New HD TV & Auto SEARCH

whiteman · Senior Member

New HD TV & Auto SEARCH

Brian88 · Senior Member

I am an Antenna Man(one of my trades).I found that you can have trouble with digital on some caravans because of the cabling not up to scratch some caravans I found cabling sqashed ,not good for digital.You will find with cabling issues that you will not beable to pick up some channels ,as that frequency will not travel through faulty or bad cable, also water ingress is a big issue in Caravans with your type sometimes the installer has not waterproofed the connection on the roof with biteman tap(which is a must)electricians tape is not waterproof,mostly I found no tape.
Brian.

whiteman · Senior Member

Brian, does that mean you simply have no fix for the problem ??....is "wingman" and solution ??

-- Edited by whiteman on Saturday 1st of October 2011 05:31:00 PM

Jacko · Veteran Member

Darling buy yourself a Wingman as a pressie. Bottom of page darling $55 http://www.awardrv.com.au/whats_new.php

Darling Winegard is majority VHF and majority of TX are UHF. Darling Wingman improves UHF performance 100%

Brian88 · Senior Member

I did not want to go that far , trying to be diplomatic to that brand,but yes.

whiteman · Senior Member

Guys, your responses indicate that there is or are better systems available, if so, please point me in the right direction ??.

Is there anyone in Sydney Town that I should contact ??

-- Edited by whiteman on Saturday 1st of October 2011 05:42:50 PM

Brian88 · Senior Member

did not ever find a decent caravan antenna,carry a small house antenna myself,but usually in remote areas,and use satellite,did have a look and www.saturnantennas.com.au look good and they have a phone connection also inbuilt ,which would be very handy.

blaze · Guru

I also use a small house antenna with Quad sheild RG6 cable. Have to change sometimes from vertical to horizontal. Ditital signal is sent via uhf and vhf dependant on your location and a multi funtion antenna is the way to go I think. I zip tie a extendable tent pole to either my jockey wheel or the rear bar of the van.
cheers
blaze

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

whiteman, have you thought about going sat dish and the new vast system?

have a look here http://www.satplus.com.au/

if you do go this way and want to use your tv in the bush, you will need a PURE sinewave inverter, I use a 300w unit, and it works great.

-- Edited by _wombat_ on Sunday 2nd of October 2011 10:18:56 AM

Dunco · Senior Member

One thing....if you only moved the TV from your house to your van, there would be no need to re-tune the channels ????

Brian88 · Senior Member

but its a good way of finding out if your caravan cabling and antenna is working.

whiteman · Senior Member

Wombat...recently purchased the unit you suggest, on this last trip we had terrific reception via the Winegard except the TV is not digital and hence the new HD set now installed.

Originally thought we would journey back to NT & WA but due to illness we left late and will have to leave that for another year..........recently noticed that the automatic antennas that fit on the roof of the van have dropped heaps, so will explore that shortly.

Guys...still need an answer to the question of whether there is a signal direction finder on the market.

whiteman · Senior Member

Dunco...van has a different antenna system, whereas I needed to have a newer style digital antenna installed when we went to HD in the house, so I think the answer is a definite yes.

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

I have not heard of a signal meter for a winegard, there maybe one, but I am not aware of one, if you mean a sat finder then the one I mentioned it the way to go.

Brian88 · Senior Member

HAVE SEEN CHEAP ONES , I THINK LACEYS TV HAD THEM.AND I THINK THERE IS A SHOP IN SYDNEY.THEY ARE WHOLESALE BUT I THINK STILL SELL TO THE PUBLIC.

Brian88 · Senior Member

http://www.laceys.tv/secure/uploads/files/tammaxpeak.pdf THIS LINK MIGHT HELP.

Jacko · Veteran Member

Brian88 wrote:
did not ever find a decent caravan antenna,carry a small house antenna myself,but usually in remote areas,and use satellite,did have a look and www.saturnantennas.com.au look good and they have a phone connection also inbuilt ,which would be very handy.

Darling Brian a wire coat hanger will do as well as a Saturn aerial. Darling the phone part is just as useless as the TV aerial part.

Brian88 · Senior Member

fair enough.bbb

Jacko · Veteran Member

whiteman wrote:
Guys...still need an answer to the question of whether there is a signal direction finder on the market.

Darling there is the little Happy Wanderer goodie http://www.happywanderer.net.au/page.asp?parentid=19&parent2id=50&parent3id=69 which you can find on eBay identical in Honkie Konkie or Singapokie for around $35 delivered to Aus and combined unit for TV and Sat for about $60.

Darling my method is based on topo maps and knowing where every TV transmitter is located and where darling Jacko is located and shoot a direct true bearing compass plot direct to the TV transmitter on the Garmin GPS directly at the tower. Darling bang smack on every time and no diddling or fiddling about. Darling works like magic

Jacko · Veteran Member

Brian88 wrote:
http://www.laceys.tv/secure/uploads/files/tammaxpeak.pdf THIS LINK MIGHT HELP.

Darling I am sure at around $1,200 it is bound to help ROFLOL

blaze · Guru

Jacko wrote:
Brian88 wrote:
http://www.laceys.tv/secure/uploads/files/tammaxpeak.pdf THIS LINK MIGHT HELP.
Darling I am sure at around $1,200 it is bound to help ROFLOL

dont know why nyou would jest at a $1200 meter, I spent close to $3000 for mine and the one before that was close to $5000.

cheers

blaze

ps I dont carry a meter with me, I just look at the locals, if I dont see any houses I just leave the tv off and enjoy the sounds of nature

Ma · Guru

Blue's meter courtesy of his employment and we do the same as you Blaze, enjoy the peace and quiet

Dunco · Senior Member

whiteman wrote:
Dunco...van has a different antenna system, whereas I needed to have a newer style digital antenna installed when we went to HD in the house, so I think the answer is a definite yes.

Doesn't matter whether the van has a different antenna system. If you tune them inside your house, then take the TV into your van, they are EXACTLY the same stations and are broadcast from the same transmitter.

The ONLY time you need to retune your TV is when you move to another area...I can take my TV from my house and plug it into my mates house (also in Sydney but 40km away) and have the same stations....it is the STATIONS you are retuning, NOT the antenna.

Brian88 · Senior Member

GOOD ONE BLAZE

whiteman · Senior Member

Dunco....when I purchased a new HD for the house it would only pick up a few digital stations and I nneded to then replace the aeriel with a digital version and then I received all of them.......my point is that as the van & winegard aeriel are about 4 years old I need to probably add the "wingman" to pick up the balance of the digital stations.........if that`s not correct please let me know as I don`t want to waste money on a system that won`t work.

-- Edited by whiteman on Monday 3rd of October 2011 01:59:39 PM

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

I purchased the wingman sometime ago, it did nothing for my set up so I took it back and got a refund

whiteman · Senior Member

Wombat....so much good cheer, I have a dish for satellite service, but for east coast tv the winegard system works ok providing I can get all the free to air channels and easier to set up....looks like it`s a buy and test situation.

-- Edited by whiteman on Monday 3rd of October 2011 02:17:34 PM

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

whiteman wrote:
Wombat....so much good cheer, I have a dish for satellite service, but for east coast tv the winegard system works ok providing I can get all the free to air channels and easier to set up....looks like it`s a buy and test situation.

-- Edited by whiteman on Monday 3rd of October 2011 02:17:34 PM

ya, just tell them if it does not work you will want a refund, our local Caravan shop does this for any items, except for caravans biggrin

Dunco · Senior Member

whiteman wrote:
Dunco....when I purchased a new HD for the house it would only pick up a few digital stations and I nneded to then replace the aeriel with a digital version and then I received all of them.......my point is that as the van & winegard aeriel are about 4 years old I need to probably add the "wingman" to pick up the balance of the digital stations.........if that`s not correct please let me know as I don`t want to waste money on a system that won`t work.

-- Edited by whiteman on Monday 3rd of October 2011 01:59:39 PM

It maybe the answer you are after to improve the antenna.

What I was saying is that if you tune in the house and then put in the van(withpout retuning), at least you know what channels are not being picked up and that it is then an antenna issue. It may just be the cabling as someone else suggested, but I have a winegard antenna and I haven't had too many issues with it, especially in major cities.

Has it got a booster on it ???

Mine has.

-- Edited by Dunco on Monday 3rd of October 2011 05:06:47 PM

Brian88 · Senior Member

man this still goin?