Frustrated! Replaced antenna to Jack, replaced connections....still nothing. 09 27

[jholder]

Hey guys – all of a sudden, my air antenna was not picking up anything or sometimes it would be intermittent. So, I replaced with a jack antenna. Worked briefly and then no reception. So, I thought maybe there had been a fray at the areas in which they curve when cranked down, so I just reran the coacts from the antenna down through the mast to the roof and spliced in new connectors. After all that, nothing. Jeez!

Is there anywhere that I should be checking where there could be a disconnect or fray? Does that switch plate inside the Airstream ever go bad? It is lit up and everything appears to be fine. But I just cannot figure out where the issue is.

Thanks! Justin

[jholder]

*** I should mention that I even tried connecting the coacts directly to the antenna, running it through the door of the Airstream and connecting it directly to the amplifier box and it worked perfectly, so I’m trying to figure out where that issue would be in the cable.

[jholder]

Ok—-I took the wingard Wall plate off and looked back where all the cords are run. I had my wife watch them, as I went up to the roof and pulled more slack to identify the cable. Nothing moved. Where does that cable run and how would you begin to access it?

[SeeMore]

I suggest using a multi-meter to test connectivity for each leg separately and then combined - BEFORE you reinstall the antenna to the roof.

The wiring rarely goes bad. However, the couplers are a regular cause of signal issues.

[AlinCal]

To access it you would likely have to remove interior skins. Wiring is taped and held to inside of outer skin and bundled and zip tied whenever they felt like it, as you discovered pulling on one end gets you nothing.

[Jekerrville]

Jholder,
I am going to make some assumptions.

You have single television that is hooked up to a wall plate that has a little punch button that when pressed turn on a small light telling you that power is supplied to the amplifier (amp) inside of the antenna cover on the roof.

That amp receives its power thru the coax (antenna wire) thru the center conductor and the outside shield ( the net wire or foil wrapper) under the insulation. Let’s call this the transmission cable.

On each segment of the transmission wire on each end is a threaded fitting, either a F-56 or F-59 threaded coax connector.

One segment of the transmission cable is amp to splice shown on the roof (F-81) barrel- gold color in your picture), the next segment roof to power supply in the wall inside, and the last one wall power supply to the TV set.

If the center conductor wire or the outside shield are shorted together or if between each end of the transmission cable, good contact is not made center wire to center wire or outside shield to shield, then the power and/or signal will not work in most all cases. The shield is a problem spot.

This means that the fittings must be crimped on correctly. The shield must not contact the center wire and the center wire must stick out of the fitting about 1/8th of an inch such that what ever the transmission wire is screwed into makes connection and the fitting is tight. If not tight, crappy or flaky reception or static from led lights, the guy with the CB or those pesky ham radio operators and their QM Mary. )

One of the most common issues in such systems is the center conductor rots off and you loose power to the amp, of the shield rots and corrosion occurs and kills the signal or the power.

The next big killer is using a pair of pliers to crimp the F fitting on the end of the cable!

The F fitting MUST stay round as possible. If you use pliers to crimp the fittings, the shield mashes into the center conductor and you don’t have squat. Same is true for any segment of the transmission cable. F fittings are usually 90% of the time the failure point. A pare of crimpers is about $14.00 at big box hardware stores. Or catch the cable guy and have him crimp the connectors on for you. Give him $10.00 and a beer and send him on but watch out for your roof.

Don’t even try the screw on type of fittings that don’t need a crumpet because they are junk and will fail first rain storm.

Depending on which section’s F fitting was crushed, you may have signal but channel 2 thru 4 may work, but 7 thru 13 will be crap and mid band or high band and beyond will be non existent. (Digital of analog)

Looking at your picture the F fittings at the antenna don’t look sanatary. Looks like a pair of pliers crunched it.

This may be why when you jumpered around the segment in the wall everything worked for a while but when it was shaken it failed.

I suspect that one of those fittings on top is not formed correctly and your loosing the power to the amp.

Hope this helps. Besides it’s only reruns.

Safe travels.

[Jekerrville]

Jholder,
I am going to make some assumptions.

You have single television that is hooked up to a wall plate that has a little punch button that when pressed turn on a small light telling you that power is supplied to the amplifier (amp) inside of the antenna cover on the roof.

That amp receives its power thru the coax (antenna wire) thru the center conductor and the outside shield ( the net wire or foil wrapper) under the insulation. Let’s call this the transmission cable.

On each segment of the transmission wire on each end is a threaded fitting, either a F-56 or F-59 threaded coax connector.

One segment of the transmission cable is amp to splice shown on the roof (F-81) barrel- gold color in your picture), the next segment roof to power supply in the wall inside, and the last one wall power supply to the TV set.

If the center conductor wire or the outside shield are shorted together or if between each end of the transmission cable, good contact is not made center wire to center wire or outside shield to shield, then the power and/or signal will not work in most all cases. The shield is a problem spot.

This means that the fittings must be crimped on correctly. The shield must not contact the center wire and the center wire must stick out of the fitting about 1/8th of an inch such that what ever the transmission wire is screwed into makes connection and the fitting is tight. If not tight, crappy or flaky reception or static from led lights, the guy with the CB or other radio frequency interference.

One of the most common issues in such systems is the center conductor rots off and you loose power to the amp, or the shield rots and corrosion occurs and kills the signal or the power.

The next big killer is using a pair of pliers to crimp the F fitting on the end of the cable!

The F fitting MUST stay round as possible. If you use pliers to crimp the fittings, the shield mashes into the center conductor and you don’t have squat. Same is true for any segment of the transmission cable. F fittings are usually 90% of the time the failure point. A pair of crimpers is about $14.00 at big box hardware stores. Or catch the cable guy and have him crimp the connectors on for you. Give him $10.00 and a beer and send him on but watch out for your roof. Crimpers are special tools just for coax. Crimpers for butt splices or wire connectors WILL NOT work.

Don’t even try the screw on type of fittings that don’t need a crimper because they are junk and will fail first rain storm.

Depending on which section’s F fitting was crushed, you may have signal but channel 2 thru 4 may work, but 7 thru 13 will be crap and mid band or high band and beyond will be non existent. (Digital of analog)

Looking at your picture, the F fittings at the antenna don’t look sanatary. Looks like a pair of pliers crunched it.

This may be why when you jumpered around the segment in the wall from antenna to inside everything worked for a while but when it was shaken it failed.

I suspect that one of those fittings on top is not formed correctly and your loosing the power to the amp.

Hope this helps. Besides it’s only reruns.

Safe travels.

[jholder]

Originally Posted by Jekerrville

Jholder,

I am going to make some assumptions.



You have single television that is hooked up to a wall plate that has a little punch button that when pressed turn on a small light telling you that power is supplied to the amplifier (amp) inside of the antenna cover on the roof.



That amp receives its power thru the coax (antenna wire) thru the center conductor and the outside shield ( the net wire or foil wrapper) under the insulation. Let’s call this the transmission cable.



On each segment of the transmission wire on each end is a threaded fitting, either a F-56 or F-59 threaded coax connector.



One segment of the transmission cable is amp to splice shown on the roof (F-81) barrel- gold color in your picture), the next segment roof to power supply in the wall inside, and the last one wall power supply to the TV set.



If the center conductor wire or the outside shield are shorted together or if between each end of the transmission cable, good contact is not made center wire to center wire or outside shield to shield, then the power and/or signal will not work in most all cases. The shield is a problem spot.



This means that the fittings must be crimped on correctly. The shield must not contact the center wire and the center wire must stick out of the fitting about 1/8th of an inch such that what ever the transmission wire is screwed into makes connection and the fitting is tight. If not tight, crappy or flaky reception or static from led lights, the guy with the CB or other radio frequency interference.



One of the most common issues in such systems is the center conductor rots off and you loose power to the amp, or the shield rots and corrosion occurs and kills the signal or the power.



The next big killer is using a pair of pliers to crimp the F fitting on the end of the cable!



The F fitting MUST stay round as possible. If you use pliers to crimp the fittings, the shield mashes into the center conductor and you don’t have squat. Same is true for any segment of the transmission cable. F fittings are usually 90% of the time the failure point. A pair of crimpers is about $14.00 at big box hardware stores. Or catch the cable guy and have him crimp the connectors on for you. Give him $10.00 and a beer and send him on but watch out for your roof. Crimpers are special tools just for coax. Crimpers for butt splices or wire connectors WILL NOT work.



Don’t even try the screw on type of fittings that don’t need a crimper because they are junk and will fail first rain storm.



Depending on which section’s F fitting was crushed, you may have signal but channel 2 thru 4 may work, but 7 thru 13 will be crap and mid band or high band and beyond will be non existent. (Digital of analog)



Looking at your picture, the F fittings at the antenna don’t look sanatary. Looks like a pair of pliers crunched it.



This may be why when you jumpered around the segment in the wall from antenna to inside everything worked for a while but when it was shaken it failed.



I suspect that one of those fittings on top is not formed correctly and your loosing the power to the amp.



Hope this helps. Besides it’s only reruns.



Safe travels.

Wow! This was incredibly kind of you to take the time to write out this thorough response. I think I have pictured what you are explaining. I will go and get those tomorrow! It was obviously hastily done.

[jholder]

Originally Posted by Jekerrville

Jholder,

I am going to make some assumptions.



You have single television that is hooked up to a wall plate that has a little punch button that when pressed turn on a small light telling you that power is supplied to the amplifier (amp) inside of the antenna cover on the roof.



That amp receives its power thru the coax (antenna wire) thru the center conductor and the outside shield ( the net wire or foil wrapper) under the insulation. Let’s call this the transmission cable.



On each segment of the transmission wire on each end is a threaded fitting, either a F-56 or F-59 threaded coax connector.



One segment of the transmission cable is amp to splice shown on the roof (F-81) barrel- gold color in your picture), the next segment roof to power supply in the wall inside, and the last one wall power supply to the TV set.



If the center conductor wire or the outside shield are shorted together or if between each end of the transmission cable, good contact is not made center wire to center wire or outside shield to shield, then the power and/or signal will not work in most all cases. The shield is a problem spot.



This means that the fittings must be crimped on correctly. The shield must not contact the center wire and the center wire must stick out of the fitting about 1/8th of an inch such that what ever the transmission wire is screwed into makes connection and the fitting is tight. If not tight, crappy or flaky reception or static from led lights, the guy with the CB or other radio frequency interference.



One of the most common issues in such systems is the center conductor rots off and you loose power to the amp, or the shield rots and corrosion occurs and kills the signal or the power.



The next big killer is using a pair of pliers to crimp the F fitting on the end of the cable!



The F fitting MUST stay round as possible. If you use pliers to crimp the fittings, the shield mashes into the center conductor and you don’t have squat. Same is true for any segment of the transmission cable. F fittings are usually 90% of the time the failure point. A pair of crimpers is about $14.00 at big box hardware stores. Or catch the cable guy and have him crimp the connectors on for you. Give him $10.00 and a beer and send him on but watch out for your roof. Crimpers are special tools just for coax. Crimpers for butt splices or wire connectors WILL NOT work.



Don’t even try the screw on type of fittings that don’t need a crimper because they are junk and will fail first rain storm.



Depending on which section’s F fitting was crushed, you may have signal but channel 2 thru 4 may work, but 7 thru 13 will be crap and mid band or high band and beyond will be non existent. (Digital of analog)



Looking at your picture, the F fittings at the antenna don’t look sanatary. Looks like a pair of pliers crunched it.



This may be why when you jumpered around the segment in the wall from antenna to inside everything worked for a while but when it was shaken it failed.



I suspect that one of those fittings on top is not formed correctly and your loosing the power to the amp.



Hope this helps. Besides it’s only reruns.



Safe travels.

Also – one other question. Is that the coax just regular coax or something special? Reason I ask – I replaced the coax running from the antenna, down the mast with new coax. But I want to make sure that it doesn’t need some type that carries power, is manipulated differently.

[SeeMore]

Jekerrville gave an excellent recap. Newer coax uses a higher quality copper but the core and braided exterior are fundamentally the same. Do use exterior grade coax with the UV protected exterior vinyl or else you risk rapid degradation of the exposed portions.

Using a meter for continuity testing (after adding the coupler and making the extended connection) is the way to discover whether your efforts have been correctly completed prior to sealing the antenna to the roof.

[Foiled Again]

Thanks, big help.