Radio/TV Reception

[Offspring22]

Hello all,

We have a 2014 Starcraft 26BHS, and pretty much everything is great on it, except the radio reception. We go many of the same places we went with our old 06' Funfinder and while we used to get good radio reception in it, we get next to nothing on our Starcraft. Talked to the dealer, all they tell me is "Oh yeah, they put cheap antennas in these things, we can sell you a new one for $300". Last season I took a look at the wiring, and found out all the coax ends behind the radio weren't crimped - I could pull them right off. Had it in for service over the off season, and they're on tight now.

However, still very poor reception. We get TV and Radio fine in the city (which makes it hard to prove to the dealership how bad it is), but 45 min away, nothing but static. So I took a look at the wiring again. Here's a diagram of what I can see behind the stereo....



From what I can tell, the brown cable going into the roof goes to the bedroom (it's also a brown cable behind the faceplate). I don't know where the grey and black cables go though, one I assume is to the antenna.

The splitter - the IN goes into the radio.... is that ok? They're labeled 2 out , 1 in, but does it actually matter?

Any tips, or are the antennas really that bad?

Thanks!

[BuddyRay]

If you have accurately diagramed the wiring then it's really messed up in my humble opinion.
The radio antenna should have nothing to do with a jack in the bedroom- isn't that for a TV?

Do you have 2 antenna on the roof? One for TV and one whip antenna for radio? If so the following comments apply.

There should be one wire running from the roof radio antenna directly to the back of the radio.
Then you should have another wire running from the TV antenna to the booster, from there to the 'in' on the splitter and then the two 'outs' on the splitter should go to the TV and the BR jack respectively. I assume the Gray wire is 12v power to the booster.

I have no idea what the 'jumper' is unless it's a lightning suppressor- if so then that line is probably the line to the TV antenna.

Can you look at another unit at the dealer and see how it's wired.


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[Offspring22]

Thanks for the reply.

Only 1 antenna on the roof - it looks like this though I don't see any brand/wording on it. If it is the same, it should do TV and FM. My diagram is accurate.

I may be using the wrong term for what I called the jumper, but it's just a dual COAX wall plate - the brown and black cables on my diagram are connected to it behind the wall. The brown curved wire just connects the 2 coax connectors on the other side of the plate.

Taking another look at the back of the radio, there is a separate AM "antenna" which is really a 12" piece of wire. Explains why THAT reception is so terrible.

I can try to look at another unit, but I have to take things apart to get to what I need to see - not sure they would be ok with that.....

[BuddyRay]

In that case, what you have labeled as a "splitter" may by an "FM Trap". The frequencies used in FM radio tend to interfere with TV signals (or at least they did back in the analog TV days - I haven't worked on TV's since I was in High School). The trap sends the FM radio frequency range to one side and the TV Frequency range to the other side.

But it doesn't matter if it's a splitter or a trap - either way the radio should be attached to one of the "out" ports, not the 'in' port - yes, it does matter. If it's a splitter it won't matter which "out" port. If it's an FM trap, the out ports will be labeled and you will need to put the radio on the FM side.

[Offspring22]

Pretty sure it is a splitter, it's labeled as such.



I'll try switching the cable coming from the booster to the in port, and antenna to an outport. Thanks for the advice.

[BuddyRay]

Yup - it's a splitter. I think you have a plan, swap those two wires. You can't hurt anything. It either will or won't improve your reception.

[campingva]

Or you could just go and get a roof mount whip antenna and route it to your radio as a seperate radio antenna. Looks like the splitter for the TV is attempting to be used for the radio. As has been said it works but a dedicated radio antenna would probably work much better. New antenna should not cost much and all you would then have to do is route the cable to the radio.

[Nukeneck]

QUOTE=BuddyRay;419909

If you have accurately diagramed the wiring then it's really messed up in my humble opinion.
The radio antenna should have nothing to do with a jack in the bedroom- isn't that for a TV?

Do you have 2 antenna on the roof? One for TV and one whip antenna for radio? If so the following comments apply.

There should be one wire running from the roof radio antenna directly to the back of the radio.
Then you should have another wire running from the TV antenna to the booster, from there to the 'in' on the splitter and then the two 'outs' on the splitter should go to the TV and the BR jack respectively. I assume the Gray wire is 12v power to the booster.

I have no idea what the 'jumper' is unless it's a lightning suppressor- if so then that line is probably the line to the TV antenna.

X2.

If you're into exploring the inner workings or your RF system, you can pick up one of these for minimal cost and identify where your cable lines feed. This can eliminate some of the guess work on where your cables are fed from and terminate.

As far as the jumper goes, I would eliminate it and connect the two lines with a barrel connector. The more cable fittings you have the more RF loss and potential interference/attenuation you'll have with your system

https://www.zoro.com/klein-tools-coa...58/i/G1606446/

[JoeTampa]

An "all in one" antenna is going to be a compromise antenna, and the design likely favors the TV spectrum since TV is "more important" to consumers than radio. It may very well be that the design suffers performance-wise compared to that on your old coach.

I would try connecting the antenna directly to the lead running to the radio (using a barrel connector if required) and see if that helps.

How's the TV reception?

[Offspring22]

Alright, well we were in the mountains again this weekend and I did everything I could to try and simplify the wiring so it was just the antenna to the booster, to the radio, and still nothing. So my next plan is to get a dedicated AM/FM antenna - any TV we watch will be downloaded/dvds anyways. SO! Any idea which is a good one? Ideally passive without the need for a booster to conserve battery power, but open to anything at this point.

[Murff]

Amazon has several. This one you can adjust height with the ball joint:

https://www.amazon.com/AM-FM-Antenna...+radio+antenna

Murff

[campingva]

Definitely get one with a spring it it in case you hit a tree limb or something. Also check out your local auto stores as those radio antennas will work fine for reception.