A Little Hookup Help....Please

[titleman]

I realize this is a very simple operation for most of you folks, but for an old man that is about 10 steps behind when it comes to something like this, it is very frustrating.

I have a Winegard Video Distribution Center that I would like to use in my system so as to have Sat/Ant/cable signals at all three TV locations. I use a Winegard Carryout satellite dish so am not interested in HD at this point as it will not provide a HD signal.

In the LR there are two plates on the wall. One with two coax ports for satellite and the other is a Jensen power supply plate which has one coax port, a 12V receptacle, a fuse and a cab/off/ant switch on the front. Connected to the back of this plate are cables labeled ANT/IN, CABLE/IN and TV2/OUT along with 12V power lines. There is also another coax coming to the switch but not connected. It is labeled Radio/Out.

In the BR there are two wall plates. One with one coax port for sat. and the other with a 12V receptacle and one coax port for ant/cable.

In the Basement there are two plates with one coax port each.

The instructions for the Video Center say to disconnect the Ant/In cable from the back of the Power supply plate and connect it directly to the From/Ant on the Video Center and then to run a 12V cable from the power supply plate to the connection on the Video Center.

Then I will connect a coax cable from the "To Main TV" on the VC to the Antenna connection on the main TV. Then a coax cable from "To Second TV" on the VC to the coax connection on the power supply plate. FIRST QUESTION. does this also provide signal to the basement TV? Then I will connect a coax cable from the Sat/In on the wall plate to the Sat/IN on the Satellite Recv. QUESTION. How does park cable signal get to the VC? There is not but one coax port on the power supply plate where the park cable is connected and that has already been used for the antenna cable.

Bottom Line. I think I can handle the satellite part okay, but getting the cable and antenna to all three locations has me confused. If anyone can give me any advice or tell me where I can get some drawings that might help, I would very much appreciate it.

[Bill_Satellite]

As long as you are only going to use one satellite receiver you need to nothing further. You just select the output you want to see on TV1 and you select the output you want to see on TV's 2 and 3. You can watch the one satellite channel on all 3 or you can watch satellite on TV1 and OTA on TV's 2 and 3. Whatever other connections you have made (like Cable) could also be selected in the same manner.
If you want to use a second receiver in the bedroom you are not going to run any of the input connections to the VCC but rather setup a somewhat complicated double set of A/B switches or simply run a new coax cable through the side of the RV (or through a window) to the bedroom that will run from the antenna directly.

[titleman]

ChopperBill wrote:

titleman wrote:
One more question before hook this all up. Looks like to me I will have to either have the Ant/Cable connected to the TV or the Sat.cable as the TV has on one connection. Does this mean I will have to undo the cable and connect to the satellite each time I want to change signals or is there some kind of switch that I could use to keep from having to swap connections?

I just went through all that(only one cable for ant/cable/sat)in the bedroom. I put an A/B switch at the Winegard center and an A/B switch at the bed room TV for the same cable, then distribute the cables to the correct locations. This will work because the distribution center has the ANT. power supply. Draw out a simple diagram on paper and it will help. I did and it worked!

Thanks ChopperBill.... I do have another cable to the bedroom and basement. It is the satellite cable. But where would I connect it to the Video Center? At the OUT TO 3rTV ? But then It seems I would still have to put an AB switch at the BR TV because I would have to hook both the satellite cable and the ANT/cable to the TV and switch it each time I changed signals. AM I wrong? The way Bill,Satellite described to me, It would seem than once I had the Video Switch for the Bedroom energized, I could just select any one of the 3 signals and it should work.

I just did not have time to get it all hooked up yesterday and I will be out of town most of next week, so I will get back to it in a few days. Thanks again

[dan-nickie]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
There would be no need to change any settings on the BR TV for Sat, I think you might be referring to Ant/Cable settings.

Right, I just typed one thing and brain was thinking another.
I edited the post.

[FlatBroke]

titleman wrote:
One more question before hook this all up. Looks like to me I will have to either have the Ant/Cable connected to the TV or the Sat.cable as the TV has on one connection. Does this mean I will have to undo the cable and connect to the satellite each time I want to change signals or is there some kind of switch that I could use to keep from having to swap connections?

I just went through all that(only one cable for ant/cable/sat)in the bedroom. I put an A/B switch at the Winegard center and an A/B switch at the bed room TV for the same cable, then distribute the cables to the correct locations. This will work because the distribution center has the ANT. power supply. Draw out a simple diagram on paper and it will help. I did and it worked!

[Bill_Satellite]

There would be no need to change any settings on the BR TV for Sat, I think you might be referring to Ant/Cable settings.

[dan-nickie]

titleman wrote:
Thanks Dan-Nickie. Actually then I will not be using the satellite cable to the BR as I will receive Sat. signal over the same cable I receive cable/ant on because it comes from the Video Switch which is connected to the satellite and when I have the BR switch on satellite the cable/ant is off. Is that correct? Very confusing but hopefully I am learning a little. I am going to connect everything up as Bob said and maybe I can get this all wrapped up successfully.
Thanks again. Joe

I think you have it.
Just need to find the Ant/Cable setting in your BR TV Menu.

[titleman]

Thanks Dan-Nickie. Actually then I will not be using the satellite cable to the BR as I will receive Sat. signal over the same cable I receive cable/ant on because it comes from the Video Switch which is connected to the satellite and when I have the BR switch on satellite the cable/ant is off. Is that correct? Very confusing but hopefully I am learning a little. I am going to connect everything up as Bob said and maybe I can get this all wrapped up successfully.
Thanks again. Joe

[dan-nickie]

The bedroom TV has only one Input.
It usually goes like this:
1. Switch from Cable to/from TV Antenna in the TV Menu Setup.
2. For Sat, set TV Menu to Antenna and tune to channel 3 or whatever the Sat Receiver is programmed for.
3. Of course your Winegard Switch also needs to be set for whatever you are going to watch.

[titleman]

I am talking about the TV in the Bedroom in the above post

[titleman]

One more question before hook this all up. Looks like to me I will have to either have the Ant/Cable connected to the TV or the Sat.cable as the TV has on one connection. Does this mean I will have to undo the cable and connect to the satellite each time I want to change signals or is there some kind of switch that I could use to keep from having to swap connections?

[Bill_Satellite]

No, I don't think that's necessary. He did all of the testing, he found all of the right connections and he is wiring his coach as necessary.
No need for any further investigation unless he has any issues once he gets these connection resolved and he finds that there are issue getting connected to satellite.

[titleman]

I really appreciate everyone's replies and help. I will try to get out there tomorrow and hook it all up. Bill, if am understanding correctly, the cable that goes from the VCC to the BR cable could actually be from either the TO Main TV or the To Second TV ports of the VCC and the one that goes from VCC to my main TV could also be from either.

Anyway, I'll see how I come out in the mornimg.

[wa8yxm]

This is one of those questions where I do much better with hands, and test equipment, on.

You mentioned two antenna connections in the basement. ONE of those may be park cable, the other Satellite,,, Or not.

You need to do testing and tracing of cables to figure it all out.. alas.

That is very easy for me to do, not so to describe..

(I raid my junk box for assorted resistors, Put one on each cable then look for it from the other end with my multi-meter).

[Bill_Satellite]

The Carryout will only pick up HDTV is you are a Dish customer. I will only pick up the SDTV programming if you are a DirecTV customer.