cable tv

[Doug]

This is our 1st time at a campground with cable.

Hooking it up to the outside of the camper does not work (either front or rear tv). If I run the cable directly through a window to a tv... everything is fine. Suggestions on what I should do?

Thanks,

Doug

2006 Sunline 286 SR

[Sunline Fan]

Doug,

First of all, check your cables between the TV and the jack in the wall. If any of the little wires inside the plug are bent, the TV won't work. If those are fine, pull off the plug on the outside of the coach. It may have the same problem, or the factory may have even forgot to connect the cable.

If you've done all that and the problem still isn't fixed, there are a couple more options. First of all, do you have a Satellite dish? If you do, there may be some sort of transfer box that is not set for cable. Second, if you have a freestanding VCR or DVD player, that may also have a transfer box and isn't set for cable. Lastly, you could pull apart the individual plugs inside by the TV's. Some plugs have a circuit board on the back side and that could have gone bad. I don't know what purpose the board serves (I'm guessing it's for the antenna booster), but it could have some part that went bad and caused the whole cable system to go out.

Of all these possibilities, I'm under the impression that you have a transfer box somewhere. Since you have two built in TV's, I'm guessing you probably have a central VCR/DVD that can be play on either/both TV's. This is possible with a transfer box. The box is small and black, with a bunch of buttons on it.

Jon

[Mark]

Here is a simpler test......did you happen to push the amplifier button like you would if you were using the regular antenna?

Because its not needed with cable. IF you turn it on it actually screws up your cable connection. Could it be that simple?

[JohnB]

Doug

I'm into trouble shooting why the heck my TV does not work on the roof antenna as it has never worked from the day I got it new. I always attributed it to all the metal around the camper until I saw every one else in the campground watching TV and I went in another buds camper and his was picture perfect. Sorry, I'm digressing....

And in doing so I have learned some on how the Wineguard controls work.

The wall mount unit behind the main TV where the signal goes into the VCR or TV, where the little black button is that turns on the little green light. That is a power supply that feeds 12 volts to the power antenna on the roof. Your antenna seems to work OK as you said the TV works just the cable feed does not.

Well that little black button is also turns on 12 VDC to the roof antenna. And I “think” it is a switch to change between roof signal and cable signal.

Did you try turning the little green light OFF, (push the button) then the cable feed will work? If the power supply is putting 12 volts into the cable system it might mess up the signal or it is also a feed source switch.

With my roof booster being messed up, I get a weak TV signal with the light off, either thru cable lead or the roof antenna and nothing with the green light on but snow.

Don’t know if your is wired the same, but it’s worth a try. Push the button, try it and report back.

Hope this helps.

John

PS. I have traced my headache down to a dead antenna booster on the roof. There is a little circuit board in it that does not work.

[JohnB]

Seems Mark and I are on the same thinking path. He was typeing as I was.

Let us know how it goes.

[Doug]

Thanks for all the help and ideas.

I tried one at a time until I found the culprit.

The booster panel is bad. Probably something in the electronics. Once I unhooked the cable from the back of it... and plugged it directly into the tv... everything was fine.

Where would you suggest ordering a new one from.

Mine has a 12 Volt receptable and three inputs in the back (ant, cable, tv out).

Thanks again for all the help,

Doug

[JohnB]

Doug

Maybe I can learn from you.

Does the antenna on the roof work perfect? Just the cable feed is bad? Or is the roof antenna messed up too?

I bought a new power supply from RV Wholesalers when I was in the area camping but you can get them at any RV place or even Camping world I think.

BE CAREFULL, there are a few models of the wall plate. Some have a 12 volt power supply feed to the roof, others are actually a signal booster in the wall. Some have no boost. Look http://www.winegard.com/manuals.htm scroll down to mobile power supplies. READ close. They look similar.

My power supply one cost about $35 ish. However it did not solve my problem. So now I have a spare....

John

[Doug]

John,

In my case... the tv antenna works fine, but the cable wasn't coming through the wall plate / amplifier.

Thanks for the link. It is a great help. It looks like I have model # 7296

Good luck,

Doug