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DC0046 · 05-23-2016, 03:30 PM

At Christmas bought a tailgater. Recently termininated my contratct with Direct TV and started Dish. Activated Dish yesterday and could not get the satellite to work. Went directly from the satellite to the box and from the box to the tv with RCAs. Everything worked. When I go from the satellite to my MH and then attached the coax from my Dish box to the port it connects to above the passenger in the cabinet, TV says it errors out saying something isn't hooked up properly. Looked behind the port in the cabinet and saw three coax cables going into one junction and then hooking to the back of the plate where the port is to plug in my Dish box. I assume since everything was working when the sattelite was hooked directly to the box, it must be something in my MH not hooked up correctly.

When parked at an RV park, I have hooked their cable into the same port the satellite hooks into and everything works great, so no trouble with cable. Suggestions welcome. Final question, one coax behind the cabinet has a blue ring around the connector and the other has a red one. I am sure that means something, but do not know what. Thanks in advance for any help.

**Lt Dan** · 05-23-2016, 10:03 PM

This is something that comes up quite often. Most of the coaches that have only one coax input for cable will not work with a satellite dish. There is a splitter/amplifier in the cable line that blocks all signal to a satellite antenna. The splitter may look like below and combines input from the cable coax and the OTA antenna. IF you can access the back and it sounds like you can, you can hook a short jumper and an A/B switch in the cable input line so that you can direct it to your satellite receiver. That will bypass the amplifier and should work. The coax connection on the outside of the plate is not for a satellite receiver, just an extra TV coax.

Wizard · 05-24-2016, 06:48 AM

What LT Dan says, the splitter won't pass the necessary voltage to operate the tailgater
I ran a separate input to mine from under the dash, up the windshield post to the receiver

DC0046 · 05-24-2016, 02:36 PM

Thank you. The picture very much looks like mine. There also seems to be a small circuit board (finger nail size) on the back of my plate above the cables. There is also what appears to be a splitter next to the side wall well behind the plate that three Coax cables run to prior to running to the plate that has the coax connector I plugged into. Do you have a drawing of how to install the AB switch and which cable I would need to have the switch connected to? Thank you very much for the info. I may have to do what the Wizard suggests if I cant figure this out. It is crazy for Winnebago to have a plug in, RCA's and a coax plug for a satellite box when it will not work.

BigBadDad · 05-25-2016, 09:12 PM

Consider looking at DP02 splitters. You put one where the cable input is and also put the tailgater cable into it. There is one output you plug into the coach wired cable connection. At the other end you do the reverse with another DP02 and put the cable output to where it is already going and put the satellite output to the satellite receiver...works great for me. Not being technical the DP02 is a little magic to me..put two in combining into one output and at other end take one in and get two output.

**Lt Dan** · 05-25-2016, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC0046

Thank you. The picture very much looks like mine. There also seems to be a small circuit board (finger nail size) on the back of my plate above the cables. There is also what appears to be a splitter next to the side wall well behind the plate that three Coax cables run to prior to running to the plate that has the coax connector I plugged into. Do you have a drawing of how to install the AB switch and which cable I would need to have the switch connected to? Thank you very much for the info. I may have to do what the Wizard suggests if I cant figure this out. It is crazy for Winnebago to have a plug in, RCA's and a coax plug for a satellite box when it will not work.

I don't have a drawing for an A/B switch, but it's pretty easy to hook up. There are three coax connections on the switch. Normally, the one in the center is the common and left and right are A and B. Disconnect the coax marked Cable Input from the back of the amplifer and connect it to the center or common on the switch. Run a short jumper from either A or B on the AB switch back to the connector on the amplifer, then connect your satellite to the other connector on the switch. That's all there is to it. You can then use the switch to change from cable input to satellite input.

Some cheap AB switches may not carry the satellite signal very well, but I'm using a $20 one from Radio Shack on my setup and it works perfectly.