wiring for cable and satellite reception

[rdanger]

I have a Winnebago Vista 2007 with an old style reg tv.....got a tailgater system with a receiver, all dished up...have a cable and satellite input panel outside the motor home..Previously, cable hook up was great, now we want to get into satellite, so, what do we need to do in the back of the tv which weighs about 50 pounds and has hidden wiring behind it. and a front panel..when I crouch on top of the dashboard and look up .I see the cable which was placed into the TV , I tried to remove it and place it into the receiver thinking the cable is input from either satellite or cable so it should work. Doesn't....
Hooked up the satellite cable directly into the receiver and that works, so shouldn't this be a simple switch????
Thanks for any help.....

[jlfbatonrg]

I think you need to purchase an A/B switch that you can set to Satellite or Cable. That way you don't need to rewire your coach. Radio Shack carried one a few years ago, don't know if they still do, but don't get the "cheap" one from Walmart. It can't carry the extra voltage that is on the coax from your satellite receiver. I use an A/B/ switch on ours so we can use either the roof top satelite dish or a portable dish we need when the roof top dish is blocked by something. I plug the portable dish into the park cable inlet, then switch the A/B switch so the sat receiver gets its signal from the portable instead of the roof top.

[bjsheldon]

Your rig should have a vidio box that lets you select between cable or satelite with out any extra hardware.

[Gary RVRoamer]

The Tailgator cable has to feed the satelite receiver. It generally cannot use the "cable in" jack on the outside of the rv because that usually goes to the antenna amp box or a video switch box. So, somehow get the coax from the dish to the receiver. Then regular coax from the receiver to the tv, or to a video switch if you have one in the rig. You can use the existing coax input to the tv but will want to insert a standard A/B switch so you can change from satellite to cable or antenna.

If your rv has a video switch box already, just route the coax from the receiver to an available input on the switch and you don't need to add the A/B switch.

[rdanger]

Thank you all for your help.....I will check out an A/B switch.(what seems to be the best??)
I am a nurse, not an engineer, nor electrician, so I am wondering if you gentlemen can describe what a video box should look like? My husband is great with the mechanical portion of maintaining our rig...but he knows nothing about cable/satellite...would continue to appreciate your help.

[jlfbatonrg]

The video box is a black box with switches on the front labeled TV1, TV2,and maybe TV3. It has a series of switches labeled Ant, Sat, Aux, DVD, VCR, etc. or some combination of these. The box is used to select the various inputs for each TV in the coach. In our coach the park cable does not go to the Antennae. It is a separate coax that comes in behind the video switch box. Since we have a roof top satellite dish, it has its own coax cable. If you want to be able to use satellite or cable, you have to be able to switch between the 2 inputs. that's the reason for the A/B switch. When wired correctly, when you have the satellite dish hooked up, the signal will go to your sat receiver, when you want to watch cable, the signal will go to the Cable Input of the video box. Hope that's not to comfusing.qq

[Gary RVRoamer]

Here is a common model of video switch by Winegard. On the front are switches to choose what signal source goes to which tv. On the back or connection points for the various inputs and outputs.

Video Distribution Center VS5312A - Winegard