching. I am beginning to wonder if there is more analog TV in the states than in Canada? To the best of my knowledge, it's all digital TV here.

[howie]

I thought it was all digital here in the states now?
And thanks to Camper Bob for the booster switch info. I looked in my camper yesterday and saw the little plunger switch. I would have never seen that. And being a guy, I probably would have waited until I was so mad that my head was ready to explode before reading the manual.

[Salsa03]

I had seen that booster switch...but I thought it was a switch to activate the 12v power! Dumbass me!