TV tuner question

[Ryde _Or_Die 10+ year member]

Well I have the Kenwood KVT-715DVD and on kenwood's site it says I need the optional KTC-V500N to get TV stations in. Now heres the link:

http://kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productId=2415

Now my question is what do you do with those antennas? They say window mount, but does that mean they stick up off the vehicle (ugly-as-hell-looking)?? Or do can they be mounted flat on the roof or what? Thanks for any help. Oh and if those can't be mounted flat somewhere can I buy a universal antenna that does? I searched ahead of time but theres like ZERO on tv tuners, so thanks ahead of time.

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[i3abyjay25 10+ year member]

im not sure, but i think they go on the inside of the rear window.. like the rear defrost....

 

[Ryde _Or_Die 10+ year member]

im not sure, but i think they go on the inside of the rear window.. like the rear defrost....

Well I looked at crutchfield since they seem to have the most info and for the pioneer system they say that they are supposed to go on the inside of the window. But for the kenwood one they just say rear window. But I'm sure they are the same once I saw them on crutchfields site close up. Think I'll put them on either side window in the very back of my explorer. Thanks alot.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

They say window mount, but does that mean they stick up off the vehicle (ugly-as-hell-looking)??

Although, if you want really good reception, you're going to have go to external antennas. The laws of physics can't be repealed, and putting antennas in a nice Faraday cage like an SUV is going to hamper reception.

If it were me, a nice quarter-wave whip mounted on the top of the roof, with a drilled NMO mount, would provide the absolute best in TV reception.

 

[Ryde _Or_Die 10+ year member]

Although, if you want really good reception, you're going to have go to external antennas. The laws of physics can't be repealed, and putting antennas in a nice Faraday cage like an SUV is going to hamper reception.
If it were me, a nice quarter-wave whip mounted on the top of the roof, with a drilled NMO mount, would provide the absolute best in TV reception.

I'm going to see what these do for me. They say theres four of them so that it automatically picks the one with the best reception so by me putting them on opposite sides of the car I should get the maximum reception possible I guess.

 

[Pistonsfan70 10+ year member]

Mine are on the sides of my rear window. Reception is fine but it depends on where you're at. A moving car does not get the best reception regardless of the antennae

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

A moving car does not get the best reception regardless of the antennae

That's why roof mounting is preferred, puts the omnidirectional antenna right in the middle of the ground plane. Mounting anywhere else skews the radiation pattern in the direction of the ground plane. For example, a whip antenna mounted on the rear quarterpanel will favor the direction where the vehicle is pointing, and will be slightly attenuated in other directions.

 

[Getwild2 10+ year member]

Mine is on the inside of my windshield. I have four antennas, well, two mounted to two pods.

As aforementioned, the signal is best while the vehicle is stopped. It's not bad when you are moving and close to the TV station. Overall it's not a bad investment.

 

[bean 10+ year member]

Get wild's antenna is the correct way to mount that. Expose the antenna to two axis's'ss one vertical and one horizontal. The roof is incorrect.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

The roof is incorrect.

Not incorrect, just a nonstandard way //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Besides, those are folded dipoles, I was talking about a vertical...different kind of antenna.

 

[Ryde _Or_Die 10+ year member]

Get wild's antenna is the correct way to mount that. Expose the antenna to two axis's'ss one vertical and one horizontal. The roof is incorrect.

Is that how it should be mounted? Well mine have 2 different "boxes" with 2 separate antennas coming from each. So would it be good to mount the "box" in the bottom rear quarter of each rear side window in my explorer and have one go across it horizontally and the other go up vertically?

I just don't understand why reception is bad while moving but better when stopped? I mean I do understand if you are under something like in a tunnel, under a gas station roof or under an overpass; but why does the movement affect reception? How bad does it affect it? Is it like not worth watching when moving? And does the sound go out when the reception is bad? Thanks for answering my questions.

 

[Pistonsfan70 10+ year member]

The sound does get fuzzy and distorted when the reception is bad. It is easier for a signal to connect to a NON-MOVING targer then it would be a moving target I guess. I know I've been forced to pull over late in Pistons games to CLEARLY watch the games, but it beats listening to it on the radio!