Antenna "Booster" question

[joedekock]

We are on our first trip with our new 2015 Coachmen Freedeom Express 23QTX. We chose a campground just a half mile from home for the first trip to make sure all was well. Thankfully all has been well for the first 2 nights!

The only issue may or may not be an issue at all. Im not sure why, but I never assumed to check the Television antenna when we bought the RV. It doesnt have the typical crank-up, rotatable bat-wing antenna. It has the bat-wing antenna, however its static. I didnt think this would be a problem, but maybe it is. I found what seems to be the antenna "booster" or amplifier on/off switch but it does not help at all... like nothing noticeable. Because we are a half mile from home, I now the local OTA television stations well and actually use the same bat-wing antenna at my home up 30' on a chimney mount mast and it pulls in all the local digital stations without any issue. I do have an amplifier in line for that antenna as well and its running to two televisions with roughly 100' of coax.

So I am perplexed as to why im only getting half the channels on the new Coachmen and that this on/off switch with a little red light does not do anything. So I removed the faceplate with this on/off switch and found there are three coax connections in there, and one is labled "ant" and one "TV1" and the "iv1". For grins, I unplugged all three to see if I lost reception to the television but I did not lose reception at all! So I am hoping someone here can guide me. I have attached two pics. One with the faceplate off showeing the coax connections behind it, and one of the front with the switch and red light. Can someone tell me what it does? Is it possible this is the on off switch for the amplifier and it was wired wrong? Perhaps the television is split inside the wall and coming directly from the antenna?

[joedekock]

Someone wanted to see a pic of the actual antenna I have on the RV.

[Carhlr]

RoyB wrote:
First You have to be using a digital HDTV set... We use the VIZIO 22-inch HDTV LCD TV from Walmart...

Turn the antenna boost switch on. This will power up the pre-amp in the antenna.

Then you have to point the antenna to the direction of the National Broadcast transmitter town.

Goto to menu on the TV set and select ANTENNA... Then do the digital scan...
If it doesn't pick up digital stations then move the antenna slightly one direction or the other and do the scan again..

I usually get anywhere from 6-36 digital HDTV stations just about anywhere we go here on the East side of the US...

I would try the TV connector first on your antenna wall panel.

Roy Ken

This sums it up new TT here this is exactly how I got to do it or zero reception

[wa8yxm]

I agree it does not look like a Winegard product, Every ACTIVE Winegard product I have seen says, clearly, where you can see it when installed (on the front of the panel) WINEGARD.. This one does not, thus it is not.

Winegard is justly proud of their name and likes to print it on things.

Now if it is just a wall plate (Such as you find at the TV-2 or TV-3 posiition) it may or may not have a name on it..

But the plate shown is an active electronic device, if it was made by Winegard, it would clearly state a much on it's face.

[Bucky_Badger]

wa8yxm wrote:

joedekock wrote:

ChopperBill wrote:
You said the red lights not coming on. There's your problem, no power or bad switch.

Nope... the Red light does turn on.

There you go, that's your problem, no power to the roof since there is no power to the plate.. You have one of the following in power line order

1: Blown fuse
2: Broken wire
3: Bad wall plate.

Now, one other thing you said set off an alarm.. "Bat wing but it does not rotate" Did not know they made one of those.. i know of 3 styles of rooftop antenna

1: Flying saucer (Junk)
2: Batwing, always cranks up and rotates (You pull down on a ring inside to rotate it, the ring is the rototation knob)

3: Jack,, Kind of a delta wing thing which I do not recommend, comes in both non-rotatable and rotatable models.

Why rotate: Well, omni antennas like the flying saucer,, Do not work all that well.

His light comes on

[Chris_Bryant]

If you look closely at it, the plate is a clone. The power leads are hard wired, and it has no Winegard logo on the front. It is made to look like the Winegard, but unless they have changed them for OEMs (which is possible), I'm saying it isn't Winegard.

[joedekock]

Chris Bryant wrote:
That is not a Winegard power supply, and I doubt it is a Winegard antenna, but it does have my interest peaked. Could we get a pic of the antenna?

It is a Winegard. Found here, mine is the RV-6542
http://www.winegard.com/mobile/wallplates.php

[enblethen]

Chris:
Isn't this the one that the OP has?
Winegard RV7542

[Chris_Bryant]

That is not a Winegard power supply, and I doubt it is a Winegard antenna, but it does have my interest peaked. Could we get a pic of the antenna?

[wa8yxm]

joedekock wrote:

ChopperBill wrote:
You said the red lights not coming on. There's your problem, no power or bad switch.

Nope... the Red light does turn on.

There you go, that's your problem, no power to the roof since there is no power to the plate.. You have one of the following in power line order

1: Blown fuse
2: Broken wire
3: Bad wall plate.

Now, one other thing you said set off an alarm.. "Bat wing but it does not rotate" Did not know they made one of those.. i know of 3 styles of rooftop antenna

1: Flying saucer (Junk)
2: Batwing, always cranks up and rotates (You pull down on a ring inside to rotate it, the ring is the rototation knob)

3: Jack,, Kind of a delta wing thing which I do not recommend, comes in both non-rotatable and rotatable models.

Why rotate: Well, omni antennas like the flying saucer,, Do not work all that well.

[SCVJeff]

--

[SCVJeff]

joedekock wrote:
So... I picked up a coax cable and unplugged the line feeding the television. Plugged the Television into TV1 on this face plate. Set the switch to "on", the red light comes on. I then scanned the OTA channels with the television and BAM! Went from 6 channels to 33 channels! Im picking up channels 100 miles away!

Its still curious to me why the feed line to the television is not connected to the amp. I did find out that the faceplate with the circuit board is part of a winegard amplifier. So I guess I will be doing some re-wiring when we get back to the homestead to make sure the feed line to the television is coming off the amplifier as well.

if youre a tekkie, that makes it alot easier..

As mentioned, the amp is in the head of the antenna. What you have in your hand is a 1x2 splitter and DC inserter for the amp. Yours is a little different on the backside and its been awhile, but there should be a small torrid transformer with 3 windings on it, each feeding an F jack. One of those jacks should have a DC blocking cap with the DC feeding it through a choke. Thats obviously the antenna. Most TV's today also have DC blocking caps built in, but some dont, so be careful to plug in only the antenna to the jack thats hot or you might let the smoke out.

[enblethen]

The amp is in the head not the faceplate!

[kennethwooster]

I am not a tech guy!!! It always perplexed me. Went to Dish Satellite and a Tailgator system. Dealer set it up and gave me a set of instructions. This works great and we always have TV without all the the stuff. Just saying how it worked for a non tech guy.. I do not understand all the other.

[joedekock]

So... I picked up a coax cable and unplugged the line feeding the television. Plugged the Television into TV1 on this face plate. Set the switch to "on", the red light comes on. I then scanned the OTA channels with the television and BAM! Went from 6 channels to 33 channels! Im picking up channels 100 miles away!

Its still curious to me why the feed line to the television is not connected to the amp. I did find out that the faceplate with the circuit board is part of a winegard amplifier. So I guess I will be doing some re-wiring when we get back to the homestead to make sure the feed line to the television is coming off the amplifier as well.