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3159watson's avatar
3159watson
Explorer
Sep 29, 2020

Wiring for DISH Playmaker into RV

I recently switched from Direct TV to DISH. I have a 2015 Alpine with factory installed outputs for cable and satellite. This worked fine for my Direct but doesn't work for DISH. Currently I have to run the wire through the closest windo to the receiver. When I get back to my home I'm hoping to somehow change this to not run through the window. Has anyone else run into this problem and able to solve it?
  • This is a common problem with automatic satellite antennas - no matter which provider or RV manufacturer. I've had to rewire and/or run direct coax runs for our Pathway X2 antenna in both of our fifth wheels. The factory uses inferior coax rather than quad shield and often uses splice connectors. These cause drops in the control voltage from the receiver to the antenna (and signal strength loss on the way back). In both RV, I found a way to run quad shield coax directly from the receiver to a port or connector underneath the RV directly under the TV/entertainment center. Things have worked perfectly since.

    Rob
  • If this setup worked fine with a dome and DirecTV, it should work exactly as well with a dome and DISH.
    What has changed? What antenna? Have you done the required Check Switch routine? Are you sure you are not blocked? The DISH satellites are in a dramatically different location. If you have a dome and it was set for DTV, have you changed the antenna setting to DISH? Is the dome older than 2016? The older domes can no longer receive DISH programming.
    Get us some additional details.

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