Television Antenna 1969

[bilby05]

Hi all,
I have been checking on repairing the TV antenna on our Sovereign and after looking at all of the "batwing" antennas and parts lists I can not find one that is quite like my remenents. Mine is broken on the inside and missing on the outside. The parts left on the ceiling don't really look like the batwing ones I have seen online. What kind of antenna did the '69 Sovereign come with? I just assumed it was a batwing but the parts are not the same. No "crank" handle but a "U" shaped lever looking part, and a round knob that appears to be for aiming the antenna angle. It is all frozen in place now. I think it could be leftover from the kind of antenna that looks like one long bar with numerous short bars sticking out. The "U" shaped lever looks some what melted. I guess I should go out tomorrow and take a picture of it to send along.
see ya.
bill b.

[Ganglin]

It should have looked like the one on this 69 Overlander.

[tinhutjohn]

Hi Bill
I had my "mattress spring" antenna replaced with a batwing. It works way more better, goes up and down without straining and looks cool. The installer simply removed the remains of the original and replaced it with the batwing. Used the same hole in the roof and the inside controls replaced the mattress spring controls.
You still have to remember to take her down before you tow.
Sarge

[dwightdi]

The old clothes hanger type antenna has an amplifier in the wall as part of the wall socket. The new batwing has the amplifier in the head of the antenna. You need to remove the old wall socket and replace it with the one designed for the batwing as it supplies the 12 volts to the amplifer in the head. It is an easy fix and uses the 12 volts available in the wall that powered the old closthes hanger amplifier. Also replace the incoming twin wire lead with coax for a much better signal. You might have to route it through the refrigerator vent as the twin wire is thinner and you might not be able to pull the coax through the same hole.

[bilby05]

Hello again,
Appreciate the pictures and info. I took pictures of my "leftover parts", attached, and the name on the inside plate is braund. I can see from your photos how the rig went together so it should be easier to replace. The puzzle part to me is the wire sticking out of the roof. Looks like it goes two ways. I was not up there, just holding the camera up to get a photo and then cropping out the excess stuff. It does look like the switch over will be easy, except for trying to fish the wire through to the old box. I think the idea of going through the fridge vent is the way to go. Do you just stretch the new coax cable across the roof? or does it need some kind of sheathing? The part on the roof looks to be a small dome. Does that have to be flattened to put in a batwing? Going to head south a day or two after Christmas for about a week. Maybe warm enough there to work on the antenna system.
thanks again,
bill b.

[dwightdi]

I did not have to change curveture of the roof. Just a little more Vulkem. To keep the cable from flapping I did use a nylon cable strap to hold it down to the roof midway between the refrigerator roof vent. Use blind pop rivets that do not have thru holes (used to fix boats) and I still put a little Vulkem on it additionally. on My 77 there is a cabinet next to the refrigurator which gives easy access to back of frig. and easy mounting of power supply amplifier.

[walter1]

bilby05

Hi Bill,
I’m looking for the TV signal amplifier for the old clothesline type antenna that is part of the interior wall socket. If you get your bat wing installed and want to part with the old amplifier/wall socket please let me know.

Thanks, Walter

[bilby05]

Originally Posted by walter1

bilby05

Hi Bill,
I’m looking for the TV signal amplifier for the old clothesline type antenna that is part of the interior wall socket. If you get your bat wing installed and want to part with the old amplifier/wall socket please let me know.

Thanks, Walter

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
I'll keep you in mind. Hopefully I will be able to find a good deal on a batwing after Christmas, when money loosens up a little bit, and be able to make the switch. Is the box, that the amp is inside, the little box with the two pin socket and 12volt plug in it?
cheers, bill b.

[bilby05]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

I did not have to change curveture of the roof. Just a little more Vulkem. To keep the cable from flapping I did use a nylon cable strap to hold it down to the roof midway between the refrigerator roof vent. Use blind pop rivets that do not have thru holes (used to fix boats) and I still put a little Vulkem on it additionally. on My 77 there is a cabinet next to the refrigurator which gives easy access to back of frig. and easy mounting of power supply amplifier.

Hmmmm. I will have to google "blind" pop rivets to see what they look like. But I can see that the cabinet next to the fridge would give good access to the area behind the TV. At worst I could add a small coax cable plate behind the TV and just let the old box be a extra fixture. Just remembered that the PO ran a new coax (for cable equipped campgrounds) from the rear 1/4 panel all the way to the wall behind the Television, so I just could hook into that with a coax from the roof through the fridge vent. Would that require some kind of switch when you want to switch from cable to antenna? or would it be better to have two separate outlets and just switch the connections when I wanted to go from cable to antenna?
thanks, bill b.