Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Keystone RV Forums > Welcome to KeystoneForums.com! > New Member Check in!
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 09-15-2019, 05:48 PM   #1
rcashdollar
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Erie
Posts: 31
Poor radio reception

I’ve heard that the antenna wires may be coiled up behind the radio. How do I pull the radio to access them?
rcashdollar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-15-2019, 06:03 PM   #2
chuckster57
Site Team
 
chuckster57's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Modesto
Posts: 20,237
Welcome to the forum!

Depending on brand/model of radio, they are usually held in by 4 square head #2 screws.

On some, the front face pulls off, on others the ends pop off. What brand/model do you have?
__________________

2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.

Now an RVIA registered tech. Retired from Law enforcement in 2008 after 25+ yrs.
chuckster57 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-15-2019, 06:09 PM   #3
wiredgeorge
Senior Member
 
wiredgeorge's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Mico, TX
Posts: 7,395
What kind of trailer (year/model) and what kind of radio. In my old 2002 Cougar, the stereo and speakers are GLUED in place; no faceplate removal and no screws. At some point I am going to rip out at least the radio part whose function doesn't. Radio works sometimes, CD player never and haven't tried the cassette tape part.
__________________
wiredgeorge Mico TX
2006 F350 CC 4WD 6.0L
2002 Keystone Cougar 278
2006 GL1800 Roadsmith Trike
wiredgeorge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-15-2019, 06:11 PM   #4
rcashdollar
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Erie
Posts: 31
I just got the camper recently so I’ll have to check on the brand. I don’t see any screws on the face but I’ll look closer. I’ve heard if you extend to antenna cable you can get better reception. That’s what I want to do. Thanks for the quick reply Chuck.
rcashdollar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-15-2019, 06:13 PM   #5
rcashdollar
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Erie
Posts: 31
It’s a 2014 21RSB.
rcashdollar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-15-2019, 06:15 PM   #6
rcashdollar
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Erie
Posts: 31
Should have read POOR radio reception.
rcashdollar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-15-2019, 08:42 PM   #7
sourdough
Site Team
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: W. Texas
Posts: 17,601
IMO!! Radio reception in an RV is, and has always been, a low priority for most folks. When I arrive in unfamiliar places I scan for channels if there is bad weather and I want local input. Other than that, it is far more trouble than I want to deal with vs what I get. I used to LIVE on AM, then FM came into vogue and provided better service. Now, with XM/Sirius etc. I literally don't look, or worry, about local reception. I have multiple ways of accessing local information and weather.... This is obviously my opinion, but trying to use the "radio" in an RV is just a sidebar in what we usually want to do.

On a sidenote; yes, I have found the receiver antenna wires just coiled behind the receiver.
__________________
Danny and Susan, wife of 56 years
2019 Ram 3500 Laramie CC SWB SB 6.4 4x4 4.10
2020 Montana High Country 331RL
sourdough is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2019, 06:57 AM   #8
flybouy
Site Team
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Joppa, MD
Posts: 11,714
Try an amplified antenna

I installed one of these: Jensen Marine AN150SR AM/FM Amplified Antenna
by Jenson. Cost $13.95 on Amazon (with Prime). Works OK. We only use radio to get weather if no cell service and to mask outside noise for dog if we're not there and he is.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	FMantenna.jpg
Views:	210
Size:	11.9 KB
ID:	23744  
__________________
Marshall
2012 Laredo 303 TG
2010 F250 LT Super Cab, long bed, 4X4, 6.4 Turbo Diesel
flybouy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2019, 01:36 PM   #9
rcashdollar
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Erie
Posts: 31
Poor Radio Reception

I too don’t plan on using the radio much since my music is accessible via Bluetooth but I do like local stuff at times. I also like to have AM for games (football, baseball, etc) as well as weather.
rcashdollar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2019, 01:53 PM   #10
KCSA75
Senior Member
 
KCSA75's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 166
We camp a lot in an area where TV and cell reception are sketchy at best. One of the first things we do when we get to the campground is flip on the radio.
__________________
Willie & Mary
2008 Cougar 29FKS
2009 Ford F-150 XLT SuperCab, Max Tow Package

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." — Ferris Bueller
KCSA75 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2019, 02:47 PM   #11
LHaven
Senior Member
 
LHaven's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Wickenburg
Posts: 3,271
After seeing several posts about the antenna being coiled up behind the radio unit, I took mine out today. I discovered that the antenna connection was a fat coax and was firmly connected to my TV antenna chain, and that there was a wire cut off short labeled antenna, but it was for triggering the motor in a power auto antenna. What I discovered was that in order to get any useful reception at all, I had to turn on the antenna booster for the TV. I always wondered whether I needed to do that or not, and now I know for sure that I do.
__________________
2019 Cougar 26RBSWE
2019 Ford F-250
LHaven is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2019, 03:51 PM   #12
rcashdollar
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Erie
Posts: 31
I may have to figure out how to pull the radio and see what’s going on back there. Thanks
rcashdollar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 02:32 AM   #13
WNY Bullet
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 590
I found mine coiled behind my radio. The radio is right next to an outside wall, so I installed a small outdoor boat antenna on the side of the trailer. Much better reception!
__________________
Mike & Barb
2015 Keystone Bullet Premier 26RBPR
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
2017 Chevy Silverado LT Z71

WNY Bullet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 07:18 AM   #14
Ken / Claudia
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Fruitland
Posts: 3,357
After having this trailer for several years, I got the wire unlooped and pulled it out though the cabinets. Hope was to pick up AM stations. What I found is it does not help. Past RVs had a simple 2 ft or so antenna mounted to roof or outer side wall. Those do work. Now if I want to listen to the radio, I turn on the truck radio with it's little antenna. That normally works fine while the trailer radio 20 feet away will not pick up hardly anything. At this point I am not going to run an cable out though the rv to a outside mounted antenna. I just do not use a radio much anyway.
__________________
2013 24RKSWE (27ft TT) Cougar 1/2 ton series SOLD 10-2021
2013 Ford F350 4x4 CC 6.7 engine, 8 ft bed, 3.55 rear end, lariat package
Retired from Oregon State Police in 2011 than worked another 9.5 years as a small town traffic cop:
As of 05-2020, I am all done with 39 years total police work. No more uniforms for me.
Ken / Claudia is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 07:16 AM   #15
DrSmart1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Hamilton
Posts: 26
On our last trailer, the radio and TV were close to each other. I used a coax splitter on the TV connection that came from the roof antenna. Connected 1 side of the splitter to the radio. Turned on the antenna booster and lots of FM channels magically appeared! ��
__________________
Dave and Ivy

Ram 3500/Aisin CC, SB, SRW, Superglide
Firestone Ride-Rite Air bags, TST507 TPMS
DrSmart1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 07:32 AM   #16
Rogersn
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Mazenod
Posts: 23
Radio

I went through the same problem with my 2009 Prowler with Jensen audio system and yes I found the antenna tied in a ball behind the radio. Stretched it out with no improvement! When I did my research someone advised throwing the radio out and install something that works! I think he was right!
Rogersn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 07:59 AM   #17
Scott in Michigan
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Northern
Posts: 61
I posted this on another thread a few months ago about the same topic. Copied and pasted it below.

Part of the old post addresses your radio reception issues. Hope it helps. Here goes:

We have a Summit television and a Furrion DV3300 in our Cougar 32RLI. They do their job but not without first having presented plenty of frustration. I looked into replacing them but like most of us came to the conclusion that wasn't worth the effort, and over time I found ways to mitigate their shortcomings.

The problems I experienced were partly the fault of the equipment, and the rest due to poor workmanship at the Keystone factory.

Regarding the DV 3300, it's so far from being intuitive to use it's ridiculous. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't read the black on grey remote buttons, and they are microscopically small too boot. The unit also has quite a lag in response to the remote control.

But in spite of that, I found a way to make the sound halfway decent. That was to just turn on the loudness feature (labeled but well hidden as LOUD on the remote control - look for it near the MUTE button).

Furrion tech support is responsive, but they probably won't tell you what you want to hear. For example, I wanted to turn the Bluetooth feature off in my unit. It would connect with my phone even though I didn't want to every time I walked by. I mean, seriously, who wants to take telephone calls over the sound system of their RV? Or have it ring over the speaker system when you're in range? I get it that you would play music from your phone through the sound system but that would be easy enough to do with a 1/8th inch cable, and avoid the flawed Bluetooth design. They were responsive, and told me there was no way to turn it off. But at least they replied.

(For the record, the Furrion rear observation camera that came with our TT is well designed and works remarkably well. Good signal and frame rate. If they hadn't discontinued the model, I would heartily endorse it.)

My TV and sound system were mis-wired from the factory. It would not play the television sound, which we find too low in volume, through the trailer sound system. It was a simple fix. I moved the DV 3300 to the HDMI 1 (ARC) input on the TV. Then you select the ARC function on the DV 3300. That's it. A sweet victory.

Keep in mind that when you press a button on the DV 3300 remote there's a four or five second delay before the sound system responds to the command. Long enough delay that when you select a function via the remote and press it one thinks nothing is going to happen. Just be patient - the command will catch up.

Regarding poor installation quality, that's a pretty dominant theme across these boards. So check every coax connector that you can get at for tightness.

I found that every RG6 coax connector was either installed on the cable improperly, or the threads were loose to the point of falling off, or both.

I have a crimping tool and use RG6 in applications in my amateur radio station, so they were easy enough to replace with higher quality connectors.

An example: the antenna on the trailer roof can be removed, even though the directions from Winegard guard say it cannot. Removing ours, I found the coax connector was not tightened between the antenna and the coax into the trailer. That was only the first problem.

I replaced or had to tighten all the other connectors throughout the trailer, installed an inline booster, and figured out, in spite of the lack of documentation, how the off air and cable systems interact in the Winegard preamplifier. Please note the inline amplifier I added was placed in the stead of the splitter for an outside television. That alone eliminated -3 dB of signal loss. I tapped 12-volt DC from the Winegard power injector which is located in the bedroom wall. From what I gather the power injectors are located in all sorts of unusual areas in our trailers. You are looking for a rectangular wall switch size plastic cover with a push button switch and a green LED.

With all that, the television works reasonably well now. I attribute the remaining problems to the inherent lack of digital TV's ability to handle weak signals. We live in the far north and stations are well removed from us. Digital does not handle weak signals as well as the old analog system. That part is not really the TV's fault. Thank the FCC for that transition.

When I had the TV antenna off the pedestal mount on the roof, I was curious and disassembled it (T10 Torx) and found that it contains a collinear stacked array that is circularly polarized. There are tiny inductors between the elements and about half of them were broken, so I resoldered those.

In regard to poor radio reception, that's probably because the Keystone factory didn't bother to unwind to the small FM dipole antenna that's stuffed behind the radio in the cabinet. Seriously. It was still rolled up as it came from the Furrion factory. Extend it fully and tape or staple it inside the cabinet area. That made a big difference.

In regard to AM reception, it's not going to happen with the setup as it comes from the factory. If you are interested in AM reception, contact me and I'll tell you what I do.

No, I am not a know-it-all or dissatisfied. My intent in posting is to just help someone else so they don't have to figure it all out from scratch, and to hopefully reduce your frustration.

We love our Cougar 32RLI trailer and wouldn't trade it.

Scott & Gin
Scott in Michigan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 08:41 AM   #18
Lil Joe
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: NIAGARA FALLS
Posts: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcashdollar View Post
I’ve heard that the antenna wires may be coiled up behind the radio. How do I pull the radio to access them?
You are correct in saying that the antennae wire is coiled or laid behind the radio cavity. You can access this by removing the front panel either by screws or some face plated are snapped in place. If you do not see any screws use a butter knife to carefully pop up a corner of the face plate. When its off you'll see the screws holding the radio in place. remove them and then pull out the radio, On the back of the radio you will see the plug for "antennae" and the wires that come from them. You could try spreading them out if there is room or you could install a car type antennae by plugging into this input.Then reinstall.
Lil Joe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 10:10 AM   #19
Rwake901
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: St Joseph
Posts: 59
No antenna

I didn’t have any radio reception when we purchased our 2019 Avalanche. When I removed the radio to see why I discovered that there wasn’t an antenna at all. So I called Keystone hoping they would send me one but was told “take it back to your dealer”. Rather then making an appointment and taking it 80 miles back to my dealer I just ordered one from Amazon and installed it myself. Works great now.
Rwake901 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2019, 10:51 AM   #20
Pete Hartley
Junior Member
 
Pete Hartley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Hampton
Posts: 4
I went through this recently. An AM/FM antenna is an ‘optional extra’. The antenna will only have a short non-antenna lead plugged in by default. You will need to install an antenna to get decent reception. The marine one posted above would be a good choice. My 18” lead was just coiled up behind the radio hanging free.
Pete Hartley is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
radio

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates in any way. Keystone RV® is a registered trademark of the Keystone RV Company.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:28 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.