No A.M. radio station

[Grumpa]

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, could be a simple fix or an overlook. I am the second owner. Nothing mentioned if it worked or not from first owner. Thanks

[tempforce]

on my holiday rambler the radio was a piece of junk. no range for either am or fm. i replaced it with a sony car radio. solved my problem, until i found myself trying to receive stations in the arizona deserts. the ground plane helped, but a replacement antenna, did the most good. also i tried a full wave cb antenna, linked to the radio antenna. it helped... but stations are few and far between in some areas. so i broke down a got a xm receiver, until i returned to civilization...

[Grumpa]

I reread. I receive FM. AM nothing noise static.

[wa8yxm]

Key phrase: NO static.

And no an AM radio may well NOT need a good ground plane.. And I can prove it if anyone wishes to argue.

I do not know your radio but I suspect a problem internal.. However a visual inspection may show something. IF this is a DASH radio.. Many RV's have very short Dash Radio antennas.. They really do not work well for AM (Do not work well for FM but they REALLY do not work well for AM) Make sure the antenna connection is well plugged in.

Now I can improve the AM antenna on an RV, but frankly not worth it (in my case) Since I have a nice ham rig that covers the AM (General coverage receiver0 and I have a nice LONG!!!!!!! wire I can toss up when parked.

Am Broadcast is the 300 meeter band, this means a quareter wave (Ground plane needed) is 75 meters long.. a 1/2 wave (NGP) is `150 meters long.. A meter is a bit more than a yard.. That is a LOT of antenna.. Anything shorter is a comprimise.

[landyacht318]

Once in deep Baja California, listening to AM radio, I noticed that if I touched my Metal car whip antenna, all the hissing and popping disappeared.

I put my alligator clamp test leads from antenna into the dirt next to the tire and it was clear as a bell and I was able to get another dozen english speaking stations

Later, I discovered the coaxial antenna where it entered the radio was compromised, and replaced it.

Also try turning off all LED lights and checking reception again

[2oldman]

GordonThree wrote:
AM radio is still being broadcast? Amazing

Sports, Limbaugh and religion.

[Canadian_Rainbi]

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.

[GordonThree]

AM radio is still being broadcast? Amazing

[tempforce]

the reason i only posted about the a.m... is he didn't mention poor f.m. reception. which if your not getting good reception with a.m.or f.m. follow Hiking Hunters suggestion.

[Hiking_Hunter]

check your antenna connections - both ends, but especially at the roof. Not working at all sounds like the center connection of the coax is missing.

tempforce is correct in that AM needs a good ground plane for the best results, HOWEVER, the shield of the coax on a monopole antenna serves as a ground. It should do SOMETHING with just this basic antenna if it is connected properly.

[tempforce]

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.