Does anyone have a Glowmex TV antenna that works?

[J Levine]

I have tried very unsucessfully to get the Glowmex TV antenna on my 370 DA to work at all. Does anyone out there actually use this thing or I should I just forget about it.

Thanks

 

[ImpulseIII]

Took mine off, threw it away and replaced it with hailer horn. They have not worked on either of my Searays.

 

[Turtlesboat]

I can get about 4 channels sometimes. At first nothing, then I took the antenna apart and found that some of the wires had corroded and broke. I re-soldered and now it seems to be working.... kind of.

 

[fwebster]

A Glomax antenna that works?..........there's no such thing.

Although, Sea Ray did incorporate a gain control into the antenna circuit on some boats that seems to help but only if you have a signal that is pretty strong. Come to think about it, a coat hanger would probably do as well.

 

[Four Suns]

I think there was another thread on this topic some time ago...

From a VHF view, the Blomax just does not work well for me. I've had it on my last two boats and it didn't work unless you could park under the TV tower. I will say that in looking at the install on my 480, the connectors and cable look like something installed by a 3rd grader. I'm in the beginning phases of updating my AV on the boat so I'll post some pictures of these connectors.

I do have hope for the Blomax on the HD side of things. As a UHF antenna, it may work better and as all the local broadcasts convert to HD transmissions on the UHF side of the world, these antennas may work ok with TV's or other tuners (like a DirecTV HD box) that can handle the signal. I'm guessing that if you don't have HD TV's on the boat, you can hook the antenna up to an external HD tuner and get local channels that way.

My 2 cents.

 

[Dave S]

I get one channel on mine.......two if the conditions are right.

 

[Presentation]

I have tried very unsucessfully to get the Glowmex TV antenna on my 370 DA to work at all. Does anyone out there actually use this thing or I should I just forget about it.

Thanks

I have a 2003 model with a glowmax antenna and adjustable signal booster / gain control. Yes it works.

The TV is not digital, it’s original so I don’t know yet how the antenna and signal booster will work with digital signals.

Here is how I use it. First, I know the local broadcast channels. If you do not know this you can find them here http://www.tvguide.com/Listings/default.aspx Enter your zip then choose broadcast.

Next, I turn the gain all the way up. I get to the channel that I want. The color will be hot, meaning the colors are so strong the picture looks blurry. Looking at the TV I turn the dial on the gain back and forth to fine tune the gain for optimal picture.

Depending on our location I can get 8 different channels. Some locations I can get just a couple.

 

[jrcinnh]

The only thing it's good for is to cover the hole in the radar arch. When I checked out the coax cable to the little amplifier and on to the TV, I found twist-on connectors. Can't Searay afford a cable crimper?

 

[boatmailster]

I have tried very unsucessfully to get the Glowmex TV antenna on my 370 DA to work at all. Does anyone out there actually use this thing or I should I just forget about it.

Thanks

if installed correctly they work OK, but all connections has to be installed clean, with no shorts, heavy bends (will open or break shield) and if possible not to run along electrical wire which is under heavy load all the time.
check your antenna for shorts and/or open circuit - disconnect cable from antenna and amplifier and measure conductivity between shield and center wire - circuit should be open, next short one end and measure resistance on other and and you should see from few ohms to few hundreds of ohms (lower better)
they work good with atsc tuners (digital free air) but amplifier may need to be removed

 

[RiverRat]

I just got my (03)280 last week. Mine seems to work fine... I get 4 channels well and another 3 fair. But, Thats at my dock which is below ground level under a steel roof... Haven't tried it out in the open yet.

 

[Bridog]

We use ours on the beach when we forget to bring the Frisbee. Then it works great!

 

[aquadancer]

Mine works OK in most places at anchor for local ATSC digital signal - all you really need for some HD football on a nice fall Sunday afternoon. Marginal at best for analog.

 

[gerryb]

Never worked, and I never liked the way it looked either... Finally took it off last month when I put the new radar and GPS module on the arch. You may see it up on ebay soon!

 

[Pirate]

Never ceases to amaze me what people will buy on EBay.

 

[Robski97]

I thought it was a conspiracy. I only get the spanish channels but the moons have to align just right.


Rob

 

[Crushin It]

When my boat was shrink wrapped last year the guy said when he took the Glomex off the cable was not even attached... Didnt make a difference to the picture when I later attached it....

 

[Asureyez]

I've had three of these jokers on three different boats.

1st mounted on a Sail boat mast 56' feet up with properly shielded home run cable to a gain adjustment box. The thing was a joke, after a few years of tolerating it I opted for a pair of rabbit ears and took it off the mast to reduce windage.

Second was on a SR 370 and it never worked, I tweaked it soldered connections and all manner of tweaks to get advertised performance from it only to get a pair or rabbit ears ...

3rd is on my SR 460 and it is worse than useless. I have Sat TV with local hometown channels sent down link Sat to me ..

Glomex is all talk, all hype and without question no show.

Its plastic scrap as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Pirate]

The Glomex is O.K. for digital ATSC tuning, but COMPLETELY worthless for analog signals.

On the sat systems, I install a DirecTV H20 satellite receiver and plug the Glomex into the off-air input. The receiver neatly arranges the off-air/digital signals in with the satellite stations on the guide and the whole operation is seamless.

 

[LMBoat]

Mine has been a disapointment as well. I bought it new when I got the boat 5 years ago. I get 5 channels, but 3 are Spanish <I'm in Ft Lauderdale, close to Miami>. I think the amlifer is crapola. If you by pass it, you get as good of signal. I think it is there to fool you, but what do I know.....

 

[aprilfools63]

Several friends of mine have purchased digital televisions (they bought a Vizio 20" at Costco) to replace the original equipment. The Glomax antenna from 2002 and later will transmit the digital signal. They get 8-10 HDTV channels that look perfect. I also had a friend that couldn't get a single channel and after some investigation, found that the antenna was never connected from the factory.