Older Winegard antenna

[larryb]

I have a 1996 ford with a fleetwood body. The mobile home has a Winegard amplified antenna on the unit. I cannot find a model number on the antenna, but it looks lie the current ones with just a slightly different shaped plastic body.

My question is can I add the UHF DTV upgrade antenna to this antenna?

I have 4 black rubber feet on the bottom just like the instalation video shows so it looks like it may attach to the bottom of the antenna.

Anyone got the answer?

Larry

[Bill Adams]

If you mean the Winegard Wingman, the answer is absolutely yes.

[larryb]

I have been trying to look at some older manual and pictures on the Winegard website but they dont have any and since I cant find the model number I am up against the wall.

Do you have the model of your unit?

Larry

[Bill Adams]

The Wingman is the model you need to add to your Sensar antenna. Your 1996 Sensar will accept the Wingman add-on without issue.

[larryb]

Thank you

Larry

[larryb]

By the way. Is the upgrade worth it?

Digital tv reception vs analog tv reception is really different. With digital instead of snow you get blotches and freeze frames.

Will the increase in signal reception be worth it or how about a 20db, rf signal amp instead?

Larry

[Bill Adams]

Actually, there is nothing magic about the change over to digital. The change that took place is that most of the analog programming was broadcast on the VHF frequencies (2-13). The move to digital moved the over the air broadcasts to the UHF frequencies (14-52) and these frequencies are a lot more fickle. They are much more line-of-sight that VHF and they are also subject to reflection where surrounding objects and moving vehicles can reflect the signal and create interference.
The Sensar antenna has a small UHF antenna mounted inside the center plastic housing and is highly directional. The Wingman acts as a director to collect the weaker UHF signal and feed it to this antenna and can increase your gain to this antenna by as much a 100%.
This has been tested by many independent folks (search the internet RV forums) and proven to be effective. As a re-seller of this product I have installed many of these units and watched channels that previously broke up or did not show up at all become usable.

[larryb]

Thanks for the info.

I was looking at one today at the local RV shop. My concern was my ant only says Winegard on the case and it is a different shape than the newer ones. I did find the rf output jack with the red LED and switch to turn on the amp in the ant head.

I just bought this motor home about 4 weeks ago and tried the ant and the reception was lousey. Only got 5 channels, once I figured out the power supply switch for the amp, I now get 38 channels.

I still have a 20db RF amp that I used some time ago with a spectrum analyzer. I will amp up to 1GHz in frequency.

I might still try it.

Larry

[Bill Adams]

The Wingman with fit the various Winegard antennas that have been released over the last many years. I believe that this includes all units dating back to somewhere around the mid- 80's.