RF channels

[Packerbacker20]

How does one go about getting RF channels on your RV TV?

[flybouy]

RF? Are you asking about over the air reception? It would help if you shared a few things. Year and model of trailer, do you have Key tv? Crank up "batwing antenna"? Wienguard antenna amplifier with a power button?

[CedarCreekWoody]

Hook up the antenna, turn on the booster, and scan for channels.

[Packerbacker20]

RF? Are you asking about over the air reception? It would help if you shared a few things. Year and model of trailer, do you have Key tv? Crank up "batwing antenna"? Wienguard antenna amplifier with a power button?

It's a 2017 Keystone Outback 325bh, the TV that came with the camper is a proscan & I assume it's the original TV. The antenna is fixed in the middle of the travel trailer assuming that's the Wienguard however I can't find a power button anywhere. When I scan for over the air channels I get 10 analog that I can view however the TV picks up 70+ RF channels that it will not let me watch. How do you get to view those channels? I would assume there viewable since they were picked up over the air.

[flybouy]

It's a 2017 Keystone Outback 325bh, the TV that came with the camper is a proscan & I assume it's the original TV. The antenna is fixed in the middle of the travel trailer assuming that's the Wienguard however I can't find a power button anywhere. When I scan for over the air channels I get 10 analog that I can view however the TV picks up 70+ RF channels that it will not let me watch. How do you get to view those channels? I would assume there viewable since they were picked up over the air.

RF stands for "radio frequency" so I'm not clear what you're referencing. Are you sure the TV "found" that many channels or perhaps your misunderstanding that scanned that many channels and found 10?

[JRTJH]

It's a 2017 Keystone Outback 325bh, the TV that came with the camper is a proscan & I assume it's the original TV. The antenna is fixed in the middle of the travel trailer assuming that's the Wienguard however I can't find a power button anywhere. When I scan for over the air channels I get 10 analog that I can view however the TV picks up 70+ RF channels that it will not let me watch. How do you get to view those channels? I would assume there viewable since they were picked up over the air.

Our TV's, both in the RV and in the house, will pick up every station that has "carrier wave reception". On digital TV's, that means the TV will recognize the presence of the station (on the channel scan) even if the signal is too weak to receiver the "video/audio information" that's on the carrier wave.

Ours will show 40 or 50 stations, even though we can actually "watch and hear" about 12 of them. The rest, if there is anything on the screen at all, it only "small colored blocks of scrambled video". Usually, that happens with "almost enough signal strength" stations and the screen is "just blank" with "not enough signal strength" stations.

I think, from your description, you're in a "fringe area" and your TV is picking up the "presence of stations" but they are not strong enough to actually watch. That happens to us quite a bit when we travel to large metropolitan areas with 60 or even 100 repeater stations. Signals bounce off tall buildings, the RV TV picks them up, and yet we can't watch them if we tune to that channel.

[Packerbacker20]

RF stands for "radio frequency" so I'm not clear what you're referencing. Are you sure the TV "found" that many channels or perhaps your misunderstanding that scanned that many channels and found 10?

Here's what shows up on my tv when I do a scan. I've also had people tell me to push the button and turn on the antenna booster, where is this mysterious button? On my old camper it was right behind the TV.

[hankpage]

There are very few analog stations still broadcasting. The channels you want to look for are the 13 digital ones that were scanned. The tv must also be set to "OTA" or "ANT" to see them. Look inside all nearby cabinets for the elusive booster button. If you are getting any channels the button may already be on. If you have connected to cable in the past and it worked the button is off.

[JRTJH]

Maybe this will explain why you see 69 RF channels:

There are 69 "RF carrier channels allowed by FCC. Not all of those are licensed to broadcasters in every locality, but they are "present"... Your TV, when you do a scan, identifies each of the carriers (even though they are inactive) to confirm that when the scan was done, each of the 69 RF carrier channels was checked for an active broadcast signal....

What the TV is telling you is that it checked all 69 RF carriers and found 0 analog broadcasts and 13 digital broadcasts on those 69 RF carriers. In other words, it's "sort of" a internal self check, confirming that the TV has the capacity to receive all 69 carriers, if there were a broadcast signal on any of them....

The 69 RF does not mean there are 69 "RF stations you can watch" but that the TV has the capacity to receive a signal (if one were present) on any of those 69 FCC assigned frequencies.

[Packerbacker20]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated