Over the air reception question

[rvingxtc]

Went camping last weekend, cranked up the antenna, adjusted the signal meter, and pulled in 9 channels on the TV in the living room. (Jensen, stock one that came with the trailer). Turned on the no name brand TV I bought for the bedroom and pulled in 20 stations. Anyone know why the difference in reception of stations between the 2 TV's?

[rockhillmanor]

rvingxtc wrote:
Thanks for all the suggestions. As far as changing the TV's around, I'm

now home and get no channels here at the house(not the TV's fault)

. I leave for hunting in a week, I will try switching them then. As far as now, I will check the connections--thanks.

I'm at my winter home in Florida. I had the house TV hooked up to the MH antenna for a while then for a whole 60 bucks I found this at walmart!

I now get over 20 channels inside the house for FREE.

No pole for an antenna needed. Just stick to wall inside and watch TV! I've tried quite a few of them and this one actually works. IMHO because it's a Winegard.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/FlatWave-Amplified-Razor-Thin-HDTV-Indoor-Antenna/27280272

8x10 piece of paper-thin plastic for an antenna, go figure!

The key to all these portable antenna's is to buy one with an amplifier. Most do not have one. The ones without an amp just don't work.

[Johno02]

Worst case of stupidity I have had recently was when I tried healping a fellow RVer who was replacing antenna which had broken. After replacement, could not get any channels at all, mine next door was getting lots of OTA channels. After Several hours of fruitlessly checking all connections and everything, figured out that his TV was analog only. They had been connected to cable for years, and it worked perfectly. Replaced with Digital LED TV, and everything worked perfect(after I got it all put back together)! Remember, there are no analog OTA stations any more! (Yes, I know that there are still a few low-power locals around).

[wa8yxm]

D.E.Bishop wrote:
Oh come on guys, the RV salesman said it is an RV television without any moving parts and rugged enough to withstand the banging around in an RV. Surly he must know what he is talking about, he's an RV salesman.

Actually.. That RV salesman is kind of rare for he has spoken the truth. Jensen does make a line of TVs that are marketed for RV use and that is exactly what Jensen says about them. and it is true.

HOWEVER: The same (No moving parts (Save the push buttons which you do not need to push since you can use the ones on the remote) and the speaker coils.. Rugged enough to take bounching around in an RV, applies to dang near every other TV out there.

INSIGNA: You do not know who made that box. That is the Best Buy House brand and I know at least SOME of their products are actually made by Lucky Goldstar (I seriously doubt all are) and of all the lucky Gold Star stuff I've ever been stuck with only one so far has made me happy..... and I"m not sure if it works right cause I know it has a common failure mode which I've not yet tested.
Microwave #1 (OFFICE I did not buy it) Due to a design flaw caught fire
Microwave #2 (Says Dometic on it) Turntable did not work, Modified by a compentent engineer (ME) and now works 100% but I used GE parts to do it.
VCR (Zenith) Trashed and replaced first with a panasonic and then with a replayTV DVR (Working as I type)
Digital TV converter (Insignia) I kept it from failing by being very careful till it wore out,< The Zenith (Identicl unit different paint job) has yet to fail But I know how to prevent it and the things I did for the Insignia were still in place when I swapped in the Zenith.

Computer Monitors (Before L merged with G) I never owned but we sold in the store where I worked... We got most all of 'em back due to one part which only Goldstar used.. When the contract expiered the company who's name was on the cabinet went back to their old, reliable, supplier.

[obgraham]

Of course, out of the "20 channels", how many were something a person would actually watch?!

My OTR in Mesa AZ picked up 61 channels. When I threw out the rubbish, it was actually 7.

[rvingxtc]

Thanks for all the suggestions. As far as changing the TV's around, I'm now home and get no channels here at the house(not the TV's fault). I leave for hunting in a week, I will try switching them then. As far as now, I will check the connections--thanks.

[RJsfishin]

X 4 on JDs test, completely fool proof.

Ask a neighbor ?? Different tv, different antenna, different location ??

[Bill_Satellite]

Assuming the original TV is actually digital then it could also be a cabling issue. Is the power supply (wall switch with on/off button) located close to the TV that works well? If so, the most likely issues is a bad cabling connection somewhere between the power supply and the bad TV.

[allenm]

I had the same thing happen with a new Starcraft (made by Jayco). The factory TV could only pull in a few stations, yet the older TV I installed in the bedroom could pull in a couple dozen. I said all the things I read above about new cheap TV's and Starcraft/Jayco. But I was wrong - well sort of...

I tried the bedroom TV in the main room and it could only pull in a couple stations. Time to tear into the coax connections. Found the one going to the factory TV was defective. The center wire wasn't sticking our anywhere near enough. I put a new coax connector on the end and then to my surprise the new cheap TV got a few more stations that my old TV!

Had to take back everything I said about cheap TV's. But not so much for Jayco/Starcraft workmanship!

[tvman44]

x2 on what jimindenver said. That will tell the story. 🙂

[rockhillmanor]

Yup each TV is different.
In the beginning of digital TV's I spent hours and hours spinning the antenna to try and pull in more channels only to ultimately find out it was the TV itself.

One day at a CG.
My Sylvania got 7 channels.
The Visio gets 18 sitting in the same spot in the MH.

That's why when people ask about boosting this and adding that to get more channels, from my experience it's the TV itself.

Real quick way to find out if it's your TV at a CG is to ask your camping neighbor how many channels he is getting! :W

[JiminDenver]

Hook the bedroom TV up to the connection used by the other TV. It's the wiring if it gets the same channels as the other TV, The other TV if it gets more.

[Jagtech]

Maybe 9 analog channels and 20 digital channels? (old tech TV vs new tech)

[Old-Biscuit]

Plain and simple........Difference in quality of digital tuners in each TV.

[rekoj71]

Probably what others have said, but....
might double check the connections in the coax cable from the back of the TV and to where it connects to the splitter box and make sure the connections are tight and that there are good amounts of center conductor (copper center wire). The splitter box could also not be sending the signal very well. I agree with others that Jensen is not the best brand but I am a little surprised that there is that much of a difference.