Conan42
Orlando
New Member
Joined: 02/28/2012
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
My wife and I just bought our first TT, a CampLite CL16BHB made by LivinLite. Our unit came wired for tv's, but with no antenna. Is there some kind of antenna I can simply connect to the cable outlet on the outside. The only thing I can find are the portable satellite dishs.
Thanks for the help.
|
skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
Senior Member
Joined: 12/17/2003
View Profile
|
Probably need to have a "Winegard Batwing" installed. It is an electrically boosted directional antennae which lays flat on the roof when in motion and cranks up to the USE position from inside the RV. It's actually a little unusual for a new trailer to come without a batwing but I suppose it's possible for some models to leave it out. It is often in a package of "forced options" which they charge you extra for but you have no choice. The RV industry is a tricky bunch that way 
Good luck / Skip
Here's a link to a pretty good antennae. I'm just a LITTLE concerned about the advertising which says it's a DTV (digital) antennae for HD stations. There is actually no need for ANYTHING special for an antennae to pick up Digital signals (the antennae doesn't know the difference) and HD can be picked up by any antennae also.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/ite........winegard-sensar-iv-dtvhdtv-antenna/50011
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR -
2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles)
2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
US Govt survey shows three out of four people make up 75% of the total population
|
Old-Biscuit
Across the USA
Senior Member
Joined: 06/20/2009
View Profile
|
We have the OEM Winegard Batwing antenna and sometimes it just doesn't pull in all available channels due to signal strength/distance etc.
So I purchased an antenna from ACE hardware store, attached it to a 1" diameter 5' long piece of pipe and mount it on my ladder when we use it. Then run a coax cable from it to cable/sat input on trailer and use it. It greatly improves TV channel reception.
TV Antenna
Ladder mount
|
westend
all over
Senior Member
Joined: 11/17/2011
View Profile
 Online
|
Old-Biscuit wrote:We have the OEM Winegard Batwing antenna and sometimes it just doesn't pull in all available channels due to signal strength/distance etc.
So I purchased an antenna from ACE hardware store, attached it to a 1" diameter 5' long piece of pipe and mount it on my ladder when we use it. Then run a coax cable from it to cable/sat input on trailer and use it. It greatly improves TV channel reception.
TV Antenna
Ladder mount Good to hear another antenna besides the Winegard Batwing is doing the job. I plan to use an externally mounted antenna, too. I have the original pole mounts still in place on the side of the TT. My experience with antennas tells me that height is the #1 factor with reception and if a guy is willing to spend the 5 minutes to deploy and break down an antenna, it will work as good or better than the Batwing.
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
'71 Starcraft Wanderstar -- The Cowboy/Hilton
|
Conan42
Orlando
New Member
Joined: 02/28/2012
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
Do any of these external antennas need a power source?
|
|
|
CANEY
midland
Senior Member
Joined: 09/21/2004
View Profile
|
I purchased an amplified Radio Shack flat panel antenna with an indoor power supply. Because HD is a UHF signal and with line-of-site restrictions, it's best to get it in the air. I purchased six "roof rake" handle extentions and bungie corded it to the ladder on my 5th wheel. With a thirty foot mast, I get a lot of HD tv stations. Most of these antennas are very directional.
Dennis & Melody
2004 27 FT HR Savoy
2000 GMC 1/2t Std Cab short box
NOMADS
|
RoyB
King George, VA
Senior Member
Joined: 04/13/2008
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
I always thought the crank-up BATWING OTA TV antenna was pretty much standard issue on all trailers. Guess not...
That is what I use here and get 6-36 digital HDTV high def TV signals just about anywhere we go here on the east side of the US... My OFF-ROAD POPUP did not have an external antenna so I installed a two piece two-inch diameter PVC pole with a BATWING antenna on top of it.
This antenna does require DC power for the built-in pre-amp mounted in the BATWING antenna head. My POPUP trailer was already wired for that.
All of this takes me less than 5-minutes to setup when I first arrive at a camp site.
Its kinda neat to pickup the new High Def digital TV signals off the OTA BATWING antenna. This is the Natl Broadcast local CBS-ABC-NBC-FOX-PBS high def stations offered free to the public. Watching high def full screen digital TV in the woods is pretty neat. Just point the BATWING HDTV antenna to the local town transmitting the digital HD signals and scan them into your HDTV. We use the VIZIO 22-inch LCD Flatscreen HDTV (less than $200 Walmart)
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me
Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
.JPG)
|
Old-Biscuit
Across the USA
Senior Member
Joined: 06/20/2009
View Profile
|
Conan42 wrote:Do any of these external antennas need a power source?
The one I use doesn't........
|
westend
all over
Senior Member
Joined: 11/17/2011
View Profile
Online
|
I've been looking for an antenna and found a few that have a motorized rotor, most of them operating at lower DC voltage. Is a rotor wanted or necessary? Some of the antennas come with a remote for the rotor so ease of use is built in. Are these lower priced remote controlled rotors a good solution or is rotating manually a better solution? I'm thinking that, for camping, once you have the antenna pointed towards the transmission location, rotating the antenna isn't a priority. Is my thinking correct?
|
