do tv antennas still work

[RandyG]

Why does it seem when someone posts something about electronics like tv or stereo in their tear there is someone "judging" them for it? That's the beauty of these DIY travel trailers, you can build it for what ever you want cause it's your's. We only use antenna for the house. I plan on buying the same setup for the tear and hiding it in the roof. I may not get the best reception but if I get a couple of local channels I'll be happy.

[Rhino Ray]

Why does it seem when someone posts something about electronics like T.V. or stereo in their tear there is someone "judging" them for it? That's the beauty of these DIY travel trailers, you can build it for what ever you want cause it's your's. We only use antenna for the house. I plan on buying the same setup for the tear and hiding it in the roof. I may not get the best reception but if I get a couple of local channels I'll be happy.

Randy, don't be so defensive, no judgment intended. I get so busy relaxing that I forget about the TV. But to each their own. It may be nice to put in a little flat screen and watch a movie or catch up on the news on occasion, but to each their own. No one has to to do it any way but the way they want. I just haven't gotten that far in my project, perhaps someday I will. It is good to know that antennas still do work.

[ksmack01]

In my old age I have got to where I like to watch the local news at night, and besides, I have ran outa things to add to my rig I really appreciate all the folks on here that take the time to comment. I wish I would have found yall before I built mine, I love to follow the builds so much that I get disappointed when theres no updates. I am doing a youtube walk around this weekend as me and and my son are setting up for the turkey season opener . Two nights and three days in the teardrop and castiron cooking all weekend, cant wait

[GerryS]

When we are in the boonies, we've been known to hoist an antenna from the nearest tree. With a 50' cable, we have had pretty good success.

Mike

Duh! Never thought of that!!!! What type of antenna are you hoisting up there? Anyone making a flexible antenna? For ham radio, a J-Pole is easy to make, how about something like that for TV?

Any antenna designers out there?

[Verna]

I just connect rabbit ears to my outside cable connector and put them on the roof of the TD. I forgot to make sure this setup worked with the new TV set in January. I'll check it out later this montage. I do carry a 50' cable do I can extend it further if needed. But really, normally I'm too tired in the summer to watch much TV and fall asleep before I can turn it on.

[cracker39]

I have to agree with Bobhenry. I made a redneck antenna for my PT and it works great. I live between Orlando and Tampa and get between 22 and 26 channels on my 18" Vizio HDTV with the antenna on the camper sitting in my back driveway. True, a few are in Spanish, but I don't plan on needing a lot of TV channels while camping. My daughter bought an indoor antenna to use in the Jacksonville area and only got 5 or 6 good channels with it. I made a redneck antenna for her to use indoors. I tested mine inside my house and got as many channels indoors as I did outsdoors with the antenna mounted on the camper.

[BobBash]

I also got rid of the dish ( Directv ) 2 years ago & mounted a Winegard antenna in the attic ( by the way , all TV antenna's are digital , HD antenna's ) .You actually get a better quality HD pic using an antenna because the digital signal is not compressed like with cable .I get 14 channels & along with NetFlix streaming for $8 per month , I couldn't be happier . When I've completed my TD I will definitely have a mount for an Antenna for those rainy days or when extra company comes by ............

[bobhenry]

The discourse about camping vs television made me think a bit about my TV viewing while camping. In not quite 3 dozen outings. I can remember 4 times viewing TV. One was immediatly before a monster early summer storm to just see the emergency weather alert. The immediate neighbors and I battened down and erected a well tethered party tent 10 x 20 and partied the storm away taking turns dumping the 10 to 15 gallons of water ponding on the tent every few minutes. The second time was a rolling presentation of a tv magazine interview of tiny trailers we Hoosiers had done for the local PBS station punctuated with a Jimmy Buffett musical DVD. The 3rd was at the CRA in 2011 I was too exhausted to wiggle and plopped down beer in hand and watched a couple programs. Extreme cold camping forces you into the shelter of your tiny trailer at sundown. 14 hours until day light is long and monotinous time in a very tiny trailer so a couple well selected DVD movies or a little TV is a plesant divesion to pass the time. So I guess my track record is some 630 hours inside the trailer (36 ~ 2.5 day outings times 7 hours) I guess 15 to 20 hours total doesn't seem excessive.

In my defence I didn't build it in ! I simply take it along on rare occasions.

[ParTaxer]

I agree. I don't use my tv very much but there's something right about watching college football on a fall camping trip.

Mike

[GerryS]

I agree. TV is not a huge thing while camping, but when it's bad weather, the bugs are too thick, or you're just too tired to move, setting for a few minutes in front of the I tube is the only thing to do.

What's don't her are folks who pay $1000 in gas, roll up in their pusher, and sit inside all weekend watching tv....

[pete42]

With my wooden roof mounted dish connected to my flip-down wooden Sony Plazma TV, all I can get are films about pinochio and woody woodpecker. Go figure :-)
Roly ~~

you my friend arn't right, I mean that in the nices way

to answer OP's question yes an antenna still works you might see some advistised as Digital but any old antenna
will still work.
I have always had a TV with me for the last 50 years of camping I like keeping up with the news as well as watching
at bed time the past 4-5 years I have spent weeks in florida you can't sit outside all the time and a good movie or just
watching the TV passes the time.

pete

[mikeschn]

A guy I work with said that google fiber is starting it's rollout now, in Kansas City. Soon we'll be able to get free internet from google (plus an installation charge).

Just think what that means...

We can turn off our cable connection, turn off our phone, and use our free internet connection for voip and netflix, hulu, cbs.com etc...

Forget the rabbit ears, or makeshift antennas...

Of course you still need something for camping... but at least for home use, we can be FREE!

Mike...

[Richard A.]

This is what I use for an antenna when camping ..

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FV-HD30-FreeVision-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B002TIELEM/ref=sr_1_76?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1362709168&sr=1-76&keywords=tv+antenna



I am VERY happy with its performance (see the Amazon user reviews) I mount it on the end of a 15 ft "painters pole" that is held up with a Radio Shack tripod mount held into the ground with camping stakes. The extra height helps A LOT.

[pete42]

A guy I work with said that google fiber is starting it's rollout now, in Kansas City. Soon we'll be able to get free internet from google (plus an installation charge).

Just think what that means...

We can turn off our cable connection, turn off our phone, and use our free internet connection for voip and netflix, hulu, cbs.com etc...

Forget the rabbit ears, or makeshift antennas...

Of course you still need something for camping... but at least for home use, we can be FREE!

Mike...

I thought the saying was "nothing in Life is free".
pete