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Old 03-02-2013, 10:46 PM   #1
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Dish Network on Lacrosse 318BHS

I have a dish mounted to the roof of the 318BHS, which works great when we have a clear view. We move to a different park in the Oregon State Parks as volunteers. Some of the parks do not have a clear view of the sky. We are in a park now that my antenna will not find the satellites. However, there is a Dish and Direct TV dish on the ground for use by the camp hosts.

I ran a cable from the dish to the Satellite connection on the trailer. Then disconnected the cable from the roof dish to the receive and connected a cable from connection above the TV to the receiver. Simple.. But it does not work.

I called Dish Network and they spent 45 mins with me on the phone trying to get it to work.it would not work.

He came to the conclusion that some of the satellite inputs on some newer trailers are not compatible because of the way they are wired and have an internal split. To get it to work I have to run a wire directly from the antenna, through a window, and directly to the receiver. I think not....

I can not believe I purchased a trailer that is advertised satellite ready that is not compatible with Dish Network.

Does anyone have any input or advice?

Thanks
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Old 03-02-2013, 11:12 PM   #2
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I wouldn't believe it either.

You said: "...and connected a cable from connection above the TV to the receiver."

Do you have some reason for believing that this is the other end of the cable connected to "satellite connection" on the outside of the trailer?

If it is, it's not uncommon for there to be a bad or miswired connection on that line. (On
my RV, it came from PrimeTime with satellite and "cable" connections swapped.)

Start out by doing what the Dish guy said and run the wire thru a window to the receiver to verify that it works in this configuration. Assuming it does, then do some checking on that satellite input wire. I think it's orange colored on your RV. Make sure that both ends are orange. Look for bad fittings. If you don't see anything obvious, take it back to your dealer. PrimeTime warrants that it will work for a satellite connection.
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Old 03-02-2013, 11:55 PM   #3
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Now that I look into more and look beyond the satellite connection, I see in the basement there is a "cable" and "satellite" male coax connection mounted on the trailer, but only one connection (besides the DTV connection) in the trailer. Does the trailer use only one inside connection for cable and satellite but two separate connections on the exterior basement connection area? Does that make any sense?
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Old 03-03-2013, 12:28 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rvenneman View Post
Now that I look into more and look beyond the satellite connection, I see in the basement there is a "cable" and "satellite" male coax connection mounted on the trailer, but only one connection (besides the DTV connection) in the trailer. Does the trailer use only one inside connection for cable and satellite but two separate connections on the exterior basement connection area? Does that make any sense?
Up above the TV there is a cable/antenna connection (power 'on' is antenna, power 'off' is for cable). The other one, to the right, is the satellite feed, from the satellite connection in the basement. If you did something on on the roof to tie in to the antenna cable, it likely won't work.
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Old 03-03-2013, 09:16 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by rvenneman View Post
Now that I look into more and look beyond the satellite connection, I see in the basement there is a "cable" and "satellite" male coax connection mounted on the trailer, but only one connection (besides the DTV connection) in the trailer. Does the trailer use only one inside connection for cable and satellite but two separate connections on the exterior basement connection area? Does that make any sense?
No, it has two connections inside as well. Only one of them (Sat) is normally visible to you. The "cable" wire goes into the back of the antennae amplifier (which switches the TV from antenna to cable when it's switched on/off). If they swapped those two wires, it won't work. That's why I told you to check the cable colors. They use different colors for the two wires.
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Old 03-03-2013, 04:28 PM   #6
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Read through this old post:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...kup-26974.html

the points you raised are all covered in that post.

Bob
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Old 03-18-2013, 11:08 PM   #7
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I tried, at the suggestion of Roger and Dan, to try this connection or that connection to see if somehow the connections were reversed during assembly, each time reverting to the proper way it should connect. I had the SAT in connected to the Dish and the non-powered connection to the receiver at least 10 times, then taken apart and then connected again. And finally it worked. Roger thinks the connection some how was plugged and by inserting and removing the coax it finally connected. It has been working without fault for the last 10 days.
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Old 03-21-2013, 08:25 PM   #8
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Sometimes from repeated connecting and disconnecting, the center part of the coax connector (male) becomes "sprung apart" and the solid center copper wire of the cable doesn't make good contact when the 2 connectors are screwed together. It can also be corrosion on the threads of the connectors also. I usually slightly bend the center copper wire of the cable end so that it has to rub the center of the connector when you screw the 2 together.
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