FM Antenna help

[mdprowash]

Hey all... I was up doing sealant work around my tv and fm antennas. The fm antenna doesn't seem to have the greatest reception so I took it off to investigate. Questions: Does anyone know what this white wire is in there (which does not appear to be a part of it)? Is the bare strand of wire a ground? Is there a better antenna I could use? Thanks a million!

[CavemanCharlie]

A new tuner should help. RV radios are quite cheap and if you have the old analog style it is probably wore out.

Some people put car radios in their RV's. They work better then the factory radio and run on 12 volts just like the original does. You have a lot of options if you decide to so this.

[mdprowash]

I found the braided wire is tied into the white cable with a wire nut. Where the white cable goes.. Don't know. It doesn't come out at where all other wires do. I'll leave it for now and try a new digital tuner as the original one with rotary knob is still in there.

[Hornnumb2]

The white wire is probably just under the hole hooked to something else. On mine you could unscrew the microwave and get to all those wires inside for the stereo and antenna.

[Hornnumb2]

When I replaced my antenna on my last trailer it did come with the braided ground wire too.

[budwich]

RVcircus wrote:
White cable looks to be cable TV. The braided wire is the ground for the radio antenna.

I'm not positive, but I believe our ground was just sitting in the insulation when we tore the roof off and wasn't connected to anything. The antenna worked fine so I didn't change anything.

Yes normal coax uses the sheath "braid" as a ground conductor. I suspect that the crimp on that coax has some strands of wire that are causing the problems. If the bare wire is from the white cable (you didn't confirm and the picture doesn't show it clearly), then I think some one ran some extra wiring to try to solve a problem with the coax. You should be able to find that somewhere down by the radio.

My radio antenna is the same "type / model" and works well so I don't think there is an actual issue with the antenna.
Actually, thinking about it, it might be an "antenna up / down" control wiring as is some car antennas.

[Rbertalotto]

My FM and AM reception was terrible on my 19RR Forest River toy hauler.

I removed and replaced it with a high quality marine AM/FM antenna I purchased from West Marine. Amazing improvement! And it folds dow when I put the cover on. No cheap, but well worth it.





The little black madnetic mount antenna is for the Sirius/XM radio.

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/shakespeare--am-fm-marine-antenna--380644



http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--dual-axis-ratchet-mount-nylon--1986645

[RVcircus]

White cable looks to be cable TV. The braided wire is the ground for the radio antenna.

I'm not positive, but I believe our ground was just sitting in the insulation when we tore the roof off and wasn't connected to anything. The antenna worked fine so I didn't change anything.

[mdprowash]

Okay.. Thanks. I'll give that a try. I said the same thing when I saw the crimp. I was also confused when I saw the bare wire as I thought the coax is grounded by outer strands. I'll figure it out. I cannot get that white wire to move anymore than it is coming out of the hole.

I'm not sure if they secured this wire inside the trailer wall. I'm going to give it a tug tomorrow.. If it wants to come up.. I'm fishing new cable!

[budwich]

your "big finger" is in the way... 🙂
If I am seeing your picture correctly, the white cable and the portion of "bare copper" is from the same cable. It would appear that perhaps some one might have found that the antenna was not working correctly and thought that perhaps running another wire might help... which looks like they appeared to want to run as some form of ground. The crimp on the coax connector looks somewhat "suspicious" (ie. poor). Disconnect that end. Find where the other end goes (ie. radio)... disconnect at that end. Temporarily make a connection between the center conductor and the outside portion of the connect at one end of the cable. At the other end, get a meter, set it on resistance readings and measure the resistance between the center and the outside (ie. sheath / ground). See what the reading is... I suspect that the connector at the antenna is not made properly and has NO / open ground. It may not actually matter as I do believe most antennas are "single wire" but perhaps the "ground" is actually shorting the main conductor somewhere along the route.

[mdprowash]

pconroy328 wrote:

mdprowash wrote:
Maybe a better receiver will pull in a signal better?

Are you talking radio or TV?

Radio.. TV antenna works great.

[pconroy328]

mdprowash wrote:
Maybe a better receiver will pull in a signal better?

Are you talking radio or TV?

[mdprowash]

I'm thinking it might be the TV wire.. Thanks for your help. Maybe a better receiver will pull in a signal better?

[Ron3rd]

I believe the white wire is unrelated to the antenna. The antenna wires are usually a single black "coax" looking wire. The braided wire is a ground. Don't know of a better antenna, I've got the same as you, but I'm sure something better exists.