Gee what is the question? I mean, if you are in the market for a second hand van, or a new one, unless you are having it custom built, then what it comes with you get.
When I was considering getting a 5 wheeler built, couldn't see the sense in duplicating systems, so I was going to have no TV aerial install at all, but was going to go for a portable sat system. From information I got from the forum, my conclusion was that when out of town the winegard would not work and I would need a sat dish. To get a sat dish mounted on the roof of the van would cost about $3600, and if you happened to park where a tree was in the way, it wouldn't work, the dish has to have a clear line of sight to work.
I went and brought a jayco, and it comes with a winegard, thats it. So off I trotted and brought a portable sat system, trouble is I havn't used it yet, the winegard has worked OK for me so far, but I havn't been remote yet.
Be aware the winegard system is very delicate, the mechanism is easly broken, as I found out.
It really depends on what your camping intensions are.
A lot depends on where you will be camping. If you are a black road traveller and a caravan park dweller the Winegard HV will suffice. These days more and more parks are installing reticulated TV or installing their own translators.
If you use WickiCamps for your route planning you will see a TV icon where TV is available in the camp site/caravan park you are looking at reports for. This year We have travelled Tasmania and outback Qld, we have only had a couple of stops where TV was not available. If we really had to have TV for those nights we could have consulted WickiCamps to find alternate camping.
A good satellite system will be in excess of $600. There are cheaper systems but they are harder to set up and do not have 800 mm diameter dishes. If you are going outback along gravel roads to remote sites I suggest you get at least an 800 mm (80 cm) dish on a tripod mount. There are cheap installations on skid mounts but these are the ones that result in the calls for assistance to set up.
Study where you will be travelling with WickiCamps and let the results of that be your decider.
__________________
PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
I have a sat system and never use our van antenna it only takes 10 minutes to set up and allows you to take your foxtel box with you. You can also ring vast and tell them what state you wish to watch regardless of what state you are inWassa
As all the other posters have said, it depends where you are going
If you are staying in town caravan parks, an antenna will usually work, providing it will pick up both horizontal and vertical signal polarisation Approximately 60% of TV signals are horizontal (85% of viewers), while the rest are vertical signals
Away from the built up areas, only a satellite dish will guarantee that you will have a signal
