Dish tailgater

[daily double]

We are trying to hook up our new tailgater and while on the phone with dish tech assistance he is telling me we have the wrong kind of coax that is installed in the Monty from the factory. Has anybody heard of this? He says we need RG6 and we have RG59.

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by daily double

We are trying to hook up our new tailgater and while on the phone with dish tech assistance he is telling me we have the wrong kind of coax that is installed in the Monty from the factory. Has anybody heard of this? He says we need RG6 and we have RG59.

He gave you good information.

Orv

[BB_TX]

RG6 is the better (for the application) coax to use. But I don't think a few feet of RG 59 will hurt. When I first got my tailgater I used the existing internal coax on our trailer. Did not check it but I am guessing it is RG59. Worked fine. But since I only had a single coax input I added a 2nd one dedicated to the Dish receiver/Tailgater. Used RG6.
Main thing is to make sure it is a direct connection from the Tailgater to the receiver. It can't go thru any intermediate devices. I had to disconnect the coax jumper off the dual coax wall plate and connect a separate short coax cable from the plate to the receiver to get that direct connection. Worked fine that way until I added the second external coax connector.

[K0LCB]

I think RG 59 may be a little higher impedance than RG 6

[grampachet]

My tailgater came with 50? Feet of r6 coax.

[Carl n Susan]

What model and year Montana do you have? My 2005 had RG59 and it worked OK as it was a very short run. Newer Montanas have RG6 specifically for Satellite TV. The wiring is different before (roughly) 2010 and after. It requires some changes to make the earlier wiring work with a Satellite system.

[Hawkpat]

You might try to connect using just the supplied cable directly to the receiver and see if you get a picture. That will help isolate the problem.

[daily double]

I did try using a direct hookup and it did work. The problem is, I have to run it through the screen door handle opening. Today is the day I try taking the convenience center apart and hooking up direct through there. When I get home next month, I'll try using the schematic DQDick was kind enough to send me and maybe get it hooked up right!

[Carl n Susan]

It really, really helps us to help you if you identify what year and model rig you have. But there are better routings for cables other than through the front door. One easy trick is to run the dedicated cable through the slide opening closest to the TV. Just leave the slide retracted 3" and you will see gaps at the edge near the floor. Slip the cable through the gap and then fully open the slide.

I am guessing you have a rig earlier than 2010 or you would have found the dedicated satellite connection. Earlier rigs shared a dual use cable/satellite system. The trick is to figure out which coax at the wall plate in the entertainment center is connected to the input from the exterior connection and ensure it is working. Make sure the OTA antenna booster is off. The wiring diagram here on the MOC (and probably what was sent to you) will be confusing until you tear into the system and find where the cables actually run to.

[daily double]

I have an 09 3075rl. I tore out the paneling surrounding the convenience center, disconnected the coax and replaced it with new rg6 coax. I ran the new stuff to the receiver direct , plugged in the tailgater to the jack on the net. center and now I have cable tv. I haven't tried the tv in the bedroom yet,right now I'm watching football!

[Ishler]

There are 2 reasons to use RG6. RG59 is not designed to handle the 18-22 volts used to power and switch the LNB in the Tailgaiter and it has lower signal loss in the frequencies used by satellite systems.

[BB_TX]

If your '09 3075RL is like my '07 3075RL and only has a single incoming coax, it is pretty easy to add a second one dedicated to the satellite and leave the original one intact in case you want to use park cable.
I removed the cabinet side panel under the TV and could see the outside wall of the trailer. I added an external coax connector in that side wall (not in the convenience center), added a coax wall plate in the cabinet side panel, connected the two with a short RG6 cable, and another RG6 from there to the sat box, and an HDMI cable to the TV.
Where the coax cable came in from the original external connection I added a bidirectional splitter in that line. Then I ran a short RG6 from the sat box to the splitter.
With the above arrangement, I can watch satellite on both TVs, or park cable or OTA on both TVs, or sat on the living room TV while watching park cable or OTA on the bedroom TV.
If we are only overnighting at a park we will generally use the park cable or OTA (if available) rather than setting up the Tailgater.

[daily double]

Thanks for the tip BB, I will probably try something like that when we get home next month.Electronics is just not my thing, My wife has to set up the Tv and clock radio etc.