Antenna help

[grashley]

As posted in the General topics, we bought the '16 Itasca Sunstar 30T. It has a couple issues. There are two antennas, one centered on the front cap, one above the bedroom TV They both have seen their better days. What are they for?? In addition, there is a functional TV antenna and a small black "cap" on the front cap, above the driver seat. Sirius reception is sketchy at best. Where is the Sirius antenna?

Center of pic is the back antenna. Front pic did not reduce well.

 

[DonTom]

Sirius antenna

The Sirius antenna is a small thingy that looks like this:

 

[Lou Schneider]

The antenna in the picture is the base stub from an adjustable angle AM/FM car radio antenna. The base part isn't a loading coil but just a mechanical spring so the antenna can fold over if it hits an obstruction and then return to an upright position. Looks like this one hit one too many obstructions.

 

[RayIN]

The antenna in the picture is the base stub from an adjustable angle AM/FM car radio antenna. The spring part isn't a loading coil but just mechanical so the antenna can fold over if it hits an obstruction then return to an upright position. Looks like this one hit one too many obstructions.

I too have a broken radio antenna for the bedroom. Since we never use that radio the antenna connection point is covered with Eternabond tape. Strangely, the radio works just as well without the rubber ducky antenna.
I'll install a new one before we sell our MH.

 

[John From Detroit]

Looking at that.. I've seen AM/FM radio (Automotive type) Antennas like this one

New 18.5" Car FM AM Radio Roof Antenna Aerial Spring Rod Mast 180° Swivel Base | eBay

(1 x Antenna. Type: Spring Soft Rod. 3) Easy installation. It is easily to mount in variety of locations, such as the roof or fender of your car. 2) Suitable for automotive and other FM signal reception, increase the reception distance, enhanced sensitivity of weak signals.

www.ebay.com

Used them in fact.

Depending on the sprint. .Some have a hex-grub/set screw and you can losen it pull a bit of metal rod out and drop in the "Stinger" from a loaded CB antenna It's nothinb but a straight stainless steel rod often with a ball on top and can be found at some truck stops used in Center or base loaded CB antennas) I use that kind of rod for a Short wave antenna on my jeep.

 

[John Canfield]

As posted in the General topics, we bought the '16 Itasca Sunstar 30T. It has a couple issues. There are two antennas, one centered on the front cap, one above the bedroom TV They both have seen their better days. What are they for?? In addition, there is a functional TV antenna and a small black "cap" on the front cap, above the driver seat. Sirius reception is sketchy at best. Where is the Sirius antenna?

Center of pic is the back antenna. Front pic did not reduce well.

The antenna in the pix is for the bedroom (aft cabin) AM/FM radio. A similar antenna on the front cap is for the dash AM/FM radio.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

The problem I had replacing mine was the coax to it was crimped into the base, so putting in something different required coming up with a means to splice the new to the old, which were both odd sizes. I wanted this to connect to the BOMB up front so I ended up cobbling F connectors on the ends and getting things plumbed that way. Barring creative coax splicing techniques to install a new antenna one would have to run a new line from the front cap to the dash radio which I wouldn't relish doing. To avoid all that it would be most expedient to buy another antenna just like the broken one, or close enough that one could mix and match old to new and leave the original base/coax intact.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[John Canfield]

The little stub antenna plus the long run of coax effectively made it useless. Its best use was as conversation item - "hey, what's that thingy..?"

 

[grashley]

Thanks for the info. I know the cab radio does work on FM at least. To my knowledge, there is no bedroom radio. Knowing these are NOT for Sirrius makes me more confident the little black circle that got cropped out of the pics with Resize is the one that needs replaced. DonTom's pic confirms what I am looking for. Not sure how I get it from the front cap to under the dash, but I guess I will find out!

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

The antenna over the bedroom is what's used for the outside entertainment radio. I suspect it was cheaper/easier for them to install a 2nd antenna nearby than run a splitter and coax from the front.

I put a marine antenna in place of the rubber duck that was there. I already have two ham/GMRS antennas about that size there already, so figured a third whip wouldn't be any worse. It did seem to help with AM reception, hard to tell if it mattered for FM. Part of plumbing it to the BOMB is I can select the batwing for the dash radio which would help FM while stationary.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[John From Detroit]

The antenna over the bedroom is what's used for the outside entertainment radio. I suspect it was cheaper/easier for them to install a 2nd antenna nearby than run a splitter and coax from the front.

I put a marine antenna in place of the rubber duck that was there. I already have two ham/GMRS antennas about that size there already, so figured a third whip wouldn't be any worse. It did seem to help with AM reception, hard to tell if it mattered for FM. Part of plumbing it to the BOMB is I can select the batwing for the dash radio which would help FM while stationary.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

Not just cheaper but far far better performing as well Splitters generally deliver only 25% of the signal to the radio that a 2nd antenna would deliver. Though a well designed one would deliver 50% or close to it and yes.. I know how to build them both types.

 

[John Canfield]

The antenna over the bedroom is what's used for the outside entertainment radio. I suspect it was cheaper/easier for them to install a 2nd antenna nearby than run a splitter and coax from the front.
.....snip.....

That's it Mark. Our Horizon had two side-by-side rubber duckies in that same area, one for the outside radio and one by the bed in the aft cabin. Apparently the bedroom radio was only a feature on the more expensive units.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Yeah, I'm not sure there was a whole lot of thought put into the link budget of RV media. A few winnebago configurations use at least one splitter for TV, some have two splitters in tandem. Generally OTA TV on a batwing with a preamp has some gain to burn, 6 or even 12dB probably isn't going to be noticed in typical operation. I'm guessing mine is one of the setups with a splitter to the rear TV because there are times weaker channels in the front are no signal in the back. Often all we watch is streamed content from a phone over a firestick anyway so any OTA is just a bonus. There are places we camp where we get signal from 40 miles or so out, not sure it would do much better than that unless I changed to a higher gain, greater elevation antenna.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Boat Bum]

I'm constantly amazed at the OTA channels I pull in.