Antenna

[Todd5520]

Anyone know what the blue cable is for I purchased a 2021 30rls with winegard 360 plus

[NH_Bulldog]

It is a prewire for a rooftop satellite dish installation. There is a connection point sticking out of the Winegard 360 housing on the roof to connect a satellite dish to. Inside the dome attached to that connector is the other end of that blue coax from the wet bay.

If you don’t ever intend to use a rooftop dish, you can tape the end and poke it back through the hole, or tape it to the wall in the wet bay, just leave it hanging there, or keep it connected to the KeyTv box, the choice is yours.

If you want to use a portable dish, you would just connect the coax to the SAT terminal on the KeyTv box like the blue one is now.

[Todd5520]

Will this effect how well my tv catches Channels when searching I find the signals are weak

[NH_Bulldog]

It shouldn’t. Unless you install a rooftop satellite dish, the other end of the blue coax isn’t connected to any device.

The bigger issue is that your rooftop antenna is “omnidirectional” and cannot be tuned or adjusted to point towards a prevailing strong digital television broadcast signal unlike the older crank-up rotatable antennas that only could receive now-discontinued analog television signals.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

It shouldn’t. Unless you install a rooftop satellite dish, the other end of the blue coax isn’t connected to any device.

The bigger issue is that your rooftop antenna is “omnidirectional” and cannot be tuned or adjusted to point towards a prevailing strong digital television broadcast signal unlike the older crank-up rotatable antennas that only could receive now-discontinued analog television signals.

Older crank up antennas work with the digital signal. My previous fiver (‘97 Jayco) had the Wineguard crank up like my current rig and they both got/get digital and analog signals. Yes out here in my neck of the woods there are still a few analog tv stations.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

It shouldn’t. Unless you install a rooftop satellite dish, the other end of the blue coax isn’t connected to any device.

The bigger issue is that your rooftop antenna is “omnidirectional” and cannot be tuned or adjusted to point towards a prevailing strong digital television broadcast signal unlike the older crank-up rotatable antennas that only could receive now-discontinued analog television signals.

The "bigger issue" with permanently installed "omnidirectional" antennas is that they typically sit "lower than the air conditioner" on the roof. What that means is that there's a "big metallic box of stuff" that stops most digital TV signal from that direction. The older crank up analog antennas would "rise above the air conditioner" so the signal wasn't blocked by things mounted on the roof. On today's "mid height fifth wheels" with their sloping to the rear roofline, mounting the antenna on the lower part of the roof means that nearly half the "skyline to receive TV signal" is partially blocked.

The concept and technology of the omnidirectional antenna itself is better than the older batwing crankup and it's more sensitive (able to receive and process a weaker signal), but the "geography of where it's mounted" in many cases, makes it perform poorly.

The Winegard crankup batwing antenna system receives both digital and analog signals, so it worked back then and still works these days too.

[NH_Bulldog]

Thanks for the clarification on the older crank-up antennas being able to receive digital signals!

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

Thanks for the clarification on the older crank-up antennas being able to receive digital signals!

I had one of the crank up older antennas and it seems to me that there was a piece that screwed onto the thing that gave it better reception in the bands where digitals were transmitting. Am I wrong as my memory isn't great. I have a King Jack directional that uses the same type shaft going down into the bedroom to crank the antenna in the direction of the transmitter and it works fine although we seldom watch OTA television (streaming now).

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

I had one of the crank up older antennas and it seems to me that there was a piece that screwed onto the thing that gave it better reception in the bands where digitals were transmitting. Am I wrong as my memory isn't great. I have a King Jack directional that uses the same type shaft going down into the bedroom to crank the antenna in the direction of the transmitter and it works fine although we seldom watch OTA television (streaming now).

This:

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Wingm...45dedec95fe8e8

I don’t have it, don’t need it as we usually use satellite.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

This:

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Wingm...45dedec95fe8e8

I don’t have it, don’t need it as we usually use satellite.

I do have the wingman "add on upgrade". When I bought mine, they were about $20. I guess aluminum and manufacturing costs went up substantially (as did the cost of produce, beef, eggs, etc).... Now it's almost $50. WOW !!!

That said, it does enhance the reception dramatically but the "downside" is that it makes the antenna significantly more "directional".... To estimate the old/new ability, before the upgrade, the field of view was about 90 degrees and reception was about 50 miles. With the upgrade, the field of view is about 30 degrees but the reception is about 80-90 miles.

So, it works better in some situations, but not in all situations, depending on the distance from the transmitters and the locations of multiple transmitters in a larger metropolitan area. Now I have to adjust antenna direction at times to change channels if the transmitters aren't all on the same hill, but the tradeoff is that I can at least "get a TV signal" where before we listened to the radio.....

[wiredgeorge]

The shaft on our Sensar was stripped where it connected to the inside turning knob. Hence the King. Noted that the price of both a new Sensar and a King directional are about $170 for either at CW. That is a LOT more than what I paid a few years ago.