New TV antenna

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Beaver
Posts: 20
Joined: April 22nd, 2017, 10:20 am

New TV antenna

Post by Beaver »

I'm abandoning the original TV antenna on my '98 Concourse to make room for solar on the roof. I'm curious if anyone else has replaced their original antenna with one of those new flat, flexible ones that look like a place mat. When I dropped my home cable TV service last year, I bought one of them and it works great to pick up stations within a 30 mile or so radius, and I think it cost about $30. It seems to me you could easily attach one of these to the surface of the Chinook roof or the window and quickly have state of the art reception at a fraction of the cost and hardware.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0063705PE
Beaver
'98 Concourse
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kdarling
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Joined: October 20th, 2015, 6:57 am
Location: Northern NJ

Re: New TV antenna

Post by kdarling »

I could swear someone was talking about their flat antenna like that not long ago. Probably need to do a forum search.

When I got my Chinook, the stock crank up antenna was mangled from a tree, so I looked up the Winegard installation instructions and reversed them to remove it.

I replaced it with this saucer shaped amplified antenna, but frankly I've never tried it outside of the hills here where there's no digital TV reception, so I cannot say how it works.
image.jpeg
You can see it at the front passenger side (Chinook switched later to the driver side) in this year old photo:
image.jpeg
I did also run my Sirius XM satellite antenna wire up through its post and mounted the sat antenna puck under the saucer dome, where it works great.

Would be very interested to hear about other antenna replacements such as the one you're considering.
1994 Concourse dinette, Ford 7.5L (460 V8)
dougm
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Joined: June 7th, 2016, 9:25 pm

Re: New TV antenna

Post by dougm »

I removed my TV antenna last year along with all of the factory solar equipment. I then purchased a complete solar system from Renogy and installed a 100 watt panel on the drivers side and one on the passenger side along with a 500 watt smart controller, i also added two AGM batteries. I built a special plate out of 1/4" thick aluminum plate to cover the antenna hole and allow me to run the new solar panel wires into the chinook where the TV cable and antenna use to be. I dont watch television so i havent installed any kind of TV antenna to replace the old one.
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HoosierB
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Re: New TV antenna

Post by HoosierB »

dougm, sent you a PM.
"Wanda" – '01 Chinook Concourse XL V10
Alakey
Posts: 1
Joined: November 7th, 2017, 4:39 am
Location: UK

Re: New TV antenna

Post by Alakey »

Beaver wrote: Here's an example of what I'm talking about. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0063705PE
I`m wondering how does such antennas would work? I`ve seen roof antennas like @kdarling mentioned, but haven`t any experience with flat indoor antennas.
Beaver
Posts: 20
Joined: April 22nd, 2017, 10:20 am

Re: New TV antenna

Post by Beaver »

I did a forum search on the topic of RV TV antennas to see if anyone was using the inexpensive flat, indoor home antennas that have become popular with cable TV cord cutters. According to this report, it looks like they work pretty well, and are certainly easy to use, affordable, and don't take up space on your rig's roof. http://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-tv-ant ... e-tv-road/
Beaver
'98 Concourse
chin_k
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Re: New TV antenna

Post by chin_k »

I am 50 miles from the TV towers, so I have to get one of the more powerful one that is directional for good reception. I have not use these flat ones yet, but since they are omni-directional, I don't think they will work well for me. Pretty much all of the stations are from one direction +/- 2 degrees from where I live, according to antennaweb.org web site.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
Xatlatc
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Joined: July 14th, 2015, 6:40 pm
Location: Upstate South Carolina

Re: New TV antenna

Post by Xatlatc »

I too cut the cable earlier this year and used a powered flat HD antenna for over the air stations and it worked great. But it didn’t work very well with the Chinook so I kept the powered Winegard and bought a portable satellite system. Over the air channels are free but in general they stink. IMO. Im a news junkie and the Dish Playmaker gives me what I need as long as I have a clear view of the southern sky. So now I use the Dish and the powered Winegard. Happy, happy.
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