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Old 08-17-2004, 02:19 PM   #1
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Talking Satellite TV help

I have a Direct TV satellite TV antenna that I no longer use on my house. (It's a single LNB). I want to use it on my 1989 Airstream 370LE MH. I am seeking enlightment from anyone that may have succeeded in what I'm attempting.

I want to build a 2X4 or PVC stand for the antenna and connect it when I am parked. I have a coax connection on the MH where the electrical and water connections are. Inside the MH, I have a VCR and a TV. It appears that the coax is fed from the electrical/water location to the VCR and then the TV is jumpered to the VCR by a small piece of coax.

I am assuming I will have to disconnect the coax from the VCR, connect it into one of my satellite dish boxes and connect the TV to the satellite TV box. That part seems straightforward.

My concern is with the coax from the antenna to the coax connection at the electrical/water connection location. It appears the the coax from the antenna is a dual coax cable with a ground wire. Does anyone know if I need another device from the antenna coax to the MH coax connection? Also, is my premise for cabling the TV service sound? The TV has a built in DVD player and VCR. It will be powered by a 110 volt outlet inside the coach.

Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.......

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Old 08-17-2004, 02:47 PM   #2
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not an expert, but I had directTV in the house, too. they ran a seperate ground wire. it may be an "either/or" thing. one thing I would double check, though, is the coax that is in the coach. The satelite is picky about that...requires "rg-6" cable, while regular-old antennas and cable-tv can use a lesser grade of wire, and the coach may have been wired with that stuff. I wanna say "rg-75".

anyway, there are guru's here that can give you a better answer.
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Old 08-17-2004, 03:03 PM   #3
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Thanks. Chuck.


Good point on the grade of wire. I'll make sure to check it.
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Old 08-27-2004, 06:20 PM   #4
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Quote:
I want to build a 2X4 or PVC stand for the antenna and connect it when I am parked. I have a coax connection on the MH where the electrical and water connections are. Inside the MH, I have a VCR and a TV. It appears that the coax is fed from the electrical/water location to the VCR and then the TV is jumpered to the VCR by a small piece of coax.
I used a 4X4 center post (verticaly), with 2X4 legs in a teepee fashion, Home Depot has a 24" 4X4 spike like base that bolts on. Makes the stand very stable, not once have I lost signal due to wind.

Quote:
My concern is with the coax from the antenna to the coax connection at the electrical/water connection location. It appears the the coax from the antenna is a dual coax cable with a ground wire. Does anyone know if I need another device from the antenna coax to the MH coax connection? Also, is my premise for cabling the TV service sound? The TV has a built in DVD player and VCR. It will be powered by a 110 volt outlet inside the coach.
1. Sounds like you have a dual LNB dish (LNB is the head at the end of the arm that points back at the dish) If you are going to run only one receiver, then just cap the other one off. a termination cap is perfered, but electrical tape will do the job.

2. The Sat receiver provides power to the LNB via the coax. If the connections in the MH won't allow DC current to pass, the dish LNB will not fire up. DBS systems reccomend the use of R-G6. If your MH is wired with R-G59 (very likely so) then you may run into a problem down the road; the difference between r-g6 and r-g59 is in the amount of insulation surrounding the center core, and the amount of woven outer shield wire (meshy stuff). Being that the sat receiver is sending current along the coax, it may cause premature failure of the center core insulation (white stuff) and alllow a short to occur. I try to use R-g6 Quad shield, when I install ant SAT or data system. The Quad shield has two layers of outer mesh, seperated by a foil layer. This helps block outside interference. (RF/HZ/Digital Cell)
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Old 08-27-2004, 08:19 PM   #5
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I did the same install on my 310 Motorhome. I found that the coax running under the length of the coach from the cable port on the outside near the electric and water was indeed RG59. My solution was to bypass that altogether, I (gasp) cut thru the inside and outside skin right behind the drivers seat and added a new cable outlet. Used the standard rv coax outlets available at camping world or any other rv supply store, aluminum trim on the outside outlet and plastic on the inside. There's a short (6") length of cable between the two, inside the wall. I hope that explanation makes sense, if not let me know and I will shoot a couple of digital pix and email them to you.

Best dish stand I've seen is a tripod with a sandbag hanging from the center under where the dish mounts.

FYI: I also got a Winegard video switcher so I could switch between video sources (DVD, VCR, Cable, antenna, and satellite) and the two tv's in the coach. Lots easier than unplugging coax when you want to change between a movie and the dish.

Good luck, hope this helps!
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Old 08-27-2004, 10:52 PM   #6
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Nick,

One tip is make sure the you are able to level your stand quickly if you make it yourself. Moving around and leveling the stand on uneven ground looking for a signal can be very taxing (I learned the hard way). Tripods work great. But I recommend this stand. http://www.accu-dish.com/index.html It will easily level in seconds on the steepest hills. Like spinolio, I also added a cable outlet bypass in my old Safari. You will probably have to.

I use different lengths cable and one of them has the ground wire. I just ignore it.

Also, don't use coaxial cable from sat box to tv. Use s-video or at least RCA (component) jacks for best picture. Hierarchy of cables (use first to last) 1. Composite 2. S-video 3. Component 4. Coaxial
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Old 08-27-2004, 11:00 PM   #7
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Oh and one more tip. Get rid of the nuts that come with the dish that require the use of a screwdriver and get some wing nuts instead. It's so much easier and faster on setup.
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Old 11-26-2004, 06:37 PM   #8
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I ran RG6 wiring in through the outside refrig access door to the front TV shelf in my 89 Excella TT. The old wiring in the TT will not work at all with the satellite because of the splitter that feeds the front TV shelf outlet and the bedroom TV shelf outlet.

Ben
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Old 01-07-2005, 09:39 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob30044
I ran RG6 wiring in through the outside refrig access door to the front TV shelf in my 89 Excella TT. The old wiring in the TT will not work at all with the satellite because of the splitter that feeds the front TV shelf outlet and the bedroom TV shelf outlet.

Ben
Ben, Where is this splitter? I have a 88 Limited and was trying to use my Direct TV and cannot get a signal. Also, I have the outside cable connection (street side) and a "amplified antenna, the original antenna was replaced by original owner" I don't see a A-B switch anywhere that would change the inside coax connection from cable to antenna?? My last AS was a 73 Excella....not so complicated
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Old 01-07-2005, 11:24 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by Ga Pockets
Ben, Where is this splitter? I have a 88 Limited and was trying to use my Direct TV and cannot get a signal. Also, I have the outside cable connection (street side) and a "amplified antenna, the original antenna was replaced by original owner" I don't see a A-B switch anywhere that would change the inside coax connection from cable to antenna?? My last AS was a 73 Excella....not so complicated
If you want to use the antenna to receive aerial broadcasts, make sure the amplifier is on. If you hookup to cable, it has to be off, or you won't get a picture.
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Old 01-07-2005, 11:47 AM   #11
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Look on the interior antenna wall plate. There should be a little black button with an LED. The button connects the plate to the amplified antenna when pushed, and the light is on. If the light is off the wall jack is connected to the exterior cable. This is still an issue for Dish systems, but if you have this plate the plate is where the splitter is to connect the front and back jacks together.
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Old 01-07-2005, 11:55 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by thenewkid64
Look on the interior antenna wall plate. There should be a little black button with an LED. The button connects the plate to the amplified antenna when pushed, and the light is on. If the light is off the wall jack is connected to the exterior cable. This is still an issue for Dish systems, but if you have this plate the plate is where the splitter is to connect the front and back jacks together.

'Course, in my case the splitter turned out to be in the hollow wall between my bed and bath, just above where the cable enters the trailer. The amplified wall plate is up front near the front TV.
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