Anyone know if a Jack Antenna will work on 1987 soveriegn?

[Hoobiedoobie]

With or rewiring or major electronic work. In other words for the wiring impaired!?

Thanks in advance.
Deb

[r carl]

It worked well for me. I think the black ones look better on silver campers.

[TouringDan]

deb

The Jack antenna works great. I installed one on my 66 Tradewind. See Dan's '66 Tradewind Improvements thread, posts 20-22, in the Tradewind section.

Dan

[Skatiero]

We put one on our '89 and love it! It works great and picks up more than the old one, and no more cranking! It's also much easier to aim. We were so pleased with it that we put another jack antenna on our '86 as well. It's an excellent product.

[Becky B.]

I installed one in my Bambi II. If I recall correctly, it needed a 12v wire, as well as a coaxial cable wire run from the box (which is installed directly under the antenna, on the roof, inside) to wherever you are going to have your hook-up for your television. Then you have to have the 12v wired in with your 12v system. The 12v is for a signal locator on the box on the ceiling that lets you know how strong the signal is. It's not hard to install, but you have to be able to run the wires. It works great (and I agree r carl that the black probably looks better--I have white & plan on painting it silver if it ever warms up here!)

[Hoobiedoobie]

We bought the black yesterday at the RV show in Greensboro, NC. The wiring is only thing that concerns me. I'm sure between the hubby, PiggySu, we can figure it out. With the two boys in the camper, who are readers, ya still gotta have tv once in a while!! Thanks for the replies! This is the best site ever.

Deb

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by beckybillrae

It works great (and I agree r carl that the black probably looks better--I have white & plan on painting it silver if it ever warms up here!)

Mine is sob white, so I also need to paint it silver. I am going to make sure that I use the Fusion paint recommended by Skatiero because it works so well on plastic.

Glad you got one OP. Installation and wiring is pretty simple.

Dan

[mocus]

After a shaky start with the company, I finally got the Jack to work. In my neighborhood, I pick up 30 channels and one Analog. If you need assistance from the company, I would suggest you start right off talking to a supervisor---there is one particular salesperson that does his best to make the transaction iffy. What I like most is that the worry of leaving the antenna up is no longer a requirement. Good luck.....

[Skatiero]

In both cases with mine the 12v power is already at the receptacle on the wall for the old cover plate that had a power receptacle in it. It just plugged right into the new jack cover with board on it. Just FYI you don't have to run 12v to the antenna on the roof. I pulled a new rg6 cable from the wall receptacle to the roof antenna so I know its utilizing that cable for power to the roof signal strength monitor. In my case it was easy except I created more work for myself by pulling new cable up the ceiling. I am just picky and wanted to replace the old cable with rg6 for less signal loss.
Rob

[DKB_SATX]

I wonder if there's enough metal in silver spray paint to affect reception. In the short term I'm not personally worried, I bought a white Jack for my Argosy renovation project but I was thinking the next project will probably be silver...

[mayco]

So do these mount where there original antenna was? This is the first ive heard of this brand. Sounds like some real positive feedback here!

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by mayco

So do these mount where there original antenna was? This is the first ive heard of this brand. Sounds like some real positive feedback here!

There are 2 mounting options. Either a complete replacement of the original antenna, all the way through the roof, or just the "head" of the JACK antenna replaces the "Yagi" style head of an older antenna (or I guess the batwing of a newer one) on top of the mechanism that'll raise/lower the head to get the antenna up higher.

I like the full-replacement style, in part because neither of my trailers has any of the original mechanism left, and in part because you don't have to lower it, the JACK is stout enough and I suppose aerodynamic enough to stay in place while you travel.

[Hoobiedoobie]

Touring Dan,
Were do I find the tradewind section?

[DKB_SATX]

Forums>>Trailer Forums>>Tradewind>>1959-69 Tradewind

[TouringDan]

I did not really mount my Jack on the Tradewind per se. I did not have an antenna on my Tradewind initially and I camp mostly in the mountains where there is no reception anyway, so I designed an adaptor for the Jack antenna that allows me to mount the antenna on the top of a telescopic flag pole. It works fine for me. The flag pole and antenna store in a closet and then when I need them I put them up and they work fine.

Dan

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

I wonder if there's enough metal in silver spray paint to affect reception. In the short term I'm not personally worried, I bought a white Jack for my Argosy renovation project but I was thinking the next project will probably be silver...

I really have no idea. I see this as one of those cases where the only way to really find out is to try it and see if it makes a difference.

Dan

[Becky B.]

This was a little conversation on a previous post about the Jack Antenna:

I thought about spraying it with some aluminum paint, but my DH says the metal in the paint would probably interfere with the signal. Probably straight up grey would be better (not the silver that actually looks like polished aluminum). I might try it next spring.
____________
Becky


AtomicNo13's Avatar

1991 34' Excella
2009 34' Panamerica
Telluride , Colorado
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 393
Slight if any RF loss. I have painted other batwings with rustoleum aluminum with null effect.