Cable TV

jwalker1

Active Member
The campground has free cable tv. When I connect the outside wiring to the campground cable connection and the other end to the cable hookup on the Cyclone when doing my setup on the TV do I select air or cable. I have a Sharp TV. Also, does the red light in the bedroom need to be on or off. I keep getting Failure to receive broadcast? I do a channel search and get some channels but they keep fading in and out.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
On the TV menu, select Cable when hooked to cable TV and select Air when using the rooftop antenna. At the signal booster, the light must be off for cable TV and must be ON for antenna over-the-air TV.
 

jwalker1

Active Member
Thanks danemayer. That's what I thought too. I get some TV but it coming up saying Failed to receive broadcast. Could it be the connections outside are bad?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
If you're getting some signal while hooked up to cable, there's probably a problem with one of the coax connectors. Sometimes the crimps are marginal. Sometimes a stray piece of the shield contacts the center conductor. Sometimes connections are loose.

The cable input in the UDC usually goes directly to the signal booster, and from there may go to more than one location. At each location there's typically a splitter involved and a connector could be bad or loose at any of those points.

The good news is that if you test for good quality reception at the signal booster location, there are probably only four connectors involved: one in the UDC where you hook up the outside cable wire, and three at the signal booster. Two are on the back of the booster assembly and the last is the one you connect the TV to at the signal booster location.

If you work on the signal booster, it's a good idea to first pull the fuse in the 12V fusebox. It's easy to short something to the 12V wire while working on the coax.
 

azbigfoot

Well-known member
I just tried cable for the first time last night in my Landmark. Switched TV to cable input and turned off booster. The bedroom TV cable reception is so much better than the living room TV which had lots of snow/noise. It can't even pick up some of the channels. You might want to check multiple TVs to see if one gets better reception.

Does anyone have suggestions for improving the signals to the living room TV??
 

danemayer

Well-known member
I just tried cable for the first time last night in my Landmark. Switched TV to cable input and turned off booster. The bedroom TV cable reception is so much better than the living room TV which had lots of snow/noise. It can't even pick up some of the channels. You might want to check multiple TVs to see if one gets better reception.

Does anyone have suggestions for improving the signals to the living room TV??
Jeff,

Check the coax connectors in the entertainment center and also at the splitter behind the basement wall. You may be able to remove the cover plate in the basement and pull the splitter through the opening - maybe.
 

Silverado23

Iowa Chapter Leaders
Check the booster connections and make sure that the correct cables are on the appropriate inputs and outputs. We had two of the cables swapped when we first got our NT. One tv worked well and the other did not.

Here is the manual for the Antennatek antenna and booster.
http://www.antennatek.com/pdf/manual_antenna_550.pdf

Page 5 has the diagram of the wiring connections.

If you have more than two TVs there will be a splitter someplace that connects to the 2nd TV input.
 
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Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I just tried cable for the first time last night in my Landmark. Switched TV to cable input and turned off booster. The bedroom TV cable reception is so much better than the living room TV which had lots of snow/noise. It can't even pick up some of the channels. You might want to check multiple TVs to see if one gets better reception.

Does anyone have suggestions for improving the signals to the living room TV??

Jeff, you may have to pull the amplifier/booster to check the coax connectors on the rear. Same goes for the wall plate that the LR TV is connected to. I had the exact same issue and had to replace a few connectors.
 

jwalker1

Active Member
Thanks everyone for your input. I also saw on another post that you can actually hook up outside to the satellite connection and get cable also. I never had any problems when I was connected to my dish satellite for TV. Is this true also?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Thanks everyone for your input. I also saw on another post that you can actually hook up outside to the satellite connection and get cable also. I never had any problems when I was connected to my dish satellite for TV. Is this true also?
The satellite connection will also work for cable TV but at the TV end, you'll have to move wires or add a diplexer (reverse splitter) to bring the satellite connection and antenna connection to the TV input.
 

jwalker1

Active Member
danemayer...I have a satellite input jack on the wall in the living room. That I can bring to the tv. Will this work? In other words why would I need a splitter?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
danemayer...I have a satellite input jack on the wall in the living room. That I can bring to the tv. Will this work? In other words why would I need a splitter?
You can connect that jack to the TV without any other stuff. But if you ever want to watch over-the-air TV that comes out of the other connector, you'll have to swap wires or install an A-B switch, or a diplexer.

If you never, ever, ever use the TV antenna, just connect the cable.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
We are at a park with cable, but many of the stations are fuzzy. We don't use cable much, so we've never investigated it until now. Tony replaced all of the coax connectors, but nothing changed. He decided to bypass the connection in the UDC, using a barrel connector, and voila! We had a clear(er) picture!
478ae42b91640f70e0f6452fbfb9f93b.jpg


We will replace this.


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