Cable Connection not working? help!

[Donna]

We went up to Cedar Point for the weekend, stayed in their Camper Village at the park. This is our first time bothering to get a cable ready site since we got our RV last year. After connecting our cable, we still only got 3 channels. Had maintenance come out and check, problem is INside the RV. We checked TVs, neither got cable reception and couldn't figure it out. While sitting on the couch, we look up and notice a cable outlet just above our heads (underside of cabinet). We got the cable wire and brought it through the window and connected it and sure enough, full cable on both TVs (front and back).
I am mortified that i have to run a cable THROUGH THE WINDOW/SCREEN in order to get cable on the TVs! This will never work in FL with the bugs and rainstorms. We bought this RV (2000 Coachmen) used and can't believe anyone would set it up this way. Does anyone have any suggestions for this problem, short of duct-taping the wire to the window, lol. It could be the outside connection just needs repaired or maybe we are missing something here and just aren't doing something right. It just seems so odd that they would have a connection THERE, of all places. Who wants a wire hanging down right above your head when you're sitting on the couch!
Thanks for any help or suggestions you can give!

 

[kmccain]

Sorry to hear that you had trouble!

I found this flat cable wire at Camping World that may help if you can't get the problem fixed:
http://http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm/Outdoor-and-RV-Accessories/Electronics/TV/DVD/-Home-Theatre/Flat--TV-Cable/skunum=14649
Hope this helps!

 

[Shorty82]

Sounds to me like there might be a problem with the cable that connects the outside jack to the inside ones. The splitter (assuming you have more than one cable jack inside) may also be the problem.

It might be a good idea to replace the inside cable and splitter. At least you probably should troubleshoot by hooking the TV straight to the inside cable from the outside jack (using a barrel connector to hook the TV's cable to the inside cable) to see if you get anything. If you get TV there I would suspect the splitter next.

All this is assuming that cable in RVs are similar to cable in a house.

 

[lisa8200]

This may be wrong or irelevent but here goes, We have a splitter and a switch for antenna and booster or cable. if you have one of these and you hooked the cable to the outside of the camper but had it on antenna it would block the cable signal from getting to the TV's. if you hook the cable on the other side of the splitter/switch you would be going around the splitter and backfeed the cable to all outlets. I would look for some type of switching box
( like people used to have for a vcr, push one button and you watch cable, push another and watch a movie in the VCR. ).
I've either just solved your problem or will cause you to spend alot of time looking for something thats not there , I hope it's the first one....Good Luck

 

[AuburnJen92]

I found this flat cable wire at Camping World that may help if you can't get the problem fixed:

They also sell those flat cable wires at the Meadows for $12. (I am sure they are cheaper at Camping World) DH had to buy one this past trip because he left it at home. The bugs do not come in when you use it. We were there for a week and no bugs in the coach. I hope this helps.

 

[Donna]

This may be wrong or irelevent but here goes, We have a splitter and a switch for antenna and booster or cable. if you have one of these and you hooked the cable to the outside of the camper but had it on antenna it would block the cable signal from getting to the TV's. if you hook the cable on the other side of the splitter/switch you would be going around the splitter and backfeed the cable to all outlets. I would look for some type of switching box
( like people used to have for a vcr, push one button and you watch cable, push another and watch a movie in the VCR. ).
I've either just solved your problem or will cause you to spend alot of time looking for something thats not there , I hope it's the first one....Good Luck

Thanks for all the suggestions! the flat cable idea is a good one!
I am thinking something along these lines too, about the splitter. The RV has satellite and i was wondering if somewhere, it was switched to satellite. They used to have a DISH box in there. I will check up where the DVD player is and where the DISH box was. Something tells me this is easier than i'm making it out to be, lol. It's nice to know there's such a thing as the flat cable, wonder how long you can get these in length.
Thanks again everyon!