- This topic has 10 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 11 months ago by
notruffinit.
notruffinit.- Topic
notruffinit- Topics - 8
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I started out the trip a month ago with no reception on the tv so I crawled up on top and found the coax cable broken at the connector. No problem, I put a new connector on and all was well. Last week we were out and all was well. We watched the news (yes, I know. Not advisable these days) and went to bed. The next day we had NO reception, nothing, and I can’t figure out where the problem is. How do I find where the problem is? I do see where the coax on the stretch between where it enters the roof and the connector at the antenna there is a crack in the outer insulation and I can see the shielding wires. Do I cut out that section and see if the center conductor is broken there also? Should I just replace the full section between the roof and the batwing? Just looking for ideas and suggestions.
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- Anonymous
- Topics - 33
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Wow, that’s one of those anomalies that can drive you nuts. I just going to throw out some ideas some of which you may have already tried. It’s odd it was fine after you made the repair and viewed the tv without issue. Nothing should have changed from the time you powered off the TV, slept and powered it back on in the am. Did you have a power interruption overnight and maybe the TV faulted to cable? Can you connect another TV into that coax outlet to verify its not the TV? The coax does sound damaged but its odd it was working, nothing changed overnight and then nothing the next day. Be sure to check the connections else where to before replacing the coax. If it’s not the coax, I’d just wrap the area in question with electrical tape. Do you have the Wingard TV pre-amp? If so, make sure its set to antenna. Please update when you find a solution. Sorry I’m not much help. Good luck.
notruffinit- Topics - 8
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I have Samsung televisions and both are set on “Antenna”, I have the Wingard antenna and pre-amp. I need to do some research if/how I can use that for diagnosis.
JohnD222- Topics - 8
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On my unit the ota connections before they go into the amplifyer are just inside the street (drivers) side rear storage door on the left.
My guess is your new connector failed/ lost ground. Did it rain or was it windy? Doubt the internal center copper wire broke, but rain can corrode the outer ground. Or rain could have gotten into the antenna’s female recepticle try another cable end. If that does not work run a temporary new cable between the antenna and he junction I spoke about in rear storage. If that works, yes you can cut out the bad section.
JohnD222
Based in Florida except summer
2013 36FWS Lifestyle (our great 2010 Cameo 36FWS has happy owners)notruffinit- Topics - 8
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John – I never saw the splitter in the bottom before! Mine is on the opposite side but it is there. I did put on a new connector but that made no difference. Now to get up on top and run my hookup coax from the antenna to the splitter. More later.
notruffinit- Topics - 8
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OK. bypass cable antenna to splitter – no change so – External home antenna to splitter – no change so not the antenna cable antenna to splitter. I hooked the external antenna to the cable input, which I have done before when the coach is sitting inside and being used as my 3rd bedroom. I set the television and Wingard Sensar to cable and scanned and got nothing. It seems like the problem is around the Wingard pre-amp. What else can I do?
notruffinit- Topics - 8
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I think I have it isolated to a single point of failure. I pulled the amp of the wall. On the back all the inputs and outputs are identified so I disconnected one of the coax cables that goes to one of the TV sets and hooked it up to my external antenna feed. The set found 30+ OTA stations and all came in clear. I powered down the amp hoping to “reset” and then powered back up. I hooked the coax back up to the Wingard amp and no signal came through. Who woulda guessed that the Wingard SensarPro amp would go bad? Gonna make some calls.
Anonymous- Topics - 33
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Glad you figured it out. That’s like me with my brake problem and it turned out to be the “fooler magnet” one never knows!
notruffinit- Topics - 8
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It has been a while and I finally decided to tackle my problem again. After replacing the Sensar Pro I stopped getting reception again. I have just lived with it by using another antenna that I put outside, but have decided to fix it now. I do not have continuity between the roof top and the amplifier. Everything from the antenna input to the sets works perfectly. I replaced the coax in the mast itself down to the rooftop. I would go ahead and attempt to put in new coax from the antenna to the amp but I am afraid I am missing an answer to one question. That is – the coax at the antenna is gray sheathed but the coax input to the antenna is orange sheathed. somewhere there is a connection and I don’t know why or where this connection might be. does anybody have any info on the routing of the coax for the antenna?
JohnD222- Topics - 8
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NotRuffinIt,
there is a junction box in the back storage. On 9/21 you indicated that you found it. Try running a new test coax from the roof antenna to that junction box. If that works you have a problem with the coax from the antennae or the coax in the 5er from the roof down to that junction box.
if you have the hand crank version of sensor antenna, you can take off the crank, spring and facia plate. There is not much room but I could fish around with a hanger hook and pull out the coax from antennae. Maybe a foot long. That connects to a coax of different color that runs down to that junction box. You can also remove the antenna from the top but the Dicor sealant is a mess at times. Once the junction is out in the open, run that test cable from the coax lead from the antenna at one end and that junction box at the other. If that works, the coax from the antenna is good. If it does not, that antenna coax or its connectors are bad.
one more thought – are you sure you have that junction box wired correctly? If not the above test results will not be accurate. If I recall, that junction box “joins” two input coax leads from (1) the rooftop antenna feed and (2) the tv/cable feed from the utility access (water line etc), and the output is a short coax up to the amplifier. Older campgrounds had tv not cable that fed onto the utility access. To get that tv or the rooftop tv to work you need to turn on the amplifier. Cable has no need for an amplifier and it must be turned off for cable but you know that. I recall that the satellite coax is also in that rear storage area but hidden behind the black panel.
if you are sure that the inputs and outputs are correct on you junction box in the rear storage, you can cut a hole in that black panel and try pulling a new coax from the crank opening through a couple of roof truss hole then down the wall. I doubt that will work but it is worth a try. I would try with coax ends connected to a union first. If that does not work, cut cable ends ant tape coax together and try pulling that way. As I said, I doubt that will work either but you might get lucky. The worst case is a new coax from the antenna lead through the crank facia or a new hole next to it. Rin that to the 5er wall and down the wall to just above the slide when the slide is out.
JohnD222
Based in Florida except summer
2013 36FWS Lifestyle (our great 2010 Cameo 36FWS has happy owners)notruffinit- Topics - 8
- Replies - 8
- Total - 16
JohnD222 – Thanks for the reply. You are correct that I did find the junction and wondered where the other lead came from. now i know. But my question is where does the Coax sheath color change? The singular output from that connection is tan and the coax in the amplifier hole is orange. Is there another connection? I will run a coax outside from the mast to the junction box yet this morning. If I am good from the splitter to the amp then I won’t worry about it. Just for fun I am going to hook up my external antenna to the TV input in the connection box which will verify the splitter-to-amp connection. If that works I will put the coach in the shed and try to figure out replacing the coax from the antenna to the splitter. Thanks for your help.
Anonymous
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