Direct TV

[R. Youngberg]

Hello,
In our home, we have just gone from cable to Direct TV so we can take the service when we travel. The former coach owners took their receiver and I'm have trouble getting ours to work. The dish is OEM King Dome, and there are two (unmarked) cables in the receiver area and a pair of AV type plugs. Any help on where to start would be appreciated.

BRgds

[R. Youngberg]

Hello,
In our home, we have just gone from cable to Direct TV so we can take the service when we travel. The former coach owners took their receiver and I'm have trouble getting ours to work. The dish is OEM King Dome, and there are two (unmarked) cables in the receiver area and a pair of AV type plugs. Any help on where to start would be appreciated.

BRgds

[Dave Fernandez]

Hello & Welcome R. Youngberg:

I would like to welcome you the Forum. Could you provide us with the year and model Alpine you have purchased, if you could can also tell us which King Dome you have. I am sure someone will be able to assist you in getting up and running.

[SacsTC]

Hello and Welcome,
Just guessing here, but it sounds like what you have is 1 cable coming in from Sat.Dome to a receiver and one that goes out from receiver to either a switchbox or a splitter or direct to a TV. depending on how the original was wired. The AV cable, (assuming one white and one red) probably goes from receiver to either an amp or the dash radio or the TV. Again depends on how the original was set up.

[Bill Adams]

The first thing you want to determine is which cable is required to get a picture on your TV. If there are only 2 A/V cables then these are likely the audio cables. If there are 3 red, white, yellow then these are the audio
AND video cables and this is what will give you a picture on the TV nearby that receiver.
If they appear to be audio cables then connect one of the coax cables to the Out to TV connection on the back of the receiver, turn your TV on, set it to channel 3 (or 4) and see if the DTV logo or Searching for Satellite message appears. If so you have the right connection and the other coax is the Satellite In connection. If not, then reverse cables until you do have a picture.
What controller does the King Dome have? A small rectangular box with a toggle switch (stationary only) or is it a wall mounted box with a digital display (in-motion)? Do you know if the previous owner used DirecTV or Dish Network?

[dgerstel]

BRgds,

I am quite sure, from my work on my 2002 and present coach, that the "pair" of AV cables are for audio out of the Directv receiver to the surround sound system. The 2 antenna cables would be, connection from the dome and out to a splitter and switch, for output to the misc TV outlets/cables. I have always changed the connection to the front TV from the antenna to RCA or S-video and RCA combo as connections are available.

[Jim A]

On my '04 coach the satellite receiver was on the right hand side of the TV. There were two coax connections in there. One was the cable from the satellite dish, after it went through the A/B switch. It connected to the satellite in connection on the satellite receiver. The other cable was from the coax output on the box, and it went back to the left side of the TV to the Winegard switch box. It connected to the SAT IN coax on the Winegard box. That allowed you to use the receiver coax output, on channel 3, to the bedroom TV and outside TV.

My satellite receiver didn't have AV cables connected to it. They might have been connected directly from the receiver to one of the inputs on the TV. (The better way to do it if the TV has unused inputs.)

Without the satellite coax connected correctly to the satellite receiver, the Kingdome will not lock onto the satellite.

[Mike & Mike]

Jim A.,

We've also got a 2004 and I've got a question for you.

We do not have a dome antenna, or a permanent mount dish on the roof, but the coach is pre-wired for one. I do have an A-B box in the cabinet to the left of the TV and two coax cables in the right hand cabinet.

If I place a satellite receiver in the right hand cabinet and hook our portable dish (via a cable coming in thru the door or window) to the SAT IN connection on the box and the SAT OUT connection to one of the 2 coax cables in that storage cabinet, everything works thru the Winegard switchbox on the drivers side and we have satellite TV.

But, our "Satellite" connection down in the basement (next to the vacuum cleaner) does not have continuity to the second cable in the right hand cabinet. And I've tried flipping the A/B witch.

Do you have any idea what route that cable takes from the basement so that I can find the indoors end of it and quit having to run my coax thru the door? Is there any possibility that the plastic junction box up on the roof (in an area near where one might install a dome) might hold some answers for me?

Thanks for any insights!

[Rusty Bear]

My"Satellite" connection down in the basement (next to the vacuum cleaner) had the same problem and finally I spent almost 3 days running new RG6 cables from the bedroom,outside cable connections and satellite box near the vacuum cleaner to the front of the coach.
WOW what an improvment it made in the picture every where.

[FreshAir]

Mike, maybe you have the same setup I have in my Pace. I have what I thought was an external satelite connection in my basement. Turned out it was for Cable TV and was run to the Cable In input to the switch box. Moved it to the Satelite In input and it worked. If you have an additional Cable TV connector in your basement then ignore this. Just a thought?
Pat

[Jim A]

Mike and Mike,

On my coach the A/B switch was mis-wired at the factory. The middle connection on the switch should go to the satellite receiver. The coax from the roof dish (or the wiring since you don't have one) should connect to either the top or bottom terminal. The coax from the AUX satellite should connect to the other one. In my case, the coax feed from the roof dish never went to the receiver, no matter which way the switch as set. If they did it to mine, they might have done it to yours too.

Only one coax in the right hand cabinet is from the satellite dish. The other coax goes back to the Winegard box. Since you get the satellite picture when you connect through the window, that part of the wiring is correct.

If you are not sure which coax is which, you might want to consider attaching a battery to the coax in the basement, and then check for voltage at the other end.

The coaxes are supposed to be color coded. Mine were. My coach came with a wiring diagram for the entertainment system. When I am at my coach I will look at the schematic to see what the color code is. That might be enough to help you sort it out.

I don't know the routing of the wiring from the basement, so I can't help you on that one. The coaches were supposed to be built using RG6 cables. Rewiring should not be necessary.

FYI, the wiring harness for the Kingdome was changed about 6 months after my coach was built. So if you decide to buy a Kingdome for the roof, you can't just connect to the pre-wiring. I had to cut the new wiring harness from Kingdome and splice on a new phone plug to match what was in the box on the roof.

[Rick J Fisher]

My 07 has the dome and two satellite tuners which I do not use. It seems to work from the antenna but the cable connection is almost dead. The cabinet has a three button and two two button switches but no labels. Pushing many combinations seems to make no difference. I did not get a manual and am very interested in the color codes so I can figure out the switches. How can I check if the antenna booster is working?

[Mike & Mike]

Thanks Jim, Rusty, Pat,

Jim, I have suspected that it's probably something simple and your mis-wired A/B switch seems like a great place to start.

The reason that I've let this baffle me for so long is that I took a short look inside the left-hand cabinet (removed the cut-out cover that's over the electronics) and decided I didn't have enough time to start and finish that project before the next camping trip. This might end up being one of those rainy-day projects!

No rush for me on the color codes, I'm up in Alaska for another week anyway. When it's handy for you though, could you send a copy to: trek at 2mikeys dot com

Thanks again!

[Jim A]

Mike and Mike,

Here is the color code from my schematic. (I am on the road and will try to scan it later.)

Portable satellite - Purple
Roof satellite - Green
Antenna - White
Cable - Red
To outside TV - Black
To bedroom TV - Blue

I hope this helps.