Winnegard TV Antenna

My 2000 Winne Adventurer has a Winnegard TV antenna on the roof that was factory installed.  Does this antenna receive digital signals from broadcast airwaves from local channels?

Yes, it should pick them up - make sure you have the switch on it is a little switch on the connection plate, it turns the amplifier on....mine has a little red light on it when on.

Good Luck,

Jim

It does, but is directional. You will have to point in different directions to get all channels. Use the signal strength meter in the TV setup.

And if you are not sure in what direction the broadcast towers are, you can use a website like this.

http://www.tvfool.com/

Yes, but it might profit a bit from this Winegard Wingman add-on:  http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/winegard-wingman/44021   

Why?? Because the original 'batwing' was designed for lower frequencies than the higher frequencies that digital signals are now broadcast on.

That said, you may also require a digital to analog signal converter for digital signals as the older TV's cannot decode them without help.

Maybe Winnebago was way ahead of everyone else, but most of the country changed from analog to digital TV starting in 2007 or so. Some may remember needing a digital to analog converter to make their older TV's compatible with the new digital signal. Unless the OP has upgraded the TV set he most likely won't be tuning in the digital signal without the converter in-line.

But then again, maybe Winnebago had special TV's and antennas made to take advantage of digital signals which didn't start their broadcast life for 6 years......  :

Ken

BrentHG said:

My 2000 Winne Adventurer has a Winnegard TV antenna on the roof that was factory installed.  Does this antenna receive digital signals from broadcast airwaves from local channels?

Click to expand...

Short answer YES..

Long answer 1: In days of old when you got ANALOG Tv the signal was broadcast on a range of frequencies we called channels 2 through... originally 83 later lowered to 69...  The antenna you have was designed for 2-69  Today now that we have DIGITAL ATSC.. the signal is broadcast... On the exact same frequencies.  THe major difference is this.

The channel number on the TV may no longer corospond to the transmission frequency  IE: in one place I park 7 is 7, in another 7 is really 41 (And 2 is using 7). 

ALSO power is greatly (And I mean GREATLY) reduced... So you may wish to improve the antenna some.. DO NOT BUY A REPLACEMENT JUST YET..  Lab tests have been done by an RVer with access to a RF-Lab.  He found the basic Batwing beats all comers at VHF High band.. Add the Wingman and it beats all comers on UHF as well. 

The wingman is around 30 bucks, and you can install it yourself in just a few minutes .. A pair of standard slip joint pliars may (or may not) be helpful  that is normally the only tool needed.

In addition,,, Inside many RV's there is a wall plate.. It has the 12 volt outlet, switch, light and antenna connection on it's face and 3 more connections plus power on the back.

Replacing this unit with the SENSAR PRO.. Greatly improves operation.. Cost is around 100 more or less and it's a do it yourself job you will need a screwdriver and optionally pliars and a 7/16 or 11mm wrench.

If you have a box of many buttons (Matrix Switch) to select Ant or DVD or such.. Ask and I can tell you how to put the Sensar pro in front of it.    REally like mine.  As I sit here I'm watching a show recorded over the air... CABLE also delivers this station,, but not as good. !!! (45 miles distant).

Yesterday, I bought a new 28" flat panel TV, hooked up the coax, powered up the new TV and it went through the setup and searched for available channels my area.  There are 28 channels available and everything is working perfect.

Thanks for all the input.

Being as it's been six years since the world went digital... I keep forgetting that older TV's even flat screens were not ATSC compatible.  I would expect the prior owners would have upgraded by now.

Thanks for reminding me yet again.

I upgraded mine in 2012 and 2013

The fun part is where I'm parked there are a few channels that I get via both cable and OTA.. They come in better OTA.

John From Detroit said:

Replacing this unit with the SENSAR PRO.. Greatly improves operation.. Cost is around 100 more or less and it's a do it yourself job you will need a screwdriver and optionally pliars and a 7/16 or 11mm wrench.

If you have a box of many buttons (Matrix Switch) to select Ant or DVD or such.. Ask and I can tell you how to put the Sensar pro in front of it.    REally like mine.  As I sit here I'm watching a show recorded over the air... CABLE also delivers this station,, but not as good. !!! (45 miles distant).

Click to expand...

John: I would like to know how to install the Sensar Pro in front of the BOMB.  That is the only unit supplying power to the antenna and I'm not sure how to connect it properly.
Thanks
-George

Instructions are included with the Sensar Pro. but basically you just cut it in,, You disconnect the ANT lead from the BOMB and hook it to the Sensar Pro.. You run a jumper from the Pro to the BOMB and you splice into the 12 volt leads to the BOMB and run them over to the PRO as well.. The Pro now provides power to the antenna and is designed so that the power from the BOMB does not bother it.  I mounted my PRO in a standard outlet box from the local hardware.

John From Detroit said:

Instructions are included with the Sensar Pro. but basically you just cut it in,, You disconnect the ANT lead from the BOMB and hook it to the Sensar Pro.. You run a jumper from the Pro to the BOMB and you splice into the 12 volt leads to the BOMB and run them over to the PRO as well.. The Pro now provides power to the antenna and is designed so that the power from the BOMB does not bother it.  I mounted my PRO in a standard outlet box from the local hardware.

Click to expand...

Sounds easy enough.
Thanks 
-George

It was a bit harder when I did it the first time.. (The TV network in this RV is .. Different) But when I finally upgraded my TV's to what they are now it got much much simpler (Hooked up more or less as advertised above.. (I did run the TV-2 coax to a Digital adapter in the back,,    Works great.. Nice strong signals to both adapters (DTV Pal in front via BOMB and Zenith/Insigna/LG (Piece of crap but one of the best receivers in the field) in the rear.  Rear TVs can view 1: Front DVR or Rear Adapter/OTA antena (A/B switch) or USB thumb drive (play MP4) , 2: Park Cable or Rear DVR or Computer.. or USB DVR (does not really work well but the TV can act like a sort of DVR). both have other inputs not currently used.

Rear computer is a file server feeds Program guides to the DVR's among other things (Can remote control them and download from them and serve back) 

In short.. All those features that ONLY _____ LETS YOU DO.... I do.. For free (well 25/year)