Community Forums

Jack Klompus · 04-20-2021, 01:00 PM

So, over the last year, I have tried to hook up to commercial RV Campground cable connections a half dozen times or so. Maybe 10 times.

Of those, I achieved a successful digital cable connection once.

I am not complaining as such, since my expectation in this area is zero, and we don't really use cable TV, but I am curious if this is typical. Most places have a few analog channels that don't seem to get processed well by new TVs, despite whatever the channel guide on the pamphlet says.

Do folks still bother with plugging in cable these days? Am I just seeing an inordinate failure rate?

(No need to suggest streaming/etc. We do that just fine. This is mostly a curiosity thing and wondering if the industry is paying no attention because consumers don't care, or what the deal is)

Winterbagoal · 04-20-2021, 01:06 PM

Have only ever tried it once, and no problems. Just had to switch the antenna/cable button to cable, and Bob's your uncle.

nctox · 04-20-2021, 01:07 PM

I find that the cable in most CGs is satisfactory. Maybe one out of four or five will be unusable in the parks I have used recently.

Dutch Star Don · 04-20-2021, 01:15 PM

Pretty much any campground that offers cable, works for us, but may or may not be a great picture. You may not be setting your TV correctly for cable.

On newer TV's, three things need to be done....1st, turn off the antenna booster, 2nd, switch the input on your TV to cable, 3rd, you have to go into programming and scan the new cable connection. It will show a bar, that may take 5-10 minutes to complete. It will list how many stations you are receiving.

mbrooking · 04-20-2021, 01:55 PM

Sounds like most peoples experience is opposite from ours... Only a few times has the cable connection been clear. Most of the time I get a snowy picture from a cable connection. It was that way on my old coach and I wrote it off to something was up with the coax cable, but then it would happen even with the new coach. For the most part, we never use the cable and just use satellite; but sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me and I again try the cable. Rarely works. (and yes, booster is off and TV is set to cable and then search for cable channels)

Jerry Burks · 04-20-2021, 02:05 PM

I have had maybe 3 of 8 campgrounds with cable tv working properly on our last trip. On 2 occasions the campground personnel even mentioned it not to be working. The others were just dead or very bad. I will not bother in the future.

We have a dish network playmaker antenna hanging from our balcony at home and just move it to hang on the RV ladder when traveling. No additional cost.

Jack Klompus · 04-20-2021, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbrooking

Sounds like most peoples experience is opposite from ours... Only a few times has the cable connection been clear. Most of the time I get a snowy picture from a cable connection. It was that way on my old coach and I wrote it off to something was up with the coax cable, but then it would happen even with the new coach. For the most part, we never use the cable and just use satellite; but sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me and I again try the cable. Rarely works. (and yes, booster is off and TV is set to cable and then search for cable channels)

Exactly this. It's weird, like a bygone era hanging on for no apparent reason.

(And yes, same, to the prior respondent, I know about antenna boosters and channel scanning etc. )

GypsyR · 04-21-2021, 08:55 AM

I thought it was just me. Three campgrounds in a row it was worthless, fuzzy, or broken. I was starting to wonder if I had a coach problem. Then campground #4 worked beautifully. I was just glad to know I didn't have another thing to diagnose and repair.

CRV2 · 04-21-2021, 09:08 AM

I suspect it has to do with where one camps, most of the campgrounds that I go to don't even offer cable like those closer to a city offer. When they do offer cable, some of the campgrounds have told me I would need a cable box and could rent from one from them, so I would inquire if you are at a campground that offers cable and it doesn't work for you, especially if cable has worked for you in your RV at other campgrounds. ~Craig

Gary RVRoamer · 04-21-2021, 10:01 AM

You mentioned a successful digital connection. In my experience, most campground cable is analog; digital usually comes along with the need for a cable decoder box (but not always). And campground "cable" is often just a coax connection to a community OTA antenna, not an actual cable service like Spectrum or Comcast.

And make sure you have turned off the antenna booster. The bad picture you describe is exactly what it looks like if the booster is still on when you use cable. All fuzz.

RVs are notorious for long internal cable runs and low quality connections and splitters, all of which eat away at he usable signal strength. You might want to experiment with yours by hooking a an extension directly between the park cable and one of your tvs. Eliminate all the wire in between. You may be surprised to find a solid picture

RS ODonnell · 04-21-2021, 10:17 AM

We don't even try. We don't even tune our TV's when we can get OTA signal. The commercials are just too annoying and disruptive.

We stream from various sources via our unlimited data on our phones. Since we use a cable it is considered "on device" so we are unlimited. We have a 400+ DVD/Blu-ray collection when there is no signal. We find this much is better on our psyche.

Alpine36 · 04-21-2021, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

You mentioned a successful digital connection. In my experience, most campground cable is analog; digital usually comes along with the need for a cable decoder box (but not always). And campground "cable" is often just a coax connection to a community OTA antenna, not an actual cable service like Spectrum or Comcast.

And make sure you have turned off the antenna booster. The bad picture you describe is exactly what it looks like if the booster is still on when you use cable. All fuzz.

RVs are notorious for long internal cable runs and low quality connections and splitters, all of which eat away at he usable signal strength. You might want to experiment with yours by hooking a an extension directly between the park cable and one of your tvs. Eliminate all the wire in between. You may be surprised to find a solid picture

This^^^^^
I carry a quality 50' coax cable for this very reason.
If the campground cable picture is fuzzy, snowy, cuts in and out or the tv won't scan any channels I'll hook directly from the pedestal to the main tv, thru the drivers window. That's never failed to work for us. I'd say 80% of the time the CG cable works fine on the coach connection though.
TV really isn't our thing anyhow.....

okcnewbie · 04-21-2021, 10:34 AM

1 for 3 here.

We're at KOA right now and both sides of us the coax is bad and the center pin is pulled out.

TechWriter · 04-21-2021, 02:16 PM

I'm guessing the reason that many of you who are having campground cable TV problems is that your TV doesn't have a "digital" or QAM tuner.

For a few years I worked at a campground that switched from analog to digital cable. Oy vey! The complaining we'd hear. "But I have a new TV" was a popular complaint.

Not all new TVs have QAM tuners. They are only required to have digital OTA tuners. That's it.

A 2nd reason for not receiving cable TV programs is that many people didn't know they had to have their TV scan for channels at each campground.

We found that in 9 out of 10 cases it was user error, not a cable TV problem. Reminds me of this . . .