Poor TV reception normal???

[KyDan]

Greetings!
We just traded up from a '04 Shadow Cruiser T189 to a Rockwood
Ultra Lite 2502.

So far we love the trailer but hate the electronics.

We live in the suburbs of a large city with several "local" TV stations.
My old trailer had a crank up "bat wing" antenna with a little outlet
box amplifier. We could receive all our local stations from our driveway.
Most of them had a bit of snow but they were watchable.

Our new Rockwood 2502 has a similar Winegard roof antenna.
I believe these new ones have the signal amplifier built in the antenna
and the wall outlet sends 12v signal up on the cable to power the amp.
My wall box has a tiny push button to turn this on.
I can --barely-- receive anything from my driveway.
If I push the button and let it pop up I get absolutely zero signal.
When I push in the button I can get some snow with vague picture
on some channels. No sound and nothing you could watch.

My quandry is we live 200 miles from the dealer.
Any suggestions???
I really doubt the antenna is defective but it's possible.
I'll be checking all the cable connections for bad crimps etc but
can you give me some idea what reception I should get??
Do those of you living in cities with TV stations get clear reception
from home??

As I'm probably stuck trying to trouble shoot this myself vs driving 400
miles round trip to a dealer where the mechanics may or may not know
what to do, do you have any suggestions what to try or where to start
looking??

Thanks!

[froglegs]

Try Sunshine RV at Brooks Ky. That is south of Louisville on I-65. They sell Flagstaff's, the Kinfolk of Rockwood. Give them a call!!

[dimurrrw]

Go to this page - http://www.winegard.com/mobile/sensar.htm
Download the manual and read the installation and troubleshooting sections.
You have provided insufficient information. Several examples would be that you make no mention of whether the green light at the amplifier switch comes on. Is the Concertone head set to TV? (I make the assumption that is what you have in your trailer.) Is the cable output from the Concertone securely plugged into the monitor? There are so many things you can check without dragging your trailer on a 400 mile round trip.

[KyDan]

Thanks for the reply Richard,
I'm confused...... is the Concertone involved if I'm watching TV from
the antenna??
I realize the concertone has analog TV reception capability but does
it have to be on??
I cannot see any light on the antenna wall plate outlet.
My wall plate has 2 coax fittings.
One says antenna
the other says satellite.
There is a push/push power switch behind one of the coax fittings.
I cannot see it light when I push in the switch.
Does the little switch itself light up or is there a tiny led nearby that I just
don't see?

Yes I have a short coax running from the antenna input on my LCD
TV to the antenna fitting on the wall plate.

I'll check for a light and try it with the concertone powered up when
I get home today and report back.

Again, thanks for the reply!

[KyDan]

Follow-up-
I pulled out the Concertone to access the wiring mess behind.
I found a loose power wire going to the TV outlet.
I replaced the wire and still no signal to speak of.
I disconnected all the coax from the outlet and removed the one going
to the bed TV outlet as we don't use it.
I removed the splitter and ran the antenna wire directly to the back
of the outlet and put it back together.
I now get minimal signal boost. If I push the power button on the outlet
there is no light, but the signal does improve slightly.
I can see most of my local stations but they are still snowy.
It's better than nothing but still disappointing.

Now I need a replacement Concertone as mine has bad hum when
in surround sound mode.
(No it's not AC bleed over. It hums on battery power even when the TV
and inverter is off. It hums anytime the DVD is playing sounds music
what ever.)

[j2detroit]

When the DW and I bought our Cherokee in 06 (new) the one and only thing I did not do was hook up a tv to our antena Well low and behold when we got parked into our seasonal site and got around to hooking up a tv it did not work After replacing the amp unit (supplied by the dealer) it still would not work Well a tech from the dealer came out and checked and he found that a ground wire up on top somewhere was not hooked up Well it workes great now I even have an hd receiver hooked up to it and get a great deal more channels than the 5 locals

[Radio]

Originally Posted by j2detroit

Well a tech from the dealer came out and checked and he found that a ground wire up on top somewhere was not hooked up

Now that makes sense, if the amp is in the antenna, then it may require a ground connection. There sould be a little gadget that puts 12vdc onto the center of the coax going to the antenna. I would check voltages and ground at that, as well.