No Cable Service to TVs

ksucats

Well-known member
OK, I'm a little slow but it has finally sunk in - something is not right with our cable connections within the coach. We have stayed at several KOA and other campgrounds this past winter and spring. Each has told us that they have cable TV available and I've hooked up. In all but one case I got signals but very poor quality - I had not located the antennae amplifier which was supposed to be in the bedroom closet - turns out it was above a 'replacement panel' that was installed following our PDI. The repair tech had not done the cut-out and installed it. Regardless, found it and turned it off, now we get NO cable TV at all. Thought it was the site so physically connected a long coax cable from the sites cable outlet to the outdoor TV set. Great picture. However, when I connect that same coax to the coach's CABLE connection, nothing, nada, zilch. Any suggestions besides just using the outdoor TV which is what the neighbor at our last stop said :cool::cool:?

Over the air worked great in Albuquerque!!
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
In our Prowler, I found that the Furrion AM/FM/CD/DVD player antenna was hooked up to the roof antenna through a splitter inside the entertainment center and it was shorting out the cable signal.

Once I disconnected it from the splitter . . . I had cable TV.

There were other coax wiring issues as well, but that was a big part of the cable fiasco.

I'm still waiting for an outside AM/FM antenna from the dealership.
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
I have read that some fifth wheels have had loose coax connections at the splitters, input going into the output, and not connected. You may find instructions on line about the amp/splitter. If the amp is on, great over the air from the antenna. The amp has to be off for the cable signal to get through. If there is a bad cable anywhere on the line, then you will not have a good signal. I have a 75 ohm terminator to check the lines out along with a barrel adapter, but you need to know if there are any splitters between connections for this to work. You should have a schematic of the RF connections in the fifth wheel. That is the only one that came with our fifth wheel. With this you can see how the lines should have been routed. It may be a loose coax connector or one with a bad crimped end. Behind the UDC in the service bay you should find the internal coax connected to the RF connector that is for the park cable. Check the connector there and I think it should have a direct run to the amplifier. Since you know where that is you can check it at that end as well. It doesn't mean that the cable isn't bad in between. Hopefully a screw hasn't been accidentally run through it. I think you are dealing with a direct coax line from the back of the UDC in the service bay to the amplifier, but the RF coax schematic can only tell you that for sure.
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
I found the wall plate in the entertainment center of our Prowler was labeled backwards . . . I found the antenna and cable coming off of the satalite connection and not the cable connection.

And then, the outside cable connection was connected wrong . . . it was going to the output of the first splitter (spiltters are one-way), and the input was connected to the back of the basement wall plate for an outside TV.
 

ksucats

Well-known member
Thanks for all the replies. Chris - yep - hooking into the CATV on the right side of the UDC although I also did try the LR Satellite connector as well thinking maybe it was mis-wired. No Joy on that either. Coach is going back to dealer on Wednesday for some warranty repairs, guess I'll add this to the list. I'm sure that when it is found it will be one of those 'oh sh%*' moments about how simple it was.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Thanks for all the replies. Chris - yep - hooking into the CATV on the right side of the UDC although I also did try the LR Satellite connector as well thinking maybe it was mis-wired. No Joy on that either. Coach is going back to dealer on Wednesday for some warranty repairs, guess I'll add this to the list. I'm sure that when it is found it will be one of those 'oh sh%*' moments about how simple it was.
Ron,

Most dealers have a hard time with coax problems because most aren't prepared to hook up to CATV. If you have an old DVD player or VCR that has coax output, you might want to have that available as a source for testing. And you should definitely test it before hooking up to pull home.
 

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
My 2015 Landmark had all kinds of coax problems. every single connection was loose, all of the in the walls behind the plates, all of the connections on the back of the docking station, at the splitter behind the basement wall, the unions where the coax from the slides go into the frame rail. I had to buy a tester to track down my problem cables. I have one from the entertainment cabinet down to the TV that is shorted out. And the gray one from the splitter down the wall going outside then into the frame going to the outside entertainment center. Both bad and shorted out.
I've had to fix the majority of my issues myself. and have spent many many hours in the process. Hope you have better luck then I have. Most of my problems were with the OTA/cable coax. Luckily my Sat. coax has been working good sense I installed the Dish.

If you can find your cable schematic in your blue packet that will help you understand what's going where. and the color codes of the different coax.
 

rxbristol

Well-known member
When ever I connect to a new RV park cable service I have to re-scan for the TV channels--did you do that?
 

ksucats

Well-known member
Rex: Yes - in fact did it several times. While at the Limon KOA I even used a long cable direct from the campgrounds cable connection to our outside TV. Did the rescan there as well and got excellent picture. Cable was not long enough to get to the indoor TV so wasn't able to try that one though.

For all: I've come to realize that the Outside TV is only connected to the OTA (antennae ) source so I did not expect any cable tv out there. Shame though.

Again, thanks to all.
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
For all: I've come to realize that the Outside TV is only connected to the OTA (antennae ) source so I did not expect any cable tv out there. Shame though.

I wish I had thought of this when I was tracing down my cable TV woes . . .

Try hooking up the cable from the park up to the coax wall plate for your outside TV.

As I mentioned above . . . my basement wall plate was connected to the first splitter behind the basement wall where the cable line in should have been connected to Iin otherwards, an output was connected to the input and the input was connected to the output, thus stopping the cable signal dead at the splitter).

Had I done that . . . probably would have saved me a couple hours of tracing down coax . . . and some pi$$ing and moaning to boot! :mad:
 
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