TV Signal Switcher

[Dr4Film]

In my previous coach, 2002 Windsor, there is a black box in one cabinet up front that was used to switch between Air Antenna TV, Cable TV or VCR.

I haven't been able to find any such thing in my current coach, 2006 Dynasty Countess III.

How does one switch between Air and Cable TV Signal Inputs going to the TV's located in the front and rear of the coach?

Since the two TV's are Samsung Smart TV's I will most likely be using Internet for any of our TV viewing, but I was just wondering about how you would switch between air and cable.

There is also a TV in one bay outside, but I have yet to even turn it on to see if it works. 

The coach also came with a Satellite Dish which I have no immediate plans to use at all. There is a controller that will raise and lower the dish but there is no other dish equipment on board. I have never been big on Satellite service. We don't watch enough TV to warrant the monthly cost.

 

 

[Chuck B 2004 Windsor]

There is a button on your remote labeled "input" .  Click on it to see your options.  You will see that there is no need for a external switcher that was used a decade ago.

The instruction manual that came with your TV will help you hook up everything you might use.  

 

[Dr4Film]

Chuck, are you saying that the Rooftop Antenna for TV Over Air Signal and the Cable Signal are mixed together on the same Coaxial Cable such that it is not necessary to even use or have a Switcher Box?

I am very familiar with the selections built into the TV with regards to choosing which "source" to use. There are many selections to choose from depending on how many external posts came with the TV.

[Ivan K]

I use a simple coax slider switch to select between antenna and park signal. Hardly ever use it. Then a splitter to bedroom and basement TV. Mixing weak signals does not work well.

[Chuck B 2004 Windsor]

You have to hook up the device to the input on your TV set.  Older devices have only one choice which might be video and audio left and right audio.  The highest quality signal will be the HMDI source.  That source gives you the best quality picture, 1080I or 1080P.  HDMI source is both audio and video.  Cables are very inexpensive at Walmart.

Depending on the OTA TV signal, analog channels are either there or not.  That depends on the station broadcast tower height.  Digital signals are different.  They require line of sight for the signal.  If you are in a low area or have a lot of trees or buildings close around you, you will not receive the digital signal.  That is why any RV Park worth it's salt will have cable access at each site.  You get what you pay for.  

I live 60 miles from the Gulf coast in Mississippi.  My house is on a hill with no tall trees in my back yard.  I get 54 OTA TV channels with a antenna in my attic.  The antenna has a built in amplifier.  

[1nolaguy]

My 2005 Safari Cheetah came with the same type switching system. These are analog switching by way of mechanical contact. They are no longer produced or supported by manufacturers such as Winegard, who made mine. If you have a new or current antenna and modern flat panel tv the switch is likely not necessary. I had previously replaced my OEM bat wing antenna with a new King omni directional OTA antenna and with the addition of a splitter (the King Omni came with a 12v signal boster) I was able to tie all of the relative cables into the system. The front and bedroom TV internal "input" controls switch between OTA, Cable and internet. Obviously for Cable and internet you also need a source such as a cable connection, satellite connection or source of internet or suitable wifi. Disposing of the switching system also freed up cabinet space. ON a related note, if you entertainment system came with a VCR or old DVD player you can replace the DVD player for about $50 with a new and much smaller unit that connects directly to the TV with an HDMI cable; resulting in much better image quality.

[jacwjames]

Richard,

Just for S&G's I downloaded a manual for a 2006 Dynasty.  Section 5 covers all the TV associated components.  I did not see any mention of a BOMB or similar equipment.  All functions are done by either the TV remotes and/or a universal remote. 

But just like anything else these systems become obsolete.  So if any of the TV's were changed from the original equipment they may not work.

I installed a garage door opener back in 2017 and never tried to program the Homelink system in any of my vehicles until this week.  None of them are  compatible without a Bridge Remote, which I have buy for a measly $35. 

[Steve P]

4 hours ago, Ivan K said:

I use a simple coax slider switch to select between antenna and park signal. Hardly ever use it. Then a splitter to bedroom and basement TV. Mixing weak signals does not work well.

^^^^ THIS... Richard - at the risk of being pedantic, unless your Smart TV is unusual, it probably only has one coax input (yeh, the threaded post with the hole in the middle).  If that's all, then you probably have a slider switch, possibly one for each TV, hidden somewhere(s) to accomplish what Ivan describes.  If not, then what is wired to each TV is likely the previous owners preference, each one could be either the antenna, or CATV.  Or both, in which case you become the switcher... manually swapping either antenna coax or CATV coax at each TV.

You candetermine what is connected currently if you connect the CATV input in your power bay (at least that's where mine is) to a cable provider (Cox, Truvista, Comcast, etc), then go to each TV that has a coax cable connected to its input, select source as Cable (not OTA or Antenna), and then scan for channels.  If it comes up with nothing, or something that is clearly not the cable provider channel lineup, the coax may be from the roof antenna.  So crank up the antenna, select the source as OTA or Antenna, and re-scan.  If you still get nothing, you then start tracing wires to see what is actually connected. 

As you are aware, the other input ports are independent, so it may be easier just to enjoy internet streaming, or lacking internet, a small library of DVD's, assuming you are equipped with such.  

If your Smart TV is an early model with limited smarts, I can heartily recommend Roku and Google TV dongles or sticks.

Good luck sir,

Steve

[Dr4Film]

Loel,

The coach came with no audio equipment whatsoever. Just a bunch of cables stuffed into one cabinet over the passenger seat. I am still attempting to sort out what cables go where. There is one coaxial cable in that cabinet along with a bunch of disconnected speaker wires, 6 pairs. There are also two HDMI cables that most likely go to the large TV up front.

Are you saying that with the use of a coaxial splitter you were able to combine the OTA Antenna coaxial cable and the Cable TV coaxial cable together into one output coaxial cable that attaches to the single port on the TV? That would work for one TV but what about all of the other TV's, bedroom, outside bay, etc.?

The more I think about this the more I get confused.

Not that I am planning on using the digital OTA antenna a lot which I will not, I just want to get the entire audio/video system in the coach straightened out.

Steve,

Thank you for your explanation. Between you and Ivan a lot of what you guys posted makes sense. I am learning more about how it should be however, my coach does not have any slider switches or any coaxial video switches anywhere.

I guess I will need to get out my coaxial cable tracer to try and figure out which coaxial cables are coming from the rooftop antenna and which ones come from the service bay for Cable TV.

I have one big Samsung TV in the front of the coach, a brand new Samsung 32 inch QLED TV that hangs from the ceiling in the bedroom and one medium Vizio TV that is in a passenger side outside bay.

Once we get to our summer destination later this month, I will spend some time attempting to trace the coaxial cable from the service bay forward and from the square digital OTA to inside the coach.

At the Workamping location where we are staying for the next 5-6 months, I will have a Spectrum Modem for Spectrum High Speed Internet. That will be attached to my router which will allow us to attach many devices to the router including the two main Samsung Smart TV's. So, the only thing I immediately have to trace is whether the coaxial cable connection in the service bay goes directly to the coaxial cable in the cabinet over the passenger seat. 

[Steve P]

Richard - now the problem is somewhat more clear.  You not only don't have the video coax multiswitch selector, you also don't have the audio receiver/amplifier, correct?  If so, some of your cables are video, some audio, and some combined.  You may even have some old RGB or S-video cables, which I doubt, but the connectors would tell you.  It's likely there are more types of cables than just coax in that overhead passenger compartment. 

One challenge will be separating the input and output cables and types and putting labels on them (I recommend using a P-touch labeler). 

Are there any cables connected to the BR TV or the outside TV?  If not, and they are Smart TV's with internal apps, then the PO was probably using them on Campground Wi-fi or a Wi-fi hotspot in their phone or Verizon Jetpack Mifi or whatever.  The setup menus for network connections might provide a clue.  Note that this kind of usage doesn't require any audio or video cable connections at all.  The speaker in the TV would be less than optimal sound quality for some folks, but a simple $100-200 sound bar with an optical link would improve that.  But without a Wi-fi source, you'd have no entertainment apart from possibly hooking up a DVD or Blu-Ray player like has been suggested by others, or your own media storage .

Speaking of audio, does your coach have a speaker system in the ceiling such as Bose?  I don't know when Monaco started adding these as an option, but for sure by 2008.  If yours has speakers in the ceiling, there should be speaker wires in that pile of wiring you mentioned. 

I don't envy you having to sort this mess out, but patience and a methodical approach should work.   The first thing is to decide if the video and audio of 3 or 4 generations back is worth salvaging.  I would vote yes for audio if you have a speaker system (you will need to add an amplifier or receiver with an amp). Even that will have challenges,  since it will be the sound system for only the main TV, and a cable will have to be run from the main TV to the amp input.  I think I did mine at home with optical, but it might have been HDMI.  The user manual for the TV will tell you.  The other TV's would rely on the internal speaker or a sound bar for audio out. 

Your plan to use your coax tester will work fine to identify backup sources of entertainment.   The frustration will be that you no longer have that coax multi-switcher that was originally in the coach.

Anyway, you are not planning on using the satellite coax inputs so you can start by eliminating those from the equation. Find them and label them clearly and tie them off somewhere neatly inside the compartment.  There should be at least 1 in & 1 out, but may be 2 or 3 out depending on how many TV's the satellite was wired to.

Next, find cables coming in from the antenna and the catv pedestal input.  And then the ones going to each individual TV.  These would have been connected to the multiswitcher previosly and it would have allowed you to select whether to direct the antenna input or the catv input to a particular TV.

In the absence of the multiswitch, you will need to use slider switches when you find the coax cables for 1) the antenna and 2) the cable drop coming in from what you would connect to the  pedestal (the one I mentioned in the power bay area of some coaches). You may also need to add a preamp and a 1 to 3 splitter to the input side(s)... it would be nice to find a preamp that did both...

Make a drawing and keep it updated as you progress and modify.  In 3 months or a year,  it will be priceless. 

That's all I can think of on 1 cup of coffee, and others may have better / different solutions.  Let us know how it goes.  

These rolling houses can certainly be a pain, but they keep the mind sharp (albeit on the brink of insanity)...

Best to you and yours, 

Steve

[Georgia Mike]

Richard, no switch anywhere in mine either to go from OTA to cable. I have verified that both systems work they must share the same coax. I just select auto scan and it picks up the cable when I have it hooked up at a campground. I just select Air on the Samsung’s when there is no cable hook up. As far as video components I have a Sony DVD player with am fm and surround sound that is up front by the door I think it’s original. There is a subwoofer under the kitchen sink you probably have the same thing. I was missing the video components for the bedroom tv so I went to a local thrift store that sells a lot of electronics and found a similar system like the Sony up front and it works great for the bedroom. I used the two speakers in the head board above the bed and added a small subwoofer. 

[dandick66]

Richard,               
On my 2012 Diplomat the OTA antenna and cable use the same coax.  You should have a small box (amplifier) for the OTA antenna.  When this amp is energized it boosts the OTA signal.  If you connect to cable, make sure that switch is off, otherwise the OTA signal will interfere with the cable signal.  Like others have said, change the input on the TV to “air” or “cable “ as appropriate. 
I have connections for cable and external satellite in the water service bay.  For troubleshooting purposes, if you don’t have cable service, you can hook up an older VCR or DVD that has a coax output to the cable input in the service bay.  If you switch a TV to cable, you should be able to view the output of that VCR or DVD.

[Land Lubber]

In my '09 Camelot I have a micro-switch in the compartment above the driver position & is located on the left side that toggles between the cable & the over the air inputs. I believe that using this switch enables a pre-amp for the over the air antenna signal. This doggone momentary contact switch is so small I had to ask more than once where it was located! I also don't have a video input/output control box as our previous coach did. Monaco sure could have set this up better in a more common sense configuration.

[birdshill123]

If you have a Winegard roof antena there is a switch on the face  plate for the antena amplifier that  switches the signal input from cable TV to antenna

 

[Ivylog]

2 hours ago, birdshill123 said:

If you have a Winegard roof antena there is a switch on the face  plate for the antena amplifier that  switches the signal input from cable TV to antenna

 

Finally a simple correct answer.

[georgecederholm]

3 hours ago, birdshill123 said:

If you have a Winegard roof antena there is a switch on the face  plate for the antena amplifier that  switches the signal input from cable TV to antenna

 

And it is probably in a small side cabinet directly over the driver’s head.

[Paul J A]

Mine was in the cabinet above the Co pilot.

[96 EVO]

6 hours ago, birdshill123 said:

If you have a Winegard roof antena there is a switch on the face  plate for the antena amplifier that  switches the signal input from cable TV to antenna

 

I don't believe mine has this 'switch'. There is a small button and green led, but I believe this turns on/off the OTA booster 🤔.

[Dave Pumphrey]

Do you have the winegard booster?

It is a wall plate, sometimes has a coax output on the front, also a button that turns on a green light. This is what switches from antenna to cable. It is on cable with the light off, antenna with the light on. I saw someone mention using a splitter to combine cable & antenna, I don't know if that would work, never thought about it. I did replace my bomb, box of many buttons, a year or 2 ago, got it on Amazon. Magnadyne VCS-10 5 input 3 Output... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SWGSESO?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[amphi_sc]

On 5/15/2022 at 12:35 PM, 96 EVO said:

I don't believe mine has this 'switch'. There is a small button and green led, but I believe this turns on/off the OTA booster 🤔.

I have that too.  Although mine doesn't "switch" per se, by turning off the booster the cable TV input in the wet bay is not over powered by the booster and park cable comes in fine.  (Single coax is split 4 times to front, bay, and BR TVs and a feed to the A/V cabinet.  Sat feeds TVs by RCA and HDMI cables.  A separate coax feeds BR Joey from front Hopper.)  If the booster (green light) is on, then the park cable input doesn't work at any TV.  Just switch the TV tuner type between OTA or Cable.  I usually keep it off as the powered unit on the mast gave out once and had to replace that.  I do have the OTA routed to my Dish receiver (dual USB OTA turner) so it integrates local OTA into the guide with the satellite stations so I never have change my zip code.  When I want locals, I raise the mast and have the Dish receiver re-scan OTA antenna.

FWIW

 

[96 EVO]

I find most parks I go to give you a cable box, and some (like the one I'll be at this week), are old boxes with only coax outputs.

Rather than having to get at the back of my front TV, I removed the factory OTA coax (which I assume travels thru the ceiling to the backside of the Winegaurd wallplate), ran a short coax from the TV into the overhead compartment with the Winegaurd wallplate. 

This way I can switch between OTA and a cable box, right in the cabinet.

[FLynes]

Richard, according to the build sheet, our coach came with a Winegard VS-5312 video switch box. I was able to find one new in the box on eBay. Our coach still has the RCA DVD and VHS players, but everything was disconnected, so I'm having to put everything back together from scratch. A really awesome member on this site, CorinthWest, just sent me a copy of the wiring diagrams from his HR Vacationer (sister coach to ours), and the RCA Home Theater sheet has been worth its weight in gold. I even found a 1080p Single Channel HDMI to RF Modulator, which allows me to use a Dish satellite receiver, to replace the original RCA DSS receiver, which wasn't with the coach when we bought it. It's a moot point anyway, since the RCA DSS receivers were only compatible with DirecTV and USSB (now owned by DirecTV) and the technology used in those units is now obsolete.

And, yes, I'm one of those weirdos who still has DVDs and VHS tapes and watches them. 

I'm PM'ing you a link to buy a switch, in case you're interested.

[1nolaguy]

Chuck, happy Independence Day. I did not read all of the posts above but please keep in mind that switches of this vintage are analogue and mechanical. Most modern electronics are digital. My personal experience, after trying to get this to work was to replace the crank analogue antenna on the roof with a King Omni Directional and used a splitter to tie the coach cables together. Since the TVs were previously with digital flat screens now the OTA and cable work great. Each TV has its own DVD and a streaming stick. It was a much simpler solution, does not require any switching, and was relatively inexpensive.

 

[Jdw12345]

Sorry to open an old thread but these are probably the folks that can help me!

 So we purchased our coach a little over a year ago and other than our trek back home from Oregon we’ve only used it a handful of times and watching tv is somewhat down the list of activities.

So with that here’s what I need some help with, 

  I installed a new king air antenna because the original antenna was completely gone from the roof,

I can’t seem to get any OTA TV stations, the original tv booster seems to be working and it powers up the new antenna so I left it in place, I don’t know if it’s compatible with the King Air….. it appears to be the same one that came with the King Air Antenna…….

When we plugged into cable I received stations but, I seemed to only receive sound on one channel, in other words when I changed the channel the sound would not follow…… I thought that was strange……

When I put in a cd it plays just fine.

I removed the panel above the drivers seat with the antenna booster power switch, satellite controller and charger/inverter control panel just out of curiosity to see what’s all up there and to make sure nothing was disconnected….

 I looked up in the audio/visual cabinet above the passenger seat, I found a couple of coaxial cables and I’m not sure where they’re going or coming from or supposed to be plugged into…… man for all the cables and wires! Holy crap!

 One coax cable has a phone cable taped to it, I’m assuming it was taped together at the factory, my guess is that it is heading to the rear bedroom TV, just a guess!

 At this time I’m not interested in using any type of satellite receiver.

 After reading this post I now know I can experiment with a VCR as a cable input, thanks for that!

 I’m certainly open to any ones advance or opinions!

2005 Monaco Dynasty IV

 

   Thanks in advance.

[jacwjames]

Posting on an existing thread is probably better, makes it easier to search for specific problems.

Not sure on a 2005 Dynasty

But many coaches have a Box Of Many Buttons (BOMB), the box receives the signal from different inputs and sends it out to the TV locations.   In my case the box is in the overhead compartment on the passenger side, this is also where my OTA amplifier is.   I have a mess of cables up there also. 

So in my case I can choose for an input between Satellite, Cable, Over the Air antenna, VCR.  I can then select which TV to get the signal.  Depending on your TV you may have to select where you are getting a signal. 

Do you have a BOMB. 

One thing you might try is o find the OTA cable and connect it directly to the TV to make sure you are getting a signal.