External Antenae Connection

[Raptorrider2001]

My 25' Safari('99) has a TV and Phone outlet in the rear bumper
storage compartment. Is this where I would connect a small satellite
dish cable? Would it then feed all of the interior outlets? Thanks

[gwsullivan]

I will assume your '99 is wired the same as my '01. The coax goes from the rear bumper to an outlet in the living room where it is terminated on a circuit board behind the face plate. This board contains the antenna booster as well as the coax to the rear bedroom. I installed an additional connector on the face plate and moved the coax from the rear bumper to it. This is the connection I use for satellite tv. When I use the antenna I connect the tv back to the original connector.
Hope this helps

[RoadKingMoe]

Not sure if the Safaris are different, but the cable from the rear of my trailer goes to a plate in the credenza. The plate has two coax connectors and a short loop of cable between them. Then it goes up to the plate with the amplifier and cigarette lighter.

You insert the satellite reciever connections at the plate in the credenza. When the Winegard TV amplifier is on, it's getting the signal from the batwing antenna. When the amplifer is off, it takes the signal from the sat receiver hooked to the connections in the credenza.

[jcanavera]

Connecting at that outside point directly from your dish will bring the signal into the trailer. You will then need to connect a satellite receiver to the inside connection and connect your TV to the satellite receiver.

Jack

[thenewkid64]

The standard Winguard wall plate is a pass thru for the external connection when the booster is off. If the booster is on it will feed the amplified signal from the antenna, and no signal from the outside connection.

[Raptorrider2001]

Thanks to everyone for their help. What a great Forum. Now, if I can just get one of you to find my roof leak....

[jcanavera]

I've been taken to task by someone who repairs A/S for a living, who is telling me that the amplifier will filter out the voltage necessary from the satellite receiver to LNB on the satellite dish.

Personally I felt that if the antenna amp is turned off the voltage would pass through. I guess the only way to prove this out will be to hook the satellite receiver to the connecter on the antenna outlet inside the trailer, make sure the antenna amplifier is turned off, turn on the satellite receiver and measure if there is voltage present at the outlet in your Safari bumper storage area.

I would do this myself but my Safari is in inside winter storage about 50 miles out of town until March. I'll be working the WBCCI table at the local RV show next weekend and I'll see if I can get some definitive answers from our dealer's folks.

Regards,

Jack

[RoadKingMoe]

Jack, I wouldn't do that. I believe the voltage that powers the LNBs is higher than that which feeds the amp in the batwing. Might toast it.

See page 3 of the Winegard external dish manual

http://www.winegard.com/images/pdf/2451148.pdf

which shows how to hook a satellite receiver into the cable input of their receptacle for the batwing antenna.

In my '01, Airstream has already done this. The cable from the rear of the trailer comes forward to a plate that is hidden in the
rear of the credenza. That plate has two coax connectors. One is the cable from the rear of the trailer, and one goes up the wall to the center connection on the batwing plate.

Airstream ships the trailer with a short coax cable jumper between these two connections in the credenza, so the connector at the rear of the coach can be used for cable TV.

To insert a satellite receiver, you remove the jumper and connect the Sat In input on the sat receiver to one of the two connectors in the credenza, and the TV Out output on the sat receiver to the other of the two connectors in the credenza. It is possible to get them connected backwards, and I forget which is which.

Once it is hooked up correctly, when the amp switch on the batwing plate is out (OFF) the TV out from the sat receiver will be fed to both the coax connector on the batwing plate, and the
coax connector in the bedroom. When the amp switch on the batwing plate is in (ON) both its connector and the bedroom connector will get the signal from the over-the-air batwing antenna.

Hope this helps.
--
Maurice
WBCCI 5446

[jcanavera]

Maurice,

The Safari doesn't have the cableing set up like you speak about. I think at this point I'll talk to the dealer's service guys on Saturday at the RV show. We will figure this out since I was planning to start carrying a satellite receiver and dish this coming travel season.

Regards,

Jack

[Pahaska]

My International has just the setup Maurice has described. Only difference is that my plate with the cable jumper is right out in the open, above the refrigerator.

I find it odd that they would have done something different on the Safari of the same year as Maurice's.

I haven't actually tried it with a satelite, but that's how my manual reads, also.