Dish installation

[Justin Youngren]

Hi, my name is Pam and my husband and I bought a 2006 Monterey.  The coach has been prewired for sattelite but there was never a dome on the roof.  Does anyone know where we might find the cable to install a dome?  It would be great if we are able to use the existing coax system so we can have the same station on the bedroom tv. Thanks for any help with this

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Pam,
Not sure where to cut the roof for the dome. Perhaps someone with same year coach can answer. The cable from the satellite should go into a splitter or series of them  that will route the signal to both TVs and possibly the basement outlet if you have one.
Steve

[Lee Welbanks]

I would suggest that you get in touch with BCS (800.382.2597) in Bend, Or and run it by them, if they don't know I'll bet they can point you in the right direction.
On the Thunder all the antenna coaxial cables air, satellite, park cable go into the cabinet above and behind the co-pilots seat, then they go to the bedroom and basement from there.

Good luck.

[Joel Weiss]

Pam,
Not sure where to cut the roof for the dome. Perhaps someone with same year coach can answer. The cable from the satellite should go into a splitter or series of them  that will route the signal to both TVs and possibly the basement outlet if you have one.
Steve

The cable from a satellite would NEVER go through splitters unless it was a brand new SWM DirecTV system which didn't even exist when the OPs coach was built.  Signals from a satellite dish have to to directly to a receiver before they can go anywhere else.

[Gerald Farris]

Pam,
I suggest that you look into the numerous choices that are available before you buy a dome antenna. A dome is antiquated technology with several performance issues for the new HD satellite systems. The only reason to buy a dome antenna is that if you do not care about HD service, but you want in motion ability instead.

Gerald  

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Joel,
You're right. I was thinking antenna and cable. So Pam & Justin should have a coax cable end somewhere in the front cabinets where the sat receiver would normally be placed.  They then probably have 2 (RCA cable sets?)  that run from the receiver the 2 TVs. Thanks for the correction.
Steve

[Joel Weiss]

Since the dish was never installed in their MH they may not have any wiring for the TV other than the coax cable "box of many buttons".  Many satellite TV receivers these days don't even have coax outputs so they may have to use a wireless system to get to the rear TV or buy a modulator to upconvert the RCA outputs to the coax.  I'm with Gerald that anything other than a system capable of receiving HD is really a waste of money these days unless you absolutely have to have in-motion capability.

[Justin Youngren]

thanks everyone for your input. I probably have my terms wrong .  The receiver is a vip 211z. The antenna is a stationary but automatic mobil one that we want to mount permanently.  You are right in that the receiver only has one coax in. Would it possibly work to go through an old satellite receiver that had all the connections?

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Justin,
I'm confused. Is the vip211z receiver in the RV now? Are you wanting to replace it or? The 211 has a coax sat in, a coax TV out,HDMI out, an RCA RWY and RBG  outputs so you should have enough outputs to drive both TVs. An older receiver should also work if the satellite service (Dish, Direct TV, etc,) still supports it and the card is still good. You will probably lose the HD (HDMI) capability bu t if you are looking for an in motion setup you lose it anyway. I have a KVH dome on my coach. We don't use the in-motion capability but I tried it as an experiment and it seemed to worked fine. It certainly acquires the signal much faster that a Winegard dome I had previously.
Steve

[Lee Welbanks]

Gerald is absolutely correct in stating that a dome is not the way to go. I had a Winegard Roadtrip SDi in motion dome on the Thunder, the key word here is had. Couldn't watch different channels in the rear and front if the channels were on different sat's. Removed it and installed a Winegard Traveler SK1000 for Dish network, it is full on HD and it will pull signal through most anything. The dome would go wacky in the fog in Morro Bay every morninng, not this one..

[Joel Ashley]

To clarify, Pam... You have the Dish Network receiver and a dome but need to install them on a coach you know is prewired.   The information you need is precisely where the coax and control wires terminate under the roof so you can figure out where to mount the dome?

Joel

[Justin Youngren]

Yes that is right except the dish is a portable that we got the kit for to mount permanently.  We picked up a video control center that has 12 volt power for the sat in so I think we are  ready other than the coax to hook to the dish.

[Justin Youngren]

I guess we will figure the wiring out one way or another but we really don't want to drill holes or screw the dish on in the wrong spot.  Is there usually a spot that is stronger to mount to? There I'd a raised spot towards the front that I think is about where the front cabinets go across.

[Joel Ashley]

I don't know exactly which submodel of Monterey you have, but here is a photo of the Kingdome on ours, which is a 36' 10" Ventura IV.  It may provide some guidance, but Beaver Coach Sales in Bend may clue you in as to how to precisely locate the terminus of the antenna loom.

Particlulars in our case are:
16" from Fantastic Vent rear bolt line to frontmost 2 bolts on the Kingdome mount plates;
38" from the curb side wall of the RV to the curbside 2 bolts on the Kingdome mount plates;
43" from the street side wall to the street side 2 bolts on the Kingdome mount plates;
19" between any two bolts on the Kingdome mount plates;
165" from the rear cap wall to the rearmost 2 bolts on the Kingdome mount plates.

Hopefully this will be of some use, but I'd think there'd be some mark on the roof designating such a terminus beneath.  Whether or not that's the case, BCS should have some advice.

-Joel

click on the photo and your browser should open it with your photo viewer in a larger format

[Justin Youngren]

Thank you I am going to call them today.  I still am going to have to get an adapter because my reciever only has one coax going in and the out is hdmi, usb or RCA. The cables in the front cabitet are coax for the sat. and there is one set of video cables that I don't know where they go. The bedroom tv only had one coax that I could see going in and one out of the vcr but I didn't pull the tv to see if the other cable from the front was pluged in or not.  I would assume it is direct to the tv. The whole system was for direct tv and we have dish so I hope we can get it to work.  Thanks again for all the input I am glad there are people out there willing to help however they can. Pam