Dish 811 signal splitting in an RV

[JimnTeriT]

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My husband should probably be posting this, he's the AV person and I'm the computer person----but I'm gonna try to explain this anyway.

We full-time in a motor coach. We have Dish500, 811 receiver, winegard switching box, HD TV in the front and regular TV in the rear. The plugup at the rear of the coach is the same for satellite or cable TV, depending on which is available to us wherever we park.

We used to be able to use a splitter at the winegard box so that we could just punch the button to choose either cable or satellite signal. That doesn't work anymore. When we try to split the signal to go into the winegard box, the dish never stops searching for a transponder.

If we add an AB switch so that we can use that to switch from cable TV or Satellite TV, do we need something special for HD or will a regular 75 OHM coax AB switch using RG6 cable do the trick? Or is there a better way?

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys... I'm not familiar with the 811 but that sounds like it would work. Chose channel 3 or 4 on your Rf output in back. Edit... did not know the 811 did not have an Rf output, my 6000u and 921 do sorry ....

 

[Bobby]

The 811 doesn't have an RF in the back, you would need to get a 3-4 modulator at the Rat Shack, but yeah it'd work.

 

[mike_johnson]

The 811 doesn't have an RF output, so you will probably need a modulator to feed your regular TV in the back. Like this or similar:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=15-2526

I'm not sure I understand the Winegard switchbox. It sounds like it might be hooked up to your satellite cable - and it shouldn't. The satellite cable should go directly to the 811.

It sounds like the Winegard switchbox switches signals for the regular TV in back? If so, the output of the RF Modulator (you don't have yet) should feed one side of the Winegard switch and Cable TV should feed the other side.

Please let us know any more of the wiring details as we are all glad to help you out!

Thanks!
Mike J

 

[JimnTeriT]

The 811 doesn't have an RF output, so you will probably need a modulator to feed your regular TV in the back. Like this or similar:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-2526

I'm not sure I understand the Winegard switchbox. It sounds like it might be hooked up to your satellite cable - and it shouldn't. The satellite cable should go directly to the 811.

It sounds like the Winegard switchbox switches signals for the regular TV in back? If so, the output of the RF Modulator (you don't have yet) should feed one side of the Winegard switch and Cable TV should feed the other side.

Please let us know any more of the wiring details as we are all glad to help you out!

Thanks!
Mike J

Sending the signal to the rear is really not the problem at this point. We have a RF modulator that we can do that with. What I'm actually asking about is the RG6 cable that comes into the coach from the outside. It is to be plugged into either cable (when available at campgrounds) or our satellite dish (in case of no cable or lousy cable). We have it already plugged directly into the 811 on the inside. And, like you said, there is no RF output on the back of the 811, so we can't run that line to the Winegard switchbox. We are presently using the VS-0503 but have ordered the VS-0604 so we can send the DVD signal/satellite signal to the rear television.

We need to be able to somehow tell the whole system that we are using satellite or cable TV, so that the signal will not go into the satellite receiver at all. We were going to use an AB Switch to switch where the signal enters the 811 receiver. In other words, if we should have good cable TV available to us and not want to go to the trouble of setting up the dish, we can plug in Cable TV instead of satellite dish and use an AB Switch to take the signal away from the receiver.

Thanks for all the help we're getting!!!! It's nice to be able to get an answer rather quickly like this.

 

[Grandude]

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If we add an AB switch so that we can use that to switch from cable TV or Satellite TV, do we need something special for HD or will a regular 75 OHM coax AB switch using RG6 cable do the trick? Or is there a better way?

My guess is that a good quality AB switch would work, but the only way to know is by trying it. RS lists one with gold contacts and high isolation for a low price and might be the first one I would try.
I would think that there has to be someone here that has tried this already.

 

[JimnTeriT]

We have this High-Isolation A/B Switch. We'll give it a try unless someone that has already tried it posts and lets us all know if it works or not. For now we don't have cable tv available so we won't be able to 'test' it out for a couple of weeks. We will be in a place with cable tv on January 17, and will be able to test it then. I *will* post back with the results.

 

[Pepper]

Maybe it's just me, but if I had High Definition satellite TV that I was paying for in my RV, whether or not there is a cable outlet where I park would be a non-issue. I would rather spend the time finding a parking space that has an unobstructed view to the sky, than trying to hook it up to watch analog cable.

 

[ShadowEKU]

i tend to agree with pepper. but some people like to absorb the local color as it were. of course there is only so far that local color goes

 

[JimnTeriT]

Maybe it's just me, but if I had High Definition satellite TV that I was paying for in my RV, whether or not there is a cable outlet where I park would be a non-issue. I would rather spend the time finding a parking space that has an unobstructed view to the sky, than trying to hook it up to watch analog cable.

LMAO - Hadn't really thought about that and you're right, it's very true. However, there are times when we stop for just one night and arrive as late as 5 or 6 in the evening. It's nice when there's cable TV and we just want to see TV for a few hours or so. (local news and all that rot) No sense in setting up the satellite for just a few hours only to have to disassemble it all in the morning to get back on the road.