Forum Discussion

cgaskins's avatar
cgaskins
Explorer
Jun 24, 2015

Frustration with Dish Tailgater and my Big Country 3650RL

We have a 2015 Big Country 3650RL which we love. We recently a Dish Tailgater satellite TV system. My BC has 4 coax ports on the Universal Docking Center (UDC). The 3rd port from the left is labeled Living Room. So I attach the coax cable to the external antenna / dish and to the 3rd coax port on the RV. I then attach a short coax cable from the coax port in my TV cabinet to the Dish receiver. Note these are not the same coax ports used by the Cable TV system as that is separate wiring from what I can tell. The Receiver can communicate to the external receiver and I can hear the dish trying motor whirring. Unfortunately, the system cannot lock onto the satellites.

Now if I bypass the trailer coax wiring and drag the coax cable from the external antenna into the RV and directly connect it to the receiver, it works perfectly. So something is up with the wiring. Any thoughts or comments on this? It is very frustrating...

-Chris

17 Replies

Show More
  • Gearitis's avatar
    Gearitis
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    You may have a coaxial splitter in the mix. The Satellite connection will not work well or not at all if the signal is split in anyway or the splitter is power passing but not passing a high enough frequency. Satellite reception is up to 2 ghz so a 900 mhz splitter is not high enough frequency. I had that happen on my Sabre. Also, another thing is that a lot if not most are not cabled and properly marked. Several people have found that something labeled satellite was cable and some labeled Offair Antenna was satellite. You may need to trace cables to see where they actually lead.
  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    Jun 24, 2015
    N7SJN wrote:
    ......... When I contacted DISH about using extensions the response was "Not approved" the signal loss at each connector will cause severe deterioration of the signal.

    Dish may not approve it, but works fine. I originally had a single coax input connector for the RV. Could use the OEM internal coax as is for cable, or for sat by my moving an internal coax jumper. Tailgater and sat worked fine with it with the jumper moved.

    But to simplify things, I added a second coax input for sat by drilling a hole in the outside wall, installing a weather proof coax connector there, mounting a coax wall plate inside under the TV, connecting the two with a new short RG6 coax. Tailgater to the outside, sat box to the inside, works fine.

    I high quality quad shielded RG6 coax cable from the Tailgater to the RV helps also.
  • amandasgramma's avatar
    amandasgramma
    Explorer
    Jun 24, 2015
    We had that problem. Our tv is on the slide. DH did some sleuthing and discovered the slide had "ground" on a cable and worn it thru. He re-routed the cable and all is fine now.
  • tegu69's avatar
    tegu69
    Explorer
    Jun 24, 2015
    A friend of mine had a similar problem. Turned out to be a staple shot into the coax. His was repaired under warranty. If you have an ohm meter handy, you might want to check it.
  • N7SJN's avatar
    N7SJN
    Explorer
    Jun 24, 2015
    My experience with the Tailgater would only allow a single RG6 from the Taigater to the receiver with NO additional connectors. When I contacted DISH about using extensions the response was "Not approved" the signal loss at each connector will cause severe deterioration of the signal.
  • rhagfo's avatar
    rhagfo
    Explorer III
    Jun 24, 2015
    BB_TX wrote:
    Bad connectors and/or loose connections are a frequently reported problem. Can't have much signal loss and still get picture. You may have to get behind some panels to check those.


    Yes, checkout the connections and cable, should be RG6 cable.
  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    Jun 24, 2015
    Bad connectors and/or loose connections are a frequently reported problem. Can't have much signal loss and still get picture. You may have to get behind some panels to check those.

About Fifth Wheel Group

19,033 PostsLatest Activity: Mar 03, 2021