Antenna booster blown?

[soilmovers]

Setting up at a new job site and wanted to use the antenna for the first night. Unfortunately, the antenna did not work. In the past, we have used it with no problems.

The red light is on at the booster. (Jack antenna has a light but shows no power) Can that be correct? An electrician wired the 50 amp box wrong and it blew the converter and microwave which have been replaced. I'm wondering if this did something to the booster box.

No signal on air search channels. Checked all cables, removed booster from wall and inspected.

Cindy -Bighorn 3055

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Cindy, the booster amplifier also has solid state circuitry and was probably damaged by the incorrect 50amp wiring. I hate to ask but are you using any electrical protection devices? If not, it may be time to consider it. It's never too late to start.

 

[soilmovers]

Ray, yes we have Progressive Industries protectors on our RV's. BUT, this ONE time I did not use it. I "only" needed lights on to clean the RV and when I hooked up with a reducer plug (110?) I heard a pop. When I saw smoke, I knew I was in BIG trouble. Lesson(s) learned.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Ray, yes we have Progressive Industries protectors on our RV's. BUT, this ONE time I did not use it. I "only" needed lights on to clean the RV and when I hooked up with a reducer plug (110?) I heard a pop. When I saw smoke, I knew I was in BIG trouble. Lesson(s) learned.

Dang, wouldn't ya know it... So did you have the complete "Jack" set up with their booster or were you still using the Antenna Tek? I want to replace our Antenna Tek with the Jack this winter. I like the idea of having that signal meter for digital.

Good Luck getting things back to normal.

 

[soilmovers]

Dang, wouldn't ya know it... So did you have the complete "Jack" set up with their booster or were you still using the Antenna Tek? I want to replace our Antenna Tek with the Jack this winter. I like the idea of having that signal meter for digital.

Good Luck getting things back to normal.

thanks, Ray.
First, I used the original Antenna Tek booster. After testing it, there is power to the booster but no signal picked up.

Then, I attached the Jack booster (that was included) separately and it did not work, either. not sure what I have going on here!

going back to the house to get the Dish.....

 

[wdk450]

Remember that the antenna booster is powered by 12 volts DC. Any 50 amp AC problems would have to make it through the convertor filtering and the filtering effect of the trailer battery to get to the booster.
I would suspect from your problem description that you may have a loose/bad coax cable connection between the antenna mast and the booster faceplate.

 

[frumbawa]

I had a similar issue with my booster/antenna a few month's ago. Was redoing the coax connecters on the back fo the booster plate and accidentally arc'd the coax connecter against the power lead creating a small spark. Red light still showed power to the booster but no antenna reception after that. I thought I fried the antenna. After posting my issue here on the forum, the experts were right - blown 12v fuse in the panel. Replaced and good as new.

 

[jbeletti]

When I am at a rally and am asked to look at TV reception in someone's rig and when I go to the amplifier wall-plate, I carefully remove the positive power spade terminal (the one in the center), then I wrap it with 1 turn of electrical tape to insulate it. Then I know I'm good for the rest of the work. But yeah, I've popped a fuse for this more than once in the past.

 

[TravelTiger]

It may be the coax connection in the ceiling between the booster and antenna. Remove the crank from the bedroom ceiling and fish around to find the cable in the ceiling cavity. Pull it down carefully to find the coupler connection. I bet it's loose. We had this issue on install of the Jack head. Once connection was tight, power light on Jack head came on and antenna worked great. Taped with electrical tape to ensure it doesn't loosen up again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[soilmovers]

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. Heading back to the job/RV today and will get to work.

Appreciate everyone!
cindy

 

[soilmovers]

Went thru every step and it's working! I'm not sure if it was in the ceiling connection as that seemed tight. It's working and that's all that matters!

thanks again for the help!
cindy

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Good to hear Cindy. Thanks for the report. Must have been a loose connection or something simple.