Another satellite ?

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sadixon49

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Jan 14, 2016
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Fishers, IN
This telescopes off of my previous satellite questions, but since that thread has been dead for awhile I'll just start a new thread.

For those that have portable satellite dishes, how do you get the coax into your coach/trailer? Do you just run a cable thru a door/window? Have you installed a permanent connection to the outside of your coach/trailer from the receiver/LNB power dongle? Can you use the existing cable connection meant for campground cable?
 
I pass a cable through the window near the receiver.  I found that routing it through the existing cables attenuated the signal and having to remove and replace wires on the BOMB (box of many buttons) was a pain every time.

They make flat cables For passing through windows.  I've heard they work well.
 
Some folks use the existing park cable lead.. I do not recommend this on most RV's as it's low quality RG-59, not high quality RG-6 and the better cable will provide superior performance


Some, have a dedicated "Satellite" cable input from the factory

Some (IE: ME: run new cable, Dedicated RG-6 x 2  I ran mine down the "A" pillar, under the dash (motor home) through an existing hole in the firwall next to whatever was already there and to a Ground Block on the Brake Bell Crank Bracket under the hood..

I also have a factory cable to a spot in the roof
I added an A/B switch.. A for the dome up A-bove
and B for the Ground B-lock down B-elow on the B-rake  _B-ell crank B-racket

Makes it real easy to remember A and B

NOTE; on Trailers.. Since the fire wall is .. not... You can run out via holes drilled for plumbing or electrical services.
 
Many RV manufacturers have been using RG6 for many years - Winnebago since at least 2003 for example. In any case the loss with RG 59 won't really make much difference although it does have a higher loss than RG6.


There are several ways to do it. Winegard recommends the diagram below.


Making the connections the way Winegard recommends does not require adding any coax connectors to the wallplate.


Note that this assumes your front TV is connected to the coax connector on the front of the wall plate. If yours isn't, there should be  a splitter in the line labeled "To second TV" that will send the signal to both the front and rear TVs (if you have two TVs).


What Winegard calls a "power supply" below is the wall plate with the antenna booster switch and LED showing when the amplifier is on.


If you still want to be able to use the external cable in for both cable TV and the external dish just add an A/B switch to switch the incoming coax from the sat receiver "sat input"  to the sat receiver "TV input".


If your receiver doesn't have a coax output (and many new ones don't) and you still want to use the batwing antenna you will need to use an A/B switch to switch the signal between the receiver and the antenna out connection on the wall plate.


One thing not shown in the diagram is using the RCA type connections or the better quality "component" type output or the HDMI (best) output between the sat receiver and the TV.
That will yield a much better picture with no interference from any local channels. You have to select a "video in" with your TV menu instead of using channel 3 (for example).
Some newer satellite receivers don't have a coax output so you may have to use HDMI or component connections.


If you have a video distribution box that will have to be taken into account.


Picture here
 
Since we sometimes want to hook up both our external dish and the park cable, I added a second external connection for the dish next to the cable connection using the 3 Ghz swept RG6 coax that Dish specifies for our Hopper receivers.
 
I have a tailgater and route the cable through the slide out.
 
I ran a dedicated rg6 coax from a convient storage compartment lovation to behind the TV.
 
We also use a tailgater and run the coax through the slide.  I tried using the trailer satellite input but it wouldn't work well, so we took the simple route.
 
Lots of good info here. I was about to buy one of those flat cable connectors, but when I opened the box of my satellite dish, I found one was provided. So at least for now, I'll use that.
 
The Tailgater comes wit a 50' coax and in the instructions, it states it should be connected directly to the receiver as power for the antenna is routed through the coax. With that said, I have not tried to connect to the external connector so I don't know if it will function properly or not. I know I could try but ?
 
Not sure I understand, you are using flat cable with the tailgater?
 
I use flat cable coming through the window  http://www.trianglecables.com/product/Flat-Under-Window-RG6-F-Type-Cable-8-Inches.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=merchant&utm_campaign=152&gclid=CNasxLaL_9ECFVMDhgodPX0EVA
like this one.
 
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