Satelite Receiver Hook Up

[Mark in Indiana]

This forum has been very helpful but I still have a problem with satellite receiver hook up. I have a new crossroads cruiser. I am using direct TV with a portable dish. I have verified the receiver is set up properly by hooking the satellite cable directly to the satellite receiver. Picture works great. When I hook to the fifth wheel external cable hook up and then to the satellite receiver from the connection inside the camper I have no signal. Things I have done already based on this forum:

1) Hooked to the "satellite is" connection in the storage bay. I have two connections, one for satellite and one for cable. I have tried them both, but I understand that the satellite connection is the proper one.
2) There are two cable hook ups by the main TV. One is on a plate with the antenna amplifier. I turn the amplifier off and hook up from this to the "sat in" on the receiver. No signal. There is a second cable connection by the TV on a plate with no amplifier. I tried this connection to the receiver box ... no signal.
3) I tried the same routine with the satellite antenna hooked to the "cable in" connection in the storage box. no success either.

Bottom line .... it seems like I have attempted everything suggested on this forum to hook up without running the cable through a window for direct hook up.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

[gball]

Mark:

For satellite tv you should hook to the connection without the amplifier. Remove the plate for the satellite connection in the storage bay and behind the tv to make sure that the cable is connected and tight. There is a possibility that the cable is either loose or not connected.

[avvidclif]

Start by running a piece of coax from the Sat rx to the Sat antenna direct and make sure it all works. If it works that way then without changing anything hook the dish to the Sat connection in the side and the receiver to the internal sat connection. If no workee, cable loose or not connected.

[Mark in Indiana]

Thanks for the input. I have verified based on the recomendations made. I removed the plate in the storage bay and chcked all connections. They were a bit loose but that was not the issue. Still no signal when the satelite dish was hooked to "satelite in" at the storage bay location and the satelite receiver hooked to the sincle coax plate without the amplifier in the camper. Tried again with direct connection to the receiver. All works fine. Removed the plate inside the camper with the amplifier on it and removed the white coax feed to this. I hooked this coax directly to the receiver. I still got no signal when the dish was hooked to the "satelite in" connector in the storage bay. When I moved the dish connection to the "cable in" coax connection in the storage bay ..... I got a signal inside the camper and the main TV works well. So basically, I got it to work plugged in from the outside storage bay ("cable in"), but it is a bit of a rube goldburg job. At the end of the day, I am not sure it matters much since we intend to use satelite all the time. Can anyone explain what I am missing and why I have gone through this to make it work? I also have a few other questions...



1) Is the amplifier only for increasing the signal strength for "over air" antanna ontop of camper? If yes, and we do not intend to pick up "oaver air" signals, then there is there any other reason to maintain the amplifier? I could use this opening for a much neater installation which I am asking about in #2 below.



2) Can I split the satelite reciever sinal AFTER the reciever box for distriubution to the bedroom TV and the outdoor TV connection? There is a splitter behind the plate with the amplifier. My assumption is that these are feeds to the other two TV locations. If I want only one receiver in one location ... can I feed the other two locations? I understand we will only be able to watch one cable channel at a time. Currently I am sending the signal to the main TV from the receiver with red/white/yellow RCA component connections to the TV. There is also a coax "cable out" from the satelite receiver. Can I use this to feed the splitter for the other locations at the same time the component RCA plugs are feeding the main TV?



Again, appreciate the help.

[pulpwood007]

Originally Posted by Mark in Indiana

Thanks for the input. I have verified based on the recomendations made. I removed the plate in the storage bay and chcked all connections. They were a bit loose but that was not the issue. Still no signal when the satelite dish was hooked to "satelite in" at the storage bay location and the satelite receiver hooked to the sincle coax plate without the amplifier in the camper. Tried again with direct connection to the receiver. All works fine. Removed the plate inside the camper with the amplifier on it and removed the white coax feed to this. I hooked this coax directly to the receiver. I still got no signal when the dish was hooked to the "satelite in" connector in the storage bay. When I moved the dish connection to the "cable in" coax connection in the storage bay ..... I got a signal inside the camper and the main TV works well. So basically, I got it to work plugged in from the outside storage bay ("cable in"), but it is a bit of a rube goldburg job. At the end of the day, I am not sure it matters much since we intend to use satelite all the time. Can anyone explain what I am missing and why I have gone through this to make it work? I also have a few other questions...



1) Is the amplifier only for increasing the signal strength for "over air" antanna ontop of camper? If yes, and we do not intend to pick up "oaver air" signals, then there is there any other reason to maintain the amplifier? I could use this opening for a much neater installation which I am asking about in #2 below.



2) Can I split the satelite reciever sinal AFTER the reciever box for distriubution to the bedroom TV and the outdoor TV connection? There is a splitter behind the plate with the amplifier. My assumption is that these are feeds to the other two TV locations. If I want only one receiver in one location ... can I feed the other two locations? I understand we will only be able to watch one cable channel at a time. Currently I am sending the signal to the main TV from the receiver with red/white/yellow RCA component connections to the TV. There is also a coax "cable out" from the satelite receiver. Can I use this to feed the splitter for the other locations at the same time the component RCA plugs are feeding the main TV?



Again, appreciate the help.

Yes, the amplifier is only for over the air signals and is in the coax line going to the antenna on your trailer. There can not be an amplifier in the coax line you use for a satellite receiver. Direct TV receivers send out 12 or 18 volts DC over this coax to power the LNB and change it's polarity, and they do not want to see anything in the line that would interfere with this process.

Yes, you can use a splitter with the signal coming out of the satellite receiver to feed other locations. Use the "coax out" on the sat receiver. You do get some signal attenuation when going through a splitter but with short runs of coax like in a trailer, you could probably feed 3 other locations without a noticeable loss of signal quality.

I'm really a little confused on your explanation of the cables and how you have solved your problem but sounds like you've got a handle on it. Since you have hooked it up "direct" from the receiver to the sat antenna and know it works, it's just a matter of finding the right run of coax from your storage bay to your receiver.