Antenna Booster Location

[James Sagerser]

I hooked up my over-the-air antenna recently and found it works well in town with the nearby antennas.  My question; is there a booster switch somewhere in a 2003 Monterey?  I've looked in all the obvious places but thought maybe there isn't one. 
Thanks in advance,  James

[David T. Richelderfer]

We have two over-the-air antennas - one for the front TV and one for the bedroom TV.  Our boosters look much like a white, wall-light switch plate with a small, round, black, on/off push button which also is knurled for turning to actuate the amount of boost.  When the booster is turned on the booster plate has a red light on (I think... it's been awhile since I used them).

Our front booster is located in a front, high-overhead cabinet in front of the copilot's seat.  Also in that cabinet are the two living-room slide toggle switches and the automatic Gerard patio awning manual toggle switch.

Our bedroom booster is located in a chest-high cabinet under the 12v and 110v breaker panel cabinet in the rear, curb-side of the bedroom just in front of the wardrobe closet.  Also in that cabinet is the Bose Surround Sound control box.

****   I just went to the motorhome and checked.  The booster white switch plate has two black buttons - one for pushing on/off and one knurled for turning up/down the booster intensity - and a light shines red when the booster is on.

[James Sagerser]

Thanks for replying but I can't find anything like your setup.  I have the same cabinet above the co-pilot seat with the 2 toggles for the slides, the Gerard switch for the awning and the remote control panel for the inverter.  No booster switch.  Also looked in the long, overhead cabinet above the front screen on the co-pilot side but not there either.  I looked all around in the back bedroom but no luck.   Still perplexed.

[Roy C Tyler]

On my Monterey, I have a control box in the long overhead cabinet above the front windshield.  This box has a push button to turn on the box and has several push buttons for front, rear, antenna, cable, etc..  I believe the booster switch is built into this box.  I know the On/Off button must be on for me to get a signal over the antenna. It is also a distribution box.  I don't have any problem getting any signals over the antenna that I know of.  Usually the RV park tells me how many over the air stations there are and that is the number I get.  Sometimes I may get even a few more.

[Joel Ashley]

Commonly the amplifier, aka booster, is mounted to the back of a plastic faceplate similar to one for an electric wall switch, outlet, or coax.  The same faceplates I've had on both RV's, one an '85 and the other our '06 Beaver, were virtually the same;  the antenna coax feeds into the small amp in back, and a port next to the amp's small on/off switch on the faceplate accepts the coax cable that goes to the TV.

If the switch is off, then cable TV from a park outlet can feed through to the TV.  If the switch is on, a red LED near the switch lights, meaning the amp is working to boost the antenna signal, and the park feed is bypassed.

If you can backtrack the coax from the TV, you may find its origin port and by default the plate with the switch.  It was on the side of the center floor console, as I recall, with an extra 12v outlet on the old Pace Arrow.  It's in the copilot's windshield overhead (audio/video) cabinet, hiding back against the curbside wall in our Monterey.

-Joel

[Fred Brooks]

              James,  Do you have a video selector box that allows you to choose which video you want to view on the front and rear tv and does that box have an on-off switch on the the left with a red LED. If that is the case, that is the "booster". Sometimes previous owners replace the original tv booster with this type of booster and coax distribution. Regards, Fred

[Frank Towle]

The 'Cable guys' like to dis-combobilate the selector switch inputs and bypass splitters to get 'their' signal to the TV.  Also, the early 2000's splitter (700Mhz) did not support the full digital signal and should be replaced with a 2.4Ghz splitter available at hardware store. 

My Patriot has selector and antenna amp in overhead cabinet to left of pilot seat.  Our earlier '96 Patriot had selector in front center overhead and amp to left of pilot seat.

Unfortunately, the only thing to do is follow the cable signal.  Several posts have talked about a commercial tool to inject a known resistance at one end of a cable to be able to detect which other end has the same.  Easy to setup with Radio Shack resister and vOm meter if you are a DIYer. 

[James Sagerser]

I'm beginning to think the previous owner removed some of the original equipment.  The overhead cabinet was one big mess of tangled, loose end wires with no switches or switching boxes.  I traced the coax from the antenna to the correct lead in the overhead cabinet electronically. When connected, the TVs work well with the antenna.  Makes me think the booster is on somewhere.  I also traced the cable inlet in the water bay to another coax.  I installed a switching box in the overhead cabinet and connected the cable that goes to my house to bay cable inlet.  Works fine.    I'll keep looking for the elusive booster.  Thanks for all the help.  James

[Lee Welbanks]

James,

Sounds like your getting closer to the magic box, had the same wiring mess with our PT, took awhile to trace all the cables out. Funny how some of these people can completely screw up the cabling.