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Budward View Drop Down
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Posts: 438 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: TV antenna question-
    Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 3:26am
Who manufactures the TV antenna used on current r-pods?    I have searched the net and haven't found it.
There was nothing in the owner's packet about it.

I am disappointed  there appears to be no way to aim the antenna.   The way it is made at least the VHF portion of it would be bi-directional, so performance depends on which way the pod is parked..

This was confirmed when I did the TV search and it missed a couple of local stations while picking up others out of market, far away.
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Seanl View Drop Down
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Posts: 633 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 8:30am
The one on mine is a winegard. It is omnidirectional so it does not have that much gain. It is not aimable. It has a amplifier in it but it still does not work that well. I say it is omnidirectional but it does not pick up equally in all directions. I don't think any circular element antenna does.

If you wanted to replace it I would go with a directional driven array type of antena that rotates.  I hope that helps
Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
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Posts: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 11:14am
I have a new Rpod 178 and the antenna on mine does not seem to be securely connected. It seems to wiggle a little in place.  Is that normal?  If not, I wasn't sure if there was a way to tighten up the connection.
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Posts: 231 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 11:40am
Does anyone have a suggestion for a good antenna?
2014 rpod 182G
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Newsguy12 View Drop Down
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Posts: 54 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 1:59pm
I will be picking up my 179 next week, so have no experience with the antenna's capabilities.  It should be a digital antenna meant to see the digital signals now required by the government of local TV stations. The digital signal is very different than it's analog predecessor where picture resolution could be anywhere from cloudy and snowy to clear.  In the digital world, you either get a good, clear  signal or no signal at all.  Another issue with digital transmitters is that they don't usually have the "reach" of the old analog antenna.  So, if you're anywhere but inside the smaller, digital footprint of a local television market, you will probably have issues seeing local TV.
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Seanl View Drop Down
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Posts: 633 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 2:45pm
Originally posted by Newsguy12

I will be picking up my 179 next week, so have no experience with the antenna's capabilities.  It should be a digital antenna meant to see the digital signals now required by the government of local TV stations. The digital signal is very different than it's analog predecessor where picture resolution could be anywhere from cloudy and snowy to clear.  In the digital world, you either get a good, clear  signal or no signal at all.  Another issue with digital transmitters is that they don't usually have the "reach" of the old analog antenna.  So, if you're anywhere but inside the smaller, digital footprint of a local television market, you will probably have issues seeing local TV.

Hi , this is not quite accurate

There is no difference between and digital antenna and an analog one. The signal at the antenna is allways an FM modulated analog signal so the antenna does not know the difference between digital and analog. All of the signal processing is done by the TV. Analog TV in the US used NTSC encoding that has 483 visible scan lines. When you have a week signal with analog tv you get noise. Static in the sound and snow on the picture. There is no change in the resolution it is still 483 you just have noise superimposed over it. 

In contrast over the air digital or ATSC has 481 vertical scan lines so it has essentially the same resolution as analog. When you get a week signal in digital TV some of the information that the TV needs to complete the frame of video can be missing. Since TV is a streaming media there is no way for the TV to get the missing data as it is a one way transmission. If it is only a small amount of data the TV will take a guess and try and create the frame anyways using error correction programs in the TV. If a lot a data is missing then you start to get pixalization where parts of the picture drop out. If the signal continues to degrade there may not be enough data to render a picture and the screen will freeze or will be blank. 

Digital is acctually better at rendering clear video in the face of a week signal than analog is. The main difference is that when you reach the point of no return in digital you loose all of the picutre.  

I know that some TV antenna vendors try and sell digital antennas but this is mostly smoke and mirrors. They just mean that the antenna has some sort of powered amplifier in it but you could buy powered antennas before digital came along. An Antennas ability to pull in a signal is called gain. Gain is usually determined by the size of the Elements or rods in an antenna. The closer an element is to the size of the wavelenth of the tv signal the higher the gain. you can also increase gain by adding elements like the old fashoned TV antennas that you used to see on peoples roofs' or by creating some type of dish that reflects the signal back onto an element  like a satalite dish. Both of these have the effect of making the antenna directional so you have to have some way to turn the antenna to make this work. 

I hope this does not come off like a little know it all. I can come off that way sometimes,  but I have been involved with Media and radio now for 30 years now.
Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
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Posts: 767 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 2:53pm
The Weingard omnidirectional antenna that is available for the rpod supports digital.  It actually does a very good job of pulling in OTA channels.

For comparison, I have two high-end (digital) antennas installed at my house, along with one of the best signal boosters available.  I've spent some time finetuning my home setup to get the most out of the system.

The Weingard on the r-pod, sitting in my driveway does an admirable job of pulling in OTA signals.  Considering the low height of the antenna (the ones at home are mounted 35' in the air), the lower-wattage booster (just over half the power of what I have at home), and the fact that the antennas are not directional, I'm rather impressed with my r-pod's abilities.  The r-pod reliably pulls in signals from 50 miles away - which is exceptional for a tiny antenna 10' off the ground in a crowded subdivision.

If you'd like to see which stations you can expect to receive in a specific location, head over to TVFool.com and enter the address (or lat/long) of where you'll be camping to generate a report.
Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
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fwunder View Drop Down
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 4:28pm
Antenna?

I prefer my Apple TV with an ad hoc network or using the TP-Link Nano Router or old Airport Express, create a little WiFi network and stream my movie collection from Macbook Air and flash drive collection to the TV. Sometimes I just use a Thunderbolt HDMI cable from MacBook Air to TV although I often use my GoGroove Bluetooth adapter for audio from Air or iOS devices. Jensen Bluetooth works pretty well, though. The GoGroove seems to work better with Aereo anywhere around the New York market if you have the bandwidth. Not sure why the GoGroove works better with some content vs. the Jensen Bluetooth. Chromecast or Roku might be a good alternative, but I'm a Mac geek. Could you tell? Wink

Seems kinda silly but, yeah, I've actually done all that. Drives my wife crazy. It's just fun for me and I really, really try to limit that stuff to my back yard playing with the pod. It's fun being a cord cutter.

Oh, the Antenna. My only real complaint is I had to put a little anti-chafing strip along one edge of one end of the antenna cuz it was a tight fit with Fantastic Vent cover.

fred
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Posts: 54 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 4:51pm
All true, Fred.  Glad to meet another media guy. But the bottom line for users is that terrestrial DTV does not behave like analog...and worse, the signal footprint is smaller, which might mean you can no longer get a local TV signal with an OTA digital signal in the same area where you used to receive analog.  My only point is it might not be the antenna...but an artifact of the new world of over the air, local digital TV.  
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2014 at 5:23pm
Next thing you know, we're gonna be talking about out AR turntables and Heathkit receivers! Yeah, OTA DTV does have it's challenges. Being about halfway between Philly and New York, I use a uni-directional Terk and little amp for the Philly stations and Aereo for the New York Market. Coulda gone with a dual setup like Outbound, but Aereo is kinda fun and works great on all portables and iOS devices. Supreme Court decision will be interesting. I use a Silcone Dust HD Homerun and Elgato EyeTV too for local DVR and fun. As you guys know, it's a bit of a challenge making it all work [well], but it's sooooo rewarding not sending that check to Comcast.

The Pod pulls in about 2/3 the stations my Terk does. Yeah, we traded a snowy weak analog signal for blocky/jerky/occasional or not at all digital signal. Too bad really. I remember getting used to watching McHales Navy on channel 45 through the snow!

fred
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
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