8329ss IRV Outside Radio Antenna

[BGoose]

Has anyone found a good replacement for the outside radio antenna for the IRV radio? My radio reception is so poor it isn't even funny. I have tried to tie my antenna wire off the radio into the roofs antenna as others have suggested however it never did much to correct the problem. Currently I have just the antenna wire itself just laying in the outside storage box that is just behind the radio area and this is actually working better than the factory antenna that was installed. At this point I'm ready to move on and just install a new outside antenna in place of the old one. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[ChibullsAN]

Are you sure it's the antenna? We have the same model and had others as well. If it's truly not getting signals you can get in your car, then I would suspect a loose connection. Remove the side capsnfrom the face of the radio unit above the fireplace and remove the 4 screws. Pull out the head unit and locate the antenna wire and connection. There is a schematic/pinout table on a sticker of the head unit to help you. Remove the connection and plug it back in. Try the radio. Then of it still doesn't work you could still have a bad wire or connection or the head unit is not functioning correctly inside. At this point is where. You can talk to your repair shop and see if they will give you a replacement unit under warranty. If it's a connection or cable ... Unless they are competent at doing this level of troubleshooting then I would just keep trying it yourself. There are only like 5 things outside of the radio itself that could be bad. The antenna is the least likely,ost likely is a connection somewhere. Good luck

[BGoose]

Thanks for the reply. It appears that there is a lot of discussions on how bad the outside antenna is on many Rockwood trailers. I have completely removed the radio and the antenna is jacked on the bottom right hand corner of the radio if you are facing the back of it. I removed the outside antenna and now I just have an antenna wire laying behind the radio which seams to be working better than when connected to the outside antenna.

[stephndudb]

Originally Posted by BGoose

Thanks for the reply. It appears that there is a lot of discussions on how bad the outside antenna is on many Rockwood trailers. I have completely removed the radio and the antenna is jacked on the bottom right hand corner of the radio if you are facing the back of it. I removed the outside antenna and now I just have an antenna wire laying behind the radio which seams to be working better than when connected to the outside antenna.

The main problem with a lot of these antennas is the lack of a ground plane. Most automotive antennas are intended to be mounted to a metal surface which is the "ground plane" of the antenna, but most RV antennas are screwed into non-conductive fiberglas, so they don't work well. There is a thread somewhere about using a splitter to tie your radio into your TV antenna, which is supposed to improve reception.

[Chaplain Kent]

I used an antenna from eTrailer. It is amplified and now I can receive both AM and FM signals clearly. What I did on my Coachman was to feed the antenna wire through the outside speaker hole and attach the new antenna above the speaker.

[dmchapman]

Marine antennas are designed to be mounted on fiberglass boats. They use a length or loop of wire to make a ground plane. You might check into that.

[RFawcett]

The radios installed in rv's don't have the receiver sensitivity and selectivity that automotive radios do. I would say Chaplain Kent's suggestion would be the way to go.