Hooking up / Troubleshooting Cable

K_M_H · 05-25-2022, 07:39 AM

I had a good idea yesterday, so now I get to ask a dumb question, right?

On our last trip to Hershey, the park provided free cable. With a Toddler that we needed to keep occupied, I thought to myselfe "Score! We can actually cook without her 'helping' and being underfoot." Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out where to connect it, and when I did get it connected, the TV couldn't find any channels.

I noticed one hookup on the back labelled "Cable/Satellite" with two coax connections and another on the side with "Cable Hookup" on it. I tried all three connections, to no avail. Any ideas on how to get this hooked up properly, or troubleshoot? I figure either the cable hookup at the pedestal was bad, the coax I ran to the coach was bad, or the wiring in the coach is bad. The problem is that I'm not sure how to test to figure out which is bad.

bubbles · 05-25-2022, 08:03 AM

One of the "Cable/Satellite" ports is for park cable but which one has to be figure out because sometimes they are reversed. The side "Cable Hookup" is most likely an output port for outside TV. The TV needs to be selected for Cable input and the booster panel needs to be OFF (for over the air antenna only). A channel scan then needs to be run.

CHICKDOE · 05-25-2022, 08:03 AM

i'd try the process of elimination. run you coax directly from the pedestal to you tv. you may have to detach the existing coax going to the tv. don't use any of the internal cables. then with that setup make sure you can set your tv to get a signal from the cable. if you get it working you know the tv and the cable you are using are good.

now put the original coax back on the tv and hook the coax from the pedestal to one of the three coax receptacles you found. my guess would be to try to the one labelled coax on the rear with the one labelled satellite. go inside and make sure your antenna boaster is off. then turn on the tv. it should already be set up for coax so you should have to scan or make any changes to it. if this works you're good to go. if not, change the outside coax to one of the other two remaining ports and try again.

my guess (and only a guess) it that the two coax receptacles in the rear are for park cable and for satellite. the park cable will go through the antenna boaster. the satellite will run inside without going through any spiltters and will terminate in loose coax somewhere inside. my guess again is that the single coax port on the side is actually an output poert that you could use to connect an outside tv. all guesses, no direct knowledge.

fipntdot · 05-25-2022, 08:04 AM

The connection on the side is probably to connect an outdoor tv. (Our unit has one). The back connection is probably the one to hook up to the site. If you have a powered antenna, you may need to turn it off. (Likely a small button on the plate where the tv coax itself connects to the signal connection in the wall). You might also need to switch the signal type on the tv menu to "cable" if it is currently set to "antenna"

K_M_H · 05-25-2022, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubbles

One of the "Cable/Satellite" ports is for park cable but which one has to be figure out because sometimes they are reversed. The side "Cable Hookup" is most likely an output port for outside TV. The TV needs to be selected for Cable input and the booster panel needs to be OFF (for over the air antenna only). A channel scan then needs to be run.

Yeah, tried both with a channel scan and no dice. Know all about the booster panel button. The only thing I may have missed is a setting in the TV for CATV vs antenna.

Wingz13 · 05-25-2022, 08:32 AM

I just went through similar; this is what I found....

The left connection on our Salem was the one to hookup to the Campground cable tap. The tap (connection box at the campground) had 2 connections at our site, one was not working.

Inside, I moved the TV coax from the bottom, powered antenna connection, to the top connection and then did the scan for cable channels and it worked.

Like I said, I had to move the connection on the outside campground tap as one of them was not working.

Old Duke · 05-25-2022, 09:17 AM

Don't want to sound real simple on this one, but are you sure that the cable was even working at the box. I have been places where the park advertised cable, but when I got there and couldn't get my system to work I found out that it was not working either at the box or the whole park was out.

Just asking for a friend.....

Reverse_snowbird · 05-25-2022, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Duke

Don't want to sound real simple on this one, but are you sure that the cable was even working at the box. I have been places where the park advertised cable, but when I got there and couldn't get my system to work I found out that it was not working either at the box or the whole park was out.

^^^^ Check this first. We've found some parks had quit paying for cable because it got too expensive. Of course, you had to check with the office to find that out.

Some cable systems require a cable box to get it to work, available either with a fee or free at the office.

Then you do have to scan for cable channels on the tv. Usually they are digital signals, but sometimes they are analog.

Then work on figuring out which cable works for what on your rig.

K_M_H · 05-25-2022, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

^^^^ Check this first. We've found some parks had quit paying for cable because it got too expensive. Of course, you had to check with the office to find that out.

Some cable systems require a cable box to get it to work, available either with a fee or free at the office.

Then you do have to scan for cable channels on the tv. Usually they are digital signals, but sometimes they are analog.

Then work on figuring out which cable works for what on your rig.

That was the first thing I should have checked / will check on our next stop - and the thing Mrs. H was questioning the most. Seems to me that the cable was halfway there when we got it connected up as the smarter-than-me TV it changed the name of the input when we connected up to one of the ports.

It scans for analog and digital, so it ought to be able to figure it out.

In al honesty, I don't really go camping to watch TV - so this is one of those things that's more important to other people than me, meaning I'll probably have get it resolved sooner rather than later.

Beluga · 05-25-2022, 03:29 PM

As mentioned above a lot of areas have gone from analogue to digital cable signals so you need a box from the company that is providing the cable. The campground may have them for loan or rent and should be able to help hook up your cables. Good luck, does your unit have a DVD player? That (well actually a VCR first then a DVD player) helped tons when our kids were younger.

Larry-NC · 05-25-2022, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubbles

One of the "Cable/Satellite" ports is for park cable but which one has to be figure out because sometimes they are reversed. The side "Cable Hookup" is most likely an output port for outside TV. The TV needs to be selected for Cable input and the booster panel needs to be OFF (for over the air antenna only). A channel scan then needs to be run.

And sometimes all the cable channels are digitally encrypted and you have to ask at the office for a "cable box." At the spot I'm writing from, the office never remembers to offer one when you check in. There are so many things to do here that many people don't even notice, but right now it is cool and rainy.

Alabama Potter · 05-25-2022, 05:54 PM

[QUOTE=Old Duke;2740381]Don't want to sound real simple on this one, but are you sure that the cable was even working at the box. I have been places where the park advertised cable, but when I got there and couldn't get my system to work I found out that it was not working either at the box or the whole park was out.

We also have had issues with our new Fiver television and we DID check the cable pedestal outside with a separate small television. Worked fine. However our new t.v. is a Roku brand and our Dish guy told us they do not play well with cable as they are mostly designed for streaming. Ut works fine with OTA and satellite but it could never find the channels after we tried everything. Just saying…

markstrickland182 · 06-18-2022, 05:03 PM

I thought I was having an issue with our new camper connection for tv via the sat/aux connection(there are two ports, one for on camper tv antenna, second port sat/aux). I have a tester and deiced to remove the cover inside the camper for the tv/sat aux connector to find the SAT/AUX connector not connected to anything. I just left the cover off and straight connected to the wire once my coax/cat5 tester gave me a green light. Home made tv antenna now gets almost 60 channels. I don't even use the roof top antenna as mine works better. I can send pictures if needed.

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