Satellite and over the air antennas

I?m upgrading to an hd tv in my fifth wheel, and will be installing a satellite antenna for dish on the roof. Question is do I require an hd upgrade to my wyngard batwing antenna to get over the air channels in hd. I purchased an over the air tv adapter that plugs in to the Wally receiver, so those channels will be included on the receiver.

If your TV is working well with your current antenna, no upgrade is needed. There are NO HD antennas except in the minds of the antenna company marketing departments. If you don't already have one, adding a Winegard Wingman add-on to your existing batwing will help boost the UHF reception, and a Winegard SensarPro signal strength meter and amplifier will add another level of performance boost.

Over the air TV antennas come in only one flavor!  Any claims of HD or DIGITAL is total hype!  A good antenna with a 40 year old design is still s good antenna for ALL TV signals.  If you currently get acceptable reception over the air, keep the current antenna.

Like others have said, there is no difference in the antenna required to receive digital TV, EXCEPT that many TV stations moved from VHF (2-13) to the UHF (14+) channels.  If your present antenna is working OK, you're set.  Otherwise, you may want to add an attachment like the Winegard Wingman that boosts the antenna's UHF performance.

You have to do a channel scan when you first turn on the digital TV or whenever you move from one area to the other.  This is because the FCC allows TV stations to use Virtual Channels instead of the actual channel they are transmitting on to preserve their legacy channel branding.  In other words, when you select NBC on Channel 4, the TV has to know to actually tune to the digital signal on Channel 36 instead.

For over the air reception... Though some companies slapped an "HD TV" label on their antennas, all they did was jack up the price,  IN days of old Analog television was broadcast on channels 2-60something (originally 1-13 then 2-13 then 2-83 then 2-69 and now 2-60something. The frequencies for these channels has not changed since.. Well the dawn of television.. Only the number of channels.

When they switched to "Digital" They did not change the frequencies of the channels. THOUGH now the "Display" channel. may or more often than not, MAY NOT be the same as the broadcast channel. Examaple of both, Where I am now Channel 7, is the same old channel 7 it has always been only now it's 7-1,2,3.
Where I summer they use... I think.> Channel 41, but ti still says 7-1,2,3 on the screen.

THe moral. The same antenna still works.

HOWEVER. Many stations (like 7 in my summer) have moed to UHF, adding the WINGMAN (about 30 bucks) to a Winegard Sensar II or III will improve UHF range and performance.

Swapping a SENSOR PRO for the wall plate with the switch and light. EVEN more improvement.

But depending on where you park, may not be needed.


Now Satellite..
Roof top antennas suffere from a major shortcoming.. If you are parked under ye old Evil Signal Eating Tree. NO SIGNAL

Ground mount with 50 or 100 feet of RG-6 gets "Around" (Literally) this problem

HOEVER an IN-MOTION Roof mount (DISH ONLY) can record while you travel.. If you have a DVR, but alas only one channel.  alas they don;t work well with DirecTV

You said an "HD TV" but I suspect what you really mean is "Digital TV", all of which have been capable of receiving and displaying both HD and SD programming since about 2009.  Your existing over-the-air antenna will receive any tv broadcast, whether the channel is broadcasting SD or HD programming.  However, a newer or upgraded antenna may give better performance on UHF channels, which are now in much greater use than back in the 90's and early 2000's (refer to Lou's  reply).

You mentioned using a satellite receiver, so be aware that your satellite service may be largely SD programming if you use Direct TV.  Direct has placed many of their HD specialty channels on a separate satellite which your satellite antenna may or may not be able to receive.  If you use Dish, you should be able to get both the SD and HD programming.

Thanks for the help. One other question about the over the air antenna. I use a digital converter box I installed when we had the old tube type analog TV. That?s what I used yesterday on the new TV to get over the air channels, however they weren?t in HD. Will I still have to go through the converter box to the over the air adapter that plugs into the Wally receiver, or just straight from the antenna into the adapter and into the receiver? Thanks again to all.

If you have a newer (typically flat screen, HD) TV, then the converter box isn't needed. That box is only for the older TVs that didn't receive ATSC (that is, the newer, digital picture coding).

tchase002 said:

Thanks for the help. One other question about the over the air antenna. I use a digital converter box I installed when we had the old tube type analog TV. That?s what I used yesterday on the new TV to get over the air channels, however they weren?t in HD. Will I still have to go through the converter box to the over the air adapter that plugs into the Wally receiver, or just straight from the antenna into the adapter and into the receiver? Thanks again to all.

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Any TV made after 2009 (the date of the digital conversion) will have a digital tuner built-in, so it can receive the digital broadcasts directly and in HD. It can connect directly to the antenna, you don't need to go through the converter box.  They'll also receive the older analog signals as some rural area TV translators and boosters (and some basic cable packages) still use analog.

The converter box is only needed for an older analog-only TV.  It changes the digital signals into analog, then you tune the TV to receive the analog signal on Channel 3 or 4.

In either case, you'll have to do a Channel Scan so the TV or box can build a database of the available signals.  With digital signals, the TV can display Channel 4 while the actual signal is on Channel 36, so the tuner has to know how to make the translations.  Analog signals will appear on their true channels.

That?s what I wasn?t sure about. Just had the TV connected directly to the antenna and the channels that broadcast in HD are that on the TV. I also forgot to turn the booster on the antenna on, and that was most of the problem. Temperature?s going to be in the 60?s this week, so I?ll get the satellite dish mounted. Thanks again.

When you feed the OTA signal to the Wally via the USB adapter, make sure your TV is connected using an HDMI cable to get the full benefit of the available HD broadcasts. With OTA on the Wally, you'll be doing the scanning with the Wally, not with the TV. Oh, and the Wally will not receive analog signals, digital only...

Can you tell me what you get with the 190+ channel package in regard to the local network channels. Do you need to call Dish to set those up each time you move, or do they automatically show up in the Wally?

I don't have a Wally, so what I'm about to say may not apply for you. I can get local channels 3 ways:
1) Over the air with the antenna and the tv input set to tv. The sat receiver isn't involved at all.
2)Over the air with the antenna hooked to the input of the sat receiver. The receiver would have to scan the locals and
      would then display them in the guide. No charge for this.
3) Via my sat dish and receiver, no over the air antenna involved. To get this I call or chat with Dish and have them change
    my SERVICE address to where I am. There is a monthly fee for this ($10/month I think).

The local channels you will receive will depend on where you are and how many locals are available there. Right now I'm in Miami Florida and I'm getting nearly 100 locals, many, many Spanish and a ton of infomercial stations. I am using method 3 above. Dish satellite channels start with #100 and go  up.

ChasA said:

I don't have a Wally, so what I'm about to say may not apply for you. I can get local channels 3 ways:
1) Over the air with the antenna and the tv input set to tv. The sat receiver isn't involved at all.
2)Over the air with the antenna hooked to the input of the sat receiver. The receiver would have to scan the locals and
      would then display them in the guide. No charge for this.
3) Via my sat dish and receiver, no over the air antenna involved. To get this I call or chat with Dish and have them change
    my SERVICE address to where I am. There is a monthly fee for this ($10/month I think).

The local channels you will receive will depend on where you are and how many locals are available there. Right now I'm in Miami Florida and I'm getting nearly 100 locals, many, many Spanish and a ton of infomercial stations. I am using method 3 above. Dish satellite channels start with #100 and go  up.

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There is no fee to have DISH change your service address. I change ours as often as daily at times using the chat system. That $10 fee is for the locals no matter how often you change them. DISH used to include the locals in the package price with no option to drop them, but now they break it out and you can drop the locals if you want to.

I have the new TV connected to both the old system (a long black box with buttons to select what source you want), and the sat with the OTA antenna connected to the receiver. First trip this spring is to the NASCAR race at Talladega in Alabama, then a week in New Orleans, then make our way to Kansas City, MO, and another race there. 3 weeks total. Too bad Dish wouldn?t let me have 1 month, (15th April to 15th May), but I assume their pay as you go service begins on the 1st of the month, so I?ll have to pay for 2 months. Most of the RV parks we?ll stay in are next to large cities, so I can probably get by with just having the receiver scan the locals. Know what you mean about all the OTA channels available. Live in Lincoln, NE, (300,000 population) and the new TV scanned 31 channels, (only 1 Spanish).

I didn't mean to imply the Dish charges to change locations.  The charge is for receiving the locals via satellite.

Tcchas.  The month starts when you activate the service .  Currently,  my monthly service starts on the 13th.

ChasA said:

I didn't mean to imply the Dish charges to change locations.  The charge is for receiving the locals via satellite.

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I didn't think so, but I wanted to make sure that was clear to others considering Dish...

That?s some good news on the monthly charges. I can get by with only buying 1month. Understood the local charge. Wouldn?t have surprised me if they wanted $10 every move though.

Dish also offers a "Distant Network Service" for qualified RV'ers and truckers. DNS lets you receive the LA locals anywhere in the country in place of the regional locals for the same price. Rumor has it they'll be offering an east coast locals set as well, but I've seen no time frame on that. We prefer getting the locals for the area we're in though, so we're certainly glad they don't charge for our frequent address changes.

I'm with Dutch.  One phone call to Dish, tell them I moved the coach, and 5 minutes later we're watching TV with the locals.
I did have to call and have one of our receivers re-authorized because we'd had that TV hooked up to the park cable instead of the dish for 3 months, but again, just a simple phone call.