hd antenna

[JimW]

I have a ufo looking antenna on my drop down house. Been using it for camping. This antenna does not seem to get many channels in. Used it in a few places. Seems to get about half the channels my dads crank up antenna gets on his rv. I do use the booster on it. What is everyone else experiencing? Am afraid I will have no channels for ice fishing. Would be using a lot in the duluth area. Considering dish but didn't want to spend the money unless I have to.

Jim

[JSK76]

Let me guess, do you own a Salem Ice Cabin or True North fish house? Either way I own an Ice Cabin and it has a round antenna like you described, it's a Wineguard Roadmaster 1500 and the 2000 is very similar. I've never even received a channel yet with mine but was told by the previous owner it worked in town.

I can save you a lot of time, I've researched this to death last week. The round antennas ar omni directional and don't get good long range reception, from what I've read on the RV forums nobody has good luck with them and they call them a 20 mile antenna but I wouldn't give it a 10 mile rating.

There 2 good options out there, one is the Wineguard Sensar iV it's a crank up style (40" high up 4" lowered) with the ability to rotate the antenna from inside the house manually, it's more know for being called a bat wing antenna because of its wide horizontal wings. Seems to get good reviews, drawbacks I see is the snow could weight it down and when you would try to crank it up you could strip the gears.

The other option is the Jack antenna OA-8000, this is a much smaller antenna then the Sensar. The Jack sits 11.25" high and is also adjustable from inside the house but there is no cranking up just rotating. From the reviews I've read the reception between the Sensar and Jack are the same so for me I would go with the Jack because of the smaller profile and not having to worry about it freezing down to the roof in lowered position like the Sensar could. The cost between the two are the same also.

[elkoholic]

Go with the sensar iv! Love mine!! I also researched alot before I bought mine and would buy another!

[Hawg]

WOW JSK, you have researched this TV thing to death. I thought you had a Tailgater coming? I could save you both a lot of time, get a Direct TV dish. I don't have HD but it's a far better picture than I can get off air. Us guys away from the cities just don't get good off air reception anymore. Not sure about Duluth but Brainerd is horrible and I have to believe Bemidji is the same.

[JSK76]

Hawg, I was dead set on a dish then my work got slow, like a worked 1/2 of last month so then I decided to look at going with an antenna. I went camping last weekend and brought with my RCA house style antenna on a 10' pole so I could catch the game Saturday night. I fooled around trying to find a way to prop up the antenna and then after I got a good solid mount I made it 1/2 way through the game and lost signal and couldn't get it back. It could have been a weird fluke but between that and knowing I'm not going to get signal on Red or LOW I'm going to hold out for a Dish. My work always picks up in the fall.

[Hawg]

Remember though. Dishes are almost free, old non hd boxes are all over the place, and you can piggyback on somebody for $7/mo. Probably cheaper than an antenna

[JSK76]

I've actually got an old dish out in the garage that I got for my fish house in 2009 and I won't use it again, it's a automatic style dish for me or I would rather use an antenna.

[JimW]

Thanks for the info. Is the antenna above hard to install? Assuming since you can rotate I will need to drill hole thru roof. Should I have dealer install? I might try my dish and tripod but seems like aiming will be a pain. Still need a good antenna for wooded areas where I camp as I dont think dish would work.

[JimW]

It is a viking ice made by forrest river.

[JSK76]

That makes sense, Forest River makes the Ice Cabin too.

[JSK76]

You would need a hole in the roof but if you remove the old antenna you can use that hole, you would just need a hole on the inside of the ceiling too. If you can swing it you can get a fully automatic satellite and receiver through Dish TV for 450.00. You don't even need a tripod. If $ isn't an object I would do a Jack antenna and Dish.