RV antenna

[JCMack]

I have a King antenna that is at least 10 years old. Reception is not great. Would there be much improvement if I purchased a newer model, the King OA8300

[wa8yxm]

gonesouth wrote:

You guys had me until this post. So the Jack doesn't perform well for 25% of the US channels. How is performance on the other 75%? Why is nobody talking about that?

If you follow the link many posta above to the independent lab test run by a fellow RVer.. You will find that the BEST the Jack did, compared to a Winegard S-III was -3db. -3DB is 1/2 the power.

So at its very best the jack delivered 1/2 the signal the Winegard delivered and IF I RECALL CORRECTLY (Been a while) THE gent who did the tests did NOT have the wingman. So that's another 3 to six DB for the wingman. IN short the Jack is NEVER as good as the batwing.

Unless you are tight in with stations all around you.

[Bill_Satellite]

No one said it's not a good antenna, it's just not a good as a full spectrum antenna like the Winegard Sensar (Batwing).

[gonesouth]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
The Jack is not a good performer on low and high VHF, and King knows it based on the marketing blurbs. When the current channel repack is done, there will be 496 remaining low and high VHF licenses, versus 1549 remaining UHF licenses. That's nearly 25% of the TV stations that the Jack is not well designed to receive. And actually more than that if we include the 152 stations that are giving up their licenses but many will remain on the air as a sub-channel of another licensee. The Winegard Sensar 3 and 4 are both well designed for optimum low/high VHF, with the Wingman yagi feature or add-on also optimizing it for UHF.

You guys had me until this post. So the Jack doesn't perform well for 25% of the US channels. How is performance on the other 75%? Why is nobody talking about that?

[Dutch_12078]

The Jack is not a good performer on low and high VHF, and King knows it based on the marketing blurbs. When the current channel repack is done, there will be 496 remaining low and high VHF licenses, versus 1549 remaining UHF licenses. That's nearly 25% of the TV stations that the Jack is not well designed to receive. And actually more than that if we include the 152 stations that are giving up their licenses but many will remain on the air as a sub-channel of another licensee. The Winegard Sensar 3 and 4 are both well designed for optimum low/high VHF, with the Wingman yagi feature or add-on also optimizing it for UHF.

[doxiemom11]

We have an 18 yr old batwing antenna with the built in antenna booster and depending on location we can pick up 10 - 30 channels of good clear tv. We have had 1 location that because of the heavily wooded surroundings we could only get 1 channel.

[ScottG]

RLS7201 wrote:

ScottG wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I will say this. there are two different standards of performance and a mistake many make

"My king outperformed my Winegard" is blatently false. as the other poster said that never happens. THey are at best half the antenna the Winegard is AT BEST.
But when you replaced the head,, did you replace teh coax which had become defective due to the effects of UV light (Sunlight)? If so the COAX may be the big difference.

The one case where the Jack will outperform a Sensar is if you are like 10 miles from the transmitters and they are scattered in a wide arc.

The Sensar is more directional, and thus may exclude the ends of the arc, where as the JACK being less directional sees a wider arc, but at 25+ miles the Jack sees .. Well wher eI"m at I have 3 times the reception JACK users have.

Antennas are like field/opera glasses

Imagine being in the Gods (The nosebleed seats in a big theater,,,been there) you look at the stage and see a bunch of 2 legged ants running around (The Phantom and Christine and so on) You break out your OPERA blasses (low power bionaculars) Now you can see people but they are a long way off. Also you can still see the full stage.

You break out the FIELD GLASSES (Full power bionaculars0 now you can no longer see all the stage but it's like you are in about row 5 or there abouts on the main floor.

Same with antennas
Omni antenna.. that's the naked eye
Jack is Opera Glasses
Sensar IV or either the II or III with wingman.. FIELD glasses.

Add the sensar pro and it's light amplifying field glasses (military type).

"Blatantly false"?
LOL, well that's your opinion. I guess your suggesting anyone says such is lying - the last ditch effort to argue when one can't back up their claim.

Here is the back up to wa8yxm's claim. There is just no argument against signal strength on a oscilloscope.

Richard

Sure there is. Controlled tests are one thing and real world is quite another. My experience has been different than his. We camp in several very remote locations in the mountains where we get stations with King that we don't with the old BW. At home I got several more stations as well.
But thanks for discussing it in a civil manor without needing to resort to insults.

[RLS7201]

ScottG wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I will say this. there are two different standards of performance and a mistake many make

"My king outperformed my Winegard" is blatently false. as the other poster said that never happens. THey are at best half the antenna the Winegard is AT BEST.
But when you replaced the head,, did you replace teh coax which had become defective due to the effects of UV light (Sunlight)? If so the COAX may be the big difference.

The one case where the Jack will outperform a Sensar is if you are like 10 miles from the transmitters and they are scattered in a wide arc.

The Sensar is more directional, and thus may exclude the ends of the arc, where as the JACK being less directional sees a wider arc, but at 25+ miles the Jack sees .. Well wher eI"m at I have 3 times the reception JACK users have.

Antennas are like field/opera glasses

Imagine being in the Gods (The nosebleed seats in a big theater,,,been there) you look at the stage and see a bunch of 2 legged ants running around (The Phantom and Christine and so on) You break out your OPERA blasses (low power bionaculars) Now you can see people but they are a long way off. Also you can still see the full stage.

You break out the FIELD GLASSES (Full power bionaculars0 now you can no longer see all the stage but it's like you are in about row 5 or there abouts on the main floor.

Same with antennas
Omni antenna.. that's the naked eye
Jack is Opera Glasses
Sensar IV or either the II or III with wingman.. FIELD glasses.

Add the sensar pro and it's light amplifying field glasses (military type).

"Blatantly false"?
LOL, well that's your opinion. I guess your suggesting anyone says such is lying - the last ditch effort to argue when one can't back up their claim.

Here is the back up to wa8yxm's claim. There is just no argument against signal strength on a oscilloscope.

Richard

[ScottG]

wa8yxm wrote:
I will say this. there are two different standards of performance and a mistake many make

"My king outperformed my Winegard" is blatently false. as the other poster said that never happens. THey are at best half the antenna the Winegard is AT BEST.
But when you replaced the head,, did you replace teh coax which had become defective due to the effects of UV light (Sunlight)? If so the COAX may be the big difference.

The one case where the Jack will outperform a Sensar is if you are like 10 miles from the transmitters and they are scattered in a wide arc.

The Sensar is more directional, and thus may exclude the ends of the arc, where as the JACK being less directional sees a wider arc, but at 25+ miles the Jack sees .. Well wher eI"m at I have 3 times the reception JACK users have.

Antennas are like field/opera glasses

Imagine being in the Gods (The nosebleed seats in a big theater,,,been there) you look at the stage and see a bunch of 2 legged ants running around (The Phantom and Christine and so on) You break out your OPERA blasses (low power bionaculars) Now you can see people but they are a long way off. Also you can still see the full stage.

You break out the FIELD GLASSES (Full power bionaculars0 now you can no longer see all the stage but it's like you are in about row 5 or there abouts on the main floor.

Same with antennas
Omni antenna.. that's the naked eye
Jack is Opera Glasses
Sensar IV or either the II or III with wingman.. FIELD glasses.

Add the sensar pro and it's light amplifying field glasses (military type).

"Blatantly false"?
LOL, well that's your opinion. I guess your suggesting anyone says such is lying - the last ditch effort to argue when one can't back up their claim.

[wa8yxm]

I will say this. there are two different standards of performance and a mistake many make

"My king outperformed my Winegard" is blatently false. as the other poster said that never happens. THey are at best half the antenna the Winegard is AT BEST.
But when you replaced the head,, did you replace teh coax which had become defective due to the effects of UV light (Sunlight)? If so the COAX may be the big difference.

The one case where the Jack will outperform a Sensar is if you are like 10 miles from the transmitters and they are scattered in a wide arc.

The Sensar is more directional, and thus may exclude the ends of the arc, where as the JACK being less directional sees a wider arc, but at 25+ miles the Jack sees .. Well wher eI"m at I have 3 times the reception JACK users have.

Antennas are like field/opera glasses

Imagine being in the Gods (The nosebleed seats in a big theater,,,been there) you look at the stage and see a bunch of 2 legged ants running around (The Phantom and Christine and so on) You break out your OPERA blasses (low power bionaculars) Now you can see people but they are a long way off. Also you can still see the full stage.

You break out the FIELD GLASSES (Full power bionaculars0 now you can no longer see all the stage but it's like you are in about row 5 or there abouts on the main floor.

Same with antennas
Omni antenna.. that's the naked eye
Jack is Opera Glasses
Sensar IV or either the II or III with wingman.. FIELD glasses.

Add the sensar pro and it's light amplifying field glasses (military type).

[Blutoyz]

New winegard and sensar pro here....works great. I did have to replace my coax from the roof though, they really take a beating up there

[Dutch_12078]

Good luck with that Jack as the current channel repack transitions take place. There will be quite a few more stations on the low and high VHF channels in addition to the 300+ already there where the Jack's performance is at its poorest and the Sensar performance really shines. When the dust settles, there will only be 23 UHF channels left for TV broadcast use.

[ScottG]

My king Jack outperformed the BW in our last TT by a landslide. No comparison anywhere we used it.

So much so that I removed the ant from our new TT and installed a Jack. Reception is far superior in the most remote locations where ant's struggle.

[Bill_Satellite]

That would no longer be Politically correct. It will soon be known as Scouting BSA to allow girls (women, females) to join the other Scouts. Silly nonsense if you ask me (which you DID NOT!).

[D_E_Bishop]

K Charles wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:


Punch in your current address, or partial address, or zip code and a map pops up showing where the singles are coming from. Work like a champ. The only problem is, you need to carry a compass with you so you know where North is. So, we carry a simple Boy Scout type compass in the camper all the time. Got it from Dick's Sporting Good's I think, years ago.

I do the same thing but my compuss is left over from Boy Scouts.

I just take a Boy Scout along. DGS is finishing up his Eagle Project and heading to Philmont, so I guess I I'd better get a compass.