Antenna placement

[Greg58]

I've looked at several threads but haven't found any help with my problem. The factory installed Omni directional antenna is mounted between the air conditioner and the roof vent, I'm looking to add a extension to the mount to get the antenna at least as high as the air conditioner. I know I have a inferior antenna to the batwing on my other TT but was wondering if anyone has tried to extend the height of theirs and if so did it help.

[dutchmensport]

What antenna do you have. Most new campers are being installed with the Wingard 360+.

The problem with anything sticking higher up is the potential for it to get caught in trees or low branches when entering or exiting campgrounds and potentially breaking them.... which is exactly what happened to me 3 times with my original Rayzor. I ended up switching it to the Wingard 360+, which is all round and lower to the roof. I've not had any problems since.

If you have the Wingard 360+, you might be able to build a mount to fit under it and raise it higher that way, rather than switching antennas completely.

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[Greg58]

Ours is a no name totally round antenna, I took it off yesterday looking for the manufacturer. It’s not a well made unit, it only has an expansion ring inside of the mounting flange to grip the base. My problem is if the towers are located to the front or rear of the TT when parked I don’t get very good signal.

[Greg58]

This antenna has never been as good as the others we have had, our little Jayco with a batwing style and a king jack replacement head is the best reception I’ve got so far.

[Greg58]

This is similar to ours, mine has a one inch mount.

[Greg58]

Since the antenna is in the middle of the trailer raising it to the level of the ac unit should not be a problem, if this doesn’t improve reception I’m thinking of changing to a batwing and a king jack head.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Greg58

Since the antenna is in the middle of the trailer raising it to the level of the ac unit should not be a problem, if this doesn’t improve reception I’m thinking of changing to a batwing and a king jack head.

If you change to a crank up style, don’t forget you have to make sure the hole for the handle isn’t in a poor location.

[Greg58]

I think it will be ok, I looked at it yesterday, I'm 6' 1" and will have plenty of head room. My wife on the other hand may not be able to operate it.

[ChuckS]

https://winegard.com/sensar-iv-rv/

Will out perform ANY RV 360 degree Omni antenna on the market..

I doubt raising that antenna up is gonna do much good .

The Sensar IV is basically a dipole antenna with gain and is rotatable giving you signal directivity control.. TV is “Line of Sight”…

[Greg58]

Here’s the antenna I have, from what I can find it appears to be a 2018 wineguard, I see now why several people have lost theirs going down the road.

[Greg58]

The sensar is what I have on my Jayco, I replaced the head with a king jack and doubled the channels sitting in the same spot in our driveway.

[Greg58]

Overlook the dirty roof, Im 5 months out from a total hip replacement, we’ve only camped a few time since and took the Jayco each time, smaller and easier to handle. The Outback hasn’t been out of the shelter since April.

[Glamper63]

You would have to make and fasten some kind of waterproof box to the roof to raise it up, not sure its worth doing that? The fold down one makes sense but the crank part doesn't. There's fancy electric ones with a remote on Amazon I'm just seeing. I also have a lousy antenna and thinking about trying a portable batwing style one that I could mount up high to a pole mounted to my roof ladder. It should work when I plug into my nearby antenna in jack. I'd remove it for travel and just leave the roof one as is.

[Greg58]

I’ve been using a pole mounted antenna for several years, I made a mount for the pole that’s on the bumper, the cable input is on the back of the trailer. I have a pole mounted amp and the power supply that I lay on the bumper under the rear slide. It works pretty good but can be a problem to set up when it’s raining.

[Greg58]

Here’s a picture of the bumper mounted antenna, that’s a clear stream in the picture, I have a eBay antenna that looks like a wire shelf from an old refrigerator that seem to work better.

[Greg58]

Here’s the eBay antenna.

[Greg58]

After reading the instructions for the sensar it won’t fit where the antenna is now, so my next choice is the king jack or winegard low profile. The sensar needs to lower towards the rear of the rv, our ac unit would be in the way, I would have to angle it to the side for it to work.

[Greg58]

I got amazon gift cards for Christmas so I ordered a King jack directional antenna with the signal finder. Now I’m waiting on a day warm enough to get it installed.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by Greg58

I got amazon gift cards for Christmas so I ordered a King jack directional antenna with the signal finder. Now I’m waiting on a day warm enough to get it installed.

I replaced the original Sensar (falling apart on my 2002 Cougar) with a King Jack. I didn't add the signail finder. I use an app to located transmitter and point the thing in the direction of the majority. The towers are generally in the same direction. The King Jack likely doesn't work as well as the Sensar due the latter's higher height but works well enough. We seldom use the OTA antenna except if I want to watch some sports program and then I watch on the small TV in the bedroom while the missus uses our Roku and streams TV programs in the main cabin.

[Greg58]

I’ve been using “antenna point” to locate stations, gives me a good starting point. If the king jack works as I hope I won’t have to set up my bumper mounted antenna to receive signals.