Any trick to watching cable TV?

dedmiston · 01-13-2017, 11:11 AM

I feel like such a bumpkin for asking this, but 99% of our camping is dry camping and hookups are still kind of a novelty to us. We’ll be staying at one of those highfalutin RV parks this weekend and I expect to have hookups. I’d like to be able to catch the NFL playoffs, so I don’t want to leave anything to chance.

Besides connecting a piece of coax from the pedestal to the Cable jack in the convenience center, do I need to do anything special inside the coach to make the cable work?

(I can’t believe I’m asking this!)

woodwalker · 01-13-2017, 12:26 PM

Dave
There should be an amplifier behind one of the tvs or close by. It is an electrical wall plate that has cable going to it a cigarette lighter socket and a button with a led light. You need to push button, light on for roof Antena and off,light off for cable hookup

dedmiston · 01-13-2017, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodwalker

Dave
There should be an amplifier behind one of the tvs or close by. It is an electrical wall plate that has cable going to it a cigarette lighter socket and a button with a led light. You need to push button, light on for roof Antena and off,light off for cable hookup

Awesome. Thanks WW. Should that control both TVs?

woodwalker · 01-13-2017, 12:40 PM

Yes normally does

Dayle1 · 01-13-2017, 03:45 PM

Also make sure you have 25-50 ft of coax cable for the hookup from the pedestal to the trailer. At the trailer there will be two coax connections, labeled 'sat.' and 'cable', and there are some cases of them being reversed although I've never had this issue.

Steve7 · 01-13-2017, 08:13 PM

I've seen the hookups reversed. Also, you will likely have to conduct a channel "scan" once you select the correct input for the tv...

Papa-T · 01-13-2017, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayle1

Also make sure you have 25-50 ft of coax cable for the hookup from the pedestal to the trailer. At the trailer there will be two coax connections, labeled 'sat.' and 'cable', and there are some cases of them being reversed although I've never had this issue.

My 2016 5er wasn't labeled. Just the two connections. Guess if they don't label them we can't complain about them being reversed, huh?

gregtx · 01-14-2017, 07:12 AM

I have a laundry list of things that didn't work from factory and things that quit working after purchase. One was coaxial connections. I have 2 on wall behind tv, one is a 3 way switch, cable, off, antenna. The other faceplate with coax wasn't labeled. In both slam doors there are connections for both "sat" and "cable". They are miss labeled and took trial and error to figure out what was wired to what. Turned out, the faceplate that wasn't marked, is the for sat. and cable. Connection for the "cable, off, antenna" faceplate doesn't work at all. Antenna has never worked, and radio has never had reception.

harley · 01-14-2017, 08:46 AM

As stated earlier , there is a good chance that your connectors are not hooked up or hooked up wrong. If so , poke the co ax wire under your slide and route it to the back of the tv and hook it directly.

dedmiston · 01-17-2017, 08:18 AM

Well, if my story were a bad novel, this part here would be called the Epilogue.

Checking into the nice RV park on Friday (remember, I primarily dry camp, so I'm like Jed Clampett asking if they have a "cee-ment pond"), I asked about all the niceties of the sites, wifi passwords, etc. The woman was pleasant, but not too bright.

Me: "Do your spaces have cable TV hookups in the pedestals?"

Her: "No, well yeah. I mean yeah, we have satellite here. Everyone uses satellite and we have it here, if you have one..." (trailing off as she plays with her hair).

Me: "So you have...uh...free sky?"

Her: "Wut?"

Luckily I was able to use this free sky and my crank up antenna to pull in a bunch of TV stations from Santa Barbara. The playoff games were all on the major networks (no ESPN), so we were able to get all the games we wanted to see.

Thanks for the sky!!!

r2millers · 01-20-2017, 01:59 PM

Dave,
Were you in the big Ventura campground just north of the city next to the river outlet?
Have driven by there many times but never camped.
Have you tried either county park, Hobson or Faria down at the beach?
I've also parked along the frontage road parking but not too excited about staying there.

dedmiston · 01-20-2017, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r2millers

Dave,
Were you in the big Ventura campground just north of the city next to the river outlet?
Have driven by there many times but never camped.
Have you tried either county park, Hobson or Faria down at the beach?
I've also parked along the frontage road parking but not too excited about staying there.

That's the one. All-you-can-eat free satellite. Ya' can't beat that.

Ventura Beach RV Resort. It's pretty nice there--not great, but nice. It's close to home though (about an hour away). I used to camp there with my co-moderators from RV.NET. They have a lot of trouble with the local homeless people and it also gets pretty rowdy there on big holiday weekends, but that's kind of fun once in awhile.

It also gets pretty loud there when the County Fair is in town. It's right across the wash from the fairgrounds. And in the summer they also have live bands. It's funny, they'll get the ex-drummer or roadie from a band and then claim they have that band playing for free at their RV park. We've seen Blue Oyster Cult, Molly Hatchet, Thin Lizzie, and The Tubes play there. Yeah right.

The other thing I like about that location is that I can sneak out early from work and go set up and then my wife can drive up from LA to meet me there after work. She didn't get MLK day off, so she got up early and split while the dogs and I cleaned up and broke camp.

We used to camp at Emma Woods State Beach up the road when I was a kid. I can't really fit into any of the state or county parks with our big fiver though (44.5'). Even at this RV park, I had to move my truck to the overflow parking.

Steve7 · 01-20-2017, 06:12 PM

error

r2millers · 01-22-2017, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dedmiston

I can't really fit into any of the state or county parks with our big fiver though (44.5'). Even at this RV park, I had to move my truck to the overflow parking.

Ya, that's big. I remember that just 3-4 yrs ago, a rv trailer max length in CA was 40'. If I recall correctly, now 48'.
You got to be on your game when hauling that guy.

dedmiston · 01-23-2017, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r2millers

Ya, that's big. I remember that just 3-4 yrs ago, a rv trailer max length in CA was 40'. If I recall correctly, now 48'.
You got to be on your game when hauling that guy.

It's just driving. I love my new setup with my bigger pickup and this monster of a fiver better than my 2004.5 RAM 2500 and 30' bumper pull. I drive a lot slower, but it feels safer. Driving in town is a lot of work though.

Luckily my wife is a great partner when I need another pair of eyes. She jumps out and dials my phone and she tells me about the obstacles I need to back around.

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