Montana Radio Reception - Montana Owners Club

Montana_3586 · 07-23-2005, 04:06 AM

We purchased a 2005 Mountaineer 30FKS this year and are having a great time with it. We are not full timers thus have only been out 6 times this year. When we go one of the things I like is to listen to is local radio stations, mostly AM but will listen to FM also. The stereo system included in our model is nothing more than a home
stereo put in a RV. Most of the time there is no reception on the AM side and very limited reception on the FM side. Has anyone else experienced this problem or is my radio possibly defective? Has anyone added an outside antenna to this system? If so did that improve reception? I'm considering installing a car radio / stereo with outside antenna. Has anyone done this and has that worked? Any information anyone has on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks John

Charlie · 07-23-2005, 04:22 AM

Look at your reciever and make sure the antenna wires are connected. I am not sure how they are set up but should be connected to your outside TV antenna. Make sure your anntenna booster is turned on, you should have good reception, if not maybe there is a problem with the wiring.

sreigle · 07-23-2005, 01:26 PM

The newer ones have a different system but some of us found on the older ones the antenna was either not connected or was connected but coiled up behind the receiver. You might check that out. Ours doesn't have a booster for the radio, just for the TV. I was not aware of a booster for the radio but if the new ones have that, then that's great.

Kathi · 07-23-2005, 01:48 PM

No, you are right the stereo system stinks. But so does the whole system. We are taking ours in for alot of repairs but that is one that we are going to have them look at. Even when we were in Oceanside Ca. we couldn't get any reception. Our TV stinks to. You can't turn it up so that you can hear it. It whistles so bad that it drowns out the volume. We are going to have them install a new TV that we have here at home, and then take the one that they give us to replace the one in the trailer and put it into the house.

H. John Kohl · 07-23-2005, 02:05 PM

As others have commented, I suggest you pull the unit out and make sure the "AM" antenna is not coiled up in the back. It will be a single wire coming out of the unit. I think that is a big problem. It should at least improve your reception. You can also add more wire to the AM antenna and that will help the "capture field" for that antenna. Today most people use FM so that is where the focus is placed when installing. If they place any focus at all.
Good luck and tow safe.

Montana_3586 · 07-23-2005, 04:25 PM

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll check into something from

Montana_3586 · 07-23-2005, 04:30 PM

Sorry about that, I sent the reply before I was finished.
I'm going to look into something in the car stereo product line.
I may also look into other RV mfg's to see how they address this.
Thanks again for you input.

John

8.1al · 07-25-2005, 02:21 PM

This won't do anything for your AM reception but you can hook the radio to the tv coax and get great FM. Our radio has a coax connection so I got a signal splitter and 2 short coax leads. The splitter has one connection for the cable going to the antenna and the other side has 2 connections. One goes to the tv and the other to the radio. Just make sure the booster is on.

We have been in places where the tv reception was almost non-existant but there was fm radio, so there we sat with our antenna up. We sure got some funny and confused looks from those around us

Northstar · 07-27-2005, 06:01 PM

We have not been able to get any AM reception. Even our dealer couldn't find the problem. So we are now at Hart City RV, IN and hope to resolve several issues with our new coach. Will give an update after repairs.

Parrothead · 07-27-2005, 06:23 PM

We ditched the Q unit and replaced with a Sony. It has a special AM antenna that you can take out of the cabinet and place where you get the best reception. Works great. Ed is addicted to talk radio so he was happy with this fix. He use to go out in the truck or car and listen.
Happy trails................

Phil Poindexter · 08-09-2005, 09:07 AM

We just purchased a new, 2006 2955RL and so far love it. However do NOT love the am reception. Here in Los Angeles we get ONE, maybe two stations. Even with another antenna that I can move around outside the tv box we get nothing more than a couple of stations. Customer Service at Keystone says it's too hard to get radio signals into the aluminum sided trailer---which is bunk! Just a crummy designed radion receiver. I'll just bring a little portable along and it picks up AM just fine.

richfaa · 08-10-2005, 02:20 AM

Am I to understand that Montana did NOT put a radio antenna on the roof???

Charlie · 08-10-2005, 03:20 AM

Rich-
You understand correctly, there is not an external radio antenna on the Montana.

Thunderman · 08-10-2005, 06:01 AM

jkwilk,
Yes you could put an exterior antenna on the Monty. You would need a marine antenna due to the fibreglass body of the Monty.
Do a search on "install antenna" by William H. Collier.
Good luck!
Weldon

jackel1959 · 09-06-2005, 12:26 PM

John,
We have a 2005 325FKBS and had the same problem with our stereo which is a SHARP. I looked at the instructions that came with it and saw that it is suppose to have a wire antenna with the unit. I removed the stereo from the cabinet and the antenna was attached but coiled up. I uncoiled the antenna wire, ran it up through the hole for the power cord and stapled it around the inside of the cabinet. We now get great radio reception. I hope this helps.

Jack

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by jkwilk

We purchased a 2005 Mountaineer 30FKS this year and are having a great time with it. We are not full timers thus have only been out 6 times this year. When we go one of the things I like is to listen to is local radio stations, mostly AM but will listen to FM also. The stereo system included in our model is nothing more than a home
stereo put in a RV. Most of the time there is no reception on the AM side and very limited reception on the FM side. Has anyone else experienced this problem or is my radio possibly defective? Has anyone added an outside antenna to this system? If so did that improve reception? I'm considering installing a car radio / stereo with outside antenna. Has anyone done this and has that worked? Any information anyone has on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks John

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