I purchased my 2014 class c rv used. Ever since purchasing, I never get cable in any campground I hook up to. I purchased a new Wineguard antenna and thought having a new panel in the RV (Where you switch the antenna on and off) would fix the problem. I have tried different cables to hook up the campground cable to the RV. I have also put the RV in the shop and had them test the cable from the exterior to the cable panel in the RV. The shop states that when they hooked it up to a cable box, it worked. I am not looking to purchase a Direct TV plan or satellite. What type of Cable Box do I need to put in my RV that will allow me to get the cable signal in the campgrounds? Thanks Zach

Do you switch the TV input to cable and do a scan?

You have to get one from the cable provider. I think they are all cable specific. Not all campgrounds require a cable box however. I have a tiVo unit and the cable provider supplies a M card to decode their signals where needed.

Yes, I turn off the antenna and do a cable search on the TV's. There are 4 TV's on the motorhome. I want for each TV to be able to watch what they want. Certainly I don't need to have a cable box for each TV? And if I get a cable box from, say Comcast, will that work if the campground has a different brand of cable? Is there not just one box I can hook into the antenna panel that will allow all 4 TVs to receive the campground cable?

You should not need any box for late model TVs.Look up in your manuals for the TV. Settings could be wrong. You need to have it set to cable. It should give you basic cable, it will not always give you premium channels.If the campground has a box(?), their whole system would go through it.Set to cable and then re-scan.

You have to go to the menue on the TV,, go to input, switch to cable, then scan all channels, I use the same cable for my carry out as I do for park cable

RV Cable Issues | Good Sam Community

shastagary
Explorer
Nov 28, 2017
one of the questions you should be asking at any park you check into is if they have cable tv and is a decoder box needed to get it. that should prevent a lot of guessing and wasted time trying to figure it out. and just because they have cable doesn't mean that every site automatically has a good working connection. they usually would not know it does not work unless someone reports it.
Edd505
Explorer
Nov 29, 2017
Bill.Satellite knows what he's talking about. I had TV issues in a 2017 and he was able to guild me in making repairs. I also used this tool to track 3 separate coax's to 3 TV's and found a bad cable connection. (bad cable)

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-VDV-Coaxial-Explorer-Plus-Tester-VDV512-058/202520424

Hooking the CG cable to the MH should give signal to all TV's without anything else. Turn off booster, TV Menu -to Cable -channel search - done.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2017
ztoddb wrote:
As an update to my original post,
When we use over the air antenna, all tvs work. So its not the cable inside the coach from the wall plate to the TV's.
We do get Cable TV in SOME campgrounds just by hooking up the cable to the outside of the rig, turning off the antenna button on the wall plate, and doing an AUTO search under CABLE on each tv. (using no cable box) So it appears the cable running from the exterior of the rig to the wall plate is fine.

But in MOST campgrounds, we hook up to the cable and get nothing. Disney Included. I would say that 2 of 10 campgrounds we get a cable signal. And we always get OTA tv on all 4 TV's. So its not coax cable problem in the RV. I just notice that everyone else gets Cable TV with no problems but I only get it occasionally according to what campground I am in. Disney advises that no cable box is needed.

I will check the TV's to see if they are QAM type TV's. I replaced one of the TV's last year with a cheap TV purchased from Walmart (less than $100). I didn't fix the problem but I frankly didn't check to see if it had a QAM tuner.

If you are getting cable from some campgrounds then you know there is nothing wrong with your cabling or the Cable/TV power supply switch. What you need to be doing is talking to the campground owner to find out why THEIR service is not working properly. They may need to check the pole for service. I have run into many campgrounds where service is fairly intermittent throughout the sites. If they have any special requirements they will be able to tell you and if some unique settings needs to be used or a cable box needs to be used (almost never) they can tell you as well.
Sam_Spade
Explorer
Nov 29, 2017
Bill.Satellite wrote:

If you are getting cable from some campgrounds then you know there is nothing wrong with your cabling or the Cable/TV power supply switch.

Not necessarily. His failure percentage is VERY high.

In my limited experience, about 80% of the campgrounds do NOT require any kind of box or converter.

This could be a simple matter of a connector on the cable that he uses from cable post to camper going bad, coupled with a worn connector on about 80% of the campground outlets.
Miles_Away
Explorer
Nov 29, 2017
There are some RV Parks that require a cable box to get cable TV>

With regard to your not getting cable signal, make sure you have turned OFF the antenna amplifier (used to bring in weak over the air signals) as it will block cable reception.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2017
Miles Away wrote:
There are some RV Parks that require a cable box to get cable TV>

With regard to your not getting cable signal, make sure you have turned OFF the antenna amplifier (used to bring in weak over the air signals) as it will block cable reception.

He has done that and post that he had done that at least twice. He know how to do it as he has been successful in getting cable TV at a couple of campgrounds so he needs to be in contact with the campground when he is having issues to determine what's different about that particular setup.

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