Television antennas

[forestwalker]

This question is for those of you who take a tv set on your camping trips.
Other than cable,or sattlelite dishes,what type of antennas work the best?Does amplification of the signal significantly improve audiovisual quality?Does amplification use much electrical energy-Is it practical when boondocking?

[topcat7736]

forestwalker,
 
The best type of antenna depends upon where you are camping and your line-of-sight to the transmitting antennas. If you're nearby the transmitting cities, any antenna will probably work. If you're up to 55 miles from the transmitter, you will probably want an amplified antenna. But, if you camp where there is no line-of-sight to the transmitting antenna, no antenna may work. Here's a few scenarios that happenend to us which might help you decide what to use while viewing channels 2-13 and 14-83.
 
1) setting: campground nestled in the mountains; transmitting antennas on top of the World Trade Center 40 miles away. A regular antenna worked but we received a lot of snow on most channels. Snow indicates a lack of amplification. Bought a Lance amplified antenna from Camping World, mounted it on a painters pole and sent it up into the air. By turning it left & right and adjusting it up & down, we were able to pickup almost every NY station clearly. Even picked up some Philadelphia stations.
2) same setting as above but transmitting antennas moved to the Empire State Building after the WTC destruction, causing our line-of-sight to drop. Still picked up some Philadelphia stations, but barely picked up a few of the NY ones with the Lance.
3) setting: New campground, 50 miles from the transmitters and nestled in a valley. Campground manager said to leave the tv at home since no one ever got a picture. All the RV's there had their batwing antennas down (not being used). Tried the Lance and was able to barely receive 3 normally strong stations by moving the pole around and up & down. Decided that a bigger antenna and amplifier might be needed (LOL). Bought an unamplified batwing antenna (same as used on RV's) and mounted it to the pole. (The RV units have an 18db preamplifier built into the head). Purchased an expensive 28db preamplifier, mounted it to the pole & attached it to the antenna. (10db more is amplification increase of about 100 over that used in RV's). Hooked everything up & turned it on. To my amazement, the local wildlife was introduced to never before seen television! (LOL) Received (but not perfectly) channels 2,4,5,7,9,11,13,21,23,25,28,29,31,50,58 and 63!
 
Channels 14-83 (UHF) weren't very clear, so I purchased a yagi antenna which had a very high gain, throughout the band, before amplification. Put it on the pole too. By moving the preamplifier from one antenna to the other, I was able to pickup all the stations Peggy wanted to see (although they were never cable quality).
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If you think you could use the Lance antenna for your application, email me & I'll sell it to you. (It's stored in a shed under a pile of snow now so there'll be a wait to get it).

[forestwalker]

Thanks, topcat.Anyone else out there who uses something other than  cable,a sattlelite dish,or rabbit ears?

[Gone-Camping]

I'm not sure my answer will qualify for what your looking for but....
 
My hybrid is equipped with an amplified batwing antenna on the roof of the trailer. What I've found so far is, that in places with a weak signal, that amplified antenna works wonders!!! I Williamsburg we're between two primary broadcast markets of Norfok and Richmond, and without the amplifier turned on, signals from BOTH area's were weak and fuzzy. With the amplifier on, the signals from BOTH area's were strong and clear.
 
Now when I was at Pocahontas SP outside of Richmond, the local tv stations were coming in clear with the amplifier turned off. When I turned on the amplifier, the picture actually got worse, had lines in it, and sound quality picked up a lot of noise.
 
Now that I know when to use the amplifer and when not too, I find it's a very useful item to have, because when the signal is weak (as it is most places that I camp in), it helps considerably!
 
Hope this helps!!!

[Wayfarer]

Before I sold my Coleman Utah and bought a hybrid I used a Winegard "batwing" with an amplifier which I bought at a garage sale for $2.00.  Click here[/b][/color] to see how I set it up on the PU.  Like most of the replies above, reception depended mostly on location, location, location, but in places like Palo Dura Canyon in West Texas and Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas, both in canyons or valleys surrounded by mountains, we got fair reception with just rabbit ears.  Suggest you start out with rabbit ears, see how you like it, before spending a lot of money on fancier stuff.

We found the amplifier did help.

As for boondocking a TV wouldn't be very practical as you would be on 12V.  Of course, you might have a 12V TV or a generator.  

Whatever...good luck!  

[font="Script MT Bold"]Merry Christmas![/font][/size][/b]

[Flacamper]

Before I sold my Coleman Utah and bought a hybrid I used a Winegard "batwing" with an amplifier which I bought at a garage sale for $2.00.

Wayfarer,
 
Do you still have and/or use the batwing?  If you don't use it, I'll give you your $2 back for it.  I'm always looking for a bargin.