Do I need to re-wire for satellite?

Many RV's are wired as follows
A jack on the outside leads to a wall plate inside with a switch, a light, a 12 volt outlet, and an antenna connection (TV-1)

ON the back of that wall plate are connections for ANT, CABLE and TV-2 as well as 12 volts Usually the connecting cables are RG-59.. NOt recommended for Sat TV

Other RV's have a matrix switch (Box of many buttons) some of these may have a 2nd jack marked "SAT IN" this may be RG-6 (or not) if it is you are golden.

Recommendations.. If you have only one jack outside for input.

Install a nice new length of RG-6, high quality, low loss Believe it or not this may be possible without drilling by useing existing holes for water lines and such.. Get it to any handy spot for mounting a GROUND BLOCK which is attached to the Frame (In my Class A that is the Brake Bell Crank Bracket under the hood) This is your Sat cable link.

Now the wall plate (This does not apply to the matrix switch)
Disconnect the CABLE cable and extend it to the TV ANTENNA jack on the Sat receiver (This will pass cable if the Sat receiver is OFF) then connect the TV-OUT (or To TV) back to the cable Port on the wall plate.

Box of many buttons should have a SAT in port... Simply connect TV-OUT from receiver to that port.

Truth table for wall plate as I just designed:
Wall plate switch ON: OTA Antenna
Wall palte off: Sat Receiver off: Park cable
Wall plate off Sat Receiver ON: Sat Receiver

NOTE: connect to the nearest TV via HDMI if you can.. If you do this even with the Wall plate ON (The remote Tv gets ANTENNA) the "main" tv can then choose Sat (HDMI 1) or ANT "TV") (Or Computer, Or USB or .. Well I have a host of options here).

...Just a choice....

Bill.Satellite wrote:

You are getting some incorrect and confusing responses. If you would like to send me a PM I can give you some details that should help you with some clarification.

Why not post here, Bill?

CarolynandBob wrote:
I read somewhere(not sure where) that I may need to re-wire my motor home for satellite because of a splitter.

What I have is a standard 2006 class C with a cable outlet to the tv in the front and a cable outlet in the bedroom. The input is in the storage bay. I have dish network at home but we are going full time in January.

What I want is Dish network to both TV's and be able to watch 2 different programs at the same time. We want HDTV. I also want to have a DVR. We would also want local channels.

I am pretty sure the Pathway 2 is the dish that I will need. From what I have read I will need 2 cables from the pathway 2 to run to 2 separate receivers.

So do I need to rewire the cable in the motor home or just use the existing cable to the front tv and run a new cable to the bedroom tv? I have search the forum but could not find the answer.

You are getting some incorrect and confusing responses. If you would like to send me a PM I can give you some details that should help you with some clarification.

CarolynandBob wrote:
What I want is Dish network to both TV's and be able to watch 2 different programs at the same time. We want HDTV. I also want to have a DVR. We would also want local channels.

I am pretty sure the Pathway 2 is the dish that I will need.

While you could do with a Pathway X2 and two DISH 211 or Wally receivers (with a USB hard drive attached to each receiver), you may find this a less than acceptable DVR system. For example, the 211 and the Wally are single tuner receivers -- basically, you can record what you're watching. Plus, a Pathway X2 can only "see" one sat at a time. This means if you're watching a program on sat 110 on one of your receivers, and you try watching a program on sat 129 on the other receiver . . . It ain't gonna work.

For a full timer I'd recommend the DISH Hopper. For that, you'll need a rooftop Winegard Travler and/or a portable open-faced dish like a 1000.2.

For two TVs a Hopper and Joey can be networked wirelessly or through your RV's coax.

We had to rewire our coax output/amplifier wall plate inside our rig since we only have a single exterior coax input that only allows cable tv, although our rig was stated by the manufacturer to be satellite ready. The mod is very simple taking only a few minutes to perform, type "satellite rewire" into google or whatever search engine for PDFs outlining the procedure.

Automated portable domes will deliver Dish HD programming but none will provide Directv HD content. Many domes including the Pathfinder 2 will provide viewing of different channels on 2 receivers as long as they are are both located on the same satellite. Three sats must be acquired to deliver the same channels you have at home making the possibility of independent viewing less likely.

I never had much luck trying to use the so called SAT connection on my 2004 and 2008 models. It was much easier for me to just run two RG cables in from my dual head pickup to the TV areas.

The SAT-CABLE connections most often goes through TV splitters and this kills your generation of DC power going back to the SAT DISH from your SAT RCVR... Doesn't work without this control voltage.

What I did on mine was use the video outputs from the SAT RCVRs and run those to the VID-1 inputs on the HDTV sets. Then I could change TV Views from CABLE-SAT-OTA with the TV remote. This is only good for viewing Standard TV signals from the SAT TV. Getting HDTV signals is much harder to do as you have to view two SAT channels at same time I think is the way it works for high definition mode SAT TV...

Maybe the newer trailers have it better figured out...

I brought along my SAT TV stuff from my DIRECTV Home Account for a few years but when the NATL BROADCAST system changed over to DIGITAL mode we just stopped bringing along the SAT TV items. The full blown High Def Digital TV signals from the local towns was the best TV yet...

I use my BATWING antenna that has the dipoles on it to point to the local towns transmitting HDTV signals... TV signals are even better than what you get from the cable TV connections at the camp grounds...

Of course I do miss some of the SAT TV channels but we get our TV FILL just fine using the OTA antenna and the CABLE TV connections from the camp grounds... If you got a good data account with your Cell Phone or Verizon etc you can downstream SAT TV stations on-line and watch SAT TV Channels through your on-line internet connection.

The OTA BATWING Antenna for me usually picks up a 24hr live radar view at all of the places we go to and that is really important for us POPUP campers to always be aware of what the weather is going to do... Rock and Roll in a POPUP camper not all that much fun haha...

Roy Ken

With a 2006 and a single coax input, it almost surely runs thru the amplifier/switch box. That is the way my 2007 5er was wired. However, the cable first came thru a dual coax wall plate near the TV with a short jumper between the two wall plate connectors. I could remove that jumper, connect a new short coax from the wall plate to my sat box, effectively bypassing the switch box. And it worked fine. I could put the jumper back in place to watch park cable.

To avoid the jumper hassle, I added a new outside coax connector for satellite. My TV cabinet was next to an outside wall and, by removing a side panel under the TV I could see that outside wall. I just drilled a hole in the outside wall, installed a new external coax connector, installed a new coax wall plate on the removable panel, connected the two with a short coax cable, and then connected the sat box to the new wall plate. Now I have a dedicated outside sat connection. If yours is that easily accessible, that is what I would recommend. You would need two, one for each TV.

There is also a way to modify the amplifier/switch box, often posted here, but that would only give you a single input. But could work for one of the TVs.

With Dish you should be able to get a Hopper and a Joey or two. They might have another name for them now, but basically you connect the main unit at your main TV and the slave units are wireless. Meaning no coax cable to run.
As for the existing coax? Maybe, maybe not. Likely not. What I did was bypassed all existing coax and ran dedicated RG6 coax from a convienent place in one of the compartments to behind the TV. Using a decorative wall plate. Not I can connect the antenna in a number of configurations. I have a ground based antenna and also a roof top Winegard Travler.