TV cable up

[NWHouston]

We are the third owners of a 2016 Flagstaff Classic 832 IKBS trailer. I am trying to sort out the correct cabling to 1) watch TV from the antenna, 2) watch TV via the external cable hookup and 3) watch DVD's via the IRV 66. I have reviewed the electronic Owner's Manual on the Forest River site, and find it lacks any details on this topic. I have attached two pictures of our trailer's available coax connections as well as the back of TV as of today. Cabling to the back of the TV is 1) coax, 2) HDMI cable, and 3) and smaller blue cable with what I assume is some form of audio input connector.

We can raise the Wingard and watch TV with good picture and sound once the TV does its channel search, so #1 is fine in terms of hardware as currently connected. And clearly the coax that goes to the TV right now is somehow connected to the Wingard antenna.

We can watch a DVD via the IRV66 with good picture and passable sound, so #3 is again possible with the hardware and current cabling from the wall to the TV. The IRV66 is a poor substitute for a DVD player (at least our model) as one cannot do anything but hit play and stop. But we can see the movie. The sound is quite loud and cannot be turned down to "low" even at a level of 1. The zone sound buttons do work fine.

My issue is understanding what Forest River intends with the two coax plates vs. what they installed out of the wall. Right now there is no way to use the external campground cable without disconnecting the coax from the wall to the TV, and running a new coax from the wall plate to the back of the TV. I do know to push the little black button on the plate to turnoff the green light to switch from trailer antenna to external cable.

What are others doing with this setup? Do you disconnect cables and hook up others when you want external campground cable? I expect my connections are reasonably standard on ca. 2016 Forest River trailers.

Thanks for the help. Tried searching the forum as I know this is a routine question, but I cannot get a set of search parameters that focus on my question, so I get over 1000 hits. Woof.

Larry

[Daycruiser]

I think the previous owners did some changes. My Rockwood same as your Flagstaff had exactly what you have except there was no coax coming from the inside of the cabinet. I had the same IRV66 as you also. On the outside driver rear or thereabouts you probably have a dual coax connector, one for Satellite, and one for Cable. The Sat goes to the top Coax connector on the face plate with the two connectors behind your tv. The Cable goes to the circuit board behind that same face plate along withe coax that comes from the roof antenna. When you push the button to turn off the green light (Amplifier) you are switching between the Cable coax and the Antenna coax connections on the back of the face plate. You should only have a coax from the bottom connector on the face plate to the back of your TV. If you don't have a Satellite system then the top connector would remain unused. The Connector off to the right of the dual face plate is the Satellite out to the Bedroom TV connector for Satellite. If you have a coax coming out of the cabinet then somebody added that for some reason. If you pull out the IRV66 radio you'll be able to clearly see where everything is running to. The IRV66 is crap, but replacing it is not that easy due to the big hole and wiring you'd have to contend with but it can be done. I just installed a BluRay player and sound bar which addressed both issues. Good Luck.

[5picker]

I have the same set up with our Flagstaff 8529IKBS.

To utilize cable you simply turn off the wall plate switch and connect the campground cable to the external cable port. Do a cable scan on the tv and you're all set.

The external cable coax comes into the wall switch/power inserter and not only does turning off the switch kill the power to the roof top antenna but it ALSO acts as as an electronic A/B switch. No cables need to be moved.

To utilize the SAT port, you would connect your dish to the external SAT port (outside) and your receiver to the upper SAT coax port on the wall plate with the button. The button has NO effect on this cable as it is a 'home run' from the outside to the inside with no splitters.

The second bedroom SAT wall plate is used to feed a SAT receiver signal to the bedroom. You can either send the signal directly from the receiver to the bedroom tv wall/ceiling plate... OR... you can jumper the two wall plate connections together (behind the main tv) with a short coax cable and then move the receiver to the bedroom and you'll still have a 'home run' that will allow the receiver to operate.

On mine, the coax cable out of the wall is the same as the lower coax port. You would use the lower cable port if the campground requires the use of an external box. You connect a short coax from the wall plate and a short coax from the box to the tv where the current coax is connected. If the campground requires no box, nothing needs to be done to watch cable except turn off the power inserter button. They simply provide that port as a convenient way to make connections without having to remove the wall plate.

You can also use that port to connect a cable modem if that service is available. I do it often at one of our favorite campgrounds.

[NWHouston]

5Picker, thanks for your followup. Sounds like I can forego any internal cable changes when I hook up to CG cable supply. Need to remember to turnoff Wingard, as typically that is all we use for TV if anything. I can only test these connections when at a CG so I am accumulating tests that I need to run for our next outing.

Daycruiser, I am with you as to the value of the IRV66. We have no functionality with DVD's other than play and scene advance after you start. We cannot return to the main menu once a DVD starts, and we cannot move to any of the setup options within a DVD before we hit 'play'. Hence we always get to enjoy the subtitles. If there is a direct replacement product I would sure consider it.

Again, thanks to both of you for your quick input.