Satellite TV

[SRD]

Hey guys,

I have a question. I have a 2003 315RLS Mountaineer TT. It does not have a satellite hook-up on the outside of the TT. We went camping this past week with my family and my brother brought an extra satellite dish. We tried connecting it to my cable connector on the outside of the TT. It didn't work so we threaded the cable through the slide as a temporary connection. I guess I have 2 questions. 1. Why does the cable connnection not work with a satellite dish and 2. has anyone added a connection for a satellite dish after the fact. My entertainment unit butts up to the side of the TT, so I'm guessing I can go through the side into the entertainment unit, but don't want to do anything without some suggestions.

Thanks
Steve

[OntMont]

No, it won't work through the cable connection - wrong voltage or something like that.

Yes, you can add a simple coax connection at some convenient point and feed that to your dish receiver. I have done it on two previous trailers, and lots of other people on this forum have done it as well.

[azstar]

Steve,

On our 335 RLBS, it wasn't wired with the RG6 cable that's required for Satellite. So I did exactly as your thinking. At the bottom left (out side) wall of the TV compartment I drilled a hole to the outside.

I bought a external RV cable connection with cover, put about a 4' piece of RG6 cable on it, fed it through from the outside with a bead of silicone sealant, drilled lead holes for the four screws to attach the connector. Done.

The ony thing to watch for is to make sure you dont drill into a Alum. strut.

Worked out very well. Now when we get to the Park we hook up both Sat. Dish to the new input and if avail. the Parks cable to the connector at rear of TT. Now you've got it all, Sat., Cable and Roof Ant.

Happy Camping

[lightningjack11]

The SAT receiver puts out 12V on the line to the SAT antenna.

When you try to use the standard cable connection it goes through other things like you antenna amp that keep the receiver from putting the 12V to the antenna. You can measure it with a voltmeter. No 12V on SAT line, no work.

I put a seperate antenna connection for an outside SAT antenna. Later I just mounted a crankup SAT dish on the roof and routed the cable to the bedroom and living room. I also installed a switch at each TV so I can select cable or SAT.

It now takes about 5-10 min to set up my SAT dish. Just crank it up and point in the right direction. With Direct TV I can get all my channels except local (florida only) including pay per view by choosing the movie I want from the internet.

[VanMan]

We have a 2000 305FKS TT similar to yours. I added the covered connection so that it comes out right behind the TV and a standard wall plate inside. No problem at all once you get over the anticipation of cutting a hole in your RV !! It was so much fun, I later added a phone jack. I guess all this stuff comes standard now.

[SRD]

Hey guys,

thanks for the feedback. VanMan is right, I've got to get past the fear of cutting a hole in the outside of my TT, but I'll give it a shot, it sounds pretty straight forward. Thanks again,

Steve

[Chester]

On My 2000 Montana 2750RK I did hook up my satellite dish through the cable connection. What prevents it from working is the cable booster inside your unit. I pulled it out of the wall and put in a direct cable connector to splice the cable from outside directly into the one for the TV (ie. bypass the booster). I then put all back into the wall including the booster. This worked fine for the last 3 years. In my case I never used the antenna or cable after having the dish. When I sold the unit a couple of months ago I showed the new owner what I did so he could either go back to cable or leave it for satellite.

Regarding the RG59 vs RG6 cable ....I had no problem using the RG59 inside the trailer since the cable lengths are fairly short. I did use RG6 from the dish to the trailer connection.