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Old 08-14-2017, 11:33 AM   #1
jhardin80
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TV booster.....

I'm at a loss. We have a TV in the living room and a TV in our bedroom. I have sat prep for both of those as well as the garage (if/when we put a tv in there), each location also has cable hookup like normal.

My issue is when we tried the antenna we couldn't get anything, I went to find the booster and turned it on and still nothing. The funny thing is that the booster is located on the opposite wall of our TV in the bedroom. There is no cigarette plug in this one but it does have the booster button as well as a cable and sat prep coax plugs.

How do I use this? Why would they put sat prep and cable coax connectors in the cubby hole on the opposite wall of the TV?
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Old 08-14-2017, 12:14 PM   #2
Steve S
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Where are you trying to get a signal? At a campground, at home or in the boons? I usually can get up to 27 channels but then again sometimes I only can get 2
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Old 08-14-2017, 12:21 PM   #3
jhardin80
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Where are you trying to get a signal? At a campground, at home or in the boons? I usually can get up to 27 channels but then again sometimes I only can get 2
Anywhere, I guess my real question would be, what is the sat prep and cable hookups for that are on the the plate with the booster when it is located away from any of the TVs?
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Old 08-14-2017, 12:54 PM   #4
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Are you talking about the cables which go out to your Tv's or the cables which are meant to be hooked up to cable and the dish? Like what's the issue with them?
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Old 08-15-2017, 05:35 AM   #5
jhardin80
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Are you talking about the cables which go out to your Tv's or the cables which are meant to be hooked up to cable and the dish? Like what's the issue with them?
On the plate that has the button for the booster, there are two places I can plug a coax cable into. One says cable and the other says sat prep, the same two plugs are behind all the TV's. My question is, why are these two spots there? What are they used for since the wall plate is inside the cabinet on the opposite wall of the bedroom TV? Nobody would ever plug a TV in where this wall plate is.
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Old 08-15-2017, 06:33 AM   #6
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Hmmm.....without seeing the layout or any pics it's tough for me to answer as it seems like something is setup backwards in your trailer. Maybe another owner will step in and help.
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Old 08-15-2017, 06:44 AM   #7
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As a note my booster is 30 feet from my TV...
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Old 08-15-2017, 06:51 AM   #8
jhardin80
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Here is our layout, the TV is at the foot of the bed and the booster with the coax plugs is in the cabinet next to the bed up by the headboard.



Here is what our wall plate looks like.

Why is there a Sat plug and a cable plug in this location? I've seen coax jumpers between these two, is that what I need to do here as well?
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Old 08-15-2017, 07:08 AM   #9
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Winegard wall plates are a "standard build". In other words, they all are constructed the same way. There is not a "left side plate" and a "right side plate" or a "close to the TV plate" and a "not close to the TV plate". So the manufacturer of your trailer used the "commonly available wall plate" even though not all the features on that plate are applicable to your "build design".

It's much the same as Ford using a standard wiring harness for all SuperDuty trucks. Some don't have electric mirrors or sub-woofer, but the connections for both of those options are located on the wiring harness. It's installed by Ford and those features just aren't connected or used. Same with the Winegard wall plate on your trailer. Keystone is using the amplifier booster portion but has not connected the satellite/TV1 components in that device. They are "just extra" like the mirror and sub-woofer plugs on the Ford harness.
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Old 08-15-2017, 07:14 AM   #10
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Winegard wall plates are a "standard build". In other words, they all are constructed the same way. There is not a "left side plate" and a "right side plate" or a "close to the TV plate" and a "not close to the TV plate". So the manufacturer of your trailer used the "commonly available wall plate" even though not all the features on that plate are applicable to your "build design".

It's much the same as Ford using a standard wiring harness for all SuperDuty trucks. Some don't have electric mirrors or sub-woofer, but the connections for both of those options are located on the wiring harness. It's installed by Ford and those features just aren't connected or used. Same with the Winegard wall plate on your trailer. Keystone is using the amplifier booster portion but has not connected the satellite/TV1 components in that device. They are "just extra" like the mirror and sub-woofer plugs on the Ford harness.
I can kind of see that but the booster has to go out to the splitter so both the TV's get the boosted signal. I'll have to take the plate off and see what's going on behind there.

I don't know why they can't just take the booster over to the bedroom TV and then go out to the splitter from there. just seems funny to have a wall plate somewhere you don't need it lol.
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Old 08-15-2017, 07:33 AM   #11
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I can kind of see that but the booster has to go out to the splitter so both the TV's get the boosted signal. I'll have to take the plate off and see what's going on behind there.

I don't know why they can't just take the booster over to the bedroom TV and then go out to the splitter from there. just seems funny to have a wall plate somewhere you don't need it lol.
Is that much the same as asking why Ford didn't fold the sub-woofer connector to the left rather than the right? Maybe a good "trivia question for future generations" LOL By the way, there probably is a reason why Ford folded it in a specific direction, maybe to prevent rattles, or because there's a component in the space on a different optioned truck ?? Things usually don't get left to chance on most assembly line tasks.

I'd guess it's got something to do with using "standard length cable runs that come in specific lengths with end connectors already installed (from China) that have to be routed through specific parts of the RV, around A/C ducting and making turns around other obstacles. The "standard build cables" probably aren't long enough to make the transition across the ceiling in the attic of your RV, so the engineers elected to put the amplifier on the side of the bed (so it's accessible to operate) rather than in the middle of the bed (so you have to take your shoes off, climb on the bed to reach it and operate the switch).... There's much about the way these things go together that don't make sense to the "average onlooker" but most of it is done in a consistent process that makes sense when you know all the factors that went into making the decision to put things where they are.

ADDED: And no, I don't know all the factors that went into any Keystone engineering design, but after being around aircraft manufacturing for 30 years, I came to realize that very little is "left to chance" and there's a reason for most things being built the way they are. As a consideration, if Keystone had used a specific cable length (and a longer one was not available without extra cost) had they installed a connector in that location and used a 8' cable to route the booster to the "logical place behind the TV" if that connector happened to loosen or corrode, how would you repair it without having an "unsightly plate" to cover the hole so you could find it in the first place? So, rather than put an empty plate on the ceiling for us to complain about, they improved reliability by removing one of the possible connection points and eliminated an extra ceiling plate. Just a consideration, as I said, I have no idea why they specifically did what they did, but it wasn't "just a whim" since every one of them is in the same location on that year model trailer..... We just don't have "all the reasons why"....
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Old 08-15-2017, 10:27 AM   #12
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Did you ever get an answer, we also cannot get cable on our bedroom tv, I am sure it has something to do with that little white jumper cable, but we have our livingroom tv hooked into the cable in, there fore there is nowhere to put the jumper white cable in.
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Old 08-15-2017, 10:29 AM   #13
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Did you get an answer, we cannot get cable in the bedroom, HELP!!!
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Old 08-15-2017, 10:40 AM   #14
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Did you ever get an answer, we also cannot get cable on our bedroom tv, I am sure it has something to do with that little white jumper cable, but we have our livingroom tv hooked into the cable in, there fore there is nowhere to put the jumper white cable in.
I don't know that you need a jumper, your cable from outside should plug into your RV on the outside somewhere marked "Cable", once that is done then each of the TV's should be connected to the wall plate behind the TV to the "Cable" port, then make sure your antenna booster is off and you should have cable TV. You are trying to use cable and not Satellite or Antenna right?
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Old 08-15-2017, 11:09 AM   #15
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Here is our layout, the TV is at the foot of the bed and the booster with the coax plugs is in the cabinet next to the bed up by the headboard.



Here is what our wall plate looks like.

Why is there a Sat plug and a cable plug in this location? I've seen coax jumpers between these two, is that what I need to do here as well?
K I see what you're talking about and yeah it doesn't make any sense at all to me why they would do this. Like what do they expect you to do now? Do they expect you to convert everything to wireless?
My two TV's have plates behind them and all the ugly wiring runs through the walls and the ceiling.
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Old 08-15-2017, 12:34 PM   #16
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I got curious and checked out all the wiring behind my booster plate. It was much more than I expected!

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Old 08-15-2017, 12:37 PM   #17
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Signal comes to the booster, and there is a TV2 coax connection on the back side of that plate for the signal to additional TV's. Any splitter would be downstream of the booster.
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Old 08-15-2017, 01:46 PM   #18
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Have you changed the menu settings on both your tvs to OTA (or antenna )??? after doing so you MUST scan for channels each time you move or re-aim the antenna. You must also do this every time you change back to cable or SAT. Just a thought .... in case you have not tried this, Hank

Looking at the wiring mess in your wall .. you may want to try a jumper from the two rf female connectors if all else fails. remember to scan after each change in location or wiring, although there does not appear to be anything connected to the second connector in the photo.
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Old 08-15-2017, 03:44 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by GovGeek View Post
I got curious and checked out all the wiring behind my booster plate. It was much more than I expected!

Sent from my pocket computer

What a freakin mess!! I'd rather sit outside and have a good Canadian Blend
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Old 08-15-2017, 04:10 PM   #20
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If it's any consolation (unlikely) our 2013 Raptor is laid out in somewhat the same manor. Plug in a cubby on the opposite side of the room from the TV and completely useless. No idea why and a big head scratcher for us as well.
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