KVH TV1 antenna broke

ZZ13

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2009
5,319
Lady's Island, SC
Boat Info
2001 400 Sedan Bridge
Engines
Cummins 450 Diamond
well my 2.5 year old TV1 antenna broke. Naturally the warranty is 2 years. It's the RG6 connection at the antenna. If I can't fix it myself I will be sending it back for repair. Has any ever used KVH for a repair? How did it go?
 
I found the problem. The thin shielded wire (KVH calls it a battle connector) with the yellow tape on it comes from the external RG6 connector and goes under the unit and comes back out to the internal R/J connection. It works when I bypass that extension wire and plug directly into the R/J connector. Since this rotates 360 degrees, the shielded wire is probably going into some kind of rotating connector. Now to take the unit off the case to see what's under there.
 

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Now its getting interesting. There is nothing wrong with the extension connection from the outside connector to the R/J connector shown in the picture. I verified that by doing a continuity check from the outside connector to the open end of the original connector that is unscrewed in the picture. So I am down to one of two problems. The center wire on the outside cable is not making contact inside the outside connector, or the center wire on the inside braided cable is not making connection to the inside of is mating connector. That wire is very small in diameter - about half the diameter of the test RG6 cable I have plugged into it.
 
isn't that wire part of the "clockspring" that coils up and out as the antenna rotates?
Unless KVH changed the antenna will rotate until the limit of the clockspring is reached then will unwind and re-acquire the satellite.
Possibly it is broken and making intermittent contact. You might put the meter on the ends of the wire and rotate the antenna to see if it is broken.... Just a thought.
 
isn't that wire part of the "clockspring" that coils up and out as the antenna rotates?
Unless KVH changed the antenna will rotate until the limit of the clockspring is reached then will unwind and re-acquire the satellite.
Possibly it is broken and making intermittent contact. You might put the meter on the ends of the wire and rotate the antenna to see if it is broken.... Just a thought.
Thanks. I couldn't pull the unit off the base to look under there pulled all the screws out but only lifts up an inch or so. Your point makes sense. I did the continuity check after I had rotated it by hand a full turn. I'll try your test then probably just pack it up and ship it to KVH for repair.
 
Clipped the meter leads to each end of the cable and spun the antenna around 360 degrees in both directions. It never lost continuity. So I put it all back together and re-installed and it's now working fine. Guess I'll run it hard for a while and see how it holds up. Back to the beginning of the circular loop I go.....
 
Just a thought here to consider.... if you originally bought your TV1 with a credit card, most will offer purchase protection by adding an additional year to the warranty. Your two year warranty would be three years (duh). Of course, if that’s not the case, you're totally out of pocket so hopefully your repair will be long-lasting!
 
Ive used KVH to fix my M1 twice...its not cheap . Shipping was about 100 bucks from NY to rhode island . Same thing broke on mine twice. I had a circuit board that fried twice and they figured out the second time that I must of had a floating ground in the boat that fried the board. I wanna say it was about 250 bucks plus shipping every time it broke
 
If it's not too much trouble, I would put some dielectric grease on all of the connections. It will help keep corrosion from starting. With things that new, pulling it apart and back together usually cleans the connections a bit and will start working again. The dielectric grease will help keep that connection clean.
 

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