wall plate switch TV to radio

[Bud &Vicky]

Has anyone else had issues with the wall plate switch? We are hooked to cable tv in our campground and with the switch in the out position for TV reception the upper level channels come in scrambled, as though the switch is plugged in for radio reception.

Could it be our switch is bad?

[traveldawg]

Have you tried it in both positions? And are you sure the light is on indicating over-the-air antenna is selected?

Maybe pull the plate and switch out and make sure the connections are tight. That's probably a good idea to check other locations for a tight connection too.

I think if there is a bad connection then higher frequency signals would struggle a bit more. But with digital TV higher channels don't always equate to higher frequencies in every case.

[Bud &Vicky]

Yes, we’ve tried all those things, with the button in for radio, it’s even worse.
I’ve checked all the connections, they’re all good.
My thought is the switch is faulty

[traveldawg]

I'm a bit confused about when you say "...with the button in for radio reception...".

The wall box is an electronic switch that selects input from either the cable connection or the antenna on the roof (over-the air - OTA). When the button is pushed in and the green (or sometimes red) light is on it means the antenna is selected and that signal is fed to the TVs. When the button is out and the light is off it means the cable input is selected.

This has nothing to do with the radio. Although sometimes RV manufacturers also feed the radio with a cable feed; it's just another feed from a splitter installed that also feeds the signals to the TVs.


Be sure the light comes on and there is 12v on the switch. When you select antenna the switch also sends 12v DC to the antenna for the booster. I suppose the antenna could always be bad. If you pull the inside plate off the antenna you could probably measure the 12v on the coax if you disconnect it from the antenna.

Maybe try this.....
1. select the antenna on the wall box.
2. go to the TV menu settings and select antenna;
3. scan for channels;
4. note the number of channels received
then select the cable input on the switch and repeat steps 3 and 4;
there should be a noticeable difference in the number of channels (few if any at all on cable)
> a lot of how many channels you receive has to do with the number of TV station antennas where you are.

Hope this helps. Let us know. If you've done all this then maybe it is time to change the switch out.

[zinman]

Bud & Vicky, one more consideration from my personal experience. Check to make sure that the coax connector is not grounded out. I could only get OTA in the bedroom on my last RV. Dealership pulled all the coax connectors and found 5 grounded along with the basement storage splitter not working.