Now there is a digital only off air antenna. . .
Winegard has announced a new automatic motorized domed off-air antenna. No more turning antenna to find where the broadcast antennas are located. Also looks for digital transmissions on UHF & VHF bands. Attached is the User Manual. Display shows # of different frequencies found at the pointed location. This is an antenna made for RVers.
This sounds like a great new device, but kinda "pricey". Press release says it will retail for $400 at Camping World - not that they are known for bargain prices. I'll wait a while to see if real-world prices come down a bit. For now, we get along fine with a Jack antenna head on our old crank-up Winegard mast.
My powered bat wing (Concord I think) is wearing out and parts are not readily available. This sounds like a perfect replacement. Winegard web site indicates availability mid January.
Don't understand "wearing out". Is it no longer receiving a signal? Does it no longer go up and down easily? Does it not rotate properly? All of these are fairly easily fixed. My RV dealer locally still has parts, I think.
On the other hand, I have replaced the top cross bar, "batwing" on mine with the new "Jack" head. I'm not sure if it is better or not. The new searching antenna does seem pricey, esp. since one still has to tune the tv, manually.
Horace, by wearing out I mean it no longer goes to the home position properly, both in rotation and settling securely in the cradle. Micro switches may just need adjustment or gears /other parts replaced...I don't know. When I use it, if rotated, I have to get on the roof and help it get in the home position. Also has intermittent signal loss after rotation...connection problem I suppose. So a low profile high tech antenna sounds good to me.
Bill, yes they do get cranky after a while, but they can be adjusted. I have had to do just that, some cleaning and spray lubricant worked wonders. The handle broke a year or so ago because I was to vigorous, too.
Good luck with the new one, I'll be very interested in how it works.
About the end of February I purchased (ordered) from PPL Motorhomes the Winegard RZ-8535 automatic off air antenna. I installed it myself without issue in place of my malfunctioning batwing. We have been traveling about the state of Texas since March 1st and have been in areas with apparent strong and weak signals. I am happy to report I am very pleased with its performance. In all but one location it located multiple channels. The exception was Mineral Wells State Park. It only locked on to one channel but when I did the channel scan on my tv it would not/could not store any channels. I checked with other campers that had their batwings up and they were only getting one channel. I should add they were somewhat higher in the campground than we were. So when arriving at each destination, a simple push of a button and available channels are located.
I definitely recommend this antenna. It does what it claims and is very easy to use.
Thanks for the input Bill & Donna, I don't see us using much tv, but we do want to get the local weather wherever we are.
Larry
Larry,
That's pretty much what we use the off air antenna for. For the last 10 days or so we have been at my sisters house (staying in the coach) in Elk City, Ok., about 120 miles west of Oklahoma City. We had some stormy evenings and were able to receive from Oklahoma City all the major network stations which carried local weather plus a few other stations. A real comfort when the clouds get dark!
Bill, were you able to use the existing coax from the old antenna or did you run new coax?
Ed,
Yes, I used the existing coax. I made a cable the proper length to go from the dome to the existing roof mounted connection. It's always better to replace old cable but I was afraid I might be unnecessarily opening a can of worms. If I have problems in the future I will replace with new.
Bill
Bill - Glad to hear it works for you. ;D
Thanks for the info, Bill. That's good to know.