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Old 11-02-2016, 07:44 PM   #1
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Question Poor TV signal from antenna

The TV's worked good in the shop but after getting set up on the campsite I can hardly get even one channel to come in. It's not static like another post on here either. At first I forgot to turn the power on to the antenna, but even after that it still doesn't work that great. My last camper I had to raise the antenna but this one doesn't move as far as I know. Anybody else have this issue? I have a Voltage 3975.

And I've camped at the same place, on the same site with my old camper and didn't have this problem so there has to be something wrong with the new camper.
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Old 11-02-2016, 08:49 PM   #2
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Is the amplifier shut off?
Rusry
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Old 11-02-2016, 09:19 PM   #3
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That power button next to the cable is on and there is a red light
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Old 11-03-2016, 12:39 AM   #4
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your antenna should turn.. after cranking it up grab the lower part of the white ring that the crank handle runs through.. pull down slightly and turn that white ring.. note that there an arrow ..remember where that parks at so when you crank it down you can point the arrow toward the rear (at least mine does). try looking at that..
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Old 11-03-2016, 01:10 AM   #5
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I don't have a crank anywhere. My old camper had the crank and dial like you're talking about, but I can't find anything on this new one.
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Old 11-03-2016, 09:58 AM   #6
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Do you have a King Jack antenna? If so, it can be rotated, there is a squeeze button on either side of the base piece and you rotate most of the base. Ours does pretty well.

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Old 11-03-2016, 11:25 AM   #7
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Not sure which antenna I have. I'll have to take a look and find out. It does seem crazy to me that with more and more of the stuff going to power or automatic switches that they would go backwards and make somebody climb on the roof to get better reception. I really hope that isn't the case here.
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Old 11-03-2016, 01:52 PM   #8
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If you don't have a crank, you probably have an omni-directional. The one that came with my 3950 was absolute trash. We thought it was faulty so we had it replaced under warranty. The second one was just as bad.

I replaced it with a crank-up with wingman and winegard wall panel. The difference is amazing - vastly better.

The old antenna now serves (solely) as the cable entry for the crank-up.
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Old 11-03-2016, 06:03 PM   #9
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The King Jack antennas do pretty well, they do rotate to help bring in weaker stations. They don't have to be cranked up and and down which is a plus in my book. So far I have been happy with mine. You may have one of the cheap knockoff versions that don't rotate. I have seen those on a few units, worth the money to swap out.

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Old 11-03-2016, 06:53 PM   #10
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I think crank up is better because it gives better line of sight. Part of the problem with the omni we had was that it was right behind the front air conditioner - essentially any station in that direction was blocked or much worse.
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Old 11-03-2016, 07:31 PM   #11
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Many of us have found the coax connectors are not properly installed, and the splitters are of poor quality. You may need to redo the connections, and replace the splitter(s).
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Old 11-04-2016, 03:53 PM   #12
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The best antenna I've ever had was with my old Travel Trailer... I would set up a TV outside on a folding table and stripped the end of the coax cable so I could screw it to the awning arms. Kinda like the old tin foil on the rabbit ears trick.

I had a poor OTA singal when I brought my Voltage home from the dealer. As mentioned I swapped out to a high quality splitter and that solved the problem.
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Old 11-05-2016, 07:03 PM   #13
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Finally found the poor signal culprit. Ended up being the coax connection to the tv. I only had it finger tight and apparently they are crappy enough to undo themselves as I pushed the tv back in. Tightened it after the tv was in place and picked up a bunch of channels. Going to have to put new connectors on I guess. Still can't believe you pay such a large amount and they can't even use decent coax connectors.
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Old 11-05-2016, 10:22 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mattdz85 View Post
Finally found the poor signal culprit. Ended up being the coax connection to the tv. I only had it finger tight and apparently they are crappy enough to undo themselves as I pushed the tv back in. Tightened it after the tv was in place and picked up a bunch of channels. Going to have to put new connectors on I guess. Still can't believe you pay such a large amount and they can't even use decent coax connectors.
You got off cheap! Congratulations!
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Old 11-07-2016, 12:35 PM   #15
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Congratulations! You may also want to check the other ends of the coax connections for tightness, since road travel vibrations can also cause the questionable connectors to come loose. Good luck!
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