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Old 04-17-2023, 05:51 PM   #1
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Model: ACE 30.3
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THOR #28145
Over the Air TV reception problem.

I have a 2018 Thor ACE 30.3 The problem I have is that I am currently getting no over the air TV reception from the OE Built in Antenna. I vlieve I have this antenna:

https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-RZ-6...26&sr=8-5&th=1

I have been working this problem for at least a month now. I started with tightening all the coax connections I could find, several were loose. in the meantime, it seems as though the reception got worse. When I got home last month I scanned for my local channel's and only found 4. Normally we should have about 20 or 30. Then last week I scanned again and found none. So, I went out and purchased a cheap unamplified HD TV antenna, disconnected the feed to the amplifier from the OE antenna inside the coach and substituted the new antenna. When I ran the scan, I got many more channels than I expected to find. To me this indicates that the OE antenna has some sort of problem. Does anyone have any idea about what might be causing the problems with the OE antenna?

Follow up question, if I should decide to replace the OE antenna, what is a good replacement besides just outright replacing the OE antenna with the exact same model? The OE antenna is a directional antenna and I do not like have to try pointing the antenna to get the best signal. If at all possible I would like an omnidirectional antenna as a replacement.

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Old 04-17-2023, 06:22 PM   #2
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I have given up on the omni directional antennae on the roof of my Hurricane. The factory installed one broke. The mechanism that turns it is made of plastic and broke. Purchased another on Amazon and it broke as well. Besides being made of fragile plastic, it never picked up that many channels. I purchased a flagpole buddy, a two piece mast and a house style antennae. Ran a separate coax to the TV in the main area. It takes about 5 minutes to set up the mast and separate antennae but now I get plenty of channels at campgrounds where there were none in the past. Anyhow, that is how I fixed our poor TV reception.
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Old 04-17-2023, 06:35 PM   #3
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THOR #7035
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lt Keefer View Post
I have given up on the omni directional antennae on the roof of my Hurricane. The factory installed one broke. The mechanism that turns it is made of plastic and broke. Purchased another on Amazon and it broke as well. Besides being made of fragile plastic, it never picked up that many channels. I purchased a flagpole buddy, a two piece mast and a house style antennae. Ran a separate coax to the TV in the main area. It takes about 5 minutes to set up the mast and separate antennae but now I get plenty of channels at campgrounds where there were none in the past. Anyhow, that is how I fixed our poor TV reception.
If your antenna points and turns it is NOT omnidirectional.
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Old 04-17-2023, 06:46 PM   #4
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THOR #7035
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
I have a 2018 Thor ACE 30.3 The problem I have is that I am currently getting no over the air TV reception from the OE Built in Antenna. I vlieve I have this antenna:

https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-RZ-6...26&sr=8-5&th=1

I have been working this problem for at least a month now. I started with tightening all the coax connections I could find, several were loose. in the meantime, it seems as though the reception got worse. When I got home last month I scanned for my local channel's and only found 4. Normally we should have about 20 or 30. Then last week I scanned again and found none. So, I went out and purchased a cheap unamplified HD TV antenna, disconnected the feed to the amplifier from the OE antenna inside the coach and substituted the new antenna. When I ran the scan, I got many more channels than I expected to find. To me this indicates that the OE antenna has some sort of problem. Does anyone have any idea about what might be causing the problems with the OE antenna?

Follow up question, if I should decide to replace the OE antenna, what is a good replacement besides just outright replacing the OE antenna with the exact same model? The OE antenna is a directional antenna and I do not like have to try pointing the antenna to get the best signal. If at all possible I would like an omnidirectional antenna as a replacement.
What you are calling the "amplifier" is not an amplifier - it is a power injector/switch. It has two purposes in life:
Send 12 VDC to the amplifier integrated in the overhead antenna through the coax cable and receive the amplified signal back to distribute to one or more TV's coax "in" ports.
Switch between "Cable TV in" and "OTA signal in" for the distributed signals to the TVs. This is done by the "Power Switch" on the switchplate: Power ON - OTA TV; Power OFF - Cable TV.

Your power injector may or may not have an LED to indicate Power ON.

So for your problem:
Determine if you have 12 VDC into the Power Injector
Determine if you have 12 VDC power out of the Power Injector between the signal and ground on the COAX
Determine if you have power into the amplifier in the antenna itself.

If 12 VDC is everywhere it is supposed to be you may have a bad amplifier: I have had to change one in a Wingman antenna before. That part should be much cheaper than an entire replacement antenna.
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Old 04-18-2023, 05:33 PM   #5
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Your problem is between the OEM antenna and the back of your TV. You could have a cable that was crimped with a shield wire touching the center signal conductor. This will short it out. When you tightened the connections, it may have secured an good connection to the short. Your amp maybe bad, or the 12V power injector is bad. Put your new cheep antenna on the roof and connect at the OEM coax connector. Yes your need an F connector barrel to do this. If you get a good scan, then the OEM antenna is bad. If not, it is in the cable or amp.
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Old 04-18-2023, 06:18 PM   #6
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THOR #28145
Quote:
Originally Posted by MLP View Post
Your problem is between the OEM antenna and the back of your TV. You could have a cable that was crimped with a shield wire touching the center signal conductor. This will short it out. When you tightened the connections, it may have secured an good connection to the short. Your amp maybe bad, or the 12V power injector is bad. Put your new cheep antenna on the roof and connect at the OEM coax connector. Yes your need an F connector barrel to do this. If you get a good scan, then the OEM antenna is bad. If not, it is in the cable or amp.
Reread my post. I have isolated the problem to the antenna and the short bit of coax leading into the coach to an F connector and then to the splitter / power unit in the wall. The thing with the green light and on/off button. I disconnected the coach antenna at that connector and connected the cheapo set top antenna and I get reception on all TVs. The Cheapo antenna is not amplified. someone else has said the wall thingy is just a power supply, not an amplifier. Since the cheapo antenna is not amplified then the power supply in the wall is now doing nothing.
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Old 04-18-2023, 06:53 PM   #7
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THOR #27719
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
Reread my post. I have isolated the problem to the antenna and the short bit of coax leading into the coach to an F connector and then to the splitter / power unit in the wall. The thing with the green light and on/off button. I disconnected the coach antenna at that connector and connected the cheapo set top antenna and I get reception on all TVs. The Cheapo antenna is not amplified. someone else has said the wall thingy is just a power supply, not an amplifier. Since the cheapo antenna is not amplified then the power supply in the wall is now doing nothing.
How do you know that? Did you measure voltages as suggested above by ACE?
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Old 04-19-2023, 12:16 AM   #8
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THOR #28145
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Originally Posted by Geterdun View Post
How do you know that? Did you measure voltages as suggested above by ACE?
Simple, Wire leading to antenna connected to OEM antenna, No Signal,
Wire leading to antenna Disconnected from OEM antenna and connected to Set Top antenna Signal. The connection point is inside the coach an is the wire that leads through the roof to the antenna, the other end of the wire leads to the switch plate. The only part of the coach wiring that has been bypassed is the bit leading through the roof. Therefor the problem is in the antenna.
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Old 04-19-2023, 12:51 AM   #9
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THOR #27719
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
Simple, Wire leading to antenna connected to OEM antenna, No Signal,
Wire leading to antenna Disconnected from OEM antenna and connected to Set Top antenna Signal. The connection point is inside the coach an is the wire that leads through the roof to the antenna, the other end of the wire leads to the switch plate. The only part of the coach wiring that has been bypassed is the bit leading through the roof. Therefor the problem is in the antenna.
So you didn't do any troubleshooting with a voltmeter.

Your previous post you said the problem was the power injector.

This post you said it is the antenna.

How do you know without doing some electrical troubleshooting with that voltmeter? Could be a simple blown fuse.

But hey, you spend your money.
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Old 04-19-2023, 01:24 AM   #10
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THOR #28145
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geterdun View Post
So you didn't do any troubleshooting with a voltmeter.

Your previous post you said the problem was the power injector.

This post you said it is the antenna.

How do you know without doing some electrical troubleshooting with that voltmeter? Could be a simple blown fuse.

But hey, you spend your money.
I said nothing about any problem with the power injector. The light on the power injector lights so there is working power at the injector. My contention is that working power injector or not the antenna should be able to pull in something and I get nothing.
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Old 04-19-2023, 01:44 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
I said nothing about any problem with the power injector. The light on the power injector lights so there is working power at the injector. My contention is that working power injector or not the antenna should be able to pull in something and I get nothing.
No, an amplified antenna without a working amplifier will pass no signal to the TV.
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Old 04-19-2023, 11:50 AM   #12
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Easy guys!
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Old 04-23-2023, 12:02 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
Reread my post. I have isolated the problem to the antenna and the short bit of coax leading into the coach to an F connector and then to the splitter / power unit in the wall. The thing with the green light and on/off button. I disconnected the coach antenna at that connector and connected the cheapo set top antenna and I get reception on all TVs. The Cheapo antenna is not amplified. someone else has said the wall thingy is just a power supply, not an amplifier. Since the cheapo antenna is not amplified then the power supply in the wall is now doing nothing.
Use a multimeter and check the continuity of the cable, the splitter and the power supply
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Old 04-23-2023, 12:32 AM   #14
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I'd Stop playing with that dinosaur and get roku if you have internet and/or download content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon.

Except for advertisements for oral suppositories and how much your tour at Camp Lejuene ruined your life, and bathtubs with doors, and no control over schedule, and no pause or rewind..why?

You're repairing typwriter/dialtone era equipment.

There are so many better ways.
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Old 04-23-2023, 01:19 AM   #15
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I had the same problem on my 2017 Hurricane checked every coax that I could find. At the end of the day I found nothing. Went the external over the air antenna but got fed up with putting it up and taking it down. Decided to replace the OE with a Winegard Air 360 when I removed the OE antenna and found that the coax up inside was broken.
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Old 04-23-2023, 01:39 AM   #16
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Even with everything known to be working you can still get poor reception based on possible interferences with or on your roof, location of RV, and location of TV transmitters.

FWIW my OEM Antenna is King Omnidirectional. I measured voltage and everything is working properly. But like I said, working properly does not mean more channels.

Example, if I park my RV forward at home, I will get about 17 channels (mostly speaking Spanish but crystal clear digital

But if I am backed in I will get 117+ channels OTA depending upon time of day.

My fix was to buy an additional Omni Directional antenna (portable with Tripod) so if I really need the signal I set it up outside and feed the cable coax through electrical bay connector. https://www.campingworld.com/king-om...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Comes with really nice case.

But I rarely need because I have T Mobile Home Internet an You Tube TV, I watch anything anyplace and never worry about public wifi hotpots or bandwidth.
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Old 05-04-2023, 11:42 AM   #17
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Winegard Rayzor Z1 antenna

I recently purchased my 2018 Hurricane 31S and the previous owner had broken the antenna (head and mast) off of the motorhome. I replaced it with another same brand and model (Rayzor Z1) I checked all of the RG6 cable to the tv's (3) with a RG6 cable mapper. However, the antenna does not work, Winegard had me do some testing and they are now convinced that I have a bad antenna and sending me a replacement. Now I have a question about my HDMI cables, is there a way to map them so I know where they are going (not labeled)? thx.
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Old 05-04-2023, 05:49 PM   #18
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If you are still trying to ID the cables buy a coaxial signal chaser about 20 bucks it will test and ID each cable.
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Old 07-27-2023, 05:16 PM   #19
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THOR #28145
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
I have a 2018 Thor ACE 30.3 The problem I have is that I am currently getting no over the air TV reception from the OE Built in Antenna. I vlieve I have this antenna:

https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-RZ-6...26&sr=8-5&th=1

I have been working this problem for at least a month now. I started with tightening all the coax connections I could find, several were loose. in the meantime, it seems as though the reception got worse. When I got home last month I scanned for my local channel's and only found 4. Normally we should have about 20 or 30. Then last week I scanned again and found none. So, I went out and purchased a cheap unamplified HD TV antenna, disconnected the feed to the amplifier from the OE antenna inside the coach and substituted the new antenna. When I ran the scan, I got many more channels than I expected to find. To me this indicates that the OE antenna has some sort of problem. Does anyone have any idea about what might be causing the problems with the OE antenna?

Follow up question, if I should decide to replace the OE antenna, what is a good replacement besides just outright replacing the OE antenna with the exact same model? The OE antenna is a directional antenna and I do not like have to try pointing the antenna to get the best signal. If at all possible I would like an omnidirectional antenna as a replacement.
I just got the OEM antenna replaced with a King RV antenna.

https://www.amazon.com/KING-OA1001-O...02402483&psc=1

I now have reception of all the local channels once more. While I could have done it myself, I chose to have it installed by my local RV dealer. Yes, it was more expensive that way but, frankly the only place I have to work on it is in my sloped driveway, I do not have a level spot to set a ladder which made the installation too dangerous for a doityourselfer.
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