Jenson Bedroom radio antenna?

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

I have a 2018 Thor ACE 30.3 with a Jenson JWM1A radio. Is there supposed to be an antenna hooked up to the radio? Mine has about 10" or wire connected into the antenna port on the back of the radio. The loose end of the antenna wire looks cleanly cut, so I do not think it was severed by the slide movement. The radio is installed on one of the "nightstands" of the bed slide.

[16ACE27]

Nope - standard Thor bedroom radio install.

[MJC62]

Think 70's era stereo receiver in your home. The FM antenna was a T shaped piece of antenna wire taped to an external wall of the house. Worked fairly well if you were within 60-70 miles of the stations tower.
We have not been able to pick up much on the Jensen in our coach. We mostly use its blue tooth capability, pair it to the phone and listen to Spotify.

[SGilbert]

Originally Posted by MJC62

Think 70's era stereo receiver in your home. The FM antenna was a T shaped piece of antenna wire taped to an external wall of the house. Worked fairly well if you were within 60-70 miles of the stations tower.
We have not been able to pick up much on the Jensen in our coach. We mostly use its blue tooth capability, pair it to the phone and listen to Spotify.

As far as we're concerned, it's useless. I put electrician's tape over the screen to block the blue light. Might, at some time, put an on/off switch next to the radio.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Mine was still coiled up with the original "twist tie" that came with the radio...just flopping around behind the wall. Only option was to disassemble the wall or run it up the wall in a corner, hiding it as much as possible. I never understood why, in a 35' coach, the only place they could find to install the radio was right next to the bed with the lighted front literally 6 inches from my face. And no remote. Either use the Jensen. app or climb across the bed to change channels or volume. Let's not talk about those recycled transistor radio speakers either.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by SGilbert

As far as we're concerned, it's useless. I put electrician's tape over the screen to block the blue light. Might, at some time, put an on/off switch next to the radio.

If you read the manual it tells you how to dim and extinguish the blue backlight.

[PictureTheSouth]

Interestingly enough, the bedroom Jensen in our '15 Windsport gets better OTA reception than the Axxera in the cab - even after replacing the Axxera antenna mast. Go figure.



Almost always use a Bluetooth app in the cab while traveling. Depending on where we've parked, maybe 50/50 for the Jensen - and mostly through the outside speakers.

I need to look into the Jensen app to see if it's compatible with our model - it's a PITA to go back inside to adjust volume or change channels while cooking or eating.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Originally Posted by PictureTheSouth

Interestingly enough, the bedroom Jensen in our '15 Windsport gets better OTA reception than the Axxera in the cab - even after replacing the Axxera antenna mast. Go figure.



Almost always use a Bluetooth app in the cab while traveling. Depending on where we've parked, maybe 50/50 for the Jensen - and mostly through the outside speakers.

I need to look into the Jensen app to see if it's compatible with our model - it's a PITA to go back inside to adjust volume or change channels while cooking or eating.

Load the app and puth them both in BT search mode. If it's compatible it will pop up. Is there a BT button on the radio face?

[PictureTheSouth]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

Load the app and puth them both in BT search mode. If it's compatible it will pop up. Is there a BT button on the radio face?

I'll go out and check that a bit later -

[The Gritz Carlton]

Wow...look for my Kubota cap...that same storm took it off my head 2 days ago down here.

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

Originally Posted by PictureTheSouth

I'll go out and check that a bit later -

What we have here is a Nor'easter winding up to take a byte out of the Big Apple.

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

Load the app and puth them both in BT search mode. If it's compatible it will pop up. Is there a BT button on the radio face?

According to the app the following Jenson radios models are compatible.

JWM1A
JWM10A
JWM12A
JWM30A
JWM6A
JWM60A
JWM62A
JWM70A
JWM72A
JWM9A
JWM90A
JWM92A
MS2A
MS3A

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

Originally Posted by PictureTheSouth

Interestingly enough, the bedroom Jensen in our '15 Windsport gets better OTA reception than the Axxera in the cab - even after replacing the Axxera antenna mast. Go figure.



Almost always use a Bluetooth app in the cab while traveling. Depending on where we've parked, maybe 50/50 for the Jensen - and mostly through the outside speakers.

I need to look into the Jensen app to see if it's compatible with our model - it's a PITA to go back inside to adjust volume or change channels while cooking or eating.

The Jenson AM reception really sucks. For one local AM station it sounds like I'm in a fringe area 300 miles away. The transmitter for this 5000-watt station is less than 5 miles from my house. Before I replaced The AxxERA dash radio it had much better AM reception as I would expect since the DASH radio actually has an antenna. The lack of an antenna explains why I can only find a few stations.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net

The Jenson AM reception really sucks. For one local AM station it sounds like I'm in a fringe area 300 miles away. The transmitter for this 5000-watt station is less than 5 miles from my house. Before I replaced The AxxERA dash radio it had much better AM reception as I would expect since the DASH radio actually has an antenna. The lack of an antenna explains why I can only find a few stations.

It's a tiny little wire encased in a gorilla aluminum cage. Lots of.metal to interfere with the signal. Installing an external antenna would help.

[Lt Keefer]

We only use our bedroom radio when we watch movies on the outside TV.

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

We only use our bedroom radio when we watch movies on the outside TV.

On that note, I found the radio end of the auto cable plugged into the outside TV disconnected from the Jenson radio. Apparently, it was assembled with insufficient slack and got disconnected by the slide movement. At first, I kind of figured that the antenna also got disconnected by the slide movement as well.

[SGilbert]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

We only use our bedroom radio when we watch movies on the outside TV.

I'm confuzeled! Movie on outside with radio coming through outside speakers?

[macdaddy1111]

Originally Posted by PictureTheSouth

I'll go out and check that a bit later -

Drove in that crap today!

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

Originally Posted by SGilbert

I'm confuzeled! Movie on outside with radio coming through outside speakers?

At least on some units with outside TVs the TV audio output is routed to the bedroom radio so the sound can be played through the radio's speakers. The radio is wired with two pairs of speakers. On pair in the bedroom and the other pair in the outside wall of the RV for listening outside. The radio can be configured to play the sound output from the outside TV on the outside speakers to supplement the outside TV speakers. None of the Thor provided documentation explains how to use the connection. In my ACE the connection from the outside TV to the Jensen radio was not properly made and did not work. I am currently in process of reconnecting everything so that it works correctly.

[Lt Keefer]

Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net

At least on some units with outside TVs the TV audio output is routed to the bedroom radio so the sound can be played through the radio's speakers. The radio is wired with two pairs of speakers. On pair in the bedroom and the other pair in the outside wall of the RV for listening outside. The radio can be configured to play the sound output from the outside TV on the outside speakers to supplement the outside TV speakers. None of the Thor provided documentation explains how to use the connection. In my ACE the connection from the outside TV to the Jensen radio was not properly made and did not work. I am currently in process of reconnecting everything so that it works correctly.

Correctamundo. We figured it out by accident on our first trip. My wife was watching the outside TV and I was playing with the bedroom radio.