TV Antennas

[Tirah]

Does anyone have an RV antenna (or some other antenna mounted on their RV) that allows you to receive a few local channels pretty clearly while camping- without going the satellite route? I've read about many different options, but I am wondering if any of them actually work when you're camping.

I'm considering buying a tiny, portable tv with an external antenna jack, but if getting reception while camping is impossible without satellite service/cable, then I'll just stick with a DVD player.

[Gina D.]

I have a set of "Amplified" rabbit ears that hang on the loop from an old radio anntenns stub on the side of my trailer.

I can usually get SOMETHING on the fringe, even if it is fuzzy. The audio for the news is pretty much all I care about anymore.

If I am WAY out.. I get nothing. Not suprising.

[Darwin Maring]

The Wineguard amplified Bat Wing pulls in stations far away.

Scamp also installs an amplified antenna and it works OK however the BatWing that I had on our previous camper was much better.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Here's a nice installation by Nevin Lescher -- Note the solar panel on the gravel shield.

[Christi V.]

Personally i dont care to have a tv antanna on my trailer.... I just take along my portable DVD player and enjoy watching a movie after dark hrs... Most of the time I am so tired I just fall asleep and miss the movie...LOL
I had one on one of my other trailers and never got anything on them...

[Lance MacArthur]

Got this one: HDTV VHF UHF FM SCANNER OUTDOOR TV ANTENNA w/ ROTOR -- from ebay for dual use -- house and boler. So cheap, and worked so well with the house tv that I'll get another one for the trailer.

This is light, easy to mount, and comes with the stuff you need to just connect it. It does require a 110v outlet.

Half the price on ebay, you can look it up on the company site --A-Neutronics.

More on its use in the boonies -- we're doing another cross-country trip in February, after the winter renovations and paint job are complete.

[Tirah]

Got this one: HDTV VHF UHF FM SCANNER OUTDOOR TV ANTENNA w/ ROTOR -- from ebay for dual use -- house and boler. So cheap, and worked so well with the house tv that I'll get another one for the trailer.

This is light, easy to mount, and comes with the stuff you need to just connect it. It does require a 110v outlet.

Half the price on ebay, you can look it up on the company site --A-Neutronics.

More on its use in the boonies -- we're doing another cross-country trip in February, after the winter renovations and paint job are complete.

I wonder if you can you use an amplifier with the HDTV VHF/UHF FM Scanner antenna you picked up? That's a really good price for an antenna that works sufficiently- wondering if an amplifier could boost its performance (?)

[Tirah]

I wonder if you can you use an amplifier with the HDTV VHF/UHF FM Scanner antenna you picked up? That's a really good price for an antenna that works sufficiently- wondering if an amplifier could boost its performance (?)

I just called Direct TV and learned that we can use an old Direct TV box we had in our attic (we stopped using it when switched to TIVO)- inside the trailer with no additional monthly fee Just need to pick up a cheapie satellite dish and pay one-time fee of $20. reactivation of the receiver's card...both cost less than a really good tv antenna. The Winegard Amplified Batwings are over $100...yowsa.

I also learned that you could even unplug your satellite receiver and your dish and bring them along with you when you go camping if you didn't want to spend any additional $ for satellite in the RV. You may not be able to receive local stations, depending on where you're camping, unless you notify the service provider and have them upgrade your service to allow out of location stations to be transmitted to your receiver. Pretty cool!

(I'm a big documentary-fan, so DVD's don't offer much in the way of my kind of entertainment...plus, we have two toddlers, so we can't watch most of the movies we'd like to watch when our kids are around..not many good G-rated movies out there)

[Gina D.]

I had a portable dish and would just take the receiver in my living room with me.

The disadvantages, you have to invert or have an outlet available, and setting up the dish sometimes was a pain. It worked great, but the times I wanted the dish were when the weather was cruddy, and I didn't often feel like going thru the findasatellite dance in the rain.

The advantages.. you get what you get at home (Except for locals) and it is a clear picture.

That said, I found I just didn't use it all that often. The dish traveled with me for a couple years and all I ever did with it was move it in and out of the place I stowed it for travel. Kinda ended up as dead weight.

[Lance MacArthur]

Tirah -- the unit comes with a built-in amplifier. This is quite noticable if you forget to turn it on. You get reception without it on, but it pixelates often and the sound quits. Turn it on -- aim it using the remote and wahla-- good picture and no problems.

I agree with Gina on carrying a satellite dish. We did that for a season and had a lot of trouble finding the satellites, even with a dectector device. The trouble with them, is that they buzz when they find any satellite, not necessarily the one you're looking for. Also, we're fans of a lot of network shows, and if you're out of your area, you don't get the local broadcasts, ie nbc, cbs, fox, abc. I hear there's a new dish setup that will pull in network shows whereever you are, like east coast, west coast, and you can get the stuff you might want to watch, but I haven't seen that yet.

Last season we just used rabbit ears, and they worked most of the time. We had to put them outside and sort of aim them, and many times could only get one very snowy station. But a lot of places they worked fine for a bunch of channels.

[Tirah]

Gah! So many choices, it's mind-boggling! I guess I'll do both, since it would be nice to have the local channels, as well as the good Science channels, and sounds like there's a cheap way to do both satellite and antenna. Nice!

[Gina D.]

My new Burro comes with one of those batwing things. I am anxious to try it out.

[Doug Mager]

We DO have a portable dish (dish is custom painted with flames...) but its still too bulky to pack along. Most times we travel with a length of coax cable because most places we stay at have cable (we don't do boon docking very often). Failing that, the old rabbit ears works well for us. We usually only watch the assorted local news feeds and weather (to tell us when its time either to move on, or batten down the hatch. LOL!!)

[Pete Dumbleton]

Just don't paint your dish with camoflage colors or you won't be able to see it and might forget to take it down before you leave

[Mike Taylor]

I use a small 5 inch color lcd tv with built in antenna and it gets good reception inside the trailer. One of the advantages of fiberglass is it doesn't block the tv/radio signals. I do have an outside coax fitting and cable for when there are cable hookups.

[Doug Mager]

One of the many 'add ons' that Rease had finished for me was the addition of through the wall connections for both cable and phone (never now when you'll need it )

[Tirah]

My new Burro comes with one of those batwing things. I am anxious to try it out.

I'm eager to see how it works- let us know!