Tv Antenna

[Ray Pena]

Hey there, I recently bought a 78 28' Argosy, it's in great shape except for a few items. i.e. no stereo, no CB. It has a hand crank where the antenna used to be but no antenna. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do I need to mount one to replace it? and if so where should I go for one, or do need to go with one of those really expensive satelite things? or will rabbit ears do the trick? I want to mount a 14-15" LCD on swivel mount somewhere inside, I'm not sure where yet, I'm open to suggestions.

Help I'm in the dark ages.

[Silvertwinkie]

Well, it really depends on your TV prefs... I mean if you are an avid TV watcher when on the road, then you might find in some rural areas that the signal is not that good inside an alum RV with just the standard ant on the TV. The outdoor ant also in rural areas at times only somewhat more helpful, but better than rabbit ears.

If you gotta have your HBO, History Channel and Discovery Channel, then the sat is it.

For me, I do watch some TV when out on the road, and I find the Wineguard that comes with new Airstreams does a pretty good job. Not worth the cost for a Sat dome or for me to lug around my dish and set it up, etc. Lot of times when I'm out boondockin' there is no AC, so no TV.

[Chuck]

you really need an antenna for any radio device inside. the all-alluminum construction is very effective at sheilding RF. Rabbit ears won't work well....unless you're set up outside!

you can get tv antennas at just about any RV supply place, like Camping world, etc.

[warbler5]

We have the satellite service at home, so we just lug the receiver and a dish with us when we go! While camping out in the California desert, we used the hand-crank antenna to access the local (Yuma, AZ) news channel, just out of curiosity, and it worked quite well. If you are going to buy an LCD TV, why not go for satellite service! The only drawback is the lack of the major networks once you get out of range of your home satellite....and, there are ways to solve that issue, as well.

For us, the lack of AC power is no problem...we installed solar!

Cheers, Dee

[Silvertwinkie]

Oddly enough, my wireless tests with the laptop do usually have a degraded signal when in the Airstream (down 2 bars from full), but with the 54mb system, even a single bar is pretty good....not that television and wireless networking are the same....just pointing out the signal when I am in and out of the camper.

I guess if all else fails you could attach a wire to the inner skin and the Airstream would be one huge ant.

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

Oddly enough, my wireless tests with the laptop do usually have a degraded signal when in the Airstream (down 2 bars from full), but with the 54mb system, even a single bar is pretty good....not that television and wireless networking are the same....just pointing out the signal when I am in and out of the camper...

We have really good reception in the trailer for cell phones, FM radio and stuff on LAN (laptops etc.) Our 17 year old has adopted the minuet as his personal homework palace when it's parked and as far as I can tell he is always using some wireless device or other. Go figure!

[Chuck]

I haven't tried fm radio, but I have tried tv w/ rabbit ears: zilch. same tv connected to roof antenna: good. add signal amplifier: really good! (picked up vhf channels from 90 miles).

baby monitor: worked very poorly...and only if transmitter was placed right up against the big front window. (baby sleeping inside, whilst mom and dad are sitting 20 feet from the camper in the adjacent campsite! I get farther away from that in my house, or out in the yard, and can hear Jr. snoring, clear as a bell.

analog cell phone worked, but sketchy. depends on your location. other devices mentioned are really really high frequency, which surely makes a big difference. also, most of these newer devices are sending digital signals....0's and 1's. it doesn't take a very clear signal for the computer inside the device to differentiate between the two. it always tells you its translation of these 0's and1's...which is always clear. it either works or it doesn't.

so, just keep in mind: long range vs. short range; analog vs. digital; 900mHz+ digital vs VHF analog....all very different. but TV is still the same old vhf analog signal that it has been for 50 years.

[Ray Pena]

Well I guess you could say while on the road my wife might watch a DVD (for me its hard to watch and drive, hee hee) I will have to do my home work, from what I have seen the satellite service is kinda' pricey. I will have to check with RV centers to see what they offer. I just finished looking at a 15 inch SANYO LCD at Walmart for $288.00 it looked really nice. My wife's opinion is why not just lug around a big regular TV, personally, it takes up too much space and is just not cool, "a guy's gotta have his gadgets ya know. Anyway thanks again this was first ever thread.

[Ray Pena]

Yo SILVERTWINKIE, its funny you should mention wiring the outside, when I was in the military we would wrap copper speaker wire from radio antenna to another in order to get TV reception out in the field.


Sometimes you must admit when an airstreamer has will/want, he or she will find a way.