TT tv antenna

I've only seen older posts on the tv antennas for travel trailers.  So here's a question that maybe me and other newbies need! Our 2002 travel trailer has a tv antenna and all the hookups. (I do not know the brand antenna.  It's a Mobile Scout trailer by Sunny Brooke) I know that there has been a conversion for tvs from analog to digital. Should I be able to just plug attachment to a tv and be able to watch local channels or will I need some kind of converter? Parks we have stayed and looked at do not have cable. And the satellites are too expensive for a few trips a year. We haven't purchased a small tv for the tt because I'm not sure if it will be worth it. Answers to this post will help decide that!  Thanks for everyone's patience!

Antennas don't care whether the signal is analog or digital, SD or HD. They do care whether you are in the low VHF, high VHF or UHF band, but most RV antennas are designed to work with all three bands anyway. The TV itself is where the difference comes in between digital and analog. Until very recently most RVs had a Winegard "batwing" antenna (usually a crankup), which typically has a wall plate somewhere that you connect the TV to. On that plate there's usually a small pushbutton switch and a green (or red) light. The button push changes from cable input to antenna (it has an amplifier) and back. If the light is on, it's set for antenna, off is for cable.

Fairly recently some RVs have gone to a smaller omni-directional (the batwing is directional and must be rotated for best reception) antenna, which works fine, but doesn't do as well with weaker signals. I'm not sure about its inside connections, as I've not used one.

Note that when someone talks about "HD antennas" it's just marketing hype, and has nothing to do with antenna functionality.

So Larry N. Are you saying we would be OK to go ahead and buy a small tv and hook it up?

Arkansas said:

So Larry N. Are you saying we would be OK to go ahead and buy a small tv and hook it up?

Click to expand...

Certainly. If you buy a new TV it will have the digital capability built in. You'll need to read the manual, of course, since the digital TVs generally require that you have it search and find the local TV stations at each new area you go to. Go to another area and you have to run that search again, unless you can receive the same stations (not just channel, but actual station) as in your previous spot. So if you were watching in Little Rock and drove to Dallas, you'd need to do the search again, for example.

@Larry N. Thanks so much for the help!

What Larry said.. To the antenna, it's all Radio.. But there is a difference between say VHF low and UHF,, big difference in fact... More later:

To the TELEVISION it matters if it is HD, SD, Digital, QAM or Didital ATSC  Not all televisions do "All of the above)

Older "Squarish" TV's. both flat screen and CRT, likely do not do ATSC (Digital over the air broadcast)
Modern "Wide screen" TV's. do, in fact it is a requirement for type acceptcance

ELEMENT TV's (the only TV made in the United States) do not do QAM (digital cable)

All do NTSC (Analog if you can still find a signal)

So if you have an older TV you will need "Some kind of convertert" (Digital television converter) if you are hooked to a cable system that is encrypted. or have a tv that like the Element does not do digital cable. You may need a box from the cable company.

And if you have a modern Wide Screen, say Jenson, Sony, Toshiba,  Dynex (What I'm watching) Or Samsung, to name just a few.. You need to follow instruction  (Set source type and then scan channels)


Now the antenna

There are many RV antennas.. one is kind of a "Flying Saucer' Round, omni (in fact two are) The most common "Flying saucer" is a winegard Roadstar, omni, and I give it a strong bronx cheer.. It's junk.

Moving up we have the JACK from King controls  ALso the rare directional flying saucer (I've nto seen it in RV stores... Just Radio Shack,, once saw one cut-away (With the covers removed,,Kind of compact really works)

Moving up we have Winegard Sensar line (Batwing)  Top of this line is the Sensar IV,

Sensar II and III can be improved by adding the WINGMAN which is a UHF director array (Fancy name means it improves UHF performance in case you wonder).

And adding the SENSAR PRO inside the RV (Replaces the wall plate or can be installed between antenna and a box of many buttons (Matrix switch)  gives you the best RV TV antenna system made..

What I'm using to feed my Dynex just now.