# Jack Antenna Replacement



## rsbamafan (May 28, 2012)

I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

rsbamafan said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


installed the jack replacement head on our crank up wiengard "wingman". So far I'm impressed. the jack gave me about a dozen more useable stations at home, and there were several stations that with the wingman I had to rotate to get reception, the rotate for others. With the Jack, I got all the usual stations w/o having to rotate. took all of about 15 minutes to replace the exisiting antenna on the crank up.


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## dalor (May 27, 2012)

Is the replacement a straight swap or do you need to modify (cut) anything


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

rsbamafan said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


 Don't replace it! Go to Radio Shack and by thier 10DB signal booster. Plug the antenna lead to TV into the input of the Signal Booster. Plug in the output of the booster into the TV. Turn the gain all the way up, tuck the unit behind the TV and forget it.

I tripled the channels I recieved with it.

$32.00

Eric


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

egregg57 said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


 Don't replace it! Go to Radio Shack and by thier 10DB signal booster. Plug the antenna lead to TV into the input of the Signal Booster. Plug in the output of the booster into the TV. Turn the gain all the way up, tuck the unit behind the TV and forget it.

I tripled the channels I recieved with it.

$32.00

Eric
[/quote]

How about a link?


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

thefulminator said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


 Don't replace it! Go to Radio Shack and by thier 10DB signal booster. Plug the antenna lead to TV into the input of the Signal Booster. Plug in the output of the booster into the TV. Turn the gain all the way up, tuck the unit behind the TV and forget it.

I tripled the channels I recieved with it.

$32.00

Eric
[/quote]

How about a link?
[/quote]

Wow! price dropped!

10DB Booster


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

egregg57 said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


 Don't replace it! Go to Radio Shack and by thier 10DB signal booster. Plug the antenna lead to TV into the input of the Signal Booster. Plug in the output of the booster into the TV. Turn the gain all the way up, tuck the unit behind the TV and forget it.

I tripled the channels I recieved with it.

$32.00

Eric
[/quote]

How about a link?
[/quote]

Wow! price dropped!

10DB Booster
[/quote]

So that's why I didn't think it was the right one. I would like some clarification on the installation. Doesn't the button next to the antenna connection in the trailer power an amplifier for the wingman antenna? Do you power them both up at the same time or do you not use the wingman booster?


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

thefulminator said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


 Don't replace it! Go to Radio Shack and by thier 10DB signal booster. Plug the antenna lead to TV into the input of the Signal Booster. Plug in the output of the booster into the TV. Turn the gain all the way up, tuck the unit behind the TV and forget it.

I tripled the channels I recieved with it.

$32.00

Eric
[/quote]

How about a link?
[/quote]

Wow! price dropped!

10DB Booster
[/quote]

So that's why I didn't think it was the right one. I would like some clarification on the installation. Doesn't the button next to the antenna connection in the trailer power an amplifier for the wingman antenna? Do you power them both up at the same time or do you not use the wingman booster?
[/quote]

The black button next to (or in the vacinity of) the antenna is indeed an amplifier. But it does not work very well. There is a difference in the number of channels recieved but turning or aiming your antenna is necessary to "tune" in a channel. The add on "Wingman" does not work very well either! Actually i thought it was a peice of junk. Maybe others have had better success. Not me... I bought and returned one the same day.

As far as connecting the amplifier the cable that is currently connected to your TV gets connected to the Radio Shack 10DB amplifier input. A coax cable supplied with the 10DB booster gets connected to the output of the signal booster and to your TV.

The 10DB Signal booster takes the amplified signal from your RV antenna (Pushing the black button with Green Light) near the antenna connection and gains it by up to 10 Decibels. There is a gain potentiometer on the face of the 10DB booster. I just turn it all the way up and leave it.

Although the amplifier supplied with the camper will boost signal strength, it does not boost all available signals/channels to a point that they are recognized by the TV set.

The external booster from Radio Shack, or one like it for that matter, takes the amplified signal from the RV antenna and cranks up "the volume" so to say.

The black amplifier button boosts antenna signals and as many already know, if you leave that button on, and connect cable TV, that booster interferes with the cable signal. When connecting cable ensure the black button is off (Green light out).

The Radio Shack signal booster will take the incoming cable signal also and crank that signal up. The picture is sharp and in most cases where a weak cable signal is present (fuzzy channel) the booster will clear it up.

The nice thing about the Radio shack amplifier is that you will no longer need to rotate, or adjust your antenna to get a strong signal. Nor will you need to touch the Radio Shack signal booster again. Just simply raise your antenna, turn the Antenna amplifier on and your done.

And in the end that is how its supposed to work, right?!

All I have to say is it takes about 2 minutes to connect it. If it doesn't blow your mind in the number of channels it delivers while sitting in your drive way...return it.

I went from (if I remember correctly) 3 decent channels to about 12, in my drive way. with the antenna down. In an area that boasts broad cast of digital channels I have had upwards of 25 channels. Some duplicates.

Try it! If you don't like it I'll eat my hat!

Eric


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

Oh and you don't have to take my word for it. Checking the link I provided earlier, read the reviews. They speak for themselves!

Eric


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## dhdb (Dec 14, 2009)

egregg57 said:


> Oh and you don't have to take my word for it. Checking the link I provided earlier, read the reviews. They speak for themselves!
> 
> Eric


I agree with Eric. It works. Simple mod with no alterations. It works well with antenna (air) and cable signals.


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

egregg57 said:


> I was thinking about replacing my tv antenna on my 2012 279rb.Anyone have any experience with the jack brand antennas?


 Don't replace it! Go to Radio Shack and by thier 10DB signal booster. Plug the antenna lead to TV into the input of the Signal Booster. Plug in the output of the booster into the TV. Turn the gain all the way up, tuck the unit behind the TV and forget it.

I tripled the channels I recieved with it.

$32.00

Eric
[/quote]

How about a link?
[/quote]

Wow! price dropped!

10DB Booster
[/quote]

As far as connecting the amplifier the cable that is currently connected to your TV gets connected to the Radio Shack 10DB amplifier input. A coax cable supplied with the 10DB booster gets connected to the output of the signal booster and to your TV.

[/quote]

Picked one up today. It looks like the reason for the price drop is that it no longer comes with the previously supplied coax cable. Will report back in a couple weeks when I have a chance to play with it.


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## The Village Idiot (Jul 3, 2012)

[/quote]

The black button next to (or in the vacinity of) the antenna is indeed an amplifier. But it does not work very well. There is a difference in the number of channels recieved but turning or aiming your antenna is necessary to "tune" in a channel. The add on "Wingman" does not work very well either! Actually i thought it was a peice of junk. Maybe others have had better success. Not me... I bought and returned one the same day.

As far as connecting the amplifier the cable that is currently connected to your TV gets connected to the Radio Shack 10DB amplifier input. A coax cable supplied with the 10DB booster gets connected to the output of the signal booster and to your TV.

The 10DB Signal booster takes the amplified signal from your RV antenna (Pushing the black button with Green Light) near the antenna connection and gains it by up to 10 Decibels. There is a gain potentiometer on the face of the 10DB booster. I just turn it all the way up and leave it.

Although the amplifier supplied with the camper will boost signal strength, it does not boost all available signals/channels to a point that they are recognized by the TV set.

The external booster from Radio Shack, or one like it for that matter, takes the amplified signal from the RV antenna and cranks up "the volume" so to say.

The black amplifier button boosts antenna signals and as many already know, if you leave that button on, and connect cable TV, that booster interferes with the cable signal. When connecting cable ensure the black button is off (Green light out).

The Radio Shack signal booster will take the incoming cable signal also and crank that signal up. The picture is sharp and in most cases where a weak cable signal is present (fuzzy channel) the booster will clear it up.

The nice thing about the Radio shack amplifier is that you will no longer need to rotate, or adjust your antenna to get a strong signal. Nor will you need to touch the Radio Shack signal booster again. Just simply raise your antenna, turn the Antenna amplifier on and your done.

And in the end that is how its supposed to work, right?!

All I have to say is it takes about 2 minutes to connect it. If it doesn't blow your mind in the number of channels it delivers while sitting in your drive way...return it.

I went from (if I remember correctly) 3 decent channels to about 12, in my drive way. with the antenna down. In an area that boasts broad cast of digital channels I have had upwards of 25 channels. Some duplicates.

Try it! If you don't like it I'll eat my hat!

Eric
[/quote]

I'm going to try this mod next. I have a couple questions, Eric- how big is your hat and do you have a picture of it?

I'll post my results too.


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

I installed the radio shack booster that egregg57 suggested. Just testing it out in the driveway I am picking up about a dozen more stations than without it. Now I just have to see how it does camping.


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

There ya are!!


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

i'm gonna give this baby a try, too. thanks for posting it up eric.


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## jeffh (Jun 16, 2009)

Just pick one of these up we'll be trying it out this weekend


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

I just installed it and it does nothing for me in the driveway. No extra channels at all ! There is no difference at all with the gain all the way up or all the way down. Maybe the unit is defective ?

Had high hopes but it looks like it is going back.....


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## The Village Idiot (Jul 3, 2012)

I didn't have any luck with my first test. We didn't get any channels before and still don't. I will test it again at another location.


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