How to Hook Up a Tailgater DISH to my Georgetown 351

[OldSarge]

I have read as many posts as I can find on hooking up a Tailgater to the Georgetown 351. I have tried all of the recommended hook ups and have come to the conclusion that I am not tech savvy enough to make it work!

My DW and I just returned from Talladega and had to run the cable through a window in order to use our DISH. Needless to say I could only watch our up front TV and had no reception in the rear or outside of the coach. I know I must have separate receivers, but if I could hookup through the existing cabling I could take the receiver to the bedroom or outside.

I would appreciate anyone's advice and suggestions on how to hook the Tailgater up to the existing wiring.

The OldSarge sends regards.

[Ford Idaho]

I am doing something just like you are.

My King came with RG-6 cable the lite has RG-59 installed.

There is a huge difference between the two so I am now looking to see how hard it would be to fish new RG-6 from the cable connection in my docking station to the inside where the tv is hanging.

I will bypass the splitter as I have only one tv and will likely not use the batwing on the roof.

[ChrisAndGarren]

OldSarge - We have the same coach as you - here is how we have handled it -

We hook the tailgater to the "cable in" that is in the basement area (by the power cord etc) We then have the switch in the front cabinet above the passenger side set to "cable" so it reads the signal from the back - we then connected the switch to the Tailgater receiver.
We used to use the coax built in for the receiver "out" line, which fed directly to the TV's. This worked pretty well, but we lost the hi-def signal because they weren't HDMI cables.
So our new setup is the receiver connects to an HDMI transmitter - which links (via bluetooth) to a HDMI receiver attached to the TV itself. This works pretty awesome.

The HDMI transmitter we have will only connect to 1 receiver - so last year we just moved the receiver to the back TV when we wanted it there (Since we only watched one at a time)

This year (because I'm lazy) we bought an HDMI splitter and another receiver/transmitter pair. We plug the tailgater receiver HDMI out into the splitter, which gives us 2 HDMI outs, one for each HDMI transmitter, and I have a receiver on each TV so they get the same signal.

We don't have an outside TV, and this doesn't hook to any of the bunk TV's either.

Let me know if you have more questions about our setup - it's pretty straightforward to get the parts etc (we ordered all of ours from Amazon) and we replaced the 2 TV's with better ones also.

Garren

[mcwatkins01]

I have used our Tailgater setup on both our 2011 XL350Ts and or new Xl360DS.

We also go in through the cable input in the back. You will lose the High Def signal.

Currently I am just putting up with the standard def signal. One nice thing about using the system cables is that I come out of the coach antenna amplifier tap into the sat receiver and use it to also tune in the over the air channels also. Without doing any switching this also passes through the over the air signals so that all of the TVs tuners in the coach can receive those channels and the sat signal on channel 3.

Not sure if I have explained this well enough not to confuse everyone!

[bubbles]

Originally Posted by mcwatkins01

I have used our Tailgater setup on both our 2011 XL350Ts and or new Xl360DS.

We also go in through the cable input in the back. You will lose the High Def signal.

Currently I am just putting up with the standard def signal. One nice thing about using the system cables is that I come out of the coach antenna amplifier tap into the sat receiver and use it to also tune in the over the air channels also. Without doing any switching this also passes through the over the air signals so that all of the TVs tuners in the coach can receive those channels and the sat signal on channel 3.

Not sure if I have explained this well enough not to confuse everyone!

You won't lose HD due to using park cable. You must utilize the HDMI output from the receiver to get HD. If you are using the receiver cable output to your TV's it will only provide SD.

[NMWildcat]

And that reminds me of my latest gripe. Why don't the manufactures at least have the option of running HDMI throughout the rig instead of coax? I keep asking at all the RV shows and all I get is the sidestep.

We also have the tailgaiter and plug into the input on the outside of the rig. That's fine to get to the receiver inside. But if you use the coax network inside the rig to get from the receiver to your TV then you lose HD.

So we have an HDMI cable running from each receiver to its TV which is one more thing we have to remember before we take the TVs down for moving day (TV goes down into the cabinets on electric rail).

Time for manufacturers to keep up with technology.

[bubbles]

HDMI prewire would have been nice alright and due to where my TV is located I have not found a hidden path to route an HDMI cable to where I must install the receiver. If I somehow install the receiver at the front TV using its coax input and run the HDMI to the front TV I lose the ability for the aft TV to have SAT (splitter is before SAT receiver). I'm not sure that the SAT antenna input can be through a splitter anyway and besides, have no idea where the splitter is hidden. Been looking for awhile. For now SD is ok with us.

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

And that reminds me of my latest gripe. Why don't the manufactures at least have the option of running HDMI throughout the rig instead of coax? I keep asking at all the RV shows and all I get is the sidestep.
Time for manufacturers to keep up with technology.

Unlike analog cable...HDMI standard digital cable degrades signals rapidly over distance and true HD at distances over 25' is hit and miss..and over 50' gets VERY expensive & may also involve amplifiers. The quality of the output of the source and the input of display will impact the signal "length" you can achieve as well with the same cable. As picture quality improves (as with 4k Ultra) the distance capable will get shorter again. While most salesmen are unaware of this...my guess is that the engineers don't want to be faced with the irate phonecalls and expensive fixes that such a switch would entail. Better choice is to bring it in analog & use wireless HDMI for distribution.
Like this one:Amazon.com: Nyrius ARIES Prime Digital Wireless HDMI Transmitter & Receiver System for HD 1080p 3D Video Streaming, Laptops, PC, Cablebox, Satellite, Blu-ray, DVD, PS3, Xbox (NPCS549): Electronics

[mcwatkins01]

I want to correct that my new coach is a XL 369DS not 360 (since i can't seem to type accurately into my phone)..which means the tv is a long way from the main tv. Can't use an HDMI cable. I lose the Hd but for right now it is manageable until i buy a transmitter and receiver for HDMI over Rg.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Unlike analog cable...HDMI standard digital cable degrades signals rapidly over distance and true HD at distances over 25' is hit and miss..and over 50' gets VERY expensive & may also involve amplifiers. The quality of the output of the source and the input of display will impact the signal "length" you can achieve as well with the same cable. As picture quality improves (as with 4k Ultra) the distance capable will get shorter again. While most salesmen are unaware of this...my guess is that the engineers don't want to be faced with the irate phonecalls and expensive fixes that such a switch would entail. Better choice is to bring it in analog & use wireless HDMI for distribution.
Like this one:Amazon.com: Nyrius ARIES Prime Digital Wireless HDMI Transmitter & Receiver System for HD 1080p 3D Video Streaming, Laptops, PC, Cablebox, Satellite, Blu-ray, DVD, PS3, Xbox (NPCS549): Electronics

I agree with everything you have said. And yes, HDMI is more expensive (but not prohibitively so in my opinion) which is why manufacturers are sticking to cheap coax which is relatively archaic but still functional to a point.

And with the ability to broadcast the new protocols wirelessly, how the RV is wired will probably be a moot point soon

Everyone in our RV gang has either gone wireless, or has run HDMI cables so they can enjoy HD in their rigs just like they do at home. And yes, we have run several 50' HDMI cables (passive - no amplification) that handle 1080i and 1080p just fine at a reasonable cost.

My point is that I wish manufacturers did a better job in keeping up with and at least addressing big technology shifts. Why install HD tvs when there is no way to actually use them at their potential without the buyer having to modify or work around hardware installed at the factory?

And when everyone is going solar, why is there no factory option, or at least an easy way to get wiring from the roof to the basement. Maybe cable trays are the answer

But perhaps this is why we love RVing, we love a challenge and we love doing things ourselves. Which is why this forum is so successful!

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

...And when everyone is going solar, why is there no factory option, or at least an easy way to get wiring from the roof to the basement. Maybe cable trays are the answer...

I totally agree concerning the ability to put solar on an RV. While some have added a Zamp connector and a couple of lengths of wire, they should look at solar the same way they look at satellite TV. Most FR rigs come with a PVC termination on the roof and a cable or two as well as DC for the auto tuning dishes.

Solar would be a lot simpler. In my 335DS, all I would have asked for is a terminated PVC conduit to the roof that goes straight through the cabinets in the Bedroom and ends up in the basement by the converter. Now I am doing that but it would have cost FR about $50.00 to do it when they built the rig and a lot of owners aren't comfortable drilling and routing the conduit. They could pull the wires and install the charge controller and panels...

[camaraderie]

@NMW... I'd settle for a blue ray player and 6ft. HDMI cable to the TV...might even be amenable to a sound system that doesn't sound worse than a boom box on 4D cells.
It really would be nice to have some prefab channels connecting top & bottom so we could mess around and customize for our needs since there is so little opportunity to do that at purchase time.
Like most things... someone in the market will do it... and then everyone else will follow to catch up. Kinda like 50 amp pedestals, on site sewer and wifi in the parks.

[Grouch1]

Oldsarge I install a switch control box for the three tvs each tv has antenna,cable and sat. I had to find the 3 way spliter it was behind the wall in the compartment over your drivers seat I cut a hole and fed the wires to the compartment on the passengers to my controller I put my cable tv box in same compartment with controller I have no issues

[Gohawks]

I received this be a email from Forest River customer service online. It shows where the splitter is in relation to the front compartment.

I have the same issue and I think wireless HDMI is the only way to go.

[Gohawks]

Here's the schematic Of where wires are located in unit.

[W5CI]

Wireless HDMI, now I would like more info on that please

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by W5CI

Wireless HDMI, now I would like more info on that please

Click on the link in post #8!