TV Antenna reception

[camsa5]

When i hook up the tv in the front bedroom to the tv antenna I get reception. But when I hook up a tv to the bunkhouse i get nothing. My question is ... are they different hook-ups? I would like to get reception from the same antenna to both tv's. Is this possible?

[camsa5]

Well ... I managed to fix the problem. It turns out that behind the panel where the booster is, the incoming cable line from the antenna feeds to a circuit board which has 2 other cable lines going to other parts of the trailer. One of the cables was not even hooked up. I hooked it up and voila! I now have reception in the rear bedroom as well as the front bedroom. Took me a mere 15mins. An oversight during manufacturing I guess.

Thanks guys for your suggestions and input.

[camsa5]

westend and myredracer, good tips I will certainly use. FYI .. both tv's receive the signal fine on the working jack (front bedroom). The continuity test was definitely on my list of things to try. I am off to the trailer today. Will report back next week with results. Thanks mates!

[myredracer]

First, take the bunkhouse TV to the front bedroom and confirm it's working okay. If not, the TV is at fault or not set up. Also check to see if the co-ax from the wall plate to TV is okay.

Then, with the bunkhouse TV back in (if working fine) remove the wall/ceiling plate that has the co-ax, 12VDC outlet and amp. pushbutton on it. It has an antenna "in" connection and two "out" connections. Flip the two out connections and see if you get reception in the bunkhouse. If you do, it's the wall plate. If you don't, it's definitely something to do with the co-ax cable and/or connectors.

Providing TVs are okay, the first suspect cause is usually a bad connection at a co-ax connector The center copper wire needs to protrude about 1/8" and the mesh-looking shield needs to fold back onto the outer jacket before the connector is installed as in the photo as in the 1st photo (showing a crimp connector). A crimp style connector is better than the screw-on style but needs a crimp tool. There is a proper tool for stripping co-ax but who knows if the guy at the factory used one and stripped the co-ax correctly. They are notorious for doing poor electrical wiring.

[westend]

If the eyeball inspection doesn't catch the problem, you could check for continuity between the working jack plate and the bunkhouse jack plate. Remember to turn off the amplifier before checking.

[camsa5]

Thanks all for your input. I will look at all the connections behind the plates and at the booster this weekend. Hope I find the problem. Cheers!

[hbillsmith]

They use twist connects on the coax and its coomon for them to have loose connects. Pull off the wall jsck that has the antennae on/off button. Behind it is allthe coax junctions. The lead to the bunk tv outlet is probsbly bad. Pull it off and redo it.

[Hornnumb2]

You might pull the wall plate off where your amp button is and make sure there are good connections on the back of the plate.

[brirene]

There was another similar thread recently and it was found to be a bad cord. Could yours be that simple too? Any way to try the working tv on the "non-working" jack? Might give you another clue.

[ScottG]

camsa5 wrote:
Thanks brirene and Sharps45120. I have already tried what both have suggested several times. I'm hoping the antenna doesn't only serve the front bedroom. Shouldn't the antenna send a signal to all tv cable outlets?

Yes it should send the signal to all TV's but in our case the output to the bedroom TV was dead. The amp was defective from the factory.

[camsa5]

Thanks brirene and Sharps45120. I have already tried what both have suggested several times. I'm hoping the antenna doesn't only serve the front bedroom. Shouldn't the antenna send a signal to all tv cable outlets?

[Sharps45120]

Check to make sure the bunkhouse TV input is set to antenna. It may be on cable/satellite.

[brirene]

Should be the same antenna, with one booster. Are all your connections tight? Have you scanned for channels on the tv that isn't working?