"Amp'ing" The Jayco Antenna for Digital TV

[Jayflight]

Hey guys dunno if this has been discussed here or not, but since the conversion to digital tv (non analog) the antenna in my Jayco has been useless. I'm finding that the market is taking these "amplifiers" and attaching them to common place "Bunny ears" (to tv's with built in tuners) to get the [poor] signal for DTV in city area.

The Jayco has a very nice antenna, anyone know if its possible to connect one of these "Amps" or boosters or what have you to that waffle antenna ontop of some jayco's?

[norty1]

My Jayco Wineguard antenna works fine with digital signals. They are susceptible to distant signals and you can move the antenna to fine tune the reception on a particular station.

[tlhdoc]

Your old antenna should still work. We have had an antenna at the house for many years. We only use it if our cable goes out. It still works with the digital signal. Not sure what " amplifiers" you are referring to. All of the RV antennas that I have seen have a signal booster built in to the trailer. Usually a small button by the 12 volt power connection.

[nitrohorse]

In addition to the OEM Winegard, I added the Wingman. It certainly helped improve reception.


http://www.winegard.com/wingman/index.php

[namusmc65]

My last two Jaycos had a wingard antenna with a built in amplifier. It is a small button that lights up by the antenna connections when you push it in. I get hardly any signal with the amplifier off but great digital channels with the amplifier on.

[Jayflight]

i didnt realize the unit had a built in amplifier. that black button actually did improve the functionality of the antenna although im still able to get more channels with one of these kooky rca "amplified" bunny-ears featured http://www.bestbuy.com/site/RCA+-+Amplified+Indoor+Off-Air+HDTV+Antenna/8280843.p?id=1171058630563&skuId=8280843&ref=06&lo c=01&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=8280843&extensionType= pla:g&s_kwcid=PTC!pla!!!22278234874!g!!6892553434& gclid=CIi0upipsrQCFUqoPAod8AYAXw]here

thanks for that info though. really useful.

[Jeff61]

Like most have said, the Winegard Sensar III is amplified already, is it working properly? Follow the instructions for troubleshooting if your amp is toast. The Wingman works great. I happen to have a Sanyo HDTV. It has a signal strength meter built in on the info button to dial in the signal. If you have tobuy a new TV for your RV pick one that has that feature. The flat side of the antenna is the "toward station side" and your wingman will point that way too! Put a mark on the rotating dial of your antenna so it references that direction. Carry a compass with you so you have a clue which way the station should be. You should be able to figure it out from here.

[Seann45]

Since I boondock all the time I have a big Yagi that I put out beside my RV..

[RoyBraddy]

I use the WINEGARD antenna all the time when we are camping off the power grid here on the East side of the US. We usually get 6-36 digital stations using the Winegard Antenna thathas the UHF add-on feature. This is using UHF frequencies now which means you will have to be be more exact moving the antenna to tune in the signals. I will point the batwing anrtenna towards the local town that is transmiting the digital HDTV signals. Then select ANTENNA and push in my amplifier button on and start the search for signals. If I dont start seeing DIGITAL signals being counted in the first 15% of the station count I will will stop searching and then move the antenna a couple of degrees one way or the other and startup the digital search again. My VIZIO HDTV takes well over five minutes to do a complete search so it works out for me to look at the first 15% which includes the local towns first. Some folks like to use the SURELOCK Digital TV finder box that may help you zero in on the HDTV signals.

We get full screen full blown HIGH DEF DIGITAL TV reception using our OTA batwing antenna. Kinda neat to watch NCIS and HAWAII 5-O way back in the woods when camping off the power grid. And its free on top ot that haha...

We even do this at regular camp sites that offer CABLE TV. Once you start watching HIGH DEF it is hard to go back to regular TV.

I'm doing all of this in my OFF-ROAD POPUP...

Roy Ken

[RoyBraddy]

SEANN45 = I did that for about six months. I picked the big VHF/UHF YAGI from LOWES (Their $90 model) and that did real well. My problem was it was usually too big for the trees around my camp sites. It certainly pulled in the digital UHF channels outstanding. I had to bring it down everytime we moved around and I eventually snapped off a couple of elements and had to quit using it... I never used a AMP with this guy and it did so well. Probably do even more better with a pre-amp...

Sure got alot of eyeballs from the camp ground crowd hehe... It would fold right up and go inside my POPUP for transport.

I might go dig it out and see if I can fix the two broken elements...

Roy Ken

[Tony Turacek]

I have a 2017 Jayco Eagle. No booster on Wyngard. Do they sell a booster

[triplebvalp]

Originally Posted by Tony Turacek

I have a 2017 Jayco Eagle. No booster on Wyngard. Do they sell a booster

Are you sure there's no booster? Look at the wall plate where the coaxial cable attaches ... probably behind the TV. There is a very small button on the plate that lights a green light, also on the plate when the booster is turned on.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Tony Turacek

I have a 2017 Jayco Eagle. No booster on Wyngard. Do they sell a booster

I have a 2017 Eagle and just like triplebvalp says, look for the button just to the right of the coax connector. You want the little green light on when viewing or scanning for stations over the antenna and turned off if you are connected/scanning for channels via cable at a campground.

[hyperactive]

My Wyngard works great as long as the booster it turned on. Is it ok if I leave it on all the time since it it hard to get to ? It's behind the TV .

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Bassdogs]

Originally Posted by hyperactive

My Wyngard works great as long as the booster it turned on. Is it ok if I leave it on all the time since it it hard to get to ? It's behind the TV .

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

That is fine if you don't connect to cable or satalite input. To receive either of them you have to turn the ant booster OFF.

[hyperactive]

Thanks

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[norty1]

When we are set up for over a day, I just leave mine on until we leave as long as I have ac power.

It's a trick to get down on my knees and reach way back to the switch.

I don't recall it ever doing much unless on for ota signals

[ACMC2023]

Originally Posted by namusmc65

My last two Jaycos had a wingard antenna with a built in amplifier. It is a small button that lights up by the antenna connections when you push it in. I get hardly any signal with the amplifier off but great digital channels with the amplifier on.

Hello,
Where is this button located, we are having such issues with our new camper

[norty1]

Originally Posted by ACMC2023

Hello,
Where is this button located, we are having such issues with our new camper

The amplifier is on the same plate that the antenna coax appears inside the rv.
Often it will be hidden somewhere near the television and you may have to look for it but once found you will always know. It has nothing to with digital tv but just a signal amplifier for the (over the air) OTA signal.

Make sure the little push button and green light light is off for cable tv signal.

[ACMC2023]

Originally Posted by norty1

The amplifier is on the same plate that the antenna coax appears inside the rv.
Often it will be hidden somewhere near the television and you may have to look for it but once found you will always know. It has nothing to with digital tv but just a signal amplifier for the (over the air) OTA signal.

Make sure the little push button and green light light is off for cable tv signal.

I talked to my husband and he said he has done that. What we are trying to do is get WiFi for things like Netflix or internet. How does this Winegard work for that? This wasn’t really explained to us. Why do I need to go to AT&T to buy data if there is a Winegard SIM card already in there.