Pulling my Hair out!

[Mrjkq]

I recently installed a portable Tailgater Satellite Dish system with DishTV being the provider. Today I brought the AS home from storage so I could plug it in & activate the service. I'm 95% sure the installation is correct as I changed out the switcher/splitter box from the 2x1 provided by AS to a 2x2 box with two input connections, one for the satellite dish, the other for the Blue Ray and two outputs one for each TV. With everything powered up & the TV menu set on Cable, the green light on the satellite box turned on but the TV remained just static. At this point according to the Dish instructions a setup menu was supposed be on the screen & the activation process would begin.
This has me baffled, anybody got a suggestion or two.

[KJRitchie]

Switch the TV to its HDMI input. The satellite receives its signal from coax. It can output via HDMI. Sounds like you are using the HDMI output on the satellite into the switchers/splitter that feeds to the TVs.

Kelvin

[andreasduess]

The TV is set wrong. Cable won't give you a HDMI connection.

[Mrjkq]

The TV source is set to TV, tried both HDMI 1&2 nothing worked. The only menus settings are Cable or Air. Now what ( and thanx for the input)?

[HowieE]

Do the simplest thing first. Connect the Dish antenna directly to one of the TVs and see if that will work. If so than add in the splitter.

TV channel may need to be set to channel 3 or 4 when receiving a satellite signal.

[Mrjkq]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Do the simplest thing first. Connect the Dish antenna directly to one of the TVs and see if that will work. If so than add in the splitter.

TV channel may need to be set to channel 3 or 4 when receiving a satellite signal.

Thanks, first I'm going to replace the AS splitter that the Blue Ray was connected to & connect the dish seeing if that works as I've got a gut feeling the splitter is faulty.

[Jekerrville]

Howdy,

From the hatbox antenna outside to the Dish receiver should be only a coax, no splitters. I believe that a cable run comes with the AS. Inside the equipment cabnet is the other end. This is NOT the coax that goes to the wall plate with the off air amp in it!

Next at the back of the Dish receiver there should be Sat In threaded fitting. This should only be connected to the outside hatbox. (Nothing else in the line)

Now, out of the Dish receiver should be various connections for (video, left, right sound); a (threaded fitting )with something like TV out or equivalent labeling and if the Dish receiver is a classy one, there will be an (HDMI) output.

If you can find the HDMI splitter that goes from BlueRay to the front and back TV's, connect its input to your HDMI output of the Dish receiver. Leave the BlueRay off for the moment.

Now set the TV set on the wall to HDMI1 using the TV menu. (Maybe HDMI 2 depending)

Fire up the Dish and the TV and you should have the setup menu from DISH looking at you. (Check both HDMI selections on the TV set menu)

One other thing, leave all the "coax" cables connected tween the off air hookup and your TV. In this way you can just use your TV remote to swap sources from off air to Dish and back.

Depending on the AS wiring you may have two HDMI cables that will allow Dish and BlueRay to use HDMI 1 & 2 inputs on the TV. (I think you indicated that you bought an HDMI spliter, a multiplexer)

I believe some AS configurations may have a HDMI multiplexer to combine two separate HDMI inputs into one output cable. However, at the other end of that cable you have to split the signals back into HDMI 1&2 then into the TV set. You still must use the remote to select which one to watch.

In some cases you can get an HDMI combiner/ spliter that will combine two HDMI sources into one output. Which ever is ON gets the output to the TV. If yours has two outputs it will work for two TV's but I believe this type of combiner/splitter requires a power supply.

Hope this confusion helps as it is why I am bald.

Happy trails.

[Kathys quilt]

You do know the tailgater has it's power source coming via the cable and some spliters do let the power through. I have had many problems with my Tailgater and a call, toll free to Dish tecks has been my best help; like changing the local channels to where you are camping or resting the system if you aver been off for a couple months and not getting updates imputed into the system.

[mojo]

Went through the same dance with failing signal until I found a bad HDMI cable. Keep testing ALL connections till you find the missing link.

[Lumatic]

What is the receiver model you are using? You have the option of connecting the receiver to the TV by either coaxial or HDMI cable. You can diagnose if your tailgater to receiver to TV is working ok by bypassing any connections and temporarily running the satellite feed directly into the receiver. On mine the TV has to be set to Input 3. Lastly, if you call up dish they will walk you through troubleshooting, ask for a RV tech.

[Mrjkq]

Its working!! DishTV never activated the receiver in a timely manner. One activated I got the system up & running. Thanks for all your help & suggestions.

[mefly2]

...ooops ...

[Lumatic]

You will find when the tailgate system is not used for a couple of weeks it does not work. The reason for this is Dish sends out a signal to the receiver remotely every couple of weeks and if it is not on it won't work right. You then have to call up Dish and they will have to ping your receiver so you can use it. Takes about a half hour if you have a support tech who knows what they are doing. The work around is to keep your receiver hooked up, maybe piggyback to your satellite dish at home.