Installed Dish Tailgater

[aburns20]

Well, we broke down and purchased the Dish Tailgater and the ViP 211K Dish receiver (came as a package) from Camping World for our 2013 Fusion 375.

I will tell you the install was a pain! Never should have hooked the coax cables from the Tailgater dish directly to the trailer EXPECTING them to work properly. Just should have gone straight to the receiver box to begin with. Would have definitely saved some time and aggravation! :banghead:

The Dish technical support was great (RV Support Dept)! However, the service personnel were not as experienced as the tech support staff. I was on the phone with them (4 different people trying to start my new account) for over an hour between being on hold and re-setting up my account until their system finally accepted my info.

As for the 5th wheel connections...I have two that can be used. The first is labeled as "Satellite Prep" and the other is not labeled. I tried them both AFTER I had the box programmed and new I had reception with no success.

Behind the TV in the main part of the RV, there are 2 coax jacks, one that I had been using with the RV antenna, the other is useless as Keystone left the center wire too long and the TV coax would not plug into it. I need to trim this back to see if it is the correct jack.

So, I ran the coax from the tailgater through the bottom corner of the slide with the TV so that water would not trail in with the coax cable until I can decipher what is going on with the installed cables in my camper.

Anyone got any ideas?

[ctpd814]

Your dish has to be hooked to the jack that's marked satellite prep. The originally unused jack behind the TV should be your Satellite hookup. That is how mine is set up. A small set of wire cutters for that center wire and you should be in business. Good luck.

[MarkS]

On mine, I hook to the connector marked satellite on the outside. Then the lower connector at the tv.

The unmarked outside connector is for cable and wires through the Winegard antenna plate. You don't want that one.

On the inside the upper connector is for cable.

That's how it is on my trailer, but they could be crossed in yours. If you have the ability, it is worthwhile to trace the the cables and draw yourself a sketch of the system.

People have also reported loose connections.


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[Lack of HP]

On mine I always ask for RV Tech support first thing, just insist, then if things don't go well contact Winegard Tech Support. They are really on top of this stuff but only during normal business hours. Pain in the butt sometimes, but when it works it's great.

Happy Kampin

[Jim Dow]

I have a Dish Tailgater and all works well with reception in the living room, bedroom, and outside/storage area. But, I had to rewire the coax in the TT before it would work. Refer to TV4RV.com "Rewiring your Coach for Satellite Use".

It's the antenna booster amp that can kill the satellite signal, and I replaced the coax splitter with a new one capable of handling the higher frequencies of Satellite.

First think, trace out where your coax runs and how it is connected - for sure. You can hook up your Dish Tailgater to your normal Satellite/Cable coax connection and not have to go in through the slide.

The Dish Tailgater is a single receiver unit, so all televisions will be on the same channel as the main television where the Tailgater is connected.

[aburns20]

Thanks everyone. I was able to repair the connector for the satellite (located at the TV) yesterday and have run the coax where they should go (not through the slide) and all is well.

Would like to find another way to be able to move the Satellite box from TV to TV without having to re-wire the entire RV. But that is for another time.

[poncho62]

Cable TV/antenna use RG59 coax cable...Satellite requires RG6 cable. That is why you were likely getting no/poor reception

[aburns20]

I have a Dish Tailgater and all works well with reception in the living room, bedroom, and outside/storage area. But, I had to rewire the coax in the TT before it would work. Refer to TV4RV.com "Rewiring your Coach for Satellite Use".

It's the antenna booster amp that can kill the satellite signal, and I replaced the coax splitter with a new one capable of handling the higher frequencies of Satellite.

First think, trace out where your coax runs and how it is connected - for sure. You can hook up your Dish Tailgater to your normal Satellite/Cable coax connection and not have to go in through the slide.

The Dish Tailgater is a single receiver unit, so all televisions will be on the same channel as the main television where the Tailgater is connected.

Jim,
Where did you find the adapter for the booster plate? (tx)

[Jim Dow]

Actually, the existing physical coax and the antenna booster amplifier in the camper work fine with the satellite connection. However, the coax cable needs to be re-routed (at the back of the antenna booster amp plate) around the antenna booster amp - in a manner that leaves the antenna booster amp functional when needed. In the original coax wiring configuration, the antenna booster amp blocks the transmission of satellite signals. Re-routing the coax cable is the first mod. Notice the second coax connection plate in the picture of my previous post. The provides a coax jumper and second splitter to get the satellite signal to the bedroom television and the television in the outside/basement storage area.

The second mod replaces the original coax splitter with a newer one (Lowes/Home Depot/Radio Shack) that is compatible with satellite signals (higher frequency).

These mods a) keep the antenna booster amp functional and usefull when using the original antenna; b) keep the CG "cable" capability functional and usefl; and make the satellite dish functional and useful for all televisions in the camper.

Note: ONLY the coax cable behind the antenna booster amp is re-routed. The remaining original coax cables throughout the entire camper are left in place; and no new coax cable needs to be run. Also, the original Satellite/Cable connection points are maintained and remain functional.

This is a good clean mod with minimum expense and effort.

The only downside to the entire system is that the Dish Tailgater is a single receiver system and all televisions will be on the same channel as the main television where the Dish receiver is connected. I am in the process of resolving this issue as well - later post.

[Quad]

Nice mod, I might have to try this.

[Heliumhel]

I use a rf modulator to push the satellite programming back into the internal cable system that is hooked to all the TVs in the raptor we have. Since the satellite pre-wire only went to the main TV, I disconnected the RG59 from the wall and plug the RF modulator into the jack. I took the RCA connectors from the box and plug them into the RF modulator. My box uses HDMI as well, so my main tv uses it to get the programming. The box I have, directv, also can utilize a RF remote so I can change the channel from anywhere in the camper.

[mwhit]

For anyone who installed a satellite box in your RV feeding multiple TV's and not having a RF remote system take a look at this. This works with your current IR system converting to RF. Direct TV SD boxes are only IR controlled.
http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generation-Remote-Control-Extender/dp/B000C1Z0HA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376389438&sr=8-1&keywords=Next+Generation+Remote+Control+Extender
I got one hoping for the best and am happy with the results. It controls my Direct TV box and Samsung TV's. No need to run to the satellite box to turn on or change channels any longer. In service for about 2 months used about every other weekend and still on the 1st battery charge. Your results may vary, but I am a happy camper with it.

[Jim Dow]

Here's the pics for the re-wire of the antenna amp plate. Note the labeling of the coax cables.

Also, I made up a dual coax/hdmi plate for the living room tv while I was at it. The first coax feeds the satellite to the Tailgater receiver from the re-wired antenna amp plate in the bedroom - which originates at the "Satellite/Cable" feed in the water intake cabinet on the outside.

The second coax on the same plate receives its signal from the aux output on a blueray DVD player to feed directly back to the bedroom when my wife wants to fall asleep to a movie. There's not a lot of room in the bedroom for electronics.

The first hdmi connector accepts the hdmi output from the Tailgater receiver and connects to hdmi1 on the livingroom tv.

The second hdmi connector accepts the hdmi output from the blueray DVD player and connects to hdmi2 on the livingroom tv.

You can find all the parts to build up the dual coax/hdmi plate at Lowes/Home Depot/Radio Shack. You might want to put a dab of Crazy Glue on the parts to secure them.

All is fine.