satellite tv

[witchdr66]

Hello Fellow RV'ers,
Just purchased a 2013 Winnebago Vista 35F class A RV.
I had the dealer install a winegaurd carryout satellite on the roof.
With that said They had told me that it would only work with the front TV. "What are you #$@%ing kidding me really".
I would have never agreed to that if it only worked one tv. I would have just bought the portable one and hooked it up on the outside satellite connection and watched all the tvs without any hassle and spending the money to mount one the roof.
You cant sit there and tell me other cables need to be ran inside camper to make rear tv and outer tv work.
If that's the case (which I'm having a hard time believing)Why would Winnebago do that?
So sorry for the complaining but my question is My RV has RCA jacks that can hook up to satellite receiver along with the regular cable that screws in to back of receiver.
Will the receiver take the satellite picture to the rear bedroom tv via RCA cables that are back there already and to the outside RCA cable jacks which are there already. I realize the picture on all the TVs will be the same cause of only one satellite receiver but I'm okay with that. I just want to watch satellite tv on all tvs.
Thanks for all the input. 

 

[Jeff3]

When you say that your RV has RCA jacks are they coming out of a switching box? If they are and your box shows TV2 as your bedroom RV then you will be able to see whichever show is selected on the satellite receiver. Our box considered the RCA inputs as the AUX input. The other method is to run the "Out to TV" coax from the satelllite receiver to the switch boxand connect it to the "Sat In" connection.

Both TVs will see the same show.

 

[SargeW]

I had an 06' Meridian that used one satellite and one satellite box to supply the whole RV with signal from the roof or outside remote satellite.  I did install an "A/B" switch to avoid having to manually switch the cable inside the at the satellite cabinet from roof to remote feeds. 

On my 10' Journey, the A/B switch is the same, but maybe because I have 4 TV's in the rig, I need a separate satellite box for the bedroom TV, even though I still get the signal from the roof top antenna.  The cable for the bedroom satellite box was already installed in the roof. I had to pull off the roof plate where the satellite was mounted on the roof, fish out the feed for the back TV and hook it up to the satellite L&B.  Then the rear satellite box operated the the rear TV.  As such I can watch different programs on the front and rear TV's. 

 

[Scalloper1]

Sat TV antennas are either single or dual LNB, if your antennae is single LNB you can split off of tv out to several tv's all with same programming. I have used this set up on offshore scallop vessels with dual LNB to split tv signal to several bunk rooms.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

If you have only one satellite receiver, you need a video switch + distribution box between it and the tvs. Run the receiver output to the switch box, and it in turn can feed the other tvs. Many RVs come with such a switcher, but I have no idea what Winnie provided in your Vista. Typically, though, a switch is included with a multiple tv set-up, so that the signal from DVD player & antenna and satellite can be selectively routed to each tv.

It sounds as though the satellite installer didn't bother to route through the switch and just ran coax to the receiver and then from there direct to the front tv.

As for the RCA jacks, those are typically a set of 3 that is called Component Video or RGB (red-green-blue). Your satellite receiver should have those as an alternate output. These also require a pair of wires for audio.  Sometimes, though, it is single (yellow) RCA jack called a composite video signal. In any case, the problem is the same as with satellite output - the signal needs to go through a distribution switch to feed the various tvs.

 

[DeWat]

Concerning the OP's surprise, I think he is right.  My Vista 35B (the 35F's bunkhouse twin) has two satellite connectors... BTW, they are the typical TV "F59" jacks, not RCA plugs.  One of the connectors is in the overhead cabinet over the driver's seat and labeled "Roof Satellite" (I think that's the label, but I know it is roof).  The other connector is in the water service bay with the park TV connector, and I **think** it just says "Satellite".  IIRC, only one of those connectors serves the entire coach, and again, I **beleive** it is the water bay connector.  I will double check this when I get home.  For the OP, I think this "feature" (issue) is also addressed in the Vista manual, so if you go to Winnebago's site and download your manual, it will be easier since you can just search the PDF for the word "Satellite".

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The RCA jacks he mentioned are on the tv, not the external input jacks.

 

[DeWat]

The RCA jacks he mentioned are on the tv, not the external input jacks.

Ahh, after re-reading the original message I see that part of the point... thanks Gary.  Going on my twin, the overhead cabinet over the driver has the roof satellite jack and also has the "high quality" component RCA jacks, the yellow, two reds, the green and the blue.  Under the bedroom TV are the "regular" jack labeled satellite and the typical yellow-video, white-left audio, and red-right audio RCA jacks.  Because of the way that the TV's video selections are made through the TV menus and not a switcher box, I think that the only thing shared between the front and rear TVs is the Jack antenna, and the jacks in the rear water bay.  As a side note, I don't know about the OP's build quality, but I have found some very irking QC issues in mine.  I had to pull the jack from the wall on my rear TV and rewire the way it was plugged because whoever originally did it could not follow the simple yellow/white/red wiring, and had my video running to the right audio.  But then agian, my coach has a build date of 5/25/2012, and going on the "saying" about coaches built on Mondays and Fridays, mine was built on a Friday before the three day Memorial Day weekend... they were probably REAL ANXIOUS to get out that day!

 

[Alfa38User]

I think most receivers (not the dish itself) today have only 1 output or more correctly, two outputs, One HMDI and one using coaxial cable to the TV which must be set to channel 3 or 4.  To operate a second TV with full functionality, a second receiver is required and how it is fed from the dish itself can vary but, as a bare minimum, it needs a second output from the dish itself. There have been many ways developed over the years such as multi-switches, built-in multi-switches, multi-output LNB's etc but without knowing precisely what Winnibago wired/supplied and what models of dish/receivers are involved. it is almost impossible (for me, anyway) to contribute a knowledgeable answer. After all... this equipment was added after market by a "knowledgeable" RV dealer and we all know how that can go at times. The equipment ordered by the OP may not have been the type Winni foresaw in designing their cabling so it might require some thinking "outside the box" when installing......

Understanding what Winni supplied by use of their wiring diagrams  is absolutely required. The one thing I am sure of is that, in these days of dishes with multiple satellite reception etc, Winnibago did not wire the  motor home so that additional cables over the roof and through the windows would be required..... Cables using RCA jacks are not used (usually)  to feed multiple TV's over the length of a coach from a single receiver. They might be used to connect the receivers to the TV in different ways depending on what the requirements and desired signal quality or to a home theater type of system but typically for more than one TV, a signal source selector box  or video switch + distribution box are used as was mentioned by Gary

 

[witchdr66]

Thanks for everyone's response I will check it out real good this weekend.
Why can't it be just plug and play? Oh well that's life.
Thanks again everyone.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Why not plug n play? Maybe it is - or at least could be.  W simply cannot tell from the information provided so far. Most coaches don't need any extra gear to provide a tv signal to all sets, but it's hard to guess what the dealer aftermarket add-on did (or did not) for yours. And whether it took advantage of what Winnebago had already provided - or not.

A call to Winnie Customer Service would get you some idea of how they expected a satellite dish to be added and the signal fed to all tvs. This is not an unusual thing - surely they had given it some thought and probably even had sopme sort of plan in mind for it.  Then maybe you could discuss with the dealer/installer what should have been done.