Local Stations with our TV's

wingfoot

Well-known member
Sorry if I posted in the wrong area.
On my 08' 3400RE BH our BR and LR TV's have very poor local TV stations reception(only one station). When we first arrived at out site we were getting multiple stations...now nothing in the LR and only one station in the BR...I've checked all connection I can except for the rear of the TV in the LR (very hard to get too). Yes, booster is on. I just can't understand while remaining stationary why I would loose reception.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Larry
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
Did you climb up on the roof? After a few years of driving around the country, my coax at the antenna head had vibrated loose. There was also another connector in the roof, less than a foot past the actual roof deck.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Did you climb up on the roof? After a few years of driving around the country, my coax at the antenna head had vibrated loose. There was also another connector in the roof, less than a foot past the actual roof deck.

Same thing happened to us, I was gonna mention this also.
 

HornedToad

Well-known member
Before I got Direct TV I relied on my antenna to watch TV. I my old TT a thunderstorm bent my stock antenna and I replaced it with a JACK Digital HDTV Antenna. To compare... at my tailgate spot in Lubbock I went from just a few channels on the stock antenna to over a dozen with the JACK antenna. In lieu of a bad connection, try an HD antenna.
 

wingfoot

Well-known member
Thanks for the suggestion...I'll check the roof antenna out. I thought about this but since I was getting one channel in the BR I assumed the roof antenna was OK and also the booster. To verify this, I turned off the booster and lost the one channel I was getting in the BR...I dunno!
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
I was having a hard time picking up channels in my Trail Runner . . .

In our old 1978 Coachman trailer with a standard TV, an HD converter box and the 35 year old stock antenna I was picking up over 80 stations in my side yard . . . with our brand new 2013 Trail Runner with two HDTV's and modern antenna . . . only five stations!

The dealership rewired the booster, but 'forgot' to do anything up top, even though I had discovered (and let them know) that the coax coming up from inside was not even connected.

I borrowed a ladder from the campground we were staying at in South Dakota and fixed the coax and antenna connection myself, and now all is good!

Although I now only pick up around 40 stations . . . :rolleyes:

The coax that runs off of the antenna has another connection about two feet down the cable from the antenna inside of the roof.

I had to pull up on the rubber boot from the antenna base and pull the coax up out of the roof and put a new male-to-male coax connector in the middle, and then crimp new screw-on coax connectors on both ends of the coax cables that hook at that junction, then stuff it back into the roof.

Make sure to leave enough slack in the coax above the roof for rotating the antenna when using it.

I was really shocked/surprised that this kind of bad wiring could leave the factory unnoticed . . . oh well!
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
You might also check all of the coax connections you can find for tightness, corrosion and being grounded. Even a single little ground wire inside the coax connection touching the center wire can give you fits.
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
Before I got Direct TV I relied on my antenna to watch TV. I my old TT a thunderstorm bent my stock antenna and I replaced it with a JACK Digital HDTV Antenna. To compare... at my tailgate spot in Lubbock I went from just a few channels on the stock antenna to over a dozen with the JACK antenna. In lieu of a bad connection, try an HD antenna.
Although frequently advertised that way, there is no such thing as a digital or HD antenna. They are all UHF/VHF antennas. Whether you can display digital or HD on your TV depends on the TV itself. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/antennas-and-digital-television
 

wingfoot

Well-known member
Thanks again to all...I'll continue to check out all connection and attempt to isolate the problem..
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
I have the same 2008 3400RE Bighorn. I changed out the antenna head for a Sensar IV Replacement antenna head at camping world. It does pretty good. I also changed out the booster (controller) for cable and OTA antenna. We are north of Dallas and I get a beaucoup of stations. I cut the cable going from the living room to the bedroom to reroute a second line to the living room entertainment so I could use my DVR and record programs. The one going to the bedroom I routed to the UDC so I could plug in a cable from a satellite if needed. Don't have a DVR or TV in the bedroom now so no big deal..

BC
 

Tom-Kathi

Member
2008 Big Country 3500 RL

I cant find a cable of any kind to attach the living room tv to the roof antenna for OTA stations. The only connections I see are the cable and satelitte ones.

Any ideas?? Thanks.
 

Tom-Kathi

Member
Got up on to the roof and found out that the batwing antenna is broken. Pick it up and it falls right down. We decided to go with Dishnet so just gonna leave it alone for now.
 
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