wdk450
Well-known member
Gang:
I bought a Winegard Sensa-Pro HD antenna aiming/amplifier wallplate at the Goshen national rally. It is meant to replace the AntennaTek amplifier/connection plate supplied by Heartland, and add the capability of getting signal strength signals for aiming the trailer’s OTA TV antenna. When I got ready to install the Winegard plate, I realized what it was missing – front panel F connectors to connect to the TV!!. The Winegard Sensa-Pro panel only has rear cables terminated in a Female F connector (meant to connect to standard antenna coax cables). Well, I went to the internet for a solution, only to find nothing with a netsearch, so I came up with my own solution which I am going to share.
You will need a male to male F connector (278-219 at Radio Shack).
First of all, you need to remove the 2 screws holding the existing Antenna-Tek plate. Next, you need to mark each of the coax and power supply cables with what they are (another good excuse to have a labelmaker in the trailer). Viewing from the top rear of the AntennaTek plate the 3 coax cables are (left to right) Antenna, Cable, and 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] (front) TV. With the same view, the outside spade terminal wire is ground, the inside spade terminal wire (orange striped on my rig) is +12 volts power for the circuit board. Remove all of these cables/wires from the circuit board taking care not to short out the +12 volts connector to anything grounded (wrap the end connector with tape as soon as you pull it off). There is also a coax cable marked “Satellite” connected to the lower center of the old faceplate. It will end up being reconnected in that same place, but needs to be removed for cable routing for now.
The new Winegard faceplate will mount where the old Antenna-Tek faceplate was. The old Antenna-Tek faceplate will also be mounted as close to the new faceplate as possible. The connecting cable is very short, but you could add a very short coax cable, if needed. I think the best mounting is immediately below the Winegard faceplate. You will probably need to cut out the paneling some more where the Winegard plate is going to accommodate the components. You can use the supplied mounting plate as a template. You will also need to cut out a rectangular hole for the Antenna-Tek plate’s components where you plan to mount it. Once you have the Weingard’s panel mounting plate mounted on the wall, and the cables (except the “Satellite” cable) coming through it, you can connect the coax cables to the labeled coax connector cables on the Weingard wallplate. Then connect the power wires to the labeled + and – spade lugs. The Winegard TV1 connector cable should reach and be connected to the TV2 connector on the AntennaTek board using the Radio Shack male to male adapter. Note: The TV2 connector on the AntennaTek board is directly wired to the front faceplate “Cable” (i.e. TV ) F connector. The “Satellite” coax should be reconnected to the lower AntennaTek faceplate connector.
Your AntennaTek amplifier circuit board has been disabled by removing the 12 volt DC supply, and the faceplate is only used for making cable connections. At this point the system can be tested, or you can screw down the AntennaTek faceplate and then test it. Be sure to check that your other TV gets a signal from the antenna, too
I bought a Winegard Sensa-Pro HD antenna aiming/amplifier wallplate at the Goshen national rally. It is meant to replace the AntennaTek amplifier/connection plate supplied by Heartland, and add the capability of getting signal strength signals for aiming the trailer’s OTA TV antenna. When I got ready to install the Winegard plate, I realized what it was missing – front panel F connectors to connect to the TV!!. The Winegard Sensa-Pro panel only has rear cables terminated in a Female F connector (meant to connect to standard antenna coax cables). Well, I went to the internet for a solution, only to find nothing with a netsearch, so I came up with my own solution which I am going to share.
You will need a male to male F connector (278-219 at Radio Shack).
First of all, you need to remove the 2 screws holding the existing Antenna-Tek plate. Next, you need to mark each of the coax and power supply cables with what they are (another good excuse to have a labelmaker in the trailer). Viewing from the top rear of the AntennaTek plate the 3 coax cables are (left to right) Antenna, Cable, and 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] (front) TV. With the same view, the outside spade terminal wire is ground, the inside spade terminal wire (orange striped on my rig) is +12 volts power for the circuit board. Remove all of these cables/wires from the circuit board taking care not to short out the +12 volts connector to anything grounded (wrap the end connector with tape as soon as you pull it off). There is also a coax cable marked “Satellite” connected to the lower center of the old faceplate. It will end up being reconnected in that same place, but needs to be removed for cable routing for now.
The new Winegard faceplate will mount where the old Antenna-Tek faceplate was. The old Antenna-Tek faceplate will also be mounted as close to the new faceplate as possible. The connecting cable is very short, but you could add a very short coax cable, if needed. I think the best mounting is immediately below the Winegard faceplate. You will probably need to cut out the paneling some more where the Winegard plate is going to accommodate the components. You can use the supplied mounting plate as a template. You will also need to cut out a rectangular hole for the Antenna-Tek plate’s components where you plan to mount it. Once you have the Weingard’s panel mounting plate mounted on the wall, and the cables (except the “Satellite” cable) coming through it, you can connect the coax cables to the labeled coax connector cables on the Weingard wallplate. Then connect the power wires to the labeled + and – spade lugs. The Winegard TV1 connector cable should reach and be connected to the TV2 connector on the AntennaTek board using the Radio Shack male to male adapter. Note: The TV2 connector on the AntennaTek board is directly wired to the front faceplate “Cable” (i.e. TV ) F connector. The “Satellite” coax should be reconnected to the lower AntennaTek faceplate connector.
Your AntennaTek amplifier circuit board has been disabled by removing the 12 volt DC supply, and the faceplate is only used for making cable connections. At this point the system can be tested, or you can screw down the AntennaTek faceplate and then test it. Be sure to check that your other TV gets a signal from the antenna, too
