Have you switched from 'bat-wing' to Jack antenna?

[Tail_gunner]

I'm looking for some feedback from folks who have gone from the Winegard 'bat-winged' antenna to a Jack TV antenna.

I have added the Wingman to the Sensar 'bat-winged' antenna that came on our 2013 Eagle TT.
I also added the SensarPro TV Signal Strength Meter in place of the very lame factory installed signal booster.

I am still not happy with the reception though. This past weekend, the weather was pretty crappy, cool and rainy and it seemed to have a definite detrimental effect on signal reception.

I have heard some about the Jack antenna. But I think I would like to hear from more than a couple of people before I jump on that bandwagon.

Thanks

[glsimms]

Hey TG..... It looks like our choices are somewhat limited to the antenna or satellite (expensive).

I'll be following along though and seeing what others have to say as I also added the Wingman as well.

[DocBrown]

I wonder if something is wrong? I've heard really goods things about that Wingman head.

We replaced our "batwing" with a Jack replacement head and also bought a SureLock signal finder which is made by the same company. Wow! What a difference. North of Two Rivers, WI, we used to get 7 stations with the batwing. With the Jack we get 20 stations.

You said you replaced the built in power booster with the signal finder? I'm not sure you should do that. With the SureLock signal finder, it sits in-line and does not replace the built in signal booster.

[RoyBraddy]

ALot of folks have great reports switching to the KING JACK antenna. I use the JACK here on the house and it does great...

My off-road POPUP trailer is still using the BATWING and gets 6-36 digital NATIONAL BROADCAST HDTV signals from the local towns here on the East side of the US. It works great enough for us not to switch over.

Th easiest way to switch is to get the KING JACK retrofit antenna which mounts to your existing crank-up BATWING assy. Just mounts in the same holes the BATWIND wing uses... Takes only a few minutes to install...




Still others like to remove the whole crank-up assy and mount the KING JACK antenna in the same hole thru the roof. This version only rotates and does not need to be cranked up. The JACK antenna can use the same 12VDC Antenna Power Supply WALL PANEL the BATWING antenna used. I would imagine if you are going to use this version and if it rotates and is looking right into the side of the roof mounted air conditioner it may not pick up as well in that direction.




Roy Ken

[reitrof]

Roy,

Can you use the SureLock signal finder with the 1st method you specify, using the existing crank?

Thanks

[DocBrown]

Yes. It connects inline between the coax cable and the TV. It even comes with connectors. We have quick connects on ours because we take the tv off the mount when traveling, so I just connect the signal finder to get the direction needed and then put it away.

[RoyBraddy]

Bruce - Sure can... Like said above this just connects in-line with your cable in the trailer. I use one here all the time. Sure makes it alot easier to use the surelock first and get the antenna zero'ed in the transmitting HDTV signal before scanning. My VIZIO takes a pretty long time to complete its scan.

When I dont have my SURELOCK with me I will point to the local town and start up my scan. If I dont see digital stations start coiunt in up in the first 15% of the scan I will stop the scan and move the antenna one direction or the other by just a few degrees and re-start the scan again...



We are pretty well pleased picking the digital HDTV stations here on the East side of the US... I really like the full time WX RADAR channels that usually at least one is on from a local time showing where all the bad storms are located. Getting caught in our OFF-ROAD POPUP is not a good move sometimes haha...

Roy Ken

[glsimms]

You guys that are using the Surelock meter, do you like it? Does it work? One guy even put it in his junk drawer!

Reason I ask is because I was on amazons' web-site and it gets rather low marks.....

http://www.amazon.com/King-Controls-...owViewpoints=1

[reitrof]

Thanks Roy and Chuck. I bought one and installed it on the existing crank. Picked up 3 more channels, since I only had 3 before and now have doubled to 6!!!. Still waiting on the Surelock.

[Tail_gunner]

It seems pretty consistent that people are benefiting from going with the Jack antenna. There are so dreadfully few stations U.P. in my neck of the woods, I need all the help I can get. So I've decided to give it a try also and ordered one from Amazon.com.

I'm going to put it on the existing 'bat-wing' mount since it gives the antenna a little more height. Also I'm for now going to try the Jack antenna with the Winegard SensarPro. I like the way the SensarPro allows you to scan for existing channels and then aim the antenna towards a specific transmitter. So I'll try the combination of the two and see how they work together. I can always get a SureLock later if the SensarPro combo doesn't work out.

[Tail_gunner]

UPDATE: I received my Jack antenna. Before installing it, I conducted a reception test with the old Winegard antenna. With the camper parked in my driveway, I made note of what stations I received with the antenna pointed in each of the 8 principle compass directions. To my chagrin, I picked up every one I was expecting to plus a couple of surprises.

I then installed the Jack antenna on the original crank-up mast. At first I did not think it was working since I could not see that the power LED on the antenna was on. I waited until dark, and only then was I able to see that it was indeed illuminated. I tried the reception test using the Winegard SensarPro still installed in the camper. I picked up every channel I did with the Winegard 'bat-wing' antenna, but no others. I think that may be because of two reasons. One: my area is in sort of a 'bowl' surrounded by higher terrain and secondly: the distance to any other stations. TV stations in the U.P. are far and few between.

So a more definitive test will have to wait until our next camping trip.

[Tail_gunner]

After doing as much of an unbiased comparison as I could, I have decided to return the Jack antenna and keep the Winegard antenna.

The Winegard antenna I have is the Sensar III that came standard on our 2013 Eagle TT. I added the Winegard Wingman UHF Booster to it, and in effect, FWIU, now making the Sensar III equivalent to a Sensar IV. After that, I ditched the standard antenna booster in favor of the Winegard SensarPro signal strength meter and booster.

My initial comparisons in the driveway were rather inconclusive. But differences in existing weather conditions between the day I made my first comparisons and today I think made diferences between the two antennas more noticeable. After my first comparisons, I left the Jack on the antenna mast for our camping weekend. I used it with the Winegard SensarPro booster/meter since it offered more functions than the simple booster included with the Jack. But once I got out camping, the Jack antenna and SensarPro combo failed to provide a watchable signal on the two network channels closest to the campground. The signal continuously faded in & out. I swapped the antennas out and put the Winegard back up and was able to pull in the two channels with no problems. I left it there for the rest of our camping trip.

Once we got home I decided to run another comparison. I put the Jack back on the Winegard antenna mast with new coax running in the door to the Jack's signal booster and direct to the TV. I then pointed the Jack antenna in several directions and scanned for TV stations. Three stations were fading in & out and not watchable.

Next I removed the Jack's booster and connected the Winegard SensarPro booster/signal strength meter. Again I pointed the Jack in several directions, but this time I used the SensarPro to precisely aim the Jack antenna to get the strongest signal for all the detectable channels. Again the same three stations were fading in & out but not quite as bad as with the Jack's booster. I then made notes of the indicated signal strength and the direction of each channel.

Lastly, I put the Winegard Sensar III and Winegard Wingman back on the antenna mast. I pointed the Sensar III/ Wingman at each of the stations detected by the SensarPro. The Sensar III/ Wingman combination picked up every channel the Jack did, but unlike the Jack, all the stations were clear, steady and not fading in & out. The last thing I did was get signal strength readings off the SensarPro. Every one of the stations had a significantly higher strength reading than the Jack antenna did using the same indicator.

So I believe I have shown convincingly and as impartially as I could, that the Winegard Sensar III and Wingman works better than the Jack. So I have concluded the Jack can

"Hit the Road!!!"

[Threebutchers]

Thanks Tail_gunner....nice side-by-side comparison

[Tail_gunner]

After having several days to ponder the results I got from my antenna comparison, I think I may have a theory as to why my results were contrary to what others experienced when switching to the Jack antenna.

I think that most folks that try the Jack antenna, are starting out with the Winegard Sensar III antenna.


While I had the Sensar III antenna, I had added the Wingman:


Which gave me this configuration which from what I can tell is the same as the Sensar IV:


Since the FCC mandated the change to digital tv in the USA a few years ago, all but very low power tv stations are now broadcast in only the UHF frequency spectrum.

According to Winegard, the Wingman accessory increases UHF reception significantly:


I suspect many folks are comparing Jack antenna to the Winegard Sensar III antenna when they realize better reception with the Jack.

But when you add the Wingman accessory to the Sensar III or a have Sensar IV which has the already Wingman included, I suspect the Jack may fall short in digital reception.

Again, just my theory as to why I got different results than many other folks who switched to the Jack antenna.

[Tail_gunner]

One thing I'd like to add, several years ago, I was a parts guy at a RV dealer. One day one of our parts distributors came by with the Winegard antenna rep in tow. Something he told me that stuck was the enhancements they made to their 'batwing' antenna. With the switch to digital TV a few years back, Winegard tweeked the 'batwing' to improve the reception. I asked the guy how to tell the new 'tweeked' antennas from from the old ones. Apparently the old antennas had unpainted, silver wings. But the new antennas have painted wings. So if you have an antenna with silver wings, it's an old one. If it has painted wings, it is a newer one with better digital signal reception.