TV Antenna Update 2002 Journey DL?

[Santa Gene]

Has anyone changed out there factory antenna for a Digital one ?

[be happy]

I am in the middle of tv antenna project. On my past unit I had installed a "omni directional " antenna for one reason or another.

So this spring as the omni antenna was just laying in the garage, I thought why not take off the satellite receiver (in motion type) and replace with on omni. I figured on using the coax from satellite for the omni.

Once installed I tested the number of channels got on the omni vs. the batwing.To my surprise the number was the same, all that work for nothing. Now I am using the batwing with hopes this fall to rewire the omni with new cozx in hopes its will make a difference.

Sometimes old trusted and true are still the best.

[creativepart]

Pretty much the benefit of the newer “digital antenna” is that you don’t have to remember to crank it down. But generally the old batwing version works as well or better. Newer RVs all come with something like the KING Jack Directional Over-the-Air Antenna with Mount & Built-in Signal Meter. It works pretty well but better? I’m not sure.

[Morich]

Antenna are funny things with small point to make them work better or not!
The main point on omni over batwing are that we don't crank them up or aim them to get the best signal.
But the downside of omni is that we can't crank them up to get higher to get better signal and we can't turn them to point more directly at the transmitter!

So we get the question of whether we want to fiddle a bit more and possibly get better signal from a specific direction or do we want to avoid fiddle time but agree to possibly less signal strength as the omni has less surface pointed to any one specific direction?

So do we stay in high density areas where there is always a good signal or do we go out further and may need to work a bit to get the signal that may not be so strong?


Higher and wider is often better than the short round antenna. Remember the old six foot long and six foot wide antenna that folks put up on as tall tower as they could manage?
They worked great but they are not handy on an RV!

The old 56-58? Aljo with the latest tech in TV! We were way out in front when we could watch TV and still go camping!

[Santa Gene]

Thanks everyone for the info . The previous owner took batwing off so I need to put something up there. Thinking I will take batwing base off an mount omnidirectional in same place and use wire that is there. Let you know how it works out . Thanks

[Jakm]

I’m still in the batwing crowd. I tried a King Jack and had poor results. Adding the Wingman attachment if not already equipped is a big improvement. Replacing the stock amplifier with the Winegard Sensar Pro amplifier that has adjustable gain and signal meter is a worthwhile upgrade that allows you to point and zero in on a signal. There are apps and websites that will give your reachable towers. For those I like tvfool.com.

[Keith H]

An Omni antenna has less gain than a directional antenna so less signal strength. I just went through the same process and bought the KING Jack Directional Over-the-Air Antenna with Mount & Built-in Signal Meter . However when it arrived the directions said when you remove the bat wing crank up antenna there are several holes that need to be covered with a special plate. Also the antenna would be beside an air conditioning unit not above so screened in one direction.

My previous King bat wing antenna only lasted 4 years and when I considered scraping off the old sealant, installing a plate then King Jack Directional and if it fails removing it all again I punted and returned the unit.

To replace my King bat wing antenna it is 1/3 cost and less than 5 minutes to change.

[SqueakyWheel]

Originally Posted by Santa Gene

Has anyone changed out there factory antenna for a Digital one ?

There's no such thing as a digital antenna. It's a marketing gimmick to call it "digital". L

For example, the Winegard Batwing hasn't changed in nearly 25 years.

And it hasn't had to; The new digital channel signals are still broadcast over analog carriers... the same UHF frequencies that OTA antennas have been pulling in since before you or I was born.

50+ year old yagi antennas pick up digital channels just fine.

For campers, I always recommend the crank-up Batwing with the UHF sidecar added, that helps with a little added gain. Best all-round compact/portable TV antenna out there.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Pretty much the benefit of the newer “digital antenna” is that you don’t have to remember to crank it down. But generally the old batwing version works as well or better. Newer RVs all come with something like the KING Jack Directional Over-the-Air Antenna with Mount & Built-in Signal Meter. It works pretty well but better? I’m not sure.

Same here.


To Santa Green; A "Digital antenna" is a marketing scheme. There is no difference in receiving a digital or analog signal, what an antenna is receiving is a frequency wave.
This is why my 25 yr old batwing RV antenna works to receive both formats.
BTW, analog TV signals were eliminated in 2021 I think.

reference: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides...tal-television

[emiddleb]

Many stations at the digital switchover moved their signals from VHF (2-13) to UHF (14-83) frequencies. Lots of the older antennas were optimized for VHF so performed poorly in the digital world, not because of the analog vs digital, but because of the change in frequency from VHF to UHF.

Winegard came out with the Wingman attachment for the older crank-up antennas, essentially (and they say so) just a better UHF antenna. Newer antennae all have improved UHF receptions so work better than the old ones.

[CharlesMoore]

I still use the old "batwing" and have a Winegard yagi snap-on director ( yes it makes the onmi directional a higher gain directional antenna). I still have the standard OEM amplifier. This setup works great in my 2002 Journey. I am not sure if Winegard still makes the yagi attachment.


After 30 years in the radio business the concept of a digital antenna is a marketing one. An antenna is an antenna. The preamplifier can be filtered for certain digital signals but that is about it. The batwing should serve you for many years to come. However, do pull new coaxial cable for the old antenna.

[Sierradave]

I still have my original 2006 batwing. A friend I travel with has an Omni antenna. We both get the same number of channels. But I can adjust my batwing to improve a marginal OTA signal. The batwing picks up both digital and analog signals. My biggest TV improvement was getting a Samsung smart TV.