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Old 12-10-2019, 04:39 PM   #1
DoctorO21
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Satellite TV

Just purchased 2020 3120 RL. Of course, the satellite TV hook-up in the convenience center doesn't seem to work to the LR. Direct connection works fine (Tailgater-Wally-HDMI-TV). Before I do something crazy, who can recommend the initial steps to solve this issue? You'd think a $60,000 rig would be wired correctly.
 
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Old 12-10-2019, 04:50 PM   #2
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It is likely wired correctly, the Tailgater just doesn't like all the coax and cheap coax at that. I re-wired mine with quality coax, looking back I would've simply added a new coax hookup in the slide instead of running all the way to the convenience center.



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Old 12-10-2019, 04:56 PM   #3
DoctorO21
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So, I assume you just ran a new quality coax from the outlet behind the TV to a new outlet mounted on the exterior of the slide below the TV area? Did you make any corrections for the bedroom TV?
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Old 12-10-2019, 05:17 PM   #4
MARK A
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I didn't do the BR TV. I use an HDMI extender to save having another receiver and fee. We seldom watch it up there, but it works fine. If I were to do it over, I would run a short coax into the slide and straight to the receiver, taking the connector out of the wall plate and just use the hole. Then use a barrel connector under the slide.



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Old 12-10-2019, 06:30 PM   #5
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Quality coax?

Mark A - dumb question...but how do you identify “quality coax”. I had no idea there was such. Can you find it at Lowe’s/ Home Depot?
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Old 12-10-2019, 06:41 PM   #6
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Yes
You will see a huge difference once you compare the two.

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Old 12-10-2019, 07:37 PM   #7
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Key TV

Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorO21 View Post
Just purchased 2020 3120 RL. Of course, the satellite TV hook-up in the convenience center doesn't seem to work to the LR. Direct connection works fine (Tailgater-Wally-HDMI-TV). Before I do something crazy, who can recommend the initial steps to solve this issue? You'd think a $60,000 rig would be wired correctly.
Did you try the following:
1. Search this forum for Key TV posts?
2. Watch the video on Keystone’s website under the owners heading. Key TV video
3 Contact Keystone consumer help 866-425-4369
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Old 12-10-2019, 07:40 PM   #8
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Old 12-10-2019, 11:20 PM   #9
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The TV wiring is really screwed up on these Montana's especially when you have multiple TV's at opposite ends of the RV.

While the TailGater Sats recommend no more than 25' of RG6 you can get away with 50' of quality well shielded RG6 ( I have tried 75' with mixed results).

But you also have to consider the length of the RG6 runs in the RV as well and since the convienience center is most always central to the RV one TV may have longer RG6 runs internally. Still with the existing Sat cabling you can only watch one TV at a time. Then there is the issue that a Standard Tailgater can only provide signal to one receiver (wally) at a time, however you can get the PRO version Tailgater that will handle two Receivers however that will require two RG6 inputs in the RV.

With that said you could add a second RG6 input in the slide at the TV furthest from the stock RG6 input as the Tailgater PRO has two RG6 outputs then run one to the stock input and the other to the 2nd TV added RG6 input. That will require two receivers though (extra $10 per month).

The other options is to do like the Motor Home industry does ( I do not know what the 5er industry does not do this).

Our last 3 Class A motor homes had 3-4 TV's (LR, BR, Cab, and outside) these were all signaled by a single Wally with one Sat input then a HDMI switch and HDMI cables run to each TV. What was Amazing in a 38' MH with TV's at each end and the Wally Centralized the remote would control the Wally from any TV location (even through the walls).

So with the HDMI option you would only need to add a HDMI switch/splitter and a single cable from the Wally to the 2nd TV. Keep in mind though HDMI also have length limitations before signal loss, so make sure you use quality well shielded cables with good connectors.

regardless do not expect any native resolution above 1080P and more likely 720 with any of these setups.

One final issue, the factory RG6 especially for Sat is a royal mess as it typically is split into 3 (LR, BR Basement Pass through) That splitter(s) is a major bottle neck and pictures will never be great because of that alone the best option is to eliminate all splitters and run dedicated RG6 to each TV. You can use as many Barrel connectors as you need with minimal loss.

Also note the Wally does not need to be near any given TV, it can be centralized in the RV, does not need to be near a TV that will help keep HDMI runs down if you chose that method
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Old 12-11-2019, 04:36 AM   #10
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I went behind our convenience center wall and took everything loose (all the coax connections). I then used a Klein Tools VDV512-101 Explorer 2 Coax Tester Kit ($26@AMZN) to track down where all the coax went. I had to open up the wall plates behind the TVs. I completely eliminated the outside coax and disconnected the coax for the cable connection. This left the two remaining connections in the pix - ignor the splitter.





After much reading on several forums I decided against a Pathfinder or similar setup because of the restrictions in cable length and the inability to watch separate channels in two places in HD at the same time. I saved a couple of hundred cool ones by getting a Dish 1000.2, a heavy duty surveyors tripod, a pair of Wallys added to my home account and 50' of dual messenger coax. It does take longer to set up and point than a portable small dish like the Playmaker, Pathfinder or Traveler (which is tree limited view). The coax in the 5r works fine once I isolated which runs went where.
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Old 12-11-2019, 04:46 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikendebbie View Post
Mark A - dumb question...but how do you identify “quality coax”. I had no idea there was such. Can you find it at Lowe’s/ Home Depot?
Don't spend a ton of $$$ on coax. Not from the big box stores. Check at https://www.tv4rv.com/sunshop/index....t_detail&p=108 -- 50' $7.95 or look up phat satellite intl. Their coax is sold at AMZN. Where I got my 50' of dual messenger for ~$20
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Old 12-11-2019, 06:47 AM   #12
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Did you turn off the TV signal booster ??? Been known to interfere with signal.....
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Old 12-11-2019, 10:15 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by masterdrago View Post
I went behind our convenience center wall and took everything loose (all the coax connections). I then used a Klein Tools VDV512-101 Explorer 2 Coax Tester Kit ($26@AMZN) to track down where all the coax went. I had to open up the wall plates behind the TVs. I completely eliminated the outside coax and disconnected the coax for the cable connection. This left the two remaining connections in the pix - ignor the splitter.





After much reading on several forums I decided against a Pathfinder or similar setup because of the restrictions in cable length and the inability to watch separate channels in two places in HD at the same time. I saved a couple of hundred cool ones by getting a Dish 1000.2, a heavy duty surveyors tripod, a pair of Wallys added to my home account and 50' of dual messenger coax. It does take longer to set up and point than a portable small dish like the Playmaker, Pathfinder or Traveler (which is tree limited view). The coax in the 5r works fine once I isolated which runs went where.
I think the Dish 1000.2 dish is a potential solution but it should also be noted it is limited to certain satellites specifically 110,119,129 western arc satellites whereas the counterpart to this type of dish is it will NOT receive signals from those three sats without equipment manipulation which is very complicated.

Point being this type of dish is not a practical for North American Travels, however it is a great option if you are limited to regional travel. While the wast and west specific satellites can be used for oposite coast sats they are limited to fewer satellites which will limit programming. There is a reason there is not a dual coast dish in this config.

For those that are full time or parked for extended periods the 1000.2 or 1000.4 are great as the dish's are subject to damage while transporting especially the LNB feed arms.

However the 1000.2 and 1000.4 dish's will provide a better signal hands down over the tailgaters/playmakers. but the 1000. series also take a lot of storage room up.
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Old 12-12-2019, 09:50 AM   #14
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I think the Dish 1000.2 dish is a potential solution but it should also be noted it is limited to certain satellites specifically 110,119,129 western arc satellites whereas the counterpart to this type of dish is it will NOT receive signals from those three sats without equipment manipulation which is very complicated.

Point being this type of dish is not a practical for North American Travels, however it is a great option if you are limited to regional travel. While the wast and west specific satellites can be used for oposite coast sats they are limited to fewer satellites which will limit programming. There is a reason there is not a dual coast dish in this config.

For those that are full time or parked for extended periods the 1000.2 or 1000.4 are great as the dish's are subject to damage while transporting especially the LNB feed arms.

However the 1000.2 and 1000.4 dish's will provide a better signal hands down over the tailgaters/playmakers. but the 1000. series also take a lot of storage room up.
I am not sure I am onboard with that opinion. The 1000.2 and 1000.4 have been great for us traveling all the US this past year. I haven’t felt the need to do this but swapping an EA LNB for the existing WA would take 15-20 minutes. With my Travler however I can simply manually tune to one of the EA sats if I could not pickup any WA signals. Only issue I have had is a few times we only had access to SD programming. No biggie. When I picked up our coach and decided to install a travler the only wiring issues were the need to remove splitters and I clipped off all the compression fittings and re made them myself. No problem ever since.
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Old 12-18-2019, 01:27 PM   #15
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3120 Coax issue

We have a 2019 3120 Montana with the exact same issue and have left our Montana at the Camping World where we purchased it several times during the past year to be repaired. Camping World finally got the approval from Keystone to replace the coax cable inside the wall with one that works however this has taken almost a year with our leaving the trailer with Camping World for months each time.
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Old 12-18-2019, 01:36 PM   #16
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All I can say is I feel your pain. As you can see there are many solutions.
Our dealer ran us a point to point cable from main tv to the convenience center for our Dish Walley/Satellite.
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Old 12-18-2019, 02:34 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorO21 View Post
You'd think a $60,000 rig would be wired correctly.
^^^ THIS ^^^

I’m pretty tech savvy and my brand new 2018 had the same problems. Never worked. I now directly connect my outside coax running from my Direct TV dish to the convenience center, and then have one run to the living room. I have to use external antenna for the rest of my TV’s.

Pretty pathetic Keystone doesn’t send out working units. Many of us have the same problem and I am not willing to let Camping World take a year to fix it.
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Old 12-18-2019, 02:43 PM   #18
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When we were seasonal the first thing the sat guy did was to check the cables with some sort of meter starting with the connection into the camper. He ended up remaking every connection and we ended up with great TV.
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Old 12-18-2019, 05:33 PM   #19
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I agree that it is frustrating to purchase a top-end unit and not have top-end TV reception. I wound up with a portable Tailgater (so I can move it around trees) and run the cable into the window nearest the receiver and hook up. It takes about 2 minutes longer to hook up than into the convenience center but it saved all that hassle of re-wiring.

Keystone, are you listening?
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Old 12-18-2019, 07:12 PM   #20
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I had a similar problem with the coax wiring. I found that all of the connectors were the screw in type which make a less than perfect connection. I even found one connector that had been wrapped with electrical tape to make hold it in place. The electrical connection was lacking all together!
I replaced all of the connectors as well as the barrel connectors to a higher frequency type (the barrels have a blue center and are rated for the higher resolution).
I then found the two coax cables under the trailer that went to the back of the TV. I cut one of them and mounted the end of it directly on the side of the trailer next to the fresh water fill. The other wire that I left connected can be used for cable TV, but I doubt I will ever use it.
My satellite TV is HD and I love the picture! I can’t say enough bad things about the TV wiring from the factory!
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