TV Antenna

[Fireman640]

I have a 2010 Sprinter fls318 was wonder the booster for the Antenna is in the bedroom and works great but i do not see a booster button in the front it has two hookups in the front but i think one is for satellete and not sure what other is i tried to hook up a cable to see if that would work would it make sense that the front tv would not get TV Antenna reception? thanks for any help

[Englishman]

most trailers only have a booster on one outlet the signal is then boosted to all of the other outlets. this only works on the antenna. If you are connecting cable/sat to the trailer then the booster needs to be turned off.

Hope this helps.

[CincyGus]

X2

Correct

[Fireman640]

Originally Posted by Englishman

most trailers only have a booster on one outlet the signal is then boosted to all of the other outlets. this only works on the antenna. If you are connecting cable/sat to the trailer then the booster needs to be turned off.

Hope this helps.

ok so i will turn on booster and hook cable up again and have tv scan in living room see if it finds the channels the booster button is in the bedroom works ok

[Roberson4]

Originally Posted by Fireman640

ok so i will turn on booster and hook cable up again and have tv scan in living room see if it finds the channels the booster button is in the bedroom works ok

We have the same 'problem' in ours. Seems the futher away from the booster the weaker the signal. The TV in our bedroom (closest to the booster) will pick up very good (12 channels) while the the TVs futher away will pick up less. The TV in our room and the TV in the kids room are identical TVs. The one in the kids room further away would only pick up 4 or maybe 8 of the channels. The TV in the living room (next in line from the booster) would pick up 8 or 10 channels.

Of course FOX (the channel the race was on) would only pick up in the bedroom.

[Englishman]

If it cable or Sat then the booster needs to be off. You only use it when using an antenna.

[hankpage]

Roberson4 , You can also try using an additional video amplifier on the other sets. They are available at Radio Shack or even Home Depot and Lowes and fairly inexpensive. At least you should be able to watch the races sitting up and closer to the fridge.

[Roberson4]

Originally Posted by hankpage

Roberson4 , You can also try using an additional video amplifier on the other sets. They are available at Radio Shack or even Home Depot and Lowes and fairly inexpensive. At least you should be able to watch the races sitting up and closer to the fridge.

Sweet! I'll have to try that. Would love for the outside TV to be able to play the race.

[jbsmith]

I discovered that Keystone used very cheap splitters and most of the RF connectors were loose. Cheap cable, poor connections, and longer cable runs will result in appreciable loss of signal as you get farther from the source.

In our 5er, the antenna feed enters the booster and then splits (-3 dB) down each leg. The first goes directly to the living room TV. The second leg is again split (-3 dB) to the bedroom and lower garage/cargo area. Given the ~20 ft cable run to the bedroom and various insertion losses, I estimate another -2 to -3 dB loss in signal. This means that I'm receiving about 8x less signal at the bedroom TV than the living room.

I've reconfigured some of the cables and splitters and replaced the original Winegard amplifier with the Sensar Pro signal meter/amplifier and added the Wingman add-on. These mods significantly improved overall reception.




In your case, I'd add a splitter just before the existing amplifier and attach the outside cable to one output and the inside cable to the other. Then add a dedicated amplifier to the outside cable run. This will provide maximum signal to the outside tele.

[Festus2]

jbsmith -
When you did the mods for your Winegard, did you install them all at once or separately? I am wondering if you happened to install the Wingman first and then later on added the booster and meter. If, by adding the Wingman alone, did you notice an improvement in reception? I just added the Wingman but had to "modify" it because when attached to the Winegard, the antenna would not lie flat on the roof as one of the rear "wings" caught up on the corner of the AirMaxx vent cover. In order to correct this, I moved that wing forward a couple of inches so that it would clear and lie flat on the roof. I am hoping that this change will not detract too much from its efficiency in improving TV reception.

[jbsmith]

Originally Posted by Festus2

jbsmith -
...did you install them all at once or separately?

The Wingman was a gift that I had from a previous trailer. I transferred it to the new trailer. I later added the signal meter to assist with "peaking" the signal. The Sensar III antennas are not optimized for UHF reception. Winegard claims that the Wingman improves UHF signal reception by 100%...that means 2x better than before, or +3dB. The Wingman improved reception of UHF channels, but requires me to be a little more precise in pointing the antenna. A lot of our local HD channels are carried at UHF, even though they "appear" lower in the list of channels. Reference real vs "virtual" channel numbers.

Originally Posted by Festus2

I moved that wing forward a couple of inches...I am hoping that this change will not detract too much from its efficiency in improving TV reception.

Installing the Wingman in other than the intended position will change the antenna power pattern. The spacing and position of the antenna elements relative to the antenna feed is pretty important. The Sensar head is basically just a folded dipole antenna. The antenna feed is located in the main body of the antenna. and provides about 45 degree coverage. The Wingman simply turns the antenna into a yagi-uda and tightens the beam width of the antenna power pattern, increasing the gain of the antenna.

Check http://www.tvfool.com for the most detailed information available on over the air television in the US. Here's the output for Dayton, OH. I'll often print sheets for the location we'll be visiting and then tape this to the ceiling to assist with pointing my antenna. The RF heat maps are also pretty interesting, and will provide some idea of whether you can even receive signal based on your current position.