I finished building my van 3 years ago and have since done approx 80000 km's.
A big part of the build was research and part of this was which antenna For the TV.
Decided upon the Winegard free vision sensor HV antenna at around $500.00.
However, in the country it is lacking in performance and this I can accept and have been living with, no problems.
Can always find other things to do.
My wife however loves her soaps and in an effort to get the required channel I went to the big green shed and bought a $50.00 mid performance TV antenna. I already had a cable for CP use if available and have a telescopic van wash pole.
So here is the result yesterday at Androssan SA.(on the York Peninsula) Winegard 1 channel ($500), Big shed antenna 38 channels ($50).
This has been the norm now for the last 6 months.
The winegard is great in the larger cities and towns and easy to use which was part of the purchase decision, but for performance a normal antenna outperforms.
Regards.
Hetho.
Aus-Kiwi said
10:53 AM Nov 29, 2018
Found the same here . But my family still thinks I am a tight ass !! Lol
Possum3 said
11:05 AM Nov 29, 2018
We use a Winegard with electric booster no problem all over Australia. Once in Derby WA we were the only one's in the caravan park that couldn't watch TV - It was a large gum tree between us and local transmitter responsible. moved to other side of Caravan park all OK.
Mike Harding said
11:08 AM Nov 29, 2018
I don't watch TV but I know a bit about antennas.
$500 is a *lot* for a mass produced TV antenna. A quick Google suggest this antenna has two built-in pre-amplifiers which, of course, need a power supply to make them work. I suggest you check that power is actually being supplied to the amplifiers ideally by measuring the voltage at the amplifier PCB. If the amplifiers are not correctly powered they will degrade the signal rather than improve it.
The Bunnings antenna (Antsig Super Multiband UHF?) looks to be a basic Yagi antenna which I would not expect to outperform a decent amplified antenna.
NB. Radio signals may be transmitted as either horizontal or vertical polarisation - so if reception on the Antsig is poor try turning it 90 degrees so that the spiky bits are pointing up/down rather than across.
Dickodownunder said
12:42 PM Nov 29, 2018
I have one of those latest Wingard antennae on my van as it came with it.
On my previous van I used a small sized Phased Array type antenna on a pole from the drawbar. I used a standard signal booster and I feel that personally the old phased array worked better and was easier to tune in.
I am fortunate enough to have satellite tv that will provide me with the Vast service so I very rarely even try to use the terrestrial service.
I should also add that the Wingard is very floppy if raised during a day of strong winds.
PeterInSa said
02:09 PM Nov 29, 2018
Re (I am fortunate enough to have satellite tv that will provide me with the Vast service so I very rarely even try to use the terrestrial service.)
We have the Vast Sat TV as well but I prefer the local TV when I am in the area, so try the Wingard First.
Dickodownunder said
07:34 PM Nov 29, 2018
Local news is good at times Peter but my Sat dish is auto so no time to set it up at all.
In most areas the ABC is generally the easiest to find and tune on the terrestrial service and I found that some of the newer digital channels are the most difficult to find.
The last time I was using the Wingard I could get either the 7 digitals or the 10 digitals but not without having different positions on the Wingard for each result. Even then those digital stations were a patchy reception and were dependent on the weather. At the time I was reasonably close to the tower according to the TV app. on my phone.
Radar said
05:20 PM Nov 30, 2018
I have jusr done an overhaul on our Winnguard, what started it was being stationary for a couple of weeks up Maryborough Qld doing Grand parent duties, wanting to watch TV and had know signal. People kept telling me it was bad area for signal and service people were to busy to come and look for a coulpe of weeks, new arial was $300 plus.
Returning home and parked at home base Brisbane the long ladder come out and I starfed looking for reasons why our tv reception was terrible on our 6 year old caravan
After renewing the box thing (horizontal to vertical) $12 from Jaycar and new cabling everything works great. Where it previous always took for ever to do the station search, now done in a few minutes. My test wss done at home only but very pleased with the overhaul on the TV set up on our 6 year old caravan. By memory I think it was 38 stations and I think before maybe 15. Its the speed that I like in doing the search.
My suggestion is first check all joins and cabling, very important for TV reception.
Mobi Condo said
05:49 PM Nov 30, 2018
Have a bit of a tale here - hope I am keeping OT with it. So being a miser we had an antenna we used in a far north town to receive signal from local transmitter taking in satellite signals and re sending locally.
Come time to buy a van I set up our own TV & radio etc. TV worked well from the antenna, radio was placed under the solar controller unit (HA ha de ha ha - not a smart move) and got lousy reception.
Just finished resetting stuff and took the antenna to bits and cleaned every wire and joint and put a splitter into the antenna co-axial line and now we get FM radio (with it still under the solar controller) off the same antenna at the same time we can watch TV (just why we would want to do that who knows) but the point is to have clean elements.
In the whole process I lost all reception and actually thought the set up was totalled, however I found just ONE SINGLE wire of the woven outer layer of wires of the coax was somehow caught in the wrong spot. When that was tidied up - whammo! decent reception on free to air TV.
Hi Mobi Condo,
That is a phased array antenna very similar to what I had on the old van.
I found it great and it could easily be rotated for vertical or horizontal signals.
Mind though there is always somewhere in Aus when reception will be a problem due to the local requirements.
Rolleston comes immediately to mind..
yobarr said
08:30 PM Nov 30, 2018
Worth noting that the plural of antenna is antennae. Cheers
Dickodownunder said
08:39 PM Nov 30, 2018
Got that right Yobarr
Warren-Pat_01 said
10:38 PM Nov 30, 2018
Whatever you buy ensure that if it has an inbuilt amplifier, ensure it is of good quality & complies with Australian standards.
It was no fun when one worked for Telstra & trying to find a spurious transmitter that has blocked a mobiles base station! Of course people were upset that they couldn't use their phones. This happened many times at Karumba & with the choice system that the techs worked under to get their work, it was almost impossible to locate the "culprit". Mostly the faults were intermittent & generally if the fault cleared, they were written off to "Caravans & TV amplifiers".
I wonder whether PeterD had these problems in his area.
Mike Harding said
07:18 AM Dec 1, 2018
yobarr wrote:
Worth noting that the plural of antenna is antennae.
Only if we're talking about insects.
yobarr said
08:22 AM Dec 1, 2018
Mike Harding wrote:
yobarr wrote:
Worth noting that the plural of antenna is antennae.
Only if we're talking about insects.
Hi Mike....what you say is indeed true in the USA,but it is generally ccepted in Australia,NZ and Britain that the correct term is antennae. The fact that antennas is creeping into common use is that that term is regularly used by the same sorts of people who use literary gems such as The reason why is because and We redid it again . Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Saturday 1st of December 2018 08:23:07 AM
rockylizard said
08:35 AM Dec 1, 2018
Gday...
Unfortunately, in this day and age of Mr Google and 'it was on the internet it must be correct' I offer the following -
I have gone to get some popcorn as this has the potential to rival a discussion on PWM vs MPPT or anything electrical - even a WDH or rated shackles praps.
Therefore, keyboards at 10 paces but beware of eyes ... it is all fun until someone gets an eye taken out.
Cheers - John
Jaahn said
08:48 AM Dec 1, 2018
Hi
WE have an antenna that we use generally for tv and have for some years. The second similar one actually. It is a phased array with 4 elements that is twice the size of the one shown. I purchased this one from Jaycar and then fitted a booster to it and a long cable. (because I could not quickly find one that had the booster) It works well and the booster power unit plugs into the 12v with the TV power cord. Low tech stuff to do.
In use if you are in town or nearby you can often just hang the aerial on the fence or the van. If you can see the broadcast antenna then I just sit it on the ground against the MH or on the windscreen. Other times we have a 4M windsurfer mast which is very light and was cut to just fit in along the top of the cupboards. That will bring in a signal usually if freecamping with a bit of playing. If not we listen to the radio. When we are looking for a spot to stop I usually look at the houses to see where their aerials are pointed and the polarity of the antennas. That is if they are normal or on their side. This is the best way to get an idea where to point and how to set the antenna on the mast.
A bit of playing around but it keeps me amused according to SHMBO. The worst thing is having to retune the digital TV every change of area. It was easier with a manual tuner !!
Jaahn
PeterD said
12:28 PM Dec 1, 2018
yobarr wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
yobarr wrote:
Worth noting that the plural of antenna is antennae.
Only if we're talking about insects.
Hi Mike....what you say is indeed true in the USA,but it is generally ccepted in Australia,NZ and Britain that the correct term is antennae. The fact that antennas is creeping into common use is that that term is regularly used by the same sorts of people who use literary gems such as The reason why is because and We redid it again . Cheers
It is the other way around. When I did my trade no self respecting techo would be heard referring to radio antennae. They would be severely criticised if the did. If you are going to argue the toss I suggest you go to the home of English, the Oxford English Dictionary.
Click on the "+ More example sentences" links to see how propper English works.
For Australian usage - Macquarie English Dictionary - antenna - you will have to set up a visitors login to view it.
Mike Harding said
01:31 PM Dec 1, 2018
I lived in the UK for a long time and worked there in electronics for many years and never heard anyone refer to the plural or aerials as antennae.
My Concise Oxford English Dictionary says:
antenna n noun (plural antennae ) 1 Zoology a long, thin sensory appendage found in pairs on the heads of insects and some other arthropods. 2 (plural also antennas) chiefly North American or technical an aerial. 3 (antennae) the faculty of instinctively detecting and interpreting subtle signs: his political antennae remain as sharp as ever.
Note definition 2.
And John; I'll have you know that this is a serious and critical subject! :)
Dickodownunder said
02:43 PM Dec 1, 2018
See what you have done John.....
Nah! nothing to do with the debate immediately above ^^^^.... but you have created doubt as to the quality of my schooling.
Why wasn't this anomaly highlighted in the curriculum. (because I could find a "headslap" emoticon.)
Good morning all.
I finished building my van 3 years ago and have since done approx 80000 km's.
A big part of the build was research and part of this was which antenna For the TV.
Decided upon the Winegard free vision sensor HV antenna at around $500.00.
However, in the country it is lacking in performance and this I can accept and have been living with, no problems.
Can always find other things to do.
My wife however loves her soaps and in an effort to get the required channel I went to the big green shed and bought a $50.00 mid performance TV antenna. I already had a cable for CP use if available and have a telescopic van wash pole.
So here is the result yesterday at Androssan SA.(on the York Peninsula) Winegard 1 channel ($500), Big shed antenna 38 channels ($50).
This has been the norm now for the last 6 months.
The winegard is great in the larger cities and towns and easy to use which was part of the purchase decision, but for performance a normal antenna outperforms.
Regards.
Hetho.
I don't watch TV but I know a bit about antennas.
$500 is a *lot* for a mass produced TV antenna. A quick Google suggest this antenna has two built-in pre-amplifiers which, of course, need a power supply to make them work. I suggest you check that power is actually being supplied to the amplifiers ideally by measuring the voltage at the amplifier PCB. If the amplifiers are not correctly powered they will degrade the signal rather than improve it.
The Bunnings antenna (Antsig Super Multiband UHF?) looks to be a basic Yagi antenna which I would not expect to outperform a decent amplified antenna.
NB. Radio signals may be transmitted as either horizontal or vertical polarisation - so if reception on the Antsig is poor try turning it 90 degrees so that the spiky bits are pointing up/down rather than across.
On my previous van I used a small sized Phased Array type antenna on a pole from the drawbar. I used a standard signal booster and I feel that personally the old phased array worked better and was easier to tune in.
I am fortunate enough to have satellite tv that will provide me with the Vast service so I very rarely even try to use the terrestrial service.
I should also add that the Wingard is very floppy if raised during a day of strong winds.
We have the Vast Sat TV as well but I prefer the local TV when I am in the area, so try the Wingard First.
In most areas the ABC is generally the easiest to find and tune on the terrestrial service and I found that some of the newer digital channels are the most difficult to find.
The last time I was using the Wingard I could get either the 7 digitals or the 10 digitals but not without having different positions on the Wingard for each result. Even then those digital stations were a patchy reception and were dependent on the weather. At the time I was reasonably close to the tower according to the TV app. on my phone.
I have jusr done an overhaul on our Winnguard, what started it was being stationary for a couple of weeks up Maryborough Qld doing Grand parent duties, wanting to watch TV and had know signal. People kept telling me it was bad area for signal and service people were to busy to come and look for a coulpe of weeks, new arial was $300 plus.
Returning home and parked at home base Brisbane the long ladder come out and I starfed looking for reasons why our tv reception was terrible on our 6 year old caravan
After renewing the box thing (horizontal to vertical) $12 from Jaycar and new cabling everything works great. Where it previous always took for ever to do the station search, now done in a few minutes. My test wss done at home only but very pleased with the overhaul on the TV set up on our 6 year old caravan. By memory I think it was 38 stations and I think before maybe 15. Its the speed that I like in doing the search.
My suggestion is first check all joins and cabling, very important for TV reception.
Have a bit of a tale here - hope I am keeping OT with it.
So being a miser we had an antenna we used in a far north town to receive signal from local transmitter taking in satellite signals and re sending locally.
Come time to buy a van I set up our own TV & radio etc. TV worked well from the antenna, radio was placed under the solar controller unit (HA ha de ha ha - not a smart move) and got lousy reception.
Just finished resetting stuff and took the antenna to bits and cleaned every wire and joint and put a splitter into the antenna co-axial line and now we get FM radio (with it still under the solar controller) off the same antenna at the same time we can watch TV (just why we would want to do that who knows) but the point is to have clean elements.
In the whole process I lost all reception and actually thought the set up was totalled, however I found just ONE SINGLE wire of the woven outer layer of wires of the coax was somehow caught in the wrong spot. When that was tidied up - whammo! decent reception on free to air TV.
I am happy. Hope the pic of the antenna shows!
That is a phased array antenna very similar to what I had on the old van.
I found it great and it could easily be rotated for vertical or horizontal signals.
Mind though there is always somewhere in Aus when reception will be a problem due to the local requirements.
Rolleston comes immediately to mind..
Worth noting that the plural of antenna is antennae. Cheers
Got that right Yobarr
It was no fun when one worked for Telstra & trying to find a spurious transmitter that has blocked a mobiles base station! Of course people were upset that they couldn't use their phones. This happened many times at Karumba & with the choice system that the techs worked under to get their work, it was almost impossible to locate the "culprit". Mostly the faults were intermittent & generally if the fault cleared, they were written off to "Caravans & TV amplifiers".
I wonder whether PeterD had these problems in his area.
Only if we're talking about insects.
Hi Mike....what you say is indeed true in the USA,but it is generally ccepted in Australia,NZ and Britain that the correct term is antennae. The fact that antennas is creeping into common use is that that term is regularly used by the same sorts of people who use literary gems such as The reason why is because and We redid it again . Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Saturday 1st of December 2018 08:23:07 AM
Gday...
Unfortunately, in this day and age of Mr Google and 'it was on the internet it must be correct' I offer the following -
https://grammarist.com/usage/antennae-antennas/
I have gone to get some popcorn as this has the potential to rival a discussion on PWM vs MPPT or anything electrical - even a WDH or rated shackles praps.
Therefore, keyboards at 10 paces but beware of eyes ... it is all fun until someone gets an eye taken out.
Cheers - John
Hi
WE have an antenna that we use generally for tv and have for some years. The second similar one actually. It is a phased array with 4 elements that is twice the size of the one shown. I purchased this one from Jaycar and then fitted a booster to it and a long cable. (because I could not quickly find one that had the booster) It works well and the booster power unit plugs into the 12v with the TV power cord. Low tech stuff to do.
In use if you are in town or nearby you can often just hang the aerial on the fence or the van. If you can see the broadcast antenna then I just sit it on the ground against the MH or on the windscreen. Other times we have a 4M windsurfer mast which is very light and was cut to just fit in along the top of the cupboards. That will bring in a signal usually if freecamping with a bit of playing. If not we listen to the radio. When we are looking for a spot to stop I usually look at the houses to see where their aerials are pointed and the polarity of the antennas. That is if they are normal or on their side. This is the best way to get an idea where to point and how to set the antenna on the mast.
A bit of playing around but it keeps me amused according to SHMBO. The worst thing is having to retune the digital TV every change of area. It was easier with a manual tuner !!
Jaahn
It is the other way around. When I did my trade no self respecting techo would be heard referring to radio antennae. They would be severely criticised if the did. If you are going to argue the toss I suggest you go to the home of English, the Oxford English Dictionary.
antenna
Click on the "+ More example sentences" links to see how propper English works.
For Australian usage - Macquarie English Dictionary - antenna - you will have to set up a visitors login to view it.
I lived in the UK for a long time and worked there in electronics for many years and never heard anyone refer to the plural or aerials as antennae.
My Concise Oxford English Dictionary says:
antenna
n noun (plural antennae )
1 Zoology a long, thin sensory appendage found in pairs on the heads of insects and some other arthropods.
2 (plural also antennas) chiefly North American or technical an aerial.
3 (antennae) the faculty of instinctively detecting and interpreting subtle signs: his political antennae remain as sharp as ever.
Note definition 2.
And John; I'll have you know that this is a serious and critical subject! :)
See what you have done John.....
Nah! nothing to do with the debate immediately above ^^^^.... but you have created doubt as to the quality of my schooling.
Why wasn't this anomaly highlighted in the curriculum.
(because I could find a "headslap" emoticon.) 
