I have a 2015 Bighorn and have never gotten good reception over antenna while cable has always worked fine. I replaced the original AntennaTek batwing with a King Jack and I see that, even though the light is on at the booster in the closet and the fuse is good, no light is on at the King Jack. For a quick workaround for tonight, can I turn off the booster in the closet and/or pull the fuse, then connect the King Jack supplied booster at the TV?
No power to antenna
- Thread starter fidhleir
- Start date
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
You have the exact backwards problem we had . . .
We had great reception from the King/Jack . . . but no cable.
You should be able to hook up the King/Jack supplied amplifier to get by, but you may need to check the wires behind the wall plate where the little red button is to see if you have a loose wire or something else going on in there.
My guess is somewhere along the antenna line you may have a loose coax connection.
We had great reception from the King/Jack . . . but no cable.
You should be able to hook up the King/Jack supplied amplifier to get by, but you may need to check the wires behind the wall plate where the little red button is to see if you have a loose wire or something else going on in there.
My guess is somewhere along the antenna line you may have a loose coax connection.
danemayer
Well-known member
I don't know about your workaround. As you look for the cause of the antenna problem, you may find a barrel connector in the ceiling, next to where the coax comes in through the roof. If you have a directional control, by taking it apart from inside, you can fish around to find the connector.
wdk450
Well-known member
There are 3 check you can do with a Digital Volt Ohmmeter (DVM) to check the voltages an wiring.
1. You can take DC voltage measurements across the antenna coax connector looking for 12 volts DC that powers the antenna head amplifier. With the coax connecte at the wallplate, power ON, you can look for this same 12 volts DC on the roof, at the antenna coax. You will probably have to pull the coax up from inside the roof to access the barrel connector splice for this.
2. With both ends of the coax disconnected, you can do a test for shorts by measuring across either end of the coax with the ohmmeter function. Good cabling will read infinite resistance (open circuit) for this test.
3. Using a jumper clip (or some other device) short out one end of the disconnected cabling. Measure across the other end of the cabling with an ohmmeter. You should read 0 ohms, telling you that the cable current path is not broken.
On my Weingard (an all other Weingard) wallplates there is a fuse on the wallplate, although I am pretty sure the LED on the wallplate will not light if the fuse is blown.
Good Luck!!
1. You can take DC voltage measurements across the antenna coax connector looking for 12 volts DC that powers the antenna head amplifier. With the coax connecte at the wallplate, power ON, you can look for this same 12 volts DC on the roof, at the antenna coax. You will probably have to pull the coax up from inside the roof to access the barrel connector splice for this.
2. With both ends of the coax disconnected, you can do a test for shorts by measuring across either end of the coax with the ohmmeter function. Good cabling will read infinite resistance (open circuit) for this test.
3. Using a jumper clip (or some other device) short out one end of the disconnected cabling. Measure across the other end of the cabling with an ohmmeter. You should read 0 ohms, telling you that the cable current path is not broken.
On my Weingard (an all other Weingard) wallplates there is a fuse on the wallplate, although I am pretty sure the LED on the wallplate will not light if the fuse is blown.
Good Luck!!
Thanks to all for the guidance and suggestions. I wanted to be certain first off that I can use the Jack booster safely as long as I turn off the built-in at the wall (i.e. Light off).
I unscrewed the plate at the wall but it's so crowded I can't even pull the connectors out of the hole to see them. This is really going to be a pain. I reported the problem repeatedly to the dealer service while under warranty but they never did fix it. Not the first problem I was left with when the warranty expired.
I unscrewed the plate at the wall but it's so crowded I can't even pull the connectors out of the hole to see them. This is really going to be a pain. I reported the problem repeatedly to the dealer service while under warranty but they never did fix it. Not the first problem I was left with when the warranty expired.
wdk450
Well-known member
Your experience is a good argument to report all problems discovered within the warranty period to Heartland service directly, for them to record on the file they keep on your VIN. Sales dealers are in a vendor relationship with Heartland and can be pretty loose with their communications with Heartland Service.
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
Or maybe there is something wrong with that antenna and you need to get it exchanged for a new one.
NHCelt
Well-known member
I had the same issue. After quick testing (as posted above) with my multimeter, I found no power to the antenna. The reason...nobody at the factory connected the antenna to the coax in the ceiling that feeds the power switch. In fact....there were no connectors...just raw wire cuts.
I am going to suggest that if you find no power at the antenna, this is one likely place to look. If you remove the interior crank and ceiling plate you should be able to find that connection...or lack of connection tucked into the ceiling cavity right there.
I also had loose connectors throughout the system and a bad piece of cable in the wall feeding the satellite side. It took me a bunch of time to get up and running...good luck.
- - - Updated - - -
Me too?
I am going to suggest that if you find no power at the antenna, this is one likely place to look. If you remove the interior crank and ceiling plate you should be able to find that connection...or lack of connection tucked into the ceiling cavity right there.
I also had loose connectors throughout the system and a bad piece of cable in the wall feeding the satellite side. It took me a bunch of time to get up and running...good luck.
- - - Updated - - -
Me too?
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
When we were up in South Dakota with our old 2013 Heartland Trail Runner, I finally got frustrated with the flickering picture we were getting (and our dealer couldn't seem to figure out after a couple of tries at it), so I borrowed a ladder from the campground (thanks Big Pine's in Custer) and pulled the coax up out of the roof to find that the coax connector just below the roof was bad.
A trip in town (Custer, SD) to Shopko (love that store) where I bought a coax crimper tool and a supply of connectors and fixed the problem once and for all.
Our previous Trail Runner at Big Pine's in Custer, SD:
We had a lot of issues with the coax run in our new Prowler as well, and after our new dealership's service department showed that they don't quite have TV and cable coax wiring skills, I also had to go in while out on the road camping and fix it once and for all by myself.
My own opinion is this (and maybe someone here knows otherwise) . . .
I think that the coax is probably run while the frame is upside down in the factory before walls and a lot of other stuff is installed, and it looks to me like the coax is wired up backwards from the wiring diagram since the frame is upside down.
At least this makes sense as so far, as both brand new RV's that we've purchased had the coax wired up backwards.
And it started right at the outside wall where the cable-in connection was hooked up to the output at the very first spitter in the run . . . and not the input of that splitter.
And splitters are one way . . . in other words, the signal can only pass through to the output from the input of the splitter.
Also, check the built-in stereo to see if the radio antenna is connected to the coax splitter.
If it is, try unhooking the radio antenna from the splitter as that was causing our living room TV cable signal to short out and also was affecting the TV signal from the roof antenna in our Prowler as well.
I now have a boat antenna (provided by our dealership) hooked up inside the entertainment center for the radio, which is great for FM . . . but doesn't pick up any AM stations.
Still trying to work that one out . . .
A trip in town (Custer, SD) to Shopko (love that store) where I bought a coax crimper tool and a supply of connectors and fixed the problem once and for all.
Our previous Trail Runner at Big Pine's in Custer, SD:
We had a lot of issues with the coax run in our new Prowler as well, and after our new dealership's service department showed that they don't quite have TV and cable coax wiring skills, I also had to go in while out on the road camping and fix it once and for all by myself.
My own opinion is this (and maybe someone here knows otherwise) . . .
I think that the coax is probably run while the frame is upside down in the factory before walls and a lot of other stuff is installed, and it looks to me like the coax is wired up backwards from the wiring diagram since the frame is upside down.
At least this makes sense as so far, as both brand new RV's that we've purchased had the coax wired up backwards.
And it started right at the outside wall where the cable-in connection was hooked up to the output at the very first spitter in the run . . . and not the input of that splitter.
And splitters are one way . . . in other words, the signal can only pass through to the output from the input of the splitter.
Also, check the built-in stereo to see if the radio antenna is connected to the coax splitter.
If it is, try unhooking the radio antenna from the splitter as that was causing our living room TV cable signal to short out and also was affecting the TV signal from the roof antenna in our Prowler as well.
I now have a boat antenna (provided by our dealership) hooked up inside the entertainment center for the radio, which is great for FM . . . but doesn't pick up any AM stations.
Still trying to work that one out . . .
