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Forum
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RE: New digital TV antenna -- It works
I purchased a “125 mile” digital TV antenna from eBay for about $25.00 (?). It was advertised as one that would rotate. When I got it from eBay, the motor was so weak that it would not rotate about one-half the time. I modified the mounting by removing most of the plastics parts then I tied the antenna to my bat wing antenna with black zip ties and then connected the antenna to my bat wing TV antenna leads. I need a 300 to cable transformer that I got from Loews for about $3.00.
Now I get good TV reception.
I have driven 1,200 miles (with the bat wing down) and no problems with wind damage.
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/nd568cook/100_0664.jpg width=640So the batwing is just a mount for this thing, or is it an active part? If not you might see additional performance by getting all that extra metal outa there
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 09:43pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: MH hit by train
Everyone should read the above post from the source of this accident.
Either way It's gotta get fixed. Wonder if Country Coach has any spare caps in storage? Then you could call it a Conaco :B
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 08:25pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: using firefox on PC
Best change I made was leaving IE and going to FF.BOY-HOWDY ON THAT! 10-4...
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 08:12pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Reversing a Winegard Sensar
In a word, yesI'd like to see this. Winegard says NO, and my batwing won't flip without a serious Dremel session.
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 08:08pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Any way to eliminate bad odor in tent after long storage?
Any way to eliminate bad odor in tent after long storage?
Open it up and go camping for at least a week (not in the order)
(sorry, someone had to do that..:) )
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 08:06pm |
Tent Camping
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RE: P30 Electrical questions
I wwould guess that when you disconnected the batteries the lights dimmed because you were running off of the converter which doesnt put out as much as the batteries.usually it's more.
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 07:35pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Major Help Needed :(
That's really a tail wagging the dog syndrome I fear.
We have friends we used to go camping with all the time that got into that situation with an older full size Bronco (Reborn about the size of an Expedition) pulling a fairly heavy 28' TT. They white-knuckled it for awhile and finally replaced the TV with a Suburban. The longer wheel base and weight distribution hitch solved all the issues, with easy seating for 6.
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SCVJeff
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07/28/10 07:33pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Problems aiming batwing antenna since digital began
Thanks for the info about TV Fool.
So it seems from what you state here that digital transmission is much like WIFI transmission in that there are many things that will interfere with the signal that might not have been (as much of) a problem with Analog signals????Kinda.. WiFi is almost x4 higher than the highest UHF channel. But, the higher you go in frequency, the more things tend to bounce or be reflected off of objects. If the obstruction was there with analog*, it's there now but digital might tend to be more finicky with the signal.
*- Another catch. a large number of VHF stations have moved to UHF. Even though your TV says 2.1, 4.1, etc. doesn't mean anything. They could have relocated in the band and the signal would now act totally different
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 07:12pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Problems aiming batwing antenna since digital began
What is the average range of the digital signal?
All I want to know is if anyone can answer this question.The answer is no. It depends on terrain, power, antenna radiation pattern, antenna height, weather,etc. Likewise on your end: location, height, antenna, all make a difference.
But you can go HERE to TV Fool.com and get a theoretical calculation of what to expect, but it's not a given as there is no way to calculate the city that's in the way, whether there are leaves on the tree that's in the way, a reflection off a skyscraper or grain elevator within a few miles, or if the signal is being ducted down a canyon and so destroyed by the time it hits the TV. The formula knows about the transmitter from data supplied by the license, and can make assumptions on the viewers end based on your input.
OBTW- Many of the stations across the country are in the middle of their DTV "Maximization" build-out, so things are still slowly getting better.
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 06:11pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Problems aiming batwing antenna since digital began
If y'all will allow me, I'll add a simple-minded comment.
TV signals are considered to be "line-of-sight" signals. The taller either of the two antennas, transmitter or receiver, the further the receiver will be able to "see" the transmitter.
TomRight... The whole idea is to get away from obstacles. But when you do encounter them visible or not, often the cure is to move the antenna around. If it's on the ground, sideways, through a tree, or X-polarized, often that path never moves.
wny_pat: 27MHz behaves nothing like VHF and up. It's not susceptible to upper inversion anomalies (skip, etc.)or most atmospheric noise. It is also not susceptible to local multi-path reflections causing the signal to show up where you might not expect it, and that's the entire point.
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 05:59pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: magnetic sun screens
That was probably me..
Magna Shade
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 03:15pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Problems aiming batwing antenna since digital began
Any ham reading this will tell you that there is no substitution for height, BUT when working with signals influenced by local terrain and/ or obstacles it's often the case that there are nulls in the signal, causing you to search not only vertically but horizontally to find them. As it happens, when raising a batwing you're doing both.I'll disagree with that one! Living in a deep fringe reception area with many hills, I have seen antennas on top of a old fashion two story home fail to pick up a signal no matter what direction they were pointed, but pick up a excellent signal when laying on the ground. On other installation general location the antenna would only receive a good signal at a elevation of 6 foot off the ground. Antenna was deep fringe VHF antenna looking at Channel 2 and 4.See up....
There is still no substitution for height. That's why broadcast transmitters are on 2000' towers or 5000' mtns.
There is a difference between transmitting and receiving. Antenna placement may not be the same for both. As for transmitting I agree height may be important. I have also found in some but not all locations I do just as well with bat wing flat on the trailer roof as extended.There is zero difference between the two when it comes to local propagation. The effects of the transmitter being on the ground or on the roof and receiving it on a Mtn. top will be the same. A null is a null, and they don't care which direction the RF is going. The only reason the transmitter is on the hill is for reaching the masses.
Here's a good example: If you or anyone here is a ham and talking on a single antenna duplexed repeater, (in general) the null that you hear from the talkback is going to be the same null you are standing in when the repeater is trying to hear you, which is why hams with HT's are constantly waving their radios around the room looking for a hotspot. The one caveat here is that since it's a split frequency system the null may move a little, but when you are talking single frequency, they are the same.
As a ham and broadcast guy I'll be happy to cite pages of examples, but it gets boring fast.
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 12:44pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: receiving audio on CB with CB turned off
Probably something like a Cobra 132?
The 1st time I saw this was as a little kid at Sears with my genius neighbor that built an Eico CB Kit. There was a parking guy in a tower telling people where the open spots were over the parking lot PA. We stopped under the speaker cable spanning the lot at least 12' in the air, and he keyed up and gave a quick test in the mic. Loud and clear in the lot! And this was a completely stock radio.
Driving up on Mt. Wilson above Los Angeles, there is enough RF in the air to not only hear the local FM in the area (vehicle off), but many radios lose their entire memory if parked there too long.
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 12:33pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Problems aiming batwing antenna since digital began
Any ham reading this will tell you that there is no substitution for height, BUT when working with signals influenced by local terrain and/ or obstacles it's often the case that there are nulls in the signal, causing you to search not only vertically but horizontally to find them. As it happens, when raising a batwing you're doing both.I'll disagree with that one! Living in a deep fringe reception area with many hills, I have seen antennas on top of a old fashion two story home fail to pick up a signal no matter what direction they were pointed, but pick up a excellent signal when laying on the ground. On other installation general location the antenna would only receive a good signal at a elevation of 6 foot off the ground. Antenna was deep fringe VHF antenna looking at Channel 2 and 4.See up....
There is still no substitution for height. That's why broadcast transmitters are on 2000' towers or 5000' mtns.
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SCVJeff
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07/27/10 01:28am |
Technology Corner
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RE: In-line RF signal amplifier for Digital TV (improvment)
Points:
- The Wingman provides an additional gain of 3db, not 10
- An amplifier can only amplify what it hears and is not a substitute for a good antenna with decent gain. Adding a wingman is the single best improvement you can make to the batwing, period.
- Adding yet another amplifier directly behind the batwing is a problem looking for an excuse to start. Even though the additional amp is a high level amplifier, I have seen them overload. The correct place to install it is on the output of the switchbox to get the signal back up to where it was before it hit the input of the box. I have one feeding the rear of the coach where RF passes through a 1x2 splitter and the signal was noticeably degraded before the addition of the amp.
- Just make sure that you buy a good quality amplifier. Most of the junkie ones out there have a noise figure at or exceeding the gain of the amp itself.
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SCVJeff
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07/26/10 11:14pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: receiving audio on CB with CB turned off
It is totally possible. If the truckers were running a high wattage amplifier (which is illegal), it is possible to overload the front end of your CB even with the power off. It acts kinda like a crystal radio set.
Even with legal (4W out) power, I have seen this happen.Ditto
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SCVJeff
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07/26/10 10:45pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: SaniCon Odor
Emailed them last night with the same complaint. Film @ 11
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SCVJeff
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07/26/10 07:24pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Problems aiming batwing antenna since digital began
As far as a real in-line 'S' meter for pointing the antenna after it works again, see the link to a post I did on my little toy awhile back above
Jeff,
Thank you for the DigiAir Pro tip. That should work out well with a splitter on the TV side / output end of the dual antenna coax switch.
Regarding the batwing, if the amplifier/signal boost is off then zero channels are available after scanning. Once the amp is powered on a scan gives me 3 regular and 19 digital channels. So it seems that the batwing is working. Now if I switch to the alternate Clear Stream 2 antenna my digital channels almost double.
Appreciate your help,
Tom
(I just realized you're down the street)
It's good that the antenna responds to pre-amp on/ off, but having the antenna 3' off the roof is going to gather more signal than the the portable as good as it is. The antenna might be broken internally.
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SCVJeff
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07/26/10 06:52pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: refrigerator fan
I use a computer muffin fan wire directly to a small solar panel.I tried that with the stock 15W panel and the fan often wouldn't spin up between start current and panel output.
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SCVJeff
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07/26/10 06:17pm |
Do It Yourself (DIY)
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RE: "Don't Be a Lurker"
I have ADP. That's OK blocking outside ad's, but not this.
I wrote two custom filters for AdBlock Plus(ABP) for both Firefox and Chrome which will block the Forum and Blog popups. Just go into Firefox's ABP Preferences, click the "Add Filter..." button, and add these filters in bold(copy and paste):
For Forum's "Lurker" Popup:*/SharedCode/javascript/*
For Blogs "Sign Up" Popup:*/lightpop/scripts/lightbox.js
You should no longer see those popups.
EXCELLENT, Thanks!!
I just added them so now I'm gonna go try it out :)
UPDATE: Works great! This fix ought to be a sticky.
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SCVJeff
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07/25/10 10:50pm |
Forum Technical Support
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