The antenna being used currently by TM is the Jack antenna. Its advantage is that it is mechanically simpler than the batwing - it is not a crank-up. But the associated disadvantage is that it is omni-directional - it receives equally well from all directions.
The batwing can be pointed in a particular direction, and will exhibit some gain in that direction. This is good if the signal want to receive is weak - the modest gain of the batwing will make the signal a bit stronger. At the same time, it will reject signals from the other directions. This is good if there is a strong (nearby) signal on the same channel as the one you want, coming from some other direction. This is not a common occurence, but it does happen.
There is also an optional add-on for the batwing that increases the gain in the desired direction, and increases the rejection in other directions.
Forgetting to close it down before closing is no a big deal. With the front shell in the up position, you can stand on the hitch A-frame with your body inside the shell, reach up, and crank it down.
The biggest advantage of the Jack antenna in my opinion is that it is a simple bolt-on, which is easy to seal against water.
The real answer may be that it depends on how much you intend to camp in campgrounds that have cable TV (in which case you won't use any antenna) vs how often you intend to be in no-cable locations where you will use an antenna for over-the-air TV signals.
And no, the scanner for strongest signal never made sense to me, since it can only look at the signals in the direction where the batwing is pointed. You have to re-point the batwing if you want to find the strongest signal in some other direction. Since the Jack cannot be pointed, I guess the scanner can find the strongest signal - but then what do you do with that knowledge? Does it change anything?
Bill
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