Satelite TV Hook Up

[tullitl]

Good evening all,
Being new to the site and after many attempts reviewing the site to try and see if others have posted on this topic before, i have given up and need to ask. I'm having problems getting my satellite dish to work in my 2017 Bighorn camper. Here are the things that i have tried so far.
1. I have shut off the digital antenna, found it in the closet.
2. tried all the ports outside the camper and no luck
3. Tied the satellite into the open connection where the reciver is located. I left the digital hook up all connected as it was from the factory
4. Tied the satellite dish to the open coaxial, ran an HDMI from the satellite dish to the open HDMI slot on the TV, still no picture
Any help or ideas that i can get would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Todd

 

[danemayer]

Hi tullitl,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Take a look at our owner-written Landmark 365 mid-2017 User Guide. The satellite setup on your Bighorn is either identical or very close to what's in the LM 365. Look in the table of contents for Satellite. I think it starts on page 50.

It's pretty easy for cables and labels to get reversed in manufacturing, so if the satellite connector on the wall plate doesn't work, try the other connector. Same in the Universal Docking Center (UDC).

The satellite wiring is completely separate from the antenna/cable wiring, so the position of the booster switch has no effect. Also, satellite signals won't pass through the signal booster, so connecting the dish to the cable connector won't help.

If this is the first time setting up this combination of dish and receiver, you might want to start by running the cable through a window, directly to the receiver. Once you have it running, then try out the trailer coax.

 

[RoadJunkie]

Todd, I found two separate shorts in the coax leading from the UDC to the output port at the living room TV. In both cases, strands of wire from the shielding was wrapped around the center conductor. If your system works when connected directly from the dish to the receiver, then I suggest you be sure the cable integrity is sound.

 

[cookie]

Todd, I found two separate shorts in the coax leading from the UDC to the output port at the living room TV. In both cases, strands of wire from the shielding was wrapped around the center conductor. If your system works when connected directly from the dish to the receiver, then I suggest you be sure the cable integrity is sound.

Len you hit the nail on the head. I have found the shielding wrapped around the traveler on more than one coach.
Unscrewing and inspecting all of the coax F-connectors is the first thing I would do.

Peace
Dave

 

[Gaffer]

Three quick things to try:
Run a known good coax through the door directly to the receiver.
Run HDMI from receiver directly to TV.
Be sure that the source (input) is correct.
At this point you should have a Direct TV message on your screen even if your dish is not aimed correctly.

 

[tullitl]

Thanks for the note back everyone. Being new to this not sure this is going out but i really appreciate the responses. I will try hooking it up direct again and see if it is still working.

Three quick things to try:
Run a known good coax through the door directly to the receiver.
Run HDMI from receiver directly to TV.
Be sure that the source (input) is correct.
At this point you should have a Direct TV message on your screen even if your dish is not aimed correctly.

 

[tullitl]

Thanks Dave, quick question do i need to put new ends on them? Or can i pull them apart and make sure they are stripped back correctly and reuse them?

Len you hit the nail on the head. I have found the shielding wrapped around the traveler on more than one coach.
Unscrewing and inspecting all of the coax F-connectors is the first thing I would do.

Peace
Dave

 

[tullitl]

Thanks for the help. I will continue to trouble shoot on this. I have a few more things to try. Thanks for the link to the user guide.

Hi tullitl,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Take a look at our owner-written Landmark 365 mid-2017 User Guide. The satellite setup on your Bighorn is either identical or very close to what's in the LM 365. Look in the table of contents for Satellite. I think it starts on page 50.

It's pretty easy for cables and labels to get reversed in manufacturing, so if the satellite connector on the wall plate doesn't work, try the other connector. Same in the Universal Docking Center (UDC).

The satellite wiring is completely separate from the antenna/cable wiring, so the position of the booster switch has no effect. Also, satellite signals won't pass through the signal booster, so connecting the dish to the cable connector won't help.

If this is the first time setting up this combination of dish and receiver, you might want to start by running the cable through a window, directly to the receiver. Once you have it running, then try out the trailer coax.

 

[tullitl]

Thanks for the responses back on this and guiding me to the correct area. I will try the things that have been suggested.

 

[cookie]

Thanks Dave, quick question do i need to put new ends on them? Or can i pull them apart and make sure they are stripped back correctly and reuse them?

I would just unscrew them and inspect. Be sure that there is a proper crimp and there are no shielding wire touching the center wire.
No need to replace them if they are looking good.

Peace
Dave

 

[Gaffer]

Tullitl, did you get signal yet?

 

[tullitl]

No sir had to go back to work today, thanks for asking. I hope to get at it again this weekend.

 

[CoveredWagon]

Hi tullitl,



The satellite wiring is completely separate from the antenna/cable wiring, so the position of the booster switch has no effect. Also, satellite signals won't pass through the signal booster, so connecting the dish to the cable connector won't help.
/QUOTE]

Are you saying there should be two separate coax cables at each tv. We had two factory installed. I only have one at each tv. Ty both work with antenna or cable using the amplifier correctly.

 

[danemayer]

Hi tullitl,



The satellite wiring is completely separate from the antenna/cable wiring, so the position of the booster switch has no effect. Also, satellite signals won't pass through the signal booster, so connecting the dish to the cable connector won't help.
/QUOTE]

Are you saying there should be two separate coax cables at each tv. We had two factory installed. I only have one at each tv. Ty both work with antenna or cable using the amplifier correctly.

In the living room and bedroom locations, there are typically two coax connections. One for satellite and the other for Antenna/Cable. The satellite connection goes to the input of your satellite receiver. The output of the receiver goes to the TV. It's likely that Heartland pre-wired the connections to the TV in the living room so that you plug into connections in a cabinet.

The bedroom can vary, but the connections are often in the closet. You may find a dual wall plate and a single wall plate. The single wall plate goes to the TV. There's a jumper cable that connects one of the the sources to the TV coax plate.

But that's all based on 2016 and 2017 models. 2018s could be a little different.

 

[CoveredWagon]

In the living room and bedroom locations, there are typically two coax connections. One for satellite and the other for Antenna/Cable. The satellite connection goes to the input of your satellite receiver. The output of the receiver goes to the TV. It's likely that Heartland pre-wired the connections to the TV in the living room so that you plug into connections in a cabinet.

The bedroom can vary, but the connections are often in the closet. You may find a dual wall plate and a single wall plate. The single wall plate goes to the TV. There's a jumper cable that connects one of the the sources to the TV coax plate.

But that's all based on 2016 and 2017 models. 2018s could be a little different.

Dan thanks for the reply. I did find a second coax near the living room tv. Ill need to run that one down. I'll have to do Some more searching in the bedroom

thanks again

 

[Thunderbolt]

After having watched a video on You Tube about Direct TV SWM, the presenter said several times that if you have a splitter it has to be rated for 2-2150 Mhz. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkpahQBYFYc

He specifically says not to use cable TV splitters as they will not work. The diagram on our Cycle 4005 shows a 300 Mhz splitter in the satellite wiring. Sounds like a lot to do to fix this. Anyway, hope this helps.

 

[Thunderbolt]

I guess that the world is glad that I was not an engineer. I think that I have found a problem in the diagram of the satellite cable runs for the exterior and garage connections. According to the drawing, the cable from the dish is not connected to the cable runs for the exterior or garage televisions. The gray cable leaves the exterior television, loops to a 3 Ghz three way splitter, then runs into the main television and loops to the garage television. The colors are funny, the purple line is labeled gray in one area and orange in another. There aren't any jumpers shown like in the UDC.

 

[Dennyha]

After having watched a video on You Tube about Direct TV SWM, the presenter said several times that if you have a splitter it has to be rated for 2-2150 Mhz. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkpahQBYFYc

He specifically says not to use cable TV splitters as they will not work. The diagram on our Cycle 4005 shows a 300 Mhz splitter in the satellite wiring. Sounds like a lot to do to fix this. Anyway, hope this helps.

When our unit was new, I couldn't get a SAT signal to any of our TV locations either. When I dug into it, I found all of the connections were extremely loose; the splitters were all 900 MHz (I changed them to 2150 MHz splitters), and the coax cables did not run to where they were supposed to run. It was one of my first camper repairs(there were many more to follow).

 

[avvidclif]

Yep, on my Cyclone on the back side of the Sat in connection in the UDC was a 900 MHz splitter. I think one side went to the bedroom and the other nobody knows.

 

[CoveredWagon]

It's been a while since I worked wit coax and instrumentation, but I do remember that it can be important / helpful to have terminators on all open coax connectors. I've got to pick about 3 or 4 as soon I get back to the big city. I'm hoping that'll help a bit.