Poor television reception

[F3Dawg]

We don't watch much television when we are camping, but last fall I tried to watch a couple of football games. For some reason I couldn't get the local stations (ABC, NBC, or CBS). I would get one but not the others. It alway seemed like the game was always on the channel we didn't receive. I get all kinds of channels that I have never heard of before. Is there a trick to getting better reception of the local broadcast?

[Steve Sanders]

The all aluminum construction of these campers probably results in a rather efficient Faraday enclosure. I'm not an expert on the subject, but the description of a grounded, electrically conductive box describes a Camp Lite very well. If your antenna is inside the camper, you probably won't be able to get much signal at all.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[gbpack]

F3Dawg- I assume that you have already turned on the power switch for the antenna booster? It's that little button up underneath the power box for the TV. Once you press it upward a little green light glows next to it. That will boost both your TV and radio signals and improve reception. Be sure to turn it off when done using it and if you ever hook up to cable TV.

[Merlin]

To add to what others suggested.......if the outside antenna on power boost doesn't improve the situation, you might pull the power boost switch plate out of the wall and make sure the wire from the antenna is actually attached. There have been many instances reported of sloppy installation of the coax, both from the antenna and from the external campground cable input.

And, note that TV signals have a limited range and not all broadcasters are in all markets. In fact, when we've been in campgrounds all over the country, it is rare to get CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS all at the same time (and we often get only one, depending on the local market). And finally, there sure are lots of local low-power digital TV stations out there now, but with rather odd local programming!

[Fatdog2]

On my 21BHS I found a coax coupling above the refrigerator were the antenna comes in from the roof that connection was loose. The small access panel on side wall of refrigerator also houses the  slide out controller too. I used some stick down velcro as that control was just flopping around on the top of refrigerator. I found the connections loose on the booster after fixing that I got  much better reception even in my driveway. We live a good ways from the major TV transmitting antennas. 

[F3Dawg]

Thanks for all of the help, I will check everything tomorrow.

[F3Dawg]

Checked everything out today. The booster is on and all of the coax connections were good. I guess this is problem with digital broadcast signals.

[FastEddieB]

Late to the party, but on our 2014 21BHS the "CABLE/ANT" switch was either wired backwards or labeled backwards.

Once fixed, the "ANT" position works well enough near population centers.

[ADR]

Just got back from our first trip in the 16TBS- could get nothing on the TV in a campground where I previously received 3 or 4 channels.
I had tested it at home and had a few.
Pulled that plate with the TV connections and switch to inspect-   first the AUX jack had nothing hooked to it!  Usually that is the cable feed.
Next the 3 cables that were hooked up all had very sharp 90 degree bends in them- way sharper than acceptable for coax.

Didn't have all my troubleshooting tools so will dig in later.   So far I'm finding a concerning number of issues with this Camplite....are we sure Forest River didn't build them under contract?

[Merlin]

That would explain a lot! However, The TV/audio-visual wiring and connections have never been a strong point of LL quality control. I don't think their coax/audio installer is the brightest bulb in the pack, given the consistent problems owners have had over the years.

[ADR]

Just finished troubleshooting the TV antenna-  removed the top element to check the connection inside- seemed tight with no issues- I was horrified to see that they had penetrated the roof with a huge hole for the cable, then didn't seal it.
The roof penetration is inside the base of the antenna mount, which should seal the whole thing but stuff happens.  Didn't have the proper sealant on hand but when I get some I'm going to seal that big hole, just in case.

The F connectors they use are bulky and seem to spin on the cable- I think I'm going to cut them off and put old school crimped connectors on that stay firm.  That's providing my ancient brain can remember where I put my bag of connectors and crimp tool...

The jumper from the power injector to the TV seemed a little flaky- picture noising up if cable is flexed much near the ends- going to replace that too just to be sure.

Added later-   did a little more digging and found the "cable tv" connection actually went to the curb side TV output.  That is the infernal outside TV mount- which I will NEVER use. 
So disconnected that and hooked up the proper cable TV input to the blank jack in the connection plate. Doubt I'll ever use that either since we almost never camp in private RV parks with TV hookups.

So after redoing all the faulty TV wiring I now get 20+ channels at home where it was previously getting just a few.

[Powder Hounds]

A bit off topic, but has any one replaced their stock RoadStar antenna? Our RV friends seem to all get more channels than we do, I remember a post on the Airstream forum regarding poor reception from the RoadStar antenna and I believe one individual found some specs from Winegard that stated the height of the antenna had to be higher than the provided base mount. This individual contacted Winegard and inquired about an accessory that would mate up to the stock mount and get the antenna higher. Not sure if getting that saucer higher would make any difference on the reception or not, makes sense though that the AC and any added vent covers could be limiting the performance, maybe our antennas are just junk.