Vibe 268rks. Unable to get antenna TV reception.

[Toolman_GA]

We have had our new trailer for 2 weeks. We went on our maiden voyage last week and everything worked great except we could not get any TV reception - the other campers around us could get a handful of channels. The booster is on (green light) and it was working at the dealership. Any tips? There is no signal strength meter. Thanks.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Toolman_GA

We have had our new trailer for 2 weeks. We went on our maiden voyage last week and everything worked great except we could not get any TV reception - the other campers around us could get a handful of channels. The booster is on (green light) and it was working at the dealership. Any tips? There is no signal strength meter. Thanks.

How far away were you from the selling dealer. To receive normal broadcast channels, you will need to rescan for them, if you are in a different area from the last time it was scanned.

The local channels in say Chicago are not going to be the same ones in say New York.

Also do you have an antenna that has to be cranked up?

[Toolman_GA]

I am about 50 miles from dealer. It is a crank up Wineguard and can be manually rotated. I have scanned many times and have pointed in directions of transmitters.

[Teamfour]

Go up on the roof and see if the coax cable is tight where it connects to the antenna.

[wz3mo]

Originally Posted by Toolman_GA

I am about 50 miles from dealer. It is a crank up Wineguard and can be manually rotated. I have scanned many times and have pointed in directions of transmitters.

What year is your Vibe 268RKS? On our 2016 268RKS the antenna is a low mount omni-directional which doesn't crank up and works great. Did yours come with that antenna?

[Wiscampsin]

Like wmtire said you have to scan for channels. In the tv menu under 'set up' make sure you have 'antenna', not 'cable' selected. Then in the menu do a scan or search for channels. You might want to consider a wingman too. Made a big difference in reception for me. Winegard Wingman - Winegard RV-WING - Over-the-Air Antennas - Camping World

[Toolman_GA]

It is a 2017 with a crank up directional Wineguard antenna. I will start checking connections next. Thanks.

[mtnlvr]

When you said the booster is on, did you mean the reset button?? If not, I had that problem recently. I couldn't get my local channels with my crank up Winegard antenna. An RV service tech showed me the tiny reset button in back behind the TV plug in connection that I had never seen before. I wasn't told or shown this button either at my pre delivery demo.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by mtnlvr

When you said the booster is on, did you mean the reset button?? If not, I had that problem recently. I couldn't get my local channels with my crank up Winegard antenna. An RV service tech showed me the tiny reset button in back behind the TV plug in connection that I had never seen before. I wasn't told or shown this button either at my pre delivery demo.

It's a booster button. I've never heard of a reset button. Should look something like this:

[Toolman_GA]

Mrnlvr and lweitecode, I have a wall plate similar on our 2017 model 268rks with a button and green LED indicating the booster on/off. I see no "reset" button. Is this what you meant or is there one behind the wall plate? Thanks

[michparks]

We have the same problem too in our Vibe 268RKS. Thanks for all the posts.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Toolman_GA

Mrnlvr and lweitecode, I have a wall plate similar on our 2017 model 268rks with a button and green LED indicating the booster on/off. I see no "reset" button. Is this what you meant or is there one behind the wall plate? Thanks

That's it. If you are trying to receive OTA channels, it should be on.

[bgarbo]

Great advice from everyone. My experience was with a Konka tv in our 2012 rockwood signature ultra lite. Could barely get any signal no matter what I tried. Finally replaced it with a samsung and guess what? More channels than I could imagine. The dealer wanted me to bring the trailer in to trouble shoot the tv. All they needed to do was plug in a cable feed and verify no signal. Just saying. Try a different tv b4 you tear the trailer apart. Hope this helps.

[hbillsmith]

If you pull the wall plate that has reset button (it's really the antennae power booster on/off) you will see several coax connectors. They come from the antennae and split off to various TV coonections. Mine were all loose or not properly twisted on i.e. the ground sheath wasn't making contact. I fixed all the loose ends and bingo channels! This was on my first trip after new pickup.

You can also test connections with a multimeter.
1. Turn amp button off
2. Take a scale piece of coax, twist ground sheath and center wire together
3. On the roof, disconnect the coax from the antennae and use a barrel connectors to attach the test scrap from step 2.
4. Use the multimeter at each outlet in the trailer. One probe on pin, one probe on sleeve. If it's a good connection the needle will move, if not there is a problem between TV and Antennae.
5. Check every outlet, then you may need to go behind the amp wall plate.
6. If outlets all pass. Check for bad cable to TV from its outlet.
7. If all cables are good. Try a different TV
LAST - DO NOT FORGET TO REMOVE THE TEST SCRAP AND HOOK ANTENNAE BACK UP.

[mtnlvr]

Bgarbo- Interesting, that a different TV
worked better. I was always curious. I had an extra good TV lying around when I bought my Solera. I questioned the PDMI tech at purchase about using it on the extra TV connection available in Bdrm area. He told me that the Jensen's were better for RV's , less electrical draw. I've heard on this site since then that Jensen's are basically junk and don't last.
Yes, as on prior post- I was told that my booster button was a "reset button" by RV service tech.

[mtnlvr]

Hbillsmith- you are correct! I found out last week after being at my "wits end", trying everything to get my TV to work, ( after learning to press reset/ booster button to get my manual crank TV to work), it end up being the problem on my Dish satellite just a bad HDMI cable. I wish I had tried changing out this simple thing ALOT sooner!

[Toolman_GA]

Update and resolution: I spent about an hour troubleshooting and verifying all three coax runs to the booster panel. It turned out that the *cable" and "antenna" wires were reversed on the booster amp on the back of the plate. I was thrown at first because the gray wire on my antenna roof changed to an orange wire somewhere inside the structure! Now getting 34 channels at my house so clear that the next task is to drop my ever increasingly expensive cable TV service. Thanks to everyone for their input and experience, it helped.

[Mark S.]

I have the same problem. So I turned on the booster and went to the antenna and do not have 12 volt through the cable. There is a splitter at the radio that cuts into the cable going to the antenna. I'm going to make this a straight run and see if I have voltage then. I will let you know if this clears my issue up. This should help. I hope.


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[efeisty]

I had the same problem on my 272BHS. Every cable on the back of the TV booster card was wrong. I had to verify every cable and put them all in the right spot. Everything is working now.

[Mark S.]

Problem found. As an earlier post the cables where on the wrong places. The Orange cable is the antenna, white is for second tv and black is the cable . everything works like it should now.