Interior TV cable problems

mark1974 · 06-12-2009, 03:27 PM

I live in my trailer and had the cable hooked up outside and used it this way for months. I noticed the quality wasn't all that great and figured it was a problem with the cable service. I was in my cousin's trailer recently (parked here recently) and is shearing the same cable and noticed his was nice and clear. I bypassed my trailer wiring and also got a good picture. I have checked both ends as well as tightened them up some. If anything its worse now. I tried the tv in the bedroom and living area and both are bad. I tried the satellite wire and its worse. Does anyone have any ideas? Its not a huge deal as I just ran the cable in through my power door but I would like to use it the right way if I could.

Chrisnan23 · 06-12-2009, 09:23 PM

The connectors on the end of the cable in the trailer are generally not very well crimped if the ground on the sheild is bad the picture will be, at best, poor. Also make sure the boost for the antenna is off on both outlets (red LED off).

KeyedUp · 06-13-2009, 12:36 AM

I found that the splitter used at the main junction box inmy2009 Zingerwas poor quality and wired poorly. Probably OK for a regular TV but not for HDand ahigh speed modem.

I would assume most trailers are wired the same in that ahome-run goes to one centrally located box and splits to other connections. Locate your main junction boxand check your signal before and after the factory installed splitter. I replaced my splitter with a quality splitter and improved my signal and have no issues for HD and cable modem signals.

Stan · 06-13-2009, 02:05 AM

I had a very similar problem with my cabling that worked fine for 3-4 months then went south. Since your problems are throughtout the rig, you probably have an issue at the beginning of the system. My problem was bad connections and cable from the outside hook-up to the main TV power box/booster.

mark1974 · 06-13-2009, 02:22 AM

My cables have the screw on type ends that you can buy at the hardware. I tightened them but that didn't help and may have made it worse. I will take things back apart and pull the ends off and make sure the grounds are good. Thanks for the suggestions

Chrisnan23 · 06-13-2009, 02:35 AM

You really need the crimp type. They give a better connection.

FB1965 · 06-13-2009, 06:36 AM

I gave up on the crimp tools and bought the compression tool from lowes.Cost was more,but sure makes neat connections.Never had another bad connection.Just my 2 cents

sola123 · 06-13-2009, 09:07 PM

I have learned that if you have the antenna booster on at the same time you have cable hooked up to the trailer it affects the tv pic and makes it look bad...when it is off it cleared up pretty as you please...check that...it is easy to leave on....

ClassicHammond · 06-13-2009, 11:48 PM

A bad connector ANYWHERE in the system will cause the signal to be poor even when down the circuit so you need to check every connector. And yes, HD is more suseptible to faulty/poor connections. If your picture has multiple pictures/channels than your signal is too strong and you need to turn off your amp because the cable company is sending you plenty of 'gain.' When checking your ends be sure NOT EVEN one little strand is touching the center wire from the braided shielding wire. That's all it takes to ruin your reception. Also check the center connection---some brands of cable have a "skin" on it that will insulate the wire...a little scrape will indicate this. Lastly....all of the push on cables...throw them away, they are useless, they loosen up andeventually will degrade your signal if they don't from the start.

When making the connections watch that the center wire goes into the hole...if bent over will ruin or totally eliminate the signal (a large issue with the push on connectors because the center wire is a very light gauge).

Another possibility, mainly with the older trailers could be the gauge of the coax. RG 59 is not good for satallite or HD cable...56 is necessary for a good signal. So if you are wired with 59, a fresh piece of 56 can't be beat.

HD is on or off NO weak signals (snow etc) and if you notice the "channel numbers" are high. Hence the new add on ant. for the batwings. The higher the number/frq the shorter the antenna elements. Also the 'touchier' line of sight becomes. That is why your sat dish must be outside, not looking at trees !

Sorry for the long diatribe, but the morning coffee kicked in, and I did spend 12 years in the antenna/sat business starting with the old 12 foot dishes moving to the HD small dishes.

mark1974 · 06-14-2009, 03:16 AM

Fixed! Thanks for the help guys. I just wasn't thorough enough the first time. The problem was the very first cable end in the line out at the outside connection. I unscrewed the end and there were only a few straggly strands of ground wire sticking out. I stripped it back and started over and now I have a perfect picture. I figured this had to be where the problem was because all other connections in the trailer gave the same bad result and I had good reception over the antenna when I used it in North GA for 6 months last year. I guess I didn't realize how important the ground part was.

Chrisnan23 · 06-14-2009, 03:30 AM

Glad you got it Mark.

Ridgeman · 06-14-2009, 12:37 PM

ClassicHammond,

Tom I use Direct TV and an HD reciever and TV in my Cruiser. I have also been using satellite TV in my RV's and home for about 15 years. When I first got it after seeing all the connector problems on this forum and experiencing the problem during my PDI inspection, I bought a compression tool and both RG-6 and RG-59 connectors. All the satellite experts say you should use RG-6 cable especially for HD. When I went to put the RG-6 connectors on the satellite labeled cable in my Cruiser it was too big. It appears all the cables prewired in the Cruiser are RG-59. So I used the RG-59 connectors and haven't had any problems with my reception since. I suspect the RG-59 is good enough since it is such a short run.

I have never heard of 56. Is that something new or is it possible that that is what Crossroads used to wire these rigs??

ClassicHammond · 06-14-2009, 01:34 PM

56 is a heavier gauge with thicker insulation...that was why your initial connectors didn't work. I left the business about 10 years ago and we would run into an occasional problem with the RG 59. Any sat work we did we used 56. But it cost more. I figured if you were running into problems that's something I would check. There is less loss with 6 over the 59 per foot. There is also loss at every connector and splitter.

I didn't think anyone was still using 59 !

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