Another Satellite question

[Deputy382]

Here is my setup and thoughts. Could you please give me your thoughts?

2021 Surveyor Legend 296QBLE, outside connection says cable/satellite. Inside I have 3 places for connection. In the living area there is a plate that has 2 available connections. One says satellite the other says antenna (I am assuming roof mount). There is a booster also on that plate. The other 2 areas have a wall plate with nothing labeled.

If I get a Dish Playmaker, could I connect it to the cable/satellite port on the outside and plug the hopper into the satellite port and the living room plate with the booster off. I am hoping there is no splitter and the other 3 available connection are just split from the rooftop antenna. Any thoughts on this working as I hope?

[Gmoney67]

Short answer yes will it work maybe.i can only tell you from my experience and everytime I run through rv system my playmaker has problems so I end up running coax through slide and direct to receiver to tv.the playmaker wont work on more than 35' of coax some will tell you 50' I have tried.talked with dish outdoor when I add second receiver he told me the king tailgater would work and also run two receivers.if it was me cost more but research using king tailgater versus winegard playmaker.

Iv used this in 3 different 5th wheels all with same results

[Deputy382]

Thanks for the quick reply: My slide is on the other side of the camper so I would have to run the coax across but obviously an avenue.

I like the option of 2 tv's and the Tailgater. Will that dish allow for a longer coax run? I would like to purchase within the next week and pull my camper to my house to test before our next trip. I have been researching for about a month and feel stuck.

[Hawkpat]

I have had two different brands of fifth wheel and both the tailgater and playmaker. Connection via rv wiring is always iffy with most times not getting a signal to tv. Direct connection to receiver works well consistently. Have been told there are splitters in the rv wiring which decrease the strength of signal because both dishes send electrical signal thru the coax cable and splitter disrupts.

[bubbles]

Deputy382, can you post a picture of your wall plate?

[Deputy382]

I can grab one after work. I distinctly remember the top RG6 jack said satellite and the bottom said aux or something similar. It also had a booster on/off button. The bottom is where the cable was connected when I purchased it and hooked to the TV. The outside is labeled cable/satellite but it is a sticker probably from the manufacturer.

Does the manufacturer ever create a diagram showing the wiring of the coax for the campers?

[NMWildcat]

Every RV coax runs are different. And no, no schematics on your particular wiring of any kind.
Satellite likes a straight coax end to end run, no splitters. Some RVs have this straight run for satellite, some do not.
I have replaced cheap OEM splitters with high quality power pass through splitters that work fine with automatic portable dishes. The problem is finding the splitters in your RV. I've found them behind wall plates, in cabinets and cubbies, even underneath the RV.
And as for coax length and satellite systems, I've used up to 200' of good quality RG6 cable between the dish and RV, plus the RV internal cabling to the receiver, and had no problems. I usually use 75'.

[Gmoney67]

On my newest 5th the connection are labeled
Satellite and cable tv and also over the air antenna.I have no splitters on satellite coax as each run goes directly to each rooms I have checked each cable.im a full timer so I got full size house dish setup so I can run through rv satellite connections.
As far as king tailgater running on more coax in anthor thread poster said they ran 2 receivers on 200' coax I still need do more research on king tailgater.

[jentwistle]

These dishes get power from the Joey over the coax. I have an isata 3. A few people rewired theirs successfully to use the internal wiring. A flat coax lets you slide it under the screen and avoid the headache.

[bubbles]

If this is the wall plate you have I do not understand your park cable saying sat/cable. If the park cable is connected to the plate AUX/SAT port it can be used for SAT (to SAT receiver) or park cable (to a single tv) but if the park cable is connected to the plate TV output (which is connected to the 12Vdc booster splitter) it is either park cable or over the air tv (booster off or on) and available to all tv's. One other thing. The carryout antenna for Dish is compatible with specific receivers and don't think the Hopper is one of them. The Dish Playmaker does have one with dual outputs. The Playmaker comes with a 50' cable. The Dish carryout with dual outputs will allow a second receiver for other tv's independent channel selection as long as the desired channel is on the master channel selected satellite. The sat antenna does need to be an uninterrupted shot to the receiver but the receiver output can be connected to as many splitters as needed without issues.

[Deputy382]

After work I will run over to the camper in storage. I will take a pic of the 3 cable outlets inside and the one outside. I will also unscrew the outlet near the main tv and take a pic of connections in there. Anything else I should take apart and take a pic of?

[Deputy382]

Okay, took the plate off. Top says satellite and middle says TV1 and is connected to that card. Upside down on the card it is labeled cable(on the right), antenna (middle) and tv2 (left) with orange coax. The cable runs back to a splitter with 3 outputs. Now I am totally confused. Is the cable outside connected to anything inside? Why are there 3 outs from the splitter when there are only 2 other tv locations?

WillI need to run coax from the cable/satellite outside to the satellite plate inside?

[Gmoney67]

Do you have outside tv hook up?I think thats why the 3 way splitter.i may be wrong about this
You should be able to hook up satellite coax outside to that connection to one tv.
How many outside satellite connections do you have?on my unit I have 2 one to each tv.

[Deputy382]

Good thought. There is a place outside to mount a tv. I have one connection outside going in that says cable/satellite. I am now wondering if it is wired to anything. Me thinking..... if the 3 from the splitter are going to the 3 other TVs then what is the orange one for TV2 connected to the card?

[Gmoney67]

I bet the 3 way splitter is for the cable satellite and the card is for over the air antenna.i looked at your picture and it gave me a headache lol

[Deputy382]

Me too, taking the pics only made it worse. I wonder since the ‘cable’ area on the plate card is all going out, could the other 2 be the antenna and the satellite/cable connection from outside?

[bubbles]

I think your panel may be hooked up wrong. The 3 connections on the card are; 1 input cable from that sat-cable port (CABLE) on the outside/1 OTA antenna (ANT) input and 1 output (TV2) cable to all other tv's that may go to a splitter for distribution to more than one other tv. If you want that external sat-cable port to be used for a sat antenna you will have to take the sat-cable connection and connect it to the not used satellite coax connector on the panel. Connect the sat antenna to the external sat-cable port. You can then connect the sat receiver to the panel satellite port. Your sat receiver output will be HDMI for HDTV connected to your tv HDMI input port. Leave the tv coax cable connected to the panel for OTA antenna input. With this scenario your other tv's will be limited to just OTA antenna viewing.

[rracer5]

I think you're going to have to pull the wall plates at every one of your Tv locations and note what color cable is connected to it. In your pics I see black, grey and a thin black on the output side of the splitter. Usually, the orange is used for satellite runs. Why it's hooked to the Tv2 slot has me confused unless it does go to the second Tv's wall plate. The white one you have a hold of should be your input from the roof antenna.

Now, to me, the splitter input should be on the Tv2 connector so it can feed the second Tv (black or grey out) and your outside Tv port (where you would mount one if desired, the left over black or grey) through the splitter.

You may be missing a coax because the "cable" port on the card would now be empty and should be connected to the "cable" in port on the outside (the one you said has the "cable/sat" label). I also see a connector on the wall plate (blue center low resistance connector). What is connected to that? That should be where your satellite cable from the outside should come to. The small black cable coming out of the splitter probably is the antenna wire from your AM/FM/CD/DVD sound system.

The only ports on the card for "inputs" are the "ANT" and "CABLE". Tv1 & Tv2 are outputs to the various Tv locations. The other one (blue center) should be your satellite "IN" (behind the wall plate) & "OUT" (on the front) going to your satellite receiver.

Not to confuse you but, not knowing what color coax comes & goes from what locations makes it difficult. Hence, my suggestion that you pull ALL the plates both inside & out to see what color coax is at each location.