First time hooking up cable TV

[The Ward Den]

This is probably going to seem like a pretty simple answer to all those that are used to hooking up cable, but we will be staying at a campground in early June that has cable and we want to be able to watch a couple of games over the weekend when we are away from home. This will be our first time trying it.

I have a 2022 Entegra Vision, but I suspect the process is the same with most RVs. I do have a couple of questions:

1) Is it as simple as plugging in a coax cable from the pedestal to the "CABLE" hook-up in my wet bay (green arrow in pic)? I have also read about turning off the Winegard (or other comparable device) so that the OTA or satellite options don't mess things up (as seen in the other pic).

2) Is there a particular coax cable that works better? I have time to pick up something other than my pile of extras here at home from days of yore. I have some white ones, some black ones, some RG5, some 18AWG, FT4 (whatever that means). I could bring my whole box full, but that seems like overkill if there is a preferred type.

3) Is it safe to assume that the TVs are directly fed the cable once I plug into the "main" input source in the wet bay?

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by The Ward Den

1) Is it as simple as plugging in a coax cable from the pedestal to the "CABLE" hook-up in my wet bay (green arrow in pic)? I have also read about turning off the Winegard (or other comparable device) so that the OTA or satellite options don't mess things up (as seen in the other pic).

IF your campground does not have encrypted channels, then plugging to the CABLE hookup and making sure the brown plate with the single coax connector that has a little button on it with a LED has the button pushed so that the LED is OFF. LED on connects the rooftop antenna LED off connects the Cable signal.

Originally Posted by The Ward Den

2) Is there a particular coax cable that works better? I have time to pick up something other than my pile of extras here at home from days of yore. I have some white ones, some black ones, some RG5, some 18AWG, FT4 (whatever that means). I could bring my whole box full, but that seems like overkill if there is a preferred type.

RG-6 works better, it has less loss and will pick up less interference if there is any.

Originally Posted by The Ward Den

3) Is it safe to assume that the TVs are directly fed the cable once I plug into the "main" input source in the wet bay?

Yes if you you make sure the button is pushed so the LED is OFF.

You can ask your campground if they have any help sheets for their particular CATV system. Less and less campgrounds still have the simple system where they send old style analog cable channels over their coax system that does not need a cable box.

If they give you a cable box, then it will give best picture if you can connect it to your main TV like a DVD player or Sat Receiver with HDMI.

Good luck.

[Jim A]

Check your TV's specifications to verify it has a QAM tuner. (Digital cable tuner.). Most do, but not all.

[dvspl]

After you hook up the cable and ensure the antenna amplifier (the green LED) is OFF, you should have cable. You'll probably have to tell the TV to use cable vice OTA and, depending on the TV, may also have to search for available channels before any will display. If you've got an owner's manual for the TV, it will tell you how to do that.