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Hooking Up Digital TV Converter Box In Conjunction With Satellite Receiver In An RV

by Chet Reeves
(Sebring, FL)

I was reading your article on installation of a digital converter box in an RV. This was very helpful; however, it did not address my satellite dish receiver and how to deal with this during the installation. Can you explain how to hook up the digital converter box and where to plug in the satellite dish receiver?
Thank you.
Chet Reeves
Editor's Note: Removed e-mail address to protect Chet's privacy.

ANSWER Greetings Chet thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

OK based on the information you have provided, I am going to have assume a few things. I am assuming that you have satellite receivers hooked up to each of your TVs in your RV. I am also assuming that when the satellite receiver is not on that you can receive over the air channels on the TV when your RV's Video Switch Box is set to outside antenna. In other words the TV antenna analog signal is passing through the satellite receiver when it is turned off. I am also assuming that your satellite receivers are hooked up to the TV via a coax cable (Cable TV Type Cable). I am also assuming that your TVs are receiving the satellite signal when they are tuned to either channel 3 or 4. If any of what I am assuming is not correct then my suggestion below may not work.

If all of the above is true than all you have to do is put your Digital to Analog TV Converter Box (with Analog Pass Through) in between your satellite receiver and the TV. First thing is make sure that the Digital TV Converter box has the analog pass through option. Unhook the cable from the back of the TV that you have running from the satellite receiver. Hook that cable to the antenna in port of the Digital TV Converter Box. Now you will need to buy a short piece of Coax cable. That additional piece of cable should be hooked up to the TV out port of the Digital TV Converter Box and the

other end should be hooked up to the back of the TV. Now make sure that you setup the Digital TV converter box to output the signal to the same TV channel that your Satellite Receiver is set to.

To watch satellite TV you would make sure that your video switch box is set to satellite, that your Satellite Receiver is on and that the DTV Converter box is off (so the signal passes through the box). The DTV converter box will only pass through the signal when the box is turned off not unplugged. Make sure that you tune your TV to channel 3 or 4 (whichever one you have setup your satellite receiver to transmit on). Then use your satellite receiver to change the channels.

To watch off the air TV make sure that your video switch box is set to antenna, that the satellite receiver is off (so the antenna signal passes through the satellite box) and that the DTV Converter Box is on and that the TV is on the proper channel. You would then use the DTV Converter Box to change the channels on your TV.

Again, I have made a lot of assumptions here and if you have VCRs, DVD Players, etc. hooked up to any of this, it may not work. A lot depends on what model satellite receiver you have and how your TVs are currently setup for satellite and whether you were able to watch off the air TV already. You may have to take your RV to an RV dealership to have a tech look at it to get this setup right. Sorry, there are too many variables to consider here. If any of our visitors have suggestions for you they can leave them by clicking on the add a comment link near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

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