Electrical TV Antenna wiring help please

Crusty181

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2010
6,854
13,971
113
Mentone, VIC
I use satellite, and we are currently on our maiden voyage.

Plugged the dish into the ext input and couldnt get a Sat signal via the Winegard booster plate "f" connector inside the van. After some feedback from @davemc, unscrewed the coax at the back of the Winegard booster plate and bypassed it, attached direct to the STB .... works like a dream, yet it doesnt appear that theres any issues with Winegard booster plate.
 

Crusty181

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2010
6,854
13,971
113
Mentone, VIC
This is what have at the moment, and given the thoughts of you helpful folk, I am thinking of getting a antenna guy to come out to me, and skip jayco ! @davemc i have put the splitter behind the box of the 1 st point and then run out to my ext point.
Will keep u all fine folk posted. Fingers crossed !

View attachment 29161
Seems pretty simple .... on paper.

If your antenna guy can solve your problem, i may well have another project for him in my van
 

Capt. Gadget

Obsessive & Compulsive Gadget Man
Dec 1, 2011
1,894
1,843
113
59
Busselton W.A.
bbmwa.com.au
I use satellite, and we are currently on our maiden voyage.

Plugged the dish into the ext input and couldnt get a Sat signal via the Winegard booster plate "f" connector inside the van. After some feedback from @davemc, unscrewed the coax at the back of the Winegard booster plate and bypassed it, attached direct to the STB .... works like a dream, yet it doesnt appear that theres any issues with Winegard booster plate.
Your Sat box powers your LNB on the dish and I'd say the booster plate which is meant for terrestrial TV wouldn't allow the power through
 

Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
12,754
19,500
113
QLD
Many make the mistake of forgetting that the winegaurd plate switched on powers up a booster which will cancel out signals from anywhere else. I found that when I pluged my rig into the shed antennae which had a splitter/booster it didn't want to work on all channels when plugged into the external socket (booster in van off)but if I ran the cable direct to TV all was good, a full dismantle of all connections and the replacement of a couple of fittings because Hercules used the crimper and crushed the crap out of the cable, so once that was all done, TV reception was good all round, I can now use the socket which is on it's own on the bench whilst before it was an ornament.
Next project is to improve my WiFi internet in the van as my small whip aerial is not all that great but with a yagi set up, as the dish is a bit big to lug around on the van, I should improve things. cost is about $12 and a 6 pack.

8 element yagi for Optus.

Yagio.jpg



Old satellite dish converted for Optus signal from tower.

dish.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Crusty181

davemc

Well-Known Member
Oct 29, 2013
4,360
4,737
113
55
Viewbank, Victoria
www.expandasdownunder.com
Wind blew today now have only a couple of channels again. I assume the coax was blown enough to move it and the short is back:( grgrgrgrgrg
I did say can you replace coax from roof to inside 3 times they keep saying they fixed it. No need to replace it all.
 

Dandy

Active Member
Jan 18, 2014
135
141
43
58
We had a similar problem with our new 2014, took a while to work it out. At first we thought we were out of range then found the caravan park cable plugged into the external point didn't work either! Eventually we worked out it was our wiring..... Rang dealer in Nov and tried to book in for warranty repair only to be told not until the end of Jan! There was not a hint of surprise when I described the problem. The comment being "yeah there's two connections on the back of the booster and they can easily wire them backwards."

Not being prepared to wait two months for two connections to be swapped around I did it myself. Guess what? Perfect signal! It was almost as if this was a well known fault that had not been checked at handover!!!!

It would of almost be more frustrating if this was the solution to your problem. But easy to fix.
 
  • Like
Reactions: davemc and Colsar

Capt. Gadget

Obsessive & Compulsive Gadget Man
Dec 1, 2011
1,894
1,843
113
59
Busselton W.A.
bbmwa.com.au
Many make the mistake of forgetting that the winegaurd plate switched on powers up a booster which will cancel out signals from anywhere else. I found that when I pluged my rig into the shed antennae which had a splitter/booster it didn't want to work on all channels when plugged into the external socket (booster in van off)but if I ran the cable direct to TV all was good, a full dismantle of all connections and the replacement of a couple of fittings because Hercules used the crimper and crushed the crap out of the cable, so once that was all done, TV reception was good all round, I can now use the socket which is on it's own on the bench whilst before it was an ornament.
Next project is to improve my WiFi internet in the van as my small whip aerial is not all that great but with a yagi set up, as the dish is a bit big to lug around on the van, I should improve things. cost is about $12 and a 6 pack.

8 element yagi for Optus.

View attachment 29239


Old satellite dish converted for Optus signal from tower.

View attachment 29242
Hi Drover how much gain are you getting from the Yagi? I bought a 6.5 dBi whip which I stick up on the Van in poor signal spots but it doesn't work as well as I thought it would
 
  • Like
Reactions: Drover

Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
12,754
19,500
113
QLD
@Capt. Gadget , it should be 13db, here's the link if your want to build you own, http://www.perite.com/vk7jj/optusyagi.html this is for Optus but there is a link for Telstra if need be, there is also a very,very big blog on it all on Whirlpool. http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/homemade_yagi

While the link shows using metal mine is built using old TV aerial bars and normal old conduit but a drill press is needed to get the accuracy for the holes as you need mm tolerence for the best outcome.
My dish works very well at home haven't used the yagi on the road yet but works well locally, I have a similar whip aerial and found it 's not as good as I expected also, about to build a new Yagi for the van with some sort of adjustable mounting bracket which I haven't designed yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Capt. Gadget

Colsar

Well-Known Member
May 10, 2014
701
868
93
56
Mornington Peninsula
well the ANT man has been, and has checked everything, to find out the win guard is picking up a signal but the (ber) is bad, means signal is there but bad quality. thats comes from a test straight from the aerial, so recommends new aerial.
i see the white snow flake aerials - can you fit retro to win guard base, and r they any good ?

Satellite tv , i can't justify as we don't watch that much for the price.
 

Crusty181

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2010
6,854
13,971
113
Mentone, VIC
well the ANT man has been, and has checked everything, to find out the win guard is picking up a signal but the (ber) is bad, means signal is there but bad quality. thats comes from a test straight from the aerial, so recommends new aerial.
i see the white snow flake aerials - can you fit retro to win guard base, and r they any good ?

Satellite tv , i can't justify as we don't watch that much for the price.
I didnt realise your using the old style Winegard .... as you now are aware theyre not designed for digital

The snow flakes can be retro fitted, and its quite simple im told, but theyre not cheap. Theres a retrofit kit that uses your existing mount, coax and 12v plate. We have a snow flake on our new van, its ok but not fantastic. The retrofit kit is anywhere fron $250 - $350 DIY. We use satellite and have done for many years ... theres never any question regarding signal.

Dont dismiss the satellite setup, the cost would be surprisingly reasonable in comparison with a snow flake upgrade, and your guaranteed signal. It takes me a genuine 5 to 10 minutes to setup

The key big ticket satellite items are the dish ($100) stand ($40) and STB ($230), plus some cable ($20), signal metre($10). You can use a old FoxtelAustar dish ... eBay for $20. You can pay a lot more for a satellite setup, but you dont have it, and the more you pay, the very same you get. (Except for auto dishes)

Every single satellite user would say the same thing "...... never going back"
 
Last edited:

Crusty181

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2010
6,854
13,971
113
Mentone, VIC
Set Top Box, in this case a STB Satellite Decoder, but very similar to the STB Digital decoders everyone was getting during the digital tv rollout

We use our satellite Foxtel STB, but for all the normal free to tv (FTA) service via satellite, you need the VAST STB, which is about $230.

Once your STB is mounted in the van, it would live in there permanently and the only tv seting up would be pointing the dish into the sky, and plugging the coax into the side antenna input of the van

My factory is in Dandenong, where the van lives. Were back in Feb, and your more than welcome to have a look at the setup, if it provides any options for you
 

Colsar

Well-Known Member
May 10, 2014
701
868
93
56
Mornington Peninsula
Set Top Box, in this case a STB Satellite Decoder, but very similar to the STB Digital decoders everyone was getting during the digital tv rollout

We use our satellite Foxtel STB, but for all the normal free to tv (FTA) service via satellite, you need the VAST STB, which is about $230.

Once your STB is mounted in the van, it would live in there permanently and the only tv seting up would be pointing the dish into the sky, and plugging the coax into the side antenna input of the van

My factory is in Dandenong, where the van lives. Were back in Feb, and your more than welcome to have a look at the setup, if it provides any options for you

thanks for the offer of a squizz, might take u up on it down the track, in the meantime think i will retro fit a snow flake , just to get it working. An follow up on sat tv down the track. Thanks
 

Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
12,754
19,500
113
QLD
Just need a ladder and it's basically just plug and play to swap around, don't drop the bloody cir clips on the pins though you will never find them again. At least with the snow flake it doesn't matter whether the signal is vertical or horizintal transmission it will pick up both.