Ext to Int coax ok for Dish sat?

[marter]

I know this has been discussed many times, but I haven't seen a consistent answer.

Is the coax from the external cable jack to the inside coax jumper plate in my 2008 International 19' sufficient to use a Dish Playmaker and Wally if I remove the jumper and connect the Wally to the Sat In connector (and run HDMI to the TV) and leave the antenna booster turned off?

Thanks,

Mike

[LBOskiBear]

I might be able to answer your question after this weekend.

I just acquired a Tailgater and Wally - am planning on doing this.

We both 2008 models - not sure if the wiring is the same. According to my owner's manual, I connect the satellite to the outside coaxial input. That brings it into the trailer.

I connect one end of the coaxial from the inside faceplate to my Wally receiver's input. That's supposed to create essentially a direct connection from the satellite to my Wally.

What's different is that the Wally doesn't have a coaxial output. According to my manual, if I had a coaxial output from the Wally, that would go into the other coaxial in the faceplate and the signal would be sent to both TVs.

However, since I don't have that, I guess I just run an HDMI directly from the Wally to my TV.

[The Ice Man]

Originally Posted by marter

Is the coax from the external cable jack to the inside coax jumper plate in my 2008 International 19' sufficient to use a Dish Playmaker and Wally if I remove the jumper and connect the Wally to the Sat In connector (and run HDMI to the TV) and leave the antenna booster turned off?

We have the exact same set-up and that's the way we do it. It works like a charm.

[marter]

Thanks for the replies.

@LBO, I don't think would work, based on what I've read here. The connection between the dish and the wally has to be direct, no delays or splitters. My TV has an HDMI connection and it's right by the splitter.

@Ice, thanks for the info. My cable and connections are good, I was worried that the coax might not be up to spec as to what the signal needed to be. Glad to hear it works.

Happy trails,
Mike

[The Ice Man]

The Walley needs to send a signal back to the Playmaker and a splitter interferes with that. Diodes, maybe?


At any rate, Dish to external AS male connection; at the plate, coax from the Satellite In to the Walley; HDMI from the Walley to the TV. It's worked like a charm for us for the last two years.

[marter]

Originally Posted by The Ice Man

The Walley needs to send a signal back to the Playmaker and a splitter interferes with that. Diodes, maybe?


At any rate, Dish to external AS male connection; at the plate, coax from the Satellite In to the Walley; HDMI from the Walley to the TV. It's worked like a charm for us for the last two years.

Good to know. That's my plan.

Any opinion on portable dishes? Not sure I need the X2's dual arc, since we will probably never travel in the northeast or Florida. Leaning toward the extra cost of the Tailgater instead of the Playmaker. Any opinion?

Thanks,
Mike

[Al and Missy]

The connector on the outside of the trailer and the one on the plate on the inside are two ends of one cable. I used mine for DirecTV, but I don't know why Dish would be different.


The HDMI connectors and cables are completely different from the coax AFAIK.


Al

[marter]

Thanks for the reply. I assumed that was a direct connection before it was rerouted theough the plate to the DVD. My concern was whether the coax was sufficient for the current Wally receiver. Figured it was, but before spending the cash I wanted to hear from others that had it working.

Thanks again,
Mike

[The Ice Man]

Mike:
The Playmaker works well for us, BUT things get awfully flat east of Denver and from that little crest just east of DEN I think you can see Chicago. Never been east of the Mississippi, so I wouldn't know if it's worth it or not.

[marter]

Originally Posted by The Ice Man

Mike:
The Playmaker works well for us, BUT things get awfully flat east of Denver and from that little crest just east of DEN I think you can see Chicago. Never been east of the Mississippi, so I wouldn't know if it's worth it or not.

Flat? I live in Nebraska. I know flat.

Looks like the X2 is about twice as big as the Plamaker or Tailgater, so that's not an attractive option. I talked to a Dish rep and she really pushed the Tailgater over the Playmaker. Trying to see why.

Thanks again,
Mike

[LBOskiBear]

Originally Posted by marter

Flat? I live in Nebraska. I know flat.

Looks like the X2 is about twice as big as the Plamaker or Tailgater, so that's not an attractive option. I talked to a Dish rep and she really pushed the Tailgater over the Playmaker. Trying to see why.

Thanks again,
Mike

Mine is going to be tested this weekend, so will report back on the outcome.

I had the exact same conversation - the Dish rep strongly suggested I avoid the Playmaker and go with the Tailgater. He said that people were less than impressed with the Playmaker.

The cost difference was negligible and the Tailgater was pretty, so I went with it.

[TG Twinkie]

I have a Playmaker. It works great.


Sent from my VS500 using Airstream Forums mobile app

[marter]

Originally Posted by LBOskiBear

Mine is going to be tested this weekend, so will report back on the outcome.

I had the exact same conversation - the Dish rep strongly suggested I avoid the Playmaker and go with the Tailgater. He said that people were less than impressed with the Playmaker.

The cost difference was negligible and the Tailgater was pretty, so I went with it.

Looking forward to your results. Hope it works for you.

Thanks,
Mike

[marter]

Originally Posted by TG Twinkie

I have a Playmaker. It works great.


Sent from my VS500 using Airstream Forums mobile app

Thanks TG. Pretty good price at $309 here locally for the bundle with the Wally.

Happy trails,
Mike

[LBOskiBear]

Originally Posted by marter

Looking forward to your results. Hope it works for you.

Thanks,
Mike

So, tested it out this weekend and everything worked fine. I had a 50' coaxial that came with the Tailgater/Wally combo and plugged that into the outside "cable/sat" in connector.

Inside the trailer, took the "sat in" connection and plugged it into the Wally and then the Wally via HDMI to the living room TV.

Worked fine although did notice that the outer coating of the coaxial cable is torn/rubbed off in several places. It seems to be a very thin and non durable coating.

[marter]

Originally Posted by LBOskiBear

So, tested it out this weekend and everything worked fine. I had a 50' coaxial that came with the Tailgater/Wally combo and plugged that into the outside "cable/sat" in connector.

Inside the trailer, took the "sat in" connection and plugged it into the Wally and then the Wally via HDMI to the living room TV.

Worked fine although did notice that the outer coating of the coaxial cable is torn/rubbed off in several places. It seems to be a very thin and non durable coating.

LBO thanks for the update. Glad its working for you

So the new coax that came with the Tailgater is already showing wear? Interesting, but I guess that's easily replaced when it fails.

Thanks again,
Mike

[LBOskiBear]

Yes - it was incredibly disappointing. It seemed the coating was just something as thin as saran wrap. I normally carry a fairly heavy-duty 50' coax, so will use that, but it's weird that they would provide such a low-quality cable. After all, people with tailgaters are using them outside in the elements!

[marter]

Originally Posted by LBOskiBear

Yes - it was incredibly disappointing. It seemed the coating was just something as thin as saran wrap. I normally carry a fairly heavy-duty 50' coax, so will use that, but it's weird that they would provide such a low-quality cable. After all, people with tailgaters are using them outside in the elements!

That's interesting. When I talked to Dish she kept stressing the Tailgater over the Playmaker and mentioned the coax specifically. Hmm.

Regardless, glad its working for you. And thanks for the update. Guess I'll budget some coax as well.

Happy trails,
Mike

[marter]

Well, I finally ordered a Playmaker Wally combo and tried setting it up in the driveway before we left for a trip this week. Mistakenly tried a 100' RG-6 coax and found it was too long. I acquired all 3 satellites but the dish kept making a ratcheting noise and wouldn't finish the initial setup; kept looping back.

Called Dish and they were helpful. She said 50' coax was the max so I switched to a 50' and she suggested I connect direct to the Wally and bypass the internal trailer coax, which worked and completed the setuo. She thought I'd be fine using the trailer coax once it completed initial setup.

However, when I switched to using the trailer connection outside and removing the jumper on the Sat connection and connected the Wally to the Sat in, it completely lost the signal and the screen said to check my connections, move out from under trees, etc. Reconnected directly and it worked fine. I gave up and went camping without it.

We're in a state park with a lot of trees so I doubt if it would have worked here anyway. We don't watch a lot of TV while camping anyway so I think I'll just return the combo and enjoy being disconnected.

Thanks all for the feedback on your experiences.

Happy trails,
Mike