Overhead Thumping Noise

Topic: Overhead Thumping Noise (Read 1012 times) previous topic - next topic

Overhead Thumping Noise

July 20, 2013, 10:06:13 am

I have noticed lately that sometimes a thumping noise occurs which seems to be over the driver's head. Must be either the in motion sat or the crank up ant. or could it be the CB ant moving. Going to FOT late Sunday for front wheel seal and bearing ck. Thought I would see if they have any ideas. Can anyone here help. DAN

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #1 – July 20, 2013, 10:08:26 am

Quote from: Dan J. Stansel – July 20, 2013, 10:06:13 am

I have noticed lately that sometimes a thumping noise occurs which seems to be over the driver's head. Must be either the in motion sat or the crank up ant. or could it be the CB ant moving. Going to FOT late Sunday for front wheel seal and bearing ck. Thought I would see if they have any ideas. Can anyone here help. DAN

We also had that noise and found out that the CB antenna was loose. It was on a spring mount and the looseness was amplified by the extra movement in the spring. Have them (FOT) give a look to the antennas would be my thought.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #2 – July 20, 2013, 10:20:26 am

Probably the crank up antenna. Put some D foam up there and it will go away.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #3 – July 20, 2013, 10:21:40 am

Quote from: Dan J. Stansel – July 20, 2013, 10:06:13 am

I have noticed lately that sometimes a thumping noise occurs which seems to be over the driver's head. Must be either the in motion sat or the crank up ant. or could it be the CB ant moving. Going to FOT late Sunday for front wheel seal and bearing ck. Thought I would see if they have any ideas. Can anyone here help. DAN

My guess is the crank up antenna. I had to put some rubber moulding that it sits on now.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #4 – July 23, 2013, 10:46:30 am

Yep, that was the first I noticed on the way home. Very annoying. I put some foam under our antenna, but ultimately replaced it with a Jack antenna. Works much better. But the foam should get rid of the thumping.
Jerry

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #5 – July 23, 2013, 10:49:00 am

Did you add the Jack that attaches to the arm or did you get the fixed mounted Jack? What does the "hole" on the inside look like if you did the fixed Jack? Or handle on the side rattles to beat hell and we have the Jack that attaches to the crankup and love the JACK, just wonder if the fixed Jack would elminate the rattle of the inside handle.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #6 – July 23, 2013, 11:08:08 am

I had that thumping noise with my Winegard batwing antenna. It went away when I replaced the batwing with one of the new King Controls Jack antennas. I mounted it on the existing Winegard crank up mast. The Jack must be just aerodynamic enough to not flap around while under motion. It also gives me better reception than the old Winegard batwing, but mine was very old being still original from 1994.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #7 – July 23, 2013, 11:44:17 am

Quote

What does the "hole" on the inside look like if you did the fixed Jack?

Tom,
Here's a photo of the hole and the Jack direction control. You have to enlarge the original batwing hole to 2 1/4".
jor

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #8 – July 23, 2013, 12:08:10 pm

Thanks for the photo! Exactly what I was looking for!

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #9 – July 23, 2013, 12:38:52 pm

Tom,
I removed the crank up and mounted the Jack to the roof. Enlarge the hole and no evidence of the change. From the inside there is no evidence of the change.
Jerry

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #10 – July 23, 2013, 12:39:13 pm

Tom,

If you decide to swap to the fixed-height Jack, keep in mind the interior piece is only available in white or black, not the ivory that our Winegard crank-up handles are. I had queried King Controls about it before we opted for the retrofit head; they have no plans to offer it in ivory and suggested I could get a can of spray paint

-M

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #11 – July 23, 2013, 01:56:18 pm

Tom,
Here's what it looks like on top. I really only ran into one issue which may be peculiar to my rig in that one of the antenna boost switches is inoperative and the other has some unconventional wiring. Anyhow, in my case, the Jack will not work with the provided power switch so, like others, I am using the onboard system and the Jack works fine. One of these days I'll figure out why it won't work with the provided thingamajig.
jor

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #12 – July 23, 2013, 02:11:23 pm

Michelle, good point! Maybe I just leave the inside part outside in the sun for a month and it'll yellow to the appropriate color!

thanks for the photos! Yes, we still use our onboard boast switch for our Jack as well.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #13 – July 24, 2013, 03:13:05 pm

Forgot to mention one thing on the Jack antenna install. I ran into another FT owner that had done it. He suggested that I use a router and a rasp bit to enlarge the factory hole. That setup made a nice clean cut in the fiberglass, wood and insulation.
jor

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #14 – July 24, 2013, 05:07:45 pm

Jor, are you aware that you installed the Jack antenna backwards? Or was that intentional? Strangely enough the end that looks like it should be the front--isn't! The weird shaped end is the front.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #15 – July 24, 2013, 05:31:01 pm

I have thought about that as a replacement too, to stop the noise when the wind catches my Bat-wing just right. Seems odd to me that they didn't design it to fit in the same size hole that the Bat-wing fits in. There are one or two Bat-wings out here and I would think they could have easiy increased their market share by making it a simple replacement instead of requiring modification to the existing hole(s). Just my 2 cents. Sorta like making a 15x15 vent cover.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #16 – July 24, 2013, 05:33:17 pm

Quote from: Brad & Christine Slaughter – July 24, 2013, 05:31:01 pm

I have thought about that as a replacement too, to stop the noise when the wind catches my Bat-wing just right. Seems odd to me that they didn't design it to fit in the same size hole that the Bat-wing fits in. There are one or two Bat-wings out here and I would think they could have easiy increased their market share by making it a simple replacement instead of requiring modification to the existing hole(s).

They do make a retrofit head - installs on the end of the batwing mast in just a few minutes. That's the version we have.

-M

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #17 – July 24, 2013, 06:49:47 pm

Quote from: Michelle – July 24, 2013, 05:33:17 pm

They do make a retrofit head - installs on the end of the batwing mast in just a few minutes. That's the version we have.

-M

Are the noises gone by using just the replacement head? That is my main issue...and yes, I have pads underneath the bat-wing. Is the picture better than it was with the Bat-Wing? Since I got the Winegard replacement head with the extra digital portion, it has worked really well at bringing in the signals, but I am still bothered by the noise at times. We get some severe cross-winds at times here in the desert and that's when it seems to be the worst for me.

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #18 – July 24, 2013, 09:17:52 pm

Quote

Jor, are you aware that you installed the Jack antenna backwards?

Gave me pause when I read your post but don't think so, Nite. Pretty sure I followed the directions. It's supposed to be mounted with the adjustable connector toward the front with the coax exiting on the right rear of the base. The inside control should turn clockwise 360 degrees. Anyhow, here's a couple of shots from the instruction sheet.
jor

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #19 – July 24, 2013, 11:58:26 pm

Quote from: nitehawk – July 24, 2013, 05:07:45 pm

Jor, are you aware that you installed the Jack antenna backwards? Or was that intentional? Strangely enough the end that looks like it should be the front--isn't! The weird shaped end is the front.

I noticed that too, but I would have installed it that way also. It just looks better when your underway - kind of like those wing antennas you would see on the trunks of limos way back when...

Re: Overhead Thumping Noise

Reply #20 – July 25, 2013, 07:38:08 am

For those who might be interested: Last week I installed a Jack antenna head on a Newmar for a friend. His raising mechanism was shot and he had a problem with forgetting to lower the antenna. I took two 9" long 1" square steel pieces of an old screen house leg. Bolted them together, offset lengthwise by 1-1/4," with two 5/16-18 X 2-1/2" lg hex head stainless steel bolts 1-1/2 each way from the length centerpoint. Then I drilled one (1) 9/32 hole thru the sq tubing that sticks out on each end. location: 1/4" up from end and on center. Then, up on the roof of the coach I removed the existing 3'lg tubes and the batwing antenna. I put the end of my 9" tubes in the existing base, inserted a 1/4" pin, scribed where the other mounting hole had to be thru the base, then drilled a 9/32 dia hole. I did the same on the other end of the tube assembly for the Jack antenna. I then used (4) 1/4-20 x 1-1/2" lg stainless steel bolts, nuts, flat washers, and lock washers. (Fastenal) Then, hook up the shortened co-ax, go down and inside the coach, and turn on the TV. Without rotating, we got enough signal to indicate reception for 16 channels. By rotating the Jack antenna, from inside, we got signals from 22 channels.

My friend now says he watched Eau Claire, WI, (a straight line distance of 137 miles) and now a day later--no picture! My response was that the station might not be on the air 24 hrs/day, or weather/ solar conditions, or he might have been dreaming. But, now his Jack sticks up about 1" above his AC. He can rotate it. It does not need lowering. It does not rattle or thump. He has much, much better reception than before. His DW says the picture is better than the cable picture in the house and now they are discussing cancelling cable and putting a Jack antenna on the house, seeing as how the quality of shows are better with the OTA channels.

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