new owner..1st of many questions

[litespeed]

We be dry camping..had our DSDP a whole week now. Entertainment center not working very well....was not able to fully test before leaving town. Tech told me that the single cable port..in the power cord bay..next to the phone jack would accept either cable input or satellite dish input...and somehow the electronics could tell the difference between the 2?

My first attempt to access cable failed miserably so I am starting from scratch. Thanks

[jeepfreak]

First thing you should do is find the distribution box and make sure you push the cable button for the correct tv (main tv or tv2) then make sure the tv menu has the tv set to cable and is on channel 3. And don't hesitate to ask more questions this site is loaded with plenty of very helpful info!

[Brigadoon]

Hmm... not sure the cable input will accept satellite input. Newmar ran a seperate sat cable back to the telephone, cable jack area in the power box for us on the last two motorhomes we got from them.

Reference cable input, it should work fine for cable. So how do you end up with cable while dry camping?

[hawgguy]

Do you get a picture when you use the roof antenna and booster? Is your TV able to scan the frequencies for stations? From your TV menu have you selected Cable/Antenna?

Did you turn your booster off when you tried the cable?

Do you have an A/V switch up front? My 2011 does not, it was pre-wired for HD and has a SONY amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brigadoon So how do you end up with cable while dry camping?

Now that's a terrific question. Maybe it's a long cable.

[harleyman134]

I do not know what kind of distribution box you have, I have a 2005 and I'm pretty sure mine can't tell the difference between a cable signal and a sat signal. I could hook the sat up to the jack in the power cord bay, but I would have to move the cable from this jack that goes into the back of the distribution panel to "in" connection on the directtv box. As far as the cable itself, it will pass either a cable signal or a sat cable, I'm just not sure how your box can tell the difference and how it will distribute it. Maybe you can tell what kind of distribution box you have.

PS. Several years ago when I was experimenting with cable/directtv I bought two combiner/spliters which allowed you to combine the two signals into one cable at the sourse (in the OP's case it would be the outlet in the power cord bay) then seperate them at the other end of the cable (in the OP's case this would be the distribution box and sat box location).

[litespeed]

i was in a rv park for a day..now dry camping. I have a AVS smart source box which I think is the " distribution ". It has a lot of wires..very hard to see unless I start ripping apart stuff. There is a co-ax cable coming out of the wall behind it..immediately next to the booster button..i assume that is cable in?

my direct tv box is displaying previous recorded stuff on the tv..so it appears to be hooked up to tv...but no signal coming to the box from outside.

Big mystery to me is why local tv from antenna worked and stopped working. assume I have a bad/loose connection somewhere. Will try and call tech today and trouble shoot over the phone. Thanks for advice

["007"]

Here is that Owners Manual you are looking for.
If you go to Quick Tips link and check the COM_NET link you will find more info and tech bulletins on your coach.
We are here for any other questions you may have.
Congrats on your new Newmar many safe miles for you.

[harleyman134]

As I suspected your a/v distribution is different than mine so unless anyone familiar with your particular distribution box chimes in you idea of contacting the tech sounds like your best route. Good luck, let us know how it works out for you.

[TechWriter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by litespeed We be dry camping..had our DSDP a whole week now. Entertainment center not working very well....was not able to fully test before leaving town. Tech told me that the single cable port..in the power cord bay..next to the phone jack would accept either cable input or satellite dish input...and somehow the electronics could tell the difference between the 2?

Yep, I had a similar issue as Newmar and owner AV wiring can be quite "creative".

I hooked up an old VCR to the outside sat input(s) and continuously played a tape over and over.

Then I connected a TV to each AV possibility until I discovered what connected to what.

Tedious, but it works.

["007"]

Section 3.12 of your Owners Manual has information on how to use your AVS.

[litespeed]

I ran a cable from my dish thru the window and hooked up...now had direct tv. So I called a local wizz kid who came out and determined that my jack in the power bay was cable only...but buried in the wall..behind the switch in the cabinet...next to booster switch was the cable for direct tv. So he wired up a set up where I just unscrew a cable and reconnect to a different one to switch from direct tv to cable/antenna. All connections in the cabinet with quick disconnects..takes 30 seconds. Have not tested cable part yet..no cable here.

One thing at a time i quess

[harleyman134]

Glad you got your problem resolved. If you get a couple of $3.00 satellite diplexers (combiner/splitters) and a couple of pigtails you could set it up so you wouldn't need to unscrew/screw the connectors when switching between cable/satellite. Just a thought.