TV reception without satellite

[seafreeman3]

Our trailer has an HD antenna but most of the places we've visited don't have any local channels close enough for our antenna to pick them up. I don't live in my RV, just go for short outings, but I'd like to maybe catch a program or 2 while I'm travelling without having to go to much expense.
I have a DVD player, but sometimes you just don't want to watch a movie.

If you know how to use a Firestick without WiFi I'd be interested in knowing how you do it!

[wiscampsin]

I assume you turned the booster on and scanned for channels? Did you take a look to see what direction other campers had their antennas pointed?

[REWahoo]

This FCC website should give you a good idea of what, if any, over-the-air stations are available where you camp: https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

[seafreeman3]

Yes

[seafreeman3]

Yes, and scanned for channels.

[Bassdogs]

Originally Posted by seafreeman3

Yes, and scanned for channels.

Sorry, but you can't pull in an OTA signal that isn't there. Talk to others in the CG with their Ant. up about direction [which you can see] and what they are pulling in. There are often public radio stations available when nothing else is there. In my opinion the public radio stations are worthless. Without a sat set up you are pretty much left with the DVR or one of the streaming devices and a hot spot on your cell phone.

[jloco]

Originally Posted by seafreeman3

If you know how to use a Firestick without WiFi I'd be interested in knowing how you do it!

The only way is to setup a hotspot either on your phone or on a separate hotspot device. Videos use large amounts of data, so it can be impractical depending on the data plan you have.

[vcbice]

About the only other option is streaming data over a cell phone or MiFi. Not exactly cheap unless you have an unlimited data plan.

You can connect your cell phone to the TV but it is not high resolution (lower than 1080 on average). I have good luck using the phone as a hotspot and using my tablet for viewing.

If you have less than 2bars on your cell phone the video will stop to buffer quite a bit.

FWIW, we use our cell phones for our internet connection. About 70 to 90GB per month.

[Murff]

If your television is a "Smart set" you could download a number of movies to a large thumb drive or external memory and then plug that into the TV.

A friend downloaded 600 movies to a terrabite external and gave it to me. Works great when there is no OTA channels or cable.

Murff

[clubhouse]

Netflix has the option to download to a device many TV shows and movies. Without OTA signal, WiFi or Cellular Data with sufficient service to stream, you are stuck bringing your entertainment via some type of device or media.

I fly ~50k miles a year and I have watched hundreds of TV shows or movies this way.

[RoyBraddy]

We camp off-grid almost all the time and use a BATWING Antenna mounted on a easy up PVC pole to the side of our camper. We always pickup something just about everywhere we go... We have to point our BATWING towards the HDTV Transmitter to scan in the channels to view...

This is what my OFF-ROAD POPUP setup looks like


Roy's image

This is a overview of the BATWING antenna showing which way to point it... Our BATWING has the two dipoles mounted in front.



If your antenna on your trailer is on of those small round onmi-directional type of antenna just note they do not have a very good range. My BATWING up at the 10-foot level picks up station 60 miles away with no problem...

Also I think noted in the above comments if your antenna has a built-in pre-amplifier you have to turn on the power for that to work. Most trailers have what is called an ANTENNA PANEL... You also have to select ANTENNA verses CABLE from your HDTV Setup screen... You also have to have a HDTV that receives DIGITAL TV signals. The old ANALOG mode is all but gone now with Nation Broadcast now only transmitting the DIGITAL MODE TV signals.

Just passing along what works pretty good for us camping off-grid...

Roy Ken


Roy's image

[bababooey]

The back element is a dipole for VHF. Although a dipole should have a 'donut' like radiation pattern where equal strength front and back of your arrow, the parasitic elements of a UHF log periodic interfere with it causing some distortion I suspect.

Anywho, it's a decent antenna for an RV.

My rig has a variable attenuator built into the preamp. If I'm in strong RF conditions, I'll turn the atteunator up then find the peak, then crank the attenuator back off. The circuit that detects the RF signal will display for anything close by throwing out RF under 1 GHz I've found (ie 2M rig, UHF telemetry unit from DOT, etc..).

OUT.

Originally Posted by RoyBraddy

Roy's image

This is a overview of the BATWING antenna showing which way to point it... Our BATWING has the two dipoles mounted in front.



If your antenna on your trailer is on of those small round onmi-directional type of antenna just note they do not have a very good range. My BATWING up at the 10-foot level picks up station 60 miles away with no problem...

Also I think noted in the above comments if your antenna has a built-in pre-amplifier you have to turn on the power for that to work. Most trailers have what is called an ANTENNA PANEL... You also have to select ANTENNA verses CABLE from your HDTV Setup screen... You also have to have a HDTV that receives DIGITAL TV signals. The old ANALOG mode is all but gone now with Nation Broadcast now only transmitting the DIGITAL MODE TV signals.

Just passing along what works pretty good for us camping off-grid...

Roy Ken


Roy's image

[campingva]

I use a website called tvfool.com. It not nly gives you the station but also the compass direction to point your antenna to get the most channels. I also use the King Jack antenna which brings in way more than the standard RV antenna.

[norty1]

I have had good success with a App called Antenna Point on my iphone. They also have a Android version.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ante...275602201?mt=8

[RoyBraddy]

Originally Posted by campingva

I use a website called tvfool.com. It not nly gives you the station but also the compass direction to point your antenna to get the most channels. I also use the King Jack antenna which brings in way more than the standard RV antenna.

I tried to use the KING JACK ANTENNA on my PVC pole and it is better but has a problem with BEAM WIDTH for me. We live some 60miles away from Washinton DC and their HDTV Stations are on both side of their town. Using the KING Antenna I get the HDTV station real strong but the antenna beam is narrow. I have to move my antenna slight one direction or the other to pick up all of the Washington DC HDTV signals... With the BATWING Antenna I still get strong HDTV signal but can pick up all of the Washington DC channels with one one position setting... Also with the BAT WING antenna being I am right in the middle of Washington DC and Richmond I am also able to pickup some Richmond stations when pointing to Washington... I get better reception of Richmond if I swing the antenna around of course.

Guess what i am saying here the KINGS JACK antenna is better than the BATWING but when I add these other shortcoming things to the experience I went back to my BATWING SETUP.

I also tried the 8-bay BOW TIE panel antenna on my OFF-ROAD POPUP and it outdid both the JACK and BATWING on distance... It was just not the antenna to be mounting on top of a POPUP however... I was afraid I was going to destroy my BOW TIE antenna everytime I took it with me... I ended up mounting the BOW TIE on the NORTH side of my house here in Virginia and it is superb in performance for picking up Digital HDTV over the air signals for me...

My first Antenna I had up on my PVC pole using the POPUP trailer was one of those LOWES $90 yagi house antennas. Now this really worked good and got alot of attention at the camp grounds seeing it extend way out on both sides of my popup roof... This was a hard antenna to tote around the country and get it folded out to use every time you setup. I eventually destroyed it within a couple of months breaking off some elements putting it up and taking it down so many times. It also got tangled up with some tree limbs a couple of time as well. But is was very very good HDTV reception when it was working...


Roy's image

I have my best luck and great reception with my BATWING antenna. Typical reception is around 25-30 HDTV signals. If camping in the high country I have got over a hundred HDTV signals from the various towns to point to... Of course this is all duplicated when you move the antenna to a different position and pick up another town broadcasting the same stations...

My whole antenna pole setup including the BAT WING antenna is stowed between the two pushed in tent bed ends inside the popup where i have a good 12-inches or so gap when in travel mode. I am up and running OTA HDTV in just a few minutes when setting up... Got to go with what works best for you hehe...


Roy's image

Roy Ken

[RVPilot]

When over the air TV is limited, my best solution is a mobile hot spot and Amazon Fire TV. In fact... I hardly ever watch over the air channels. I seem to always have a cellular signal. Also have a dish... but rarely can get a clear shot to the satellite.

[Kozmo]

Yes, it is nice to be able to watch tv. But, as mentioned, if the signal is not available you are out of luck. I bought a new larger tv and our first camping trip we got zero channels. Of course the wife was quick to point out wasn't it a good idea to buy a bigger tv. So, I bought the Wingman for the antenna and the next trip, zero channels. You know what the wife said.....

[DocBrown]

DVD/BluRay has far more available than just movies. Lots of TV shows available too.

[Camper_bob]

I replaced the standard batwing head with a King Jack head on our TT. The difference was pronounced, but I wouldn't say it was a "significant" difference. It was indeed better though. It seemed like the King Jack was a little more forgiving on bearing? The MH came with the King Jack.

Anyway, we've been out a few times where we couldn't pick up any channels. In that case, we bring quite a selection of DVDs (including episodes of my son's favorite shows, and ours too if we want them), and we try to find a local FM station just in case for vitally important notices on news and weather.

I think the TV in our new MH is WIFI capable. If it is, I'm going to try to connect it to my phone's hotspot. We have an unlimited data plan, but we get throttled after 15 GB if there's any traffic. We use our phones to allow our laptops to connect to the "mother ship" while working in the field. Anyway, if that doesn't work, I have an old ROKU that I know will work with my phone if I have decent cell signal. If we're not getting TV channels, chances are pretty slim we're getting cell signal though.

Bottom line is that I haven't tested any of this yet because the TV really isn't that important to us when we're out. We'll watch a movie while falling asleep at night, or to keep the boy entertained sometimes (especially on long travel days), but other than that, we're usually doing something else and the TV is off most of the time.

What I'm more interested in these days is how I can set up a small projector outside the MH! I think it would be fun sometimes to catch a movie outside if the weather's nice. Some of the parks we've stayed at have "movies under the stars" or something similar, and that always sounded fun to me...

[poohbear]

I added the batwing to our antennae and a better signal amplifier & have found several channels most everywhere we cam except Withrow Springs SP in Arkansas. Its down in a hole . no TV & no cell . That's camping.