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Old 08-02-2011, 10:51 PM   #1
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1974 25' Tradewind
Berryville , Virginia
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Ditch the antenna?

I have a old style antenna on my trailer and was thinking of removing it and patching the hole since everything is now digital and sat any opinions on this? Is this a good place to put a dish?
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Old 08-02-2011, 11:26 PM   #2
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The antennas pickup digital signals over the air just fine. The local channels for Little Rock on Dish are not HD. I get them over the air on my antenna and can even record them on my Dish DVR using its over the air tuner.

I wouldn't be without my antenna. It also serves as the radio antenna for my '83 Excella, another reason to have one.
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Old 08-03-2011, 06:42 AM   #3
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We use our old-style 1967 antenna plenty with digital TV. Works a lot better than the portable flat-panel thingie we bought when we got the new TV!

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Old 08-03-2011, 06:53 AM   #4
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In reality there is no such thing as a digital antenna just as there really was no such thing as a "color" antenna. The major differnce with off the air digital is it requires a stronger signal to lock and is either go or no go. The old antenna should work fine . In addition many channels were forced to move to UHF during this change. I would not want to give up off the air capability by removing the antenna and replacing it with a dish.
A roof mounted dish is probably more convenient than a portable one but has the disadvantage of not being re-locatable if signals are blocked by trees on your campsite
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Old 08-03-2011, 07:12 AM   #5
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1969 27' Overlander
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I have installed a couple of these :
AntennaCraft HDMS9100 Programmable Direction Memory Mini-State TV Antenna (HDMS9100) from Solid Signal

They work really well for local channels and are easy to install. The actual anmtenna is contained in the dome and rotates via a step-motor controlled by a wireless remote in the RV.
I just ordered one from my local Radio Shack dealer for my Overlander.
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Old 08-03-2011, 08:00 AM   #6
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I ditched mine, PO put a new one on the roof. I patched the hole on the front of the trailer with a flag holder.
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Old 08-03-2011, 08:11 AM   #7
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With the original equipment antenna and the original equipment 12v amplifier I get 26 digital channels while at home. While in the mountains camping a few weeks ago I could only get two channels at one location and only one channel at another location. It's all about the signal available at a specific location.
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Old 08-04-2011, 12:05 PM   #8
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We removed ours bought a sat dish at camping world the cheep one wineguard the mount was a good fit to the old att hole no cutting and inside only 1/2 inch of enlarging it has a duel hook up so we could use our dish dvr and lock onto sat 119, good to go the unit cost 135. and 1 hour work not bad, for over the air we have a hd digital that we put on our flag pole mount when we are in an area close to get over the air channels.
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Old 08-04-2011, 02:17 PM   #9
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I got rid our ours and patched the hole. We use a Sat. most of the time but I do have a winguard tV antenna that I can raise on our flag pole. We boondock most of the time in areas that have little or no local air tv.
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Old 08-07-2011, 09:09 AM   #10
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Thanks for the input, I will now keep the antenna. I had thought about replacing it with a sat dish but the information now leads me to just having it as a portable unit on a stand.
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Old 08-07-2011, 09:18 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by batt View Post
Thanks for the input, I will now keep the antenna. I had thought about replacing it with a sat dish but the information now leads me to just having it as a portable unit on a stand.
Sounds like a good plan. I have 100' extention of coax cable and have the sat. dish (directv) on a small Winguard tripod. I can move the tripod to many different locations around a campsite looking for a signal. It works 95% of the time. We just pick our campsites carefully (not always possible).
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Old 08-08-2011, 09:18 AM   #12
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Halifax , Nova Scotia, CANADA
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Keep that old antenna

I use my old antenna on the weather radio, it is much better than the built in whip.

Wineguard also sells a UHF add-on to increase gain for this antenna on digital signals. It just bolts on.

John
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Old 08-08-2011, 10:28 AM   #13
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Lopez Island , Washington
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I removed ours as it was broken; I machined an aluminum cap for the rotator shaft hole as I didn't want to remove and patch the mount. In its place sit two 100W solar panels. I have no interest in watching TV in the 'stream anyway.

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