No A.M. radio station
2004 Keystone Outback, has a Jensen AM, FM CD radio. Works fine up to the AM radio part. Connections appear to be in order, antenna is on rubber roof, no static on any of the stations. Just wondering,...
Forum Discussion
tempforce wrote:
am radio needs a ground plane. like on a car the antenna is grounded to the metal body. the rubber roof doesn't provide a ground plane. you can remove the antenna from the roof. on some units it must be unscrewed from the inside.. once you get the antenna detached place a 1-2 foot diameter piece of metal, tin, copper, steel, ect. it can be 1/16-1/8" think more or less, whatever you have handy... drill a hole in the center the same size as the hole in your roof. then paint the plate your favorite color, both sides to prevent corrosion.. place it over the hole the antenna was located. then re-install your antenna. you can put some silicon, contact cement or some other adhesive between the rubber roof and the metal if you want. you can put a bead of sealer around the edge as well. just make sure you have a good seal between the antenna and the roof, to prevent a leak...
radios in r.v.'s are notorious for poor reception.
A tiny ground plane like that will be useless. A ground plane needs to be a measurable fraction of the wavelength. The wave length of the AM broadcast band is about 200 meters!
RVs are built with rather poor antennas but they do work. He has another problem. IF there is no static or hiss, there is no signal reaching the AM portion of the radio or there is an internal problem in the radio and the signal isn't making it through to the audio amplifiers.
OP: Remove the antenna connector from the back of the radio. Insert a piece of wire in the hole. Is there noise? Yes, problem is in the antenna or feed line.
