Poor FM Radio Reception

[Muggs]

I have a 2016 Vegas 24.1. Neither radio has reception when i am at racetrack so I cannot hear announcer.

Is this unique to Axxera or Jensen or do I need to add FM antenna? Regular FM stations come in fine at house or on road.

[JamieGeek]

First thing I'd try is pull out the radio and check that the antenna is even plugged into the back. Our Axis has a short antenna on the roof above the drivers seat for the radio.

[Laco]

I have that same antennae above the driver, on our Gemini, but the axxera is not connected to it. The house Jensen also is not connected to any antennae. Dealer is currently waiting for Thor to authorize fishing an antennae wire through the A pillar to the axxera, and mounting a second antennae for the Jensen. They (dealer) found a short length of wire simply shoved into antennae connections on both radios. Bothers me that this could have passed through their QA and went out into the market like that.

[blw2]

QA?
We don't have no stinkin' QA!

[Laco]

Unfortunately its not just Thor. My last coach was a Tiffin, considered one of the better higher end coaches. It took us two years to work most of the manufacturing bugs out of it, and basically recover it from the process of having been manufactured. We did, however have that one for eleven years, we will see how the Gemini holds up.

[Metalman]

Make sure you have an antenna on the roof. I looked up the other day and saw ours was missing. It's gone!

[SuperD]

If the antenna was like ours it was laying on the roof with screw just barely threaded in, would have lost it if I hadn't checked.

[Finch1408]

Every time I drive my Axis 24.1 using FM, I get pissed off and bluetooth from my music on phone. The reception is crap, and now I'm finding out possibly why. Going to trace cables tomorrow.

[Mel556180]

Originally Posted by blw2

QA?

We don't have no stinkin' QA!

The owner does all QA.

[mountainsam]

Originally Posted by Finch1408

Every time I drive my Axis 24.1 using FM, I get pissed off and bluetooth from my music on phone. The reception is crap, and now I'm finding out possibly why. Going to trace cables tomorrow.

This thread just encouraged me to get up and go check my antennas on our 23TR. I have one for the dash radio and one for the TVs but nothing for the Jensen. No antenna above the driver.

[Metalman]

Check on the back of your radio to see if the antenna input has a cable in it. The antenna on the roof near the windshield of our coach must be used for both the front and rear radios since we only have one radio antenna on the roof.

[scrubjaysnest]

Antenna on roof and it's connected to the dash radio. FM is crap shoot as to if it works. Jensen in back just had a wire dangling. That radio had no value so it's disconnected and rear speakers connected to front.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Metalman

Make sure you have an antenna on the roof. I looked up the other day and saw ours was missing. It's gone!

"Gone"; as in, "Busted off"?

Or as in, "Never There"?

[Laco]

Seems to be more common than it should be. If you look at my earlier post ours had the antennae mounted on the cap above the driver, connected to nothing. Axera in dash only had a 4 inch wire shoved into antennae connection. Jenson also had wire just shoved into antennae connection. Dealer got the dash radio connected to the already mounted antennae and installed a second antennae for the Jenson. Unbelievable.

[mountainsam]

I pulled the Jensen out this morning and it only has a small #16 wire in the antenna connection on the radio and it was just laying inside the wall. No sign of an antenna on the roof at all. The antenna on the fender I am sure is for dash radio only and installed by Ford. Maybe?

[Metalman]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

"Gone"; as in, "Busted off"?

Or as in, "Never There"?

Apparently when a large bird flew over the RV while we were traveling, it hit the antenna and broke it off at the swivel. We saw the bird and heard the noise of it hitting something on the roof. Since our old Jensen radio didn't work I didn't think anything about the noise until replacing the radio. I was able to replace the swivel and antenna by buying a universal antenna and mount from an auto parts store.

[Bob Denman]

Belive it or not: that's a relief!
The only quality control issue that comes from your story: the bird's vision!

[Malibu30]

Hi everyone , please excuse if this has already been addressed.. We own a 2018 Thor hurricane and the in dash radio gets terrible reception.. spent $1200 to install new kenwood with apple play and serius xm.. the xm antenna is placed by the windshield .. The radio reception is spotty and the xm keeps cutting in out.. why is reception so poor.. does anyone have experience with fixing this problem?
is there an antenna booster hiding somewhere that is turned off ?

Thank you all for your insights !

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Malibu30

Hi everyone , please excuse if this has already been addressed.. We own a 2018 Thor hurricane and the in dash radio gets terrible reception.. spent $1200 to install new kenwood with apple play and serius xm.. the xm antenna is placed by the windshield .. The radio reception is spotty and the xm keeps cutting in out.. why is reception so poor.. does anyone have experience with fixing this problem?
is there an antenna booster hiding somewhere that is turned off ?

Thank you all for your insights !

Could me poor ground plane for the antennas.

[Ford1]

Here's the quick and dirty answer. Most auto radio antennas are atached to the metal fenders of the auto which creates a sizeable ground plane which, when combined with the extended metal pole of the antenna makes for good reception. Most RV's antennas are mounted on the fiberglass roof which leaves the antenna without a ground plane. Basically, that results in less than half of an antenna. There is a method to improve reception somewhat. It would involve removing the antenna and using aluminum adhesive backed tape to fabricate a ground plane and then re-install the antenna in the middle of the newly fabricated ground plane. To notice any big difference the ground plane would need to be about 24" x 24". The same is true for the Sirius XM except the aluminum area would only need to be about 8"x8" for relatively good reception. I have made the small ground plane for my SiriusXM for my last three MH. It is much easier with the Sirius antenna because I use the small hockey puck and just glue it to the aluminum. The aluminum can be purchased at auto parts stores and comes on rolls. Just remove the paper backing to expose the adhesive.
I prefer Sirius playing because I never lose the station, no matter how far I travel.