Community Forums

jacksback72 · 08-19-2016, 06:42 AM

I have a 2015 Evergreen 379FL 5th Wheel and I purchased a King DishTv Tailgater because the research showed very easy setup.
I have been having issues the last 3 or 4 times out and after speaking with King several times they are saying that the cabling inside the RV is too long to get a good signal.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a product that works for either Satellite or Digital HD for my 5ht wheel?

Thank You!

Tightwadted · 08-19-2016, 06:51 AM

Is the cable you are using rg-6 or 59? The 59 will deteriorate the signal pretty quick. Another thing you might try is to run a cable directly to your receiver from the dish and bypass your camper's system. Not a long term solution, but I've seen a lot run thru the slide.

Teek312 · 08-19-2016, 07:21 AM

I agree with Tightwadted, try hooking directly to satellite box thru a open window or like Tightwadted said through slide ( some put it thru one of the wipers on the side of slide, between wiper flap and slide wall. You'll still get a seal.) this way you can start eliminating the problem. Also you stated last 3 or 4 times using it, had you used it before with no problems? Or has it always not worked with Tailgater? Are you using just the 50' foot cable that came with the Tailgater, or added more length? Asking because a lot of of the portable dish receivers will not work with extension of cable or have poor signal strength. And using RG-6 cable like Tightwadted said.

MisterT · 08-19-2016, 07:30 AM

I will politely disagree with the notion that a longer run of coax cable will somehow present a problem with the tailgater2... I've run 200 to 300 ft of RG6 coax and had no problem with my tailgater acquiring the signal, not even including the additional 30' to 50' of run inside my coach.

helpful suggestions that I've found during my usage:
=check all connections for tightness - undo and reattach
=make absolutely sure that the unit can 'see' the satellites(I've blamed King many times on this, to then find out that I really did NOT have the unit set where it could clearly see them)

Walt Bennett · 08-19-2016, 07:36 AM

First off, did you turn off the roof antenna booster first? IF, and I really mean IF, your cable run inside the trailer is too long, try hooking up either directly as others have said and if that works, try hooking up to the trailer with a short piece of RG6. If the short piece of RG6 won't work, your trailer's cable wasn't hooked up right.

DKRITTER · 08-19-2016, 07:37 AM

We initially bought a Tailgater and a Dish 211Z took it home hooked it all up and it worked well.
On our first trip we had to keep resetting it because it lost signal 1 -3 times a day. When we got home I played with all the cables and the best signal I could get was about 1/3 of my home unit. We took the tailgater back to CW and upgraded to the Winegard Pathway X2 and it worked much better but still on fairly regular basis I had to move and reset the antenna.

So right after Christmas I ponied up the $$$$ for the Winegard Trav'ler and installed it myself. We love this, just touch a button and in a couple of minutes it locks on all 3 satellites and stays locked. We also now take the Hopper from the house when we take longer trips and it also works great.

Half Dimes · 08-19-2016, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tightwadted

Is the cable you are using rg-6 or 59? The 59 will deteriorate the signal pretty quick. Another thing you might try is to run a cable directly to your receiver from the dish and bypass your camper's system. Not a long term solution, but I've seen a lot run thru the slide.

I agree with Tightwadted. Running the cable directly to the receiver will determine whether or not the problem involves the trailer wiring.

jelag · 08-21-2016, 12:07 AM

I use direct TV and have a tri-pod and dish I set up myself in usually under 30 min... I can put as much as 75 ft of lead before I connect to the RV.... I've never had an issue with the signal or its strength...

I would assume that if you have a unit that requires 12 power to run the drive system... you might have issues if the wire size is too small and the drive can't work correctly

TXiceman · 08-21-2016, 08:02 AM

I gave up on the sorry King Tailgator. Find that the Wineguard Carry Out G@ is much better. I often use 100 feet of cable to itbut it is the low-loss quad shielded cable.

The problem with any of the smaller portable dishes is signal strength. Since they are small, the signal is weaker to stat with and rain fade is more of a problem. It is all part of the trade off to get automatic and small and portable.

Ken

Cumminsfan · 08-21-2016, 09:50 AM

Never had any issues running our Winegard Pathway X2 with 25' coax and whatever's in the 5th wheel. Never lost signal either. And I've been able to get signal in between some tight space with tree's. I also use the Dish Pointer Pro to find the best place to get 119 and 129 sats for Dish.
Like mentioned above try setting it up with cable going directly to the reciver.

Duoglide1 · 08-22-2016, 06:49 PM

Jacksback, check out the RV systems & technology section here on iRV2 for a wealth of info. There you will find 5rs, Class A & C folks all dealing with same issues-and lots more folks looking at them. Good luck.

2012 NuWay HitchHiker 363RSBDA, 2016 Ford F-350 Dually 6.7

Scarab0088 · 08-22-2016, 07:10 PM

We've had up to 150' of RG-6 on our Gen I Tailgater...always worked perfectly.

It is important that the cable is a dedicated line to deliver the Raw SAT signal to the receiver.
If using a Diplexer (joins the campground cable and the Raw SAT signals, there will obviously be a signal loss).

We use a dedicated cable that has only 1 joint.

RG-6 is only slightly more expensive than RG-59, but there is a difference in the usability.

Best luck

V3600 · 08-22-2016, 07:20 PM

Find the splitters in your trailer and upgrade them to satellite compatible. You can find them at Home Depot, etc. The cable splitters can't handle the sat signals.

raineman · 08-22-2016, 07:34 PM

We have had great luck with the Tailgater. I keep 100 feet of cable and it has never let us down. No issues with cabling once plugged into either of the external satellite ports provided by Keystone. We set it once when arriving and that's it. It takes about 15 minutes to run setup. There are times thick trees prevent a lock on all 3 satellites, but we still get quite a few channels when that happens.

The only time we have to rerun the 15 minute setup is if we cut power. When at a plug in site, we have never had to rerun setup.