Resolving the misconception - coax splices

[geotex1]

One of the personal pet peeves of mine is the proliferation of misinformation on the internet. I am certainly not going to stop it, but I can help clear it up on forums I belong to!

Those here long enough know I am more than just a DIYer, but unfortunately I generally just don't have the time to document repairs/mods/improvements. Having to recently drop the entirety of our coach's underbelly for a period of weeks gave me some opportunity to do so, including cleaning up the wiring mess, running some spares, and reinsulating with a superior R-value.

In this case, I am going to put to bed the misconception that RV manufacturers "home run" coax. Beyond knowing this not to be true from my visits to many production lines and our past campers, we all know if there are not pictures it did not happen, or in this case, cannot be true. Well, below is one set of two splices in our 3350RL, and as you can see that is all 4 coax cables that would run up to the booster near/behind the main TV.



Between this set and the forward set of splices, two loose connections and one had come completely undone! This is why we could never get our Dish to work through the wet bay port to the TV. Works perfectly now (that we are leaving Dish, of course) after some dielectric grease, tightening, and wrapping with electrical tape.

[MoonShadow_1911]

One of the personal pet peeves of mine is the proliferation of misinformation on the internet. I am certainly not going to stop it, but I can help clear it up on forums I belong to!

Those here long enough know I am more than just a DIYer, but unfortunately I generally just don't have the time to document repairs/mods/improvements. Having to recently drop the entirety of our coach's underbelly for a period of weeks gave me some opportunity to do so, including cleaning up the wiring mess, running some spares, and reinsulating with a superior R-value.

In this case, I am going to put to bed the misconception that RV manufacturers "home run" coax. Beyond knowing this not to be true from my visits to many production lines and our past campers, we all know if there are not pictures it did not happen, or in this case, cannot be true. Well, below is one set of two splices in our 3350RL, and as you can see that is all 4 coax cables that would run up to the booster near/behind the main TV.



Between this set and the forward set of splices, two loose connections and one had come completely undone! This is why we could never get our Dish to work through the wet bay port to the TV. Works perfectly now (that we are leaving Dish, of course) after some dielectric grease, tightening, and wrapping with electrical tape.

As someone who has worked on commercial low voltage installations (networks, cable or coax, alarm wiring, etc) if you have more than 2 or 3 connectors between endpoints, generally speaking, you will have issues. With coax (and for most non-coax video and data runs), for every connector you lose 3db of signal strength. Also most connections are great RF introduction points. A typical coax barrel connector loses 3db of signal strength, leaks RF (depending on the source, anywhere between 6 Hz and 10.5 GHz), and 75 ohm coax (which is standard TV coax) with a barrel connector, could be a reception point for CB radios, HAM radios, GMRS radios, GFRS radios, Bluetooth, etc; which will further degrade your video signal.

If you want to minimize the interference at a barrel connector, I would recommend installing shielded barrel connectors, which cost about $10.00 each, and must be grounded to the "building" ground. Personally, not worth it in my book, buy some RG6 shielded coax and run point to point lines with it. For most, it's a PITA, but to eliminate the issues and to improve video performance, that's the best solution.

For us, we will stick with Sling.tv, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video, over Starlink. (But WiFi brings it's own set of headaches!)

I understand why manufactures hack and slash coax installs, since it's saving money by not wasting 10' of coax because it's too short to run point to point, and it's good enough for "over the air" TV. However, when you get into satellite TV and internet, straight point to point runs are your friends.

[geotex1]

For us, we will stick with Sling.tv, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video, over Starlink. (But WiFi brings it's own set of headaches!)

Yeah, we have ended our relationship with Dish. Home base is so rural our only choice until Starlink was Dish or Direct TV and interlaced DSL. Being on the valley floor, cell service is poor. Starlink has changed it all for us home base and on the road. Although my beta term has come to an end and we pay the full price everyone else does to have a residential setup with roaming, that cost of Starlink is LESS THAN HALF of what Dish and DSL combined was costing monthly!

[MoonShadow_1911]

Yeah, we have ended our relationship with Dish. Home base is so rural our only choice until Starlink was Dish or Direct TV and interlaced DSL. Being on the valley floor, cell service is poor. Starlink has changed it all for us home base and on the road. Although my beta term has come to an end and we pay the full price everyone else does to have a residential setup with roaming, that cost of Starlink is LESS THAN HALF of what Dish and DSL combined was costing monthly!

Yeah, we were looking for an alternative to having 2 different cellular hotspots to support my working remote. The cost of Starlink is half of the potential cost of two cellular hotspots. Game changer!

[Second Chance]

Since you're on the topic and I have the ears of two very knowledgeable people...

We are paying $69/month for our Dish package and have been happy with it so far - but haven't set the antenna up since 1 April when we left New Mexico for a 3,650 mile trip (which just ended today). We have a grandfathered VZW plan with a truly unlimited/unthrottled data plan on an 8800L MiFi for $50/month. Since everyone's jumping on the 5G bandwagon, I've been getting download speeds between 14 and 74 Mbps (yes - you read that correctly) with a 4G hotspot many places - especially in the two places we tend to spend the most time. We have also become less "dependent" on network/cable TV, but still like a few shows on the major networks. We do our streaming right now from NetFlix, Amazon Prime, and the PBS Documentaries channel on Prime. I have not DCed the Dish account and jettisoned the gear because it's that account that gives us on-line access to the major broadcast networks. Finally, Starlink is not an option for us at this point as it is waitlisted until at least 2023 in the two places we spend the most time (Las Cruces, NM, and Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD).

Now - my question: I would readily give up Dish if there were a streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu, etc., that would allow for mobility. I've had chats with YouTube TV and it is my understanding that you must subscribe at a "home" location and can move to a second location and back again each year. That would be great for true snowbirders, but we're not that locked in, yet. As far as I know, Hulu is one location only. Any ideas? Know of anything else out there?

Rob

Edit: I just hijacked a thread, didn't I?

[jkwilson]

Dielectric grease cannot help and may hurt. By definition, it is an insulator.

There are conductive greases that may help, but in reality nothing beats bare metal to bare metal.

[MoonShadow_1911]

Since you're on the topic and I have the ears of two very knowledgeable people...

We are paying $69/month for our Dish package and have been happy with it so far - but haven't set the antenna up since 1 April when we left New Mexico for a 3,650 mile trip (which just ended today). We have a grandfathered VZW plan with a truly unlimited/unthrottled data plan on an 8800L MiFi for $50/month. Since everyone's jumping on the 5G bandwagon, I've been getting download speeds between 14 and 74 Mbps (yes - you read that correctly) with a 4G hotspot many places - especially in the two places we tend to spend the most time. We have also become less "dependent" on network/cable TV, but still like a few shows on the major networks. We do our streaming right now from NetFlix, Amazon Prime, and the PBS Documentaries channel on Prime. I have not DCed the Dish account and jettisoned the gear because it's that account that gives us on-line access to the major broadcast networks. Finally, Starlink is not an option for us at this point as it is waitlisted until at least 2023 in the two places we spend the most time (Las Cruces, NM, and Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD).

Now - my question: I would readily give up Dish if there were a streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu, etc., that would allow for mobility. I've had chats with YouTube TV and it is my understanding that you must subscribe at a "home" location and can move to a second location and back again each year. That would be great for true snowbirders, but we're not that locked in, yet. As far as I know, Hulu is one location only. Any ideas? Know of anything else out there?

Rob

Edit: I just hijacked a thread, didn't I?

Since you're on the topic and I have the ears of two very knowledgeable people...

We are paying $69/month for our Dish package and have been happy with it so far - but haven't set the antenna up since 1 April when we left New Mexico for a 3,650 mile trip (which just ended today). We have a grandfathered VZW plan with a truly unlimited/unthrottled data plan on an 8800L MiFi for $50/month. Since everyone's jumping on the 5G bandwagon, I've been getting download speeds between 14 and 74 Mbps (yes - you read that correctly) with a 4G hotspot many places - especially in the two places we tend to spend the most time. We have also become less "dependent" on network/cable TV, but still like a few shows on the major networks. We do our streaming right now from NetFlix, Amazon Prime, and the PBS Documentaries channel on Prime. I have not DCed the Dish account and jettisoned the gear because it's that account that gives us on-line access to the major broadcast networks. Finally, Starlink is not an option for us at this point as it is waitlisted until at least 2023 in the two places we spend the most time (Las Cruces, NM, and Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD).

Now - my question: I would readily give up Dish if there were a streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu, etc., that would allow for mobility. I've had chats with YouTube TV and it is my understanding that you must subscribe at a "home" location and can move to a second location and back again each year. That would be great for true snowbirders, but we're not that locked in, yet. As far as I know, Hulu is one location only. Any ideas? Know of anything else out there?

Rob

Edit: I just hijacked a thread, didn't I?

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV,, and Paramount+, (SiriusXM as well), all have never blocked me based on my location; my wife uses Sling quite a bit. I have updated my address to Escapees in Livingston, and we have streamed all of them, here in Rio Rancho, with no issues. I cannot speak to YouTube and Hulu, however on support.google.com for YouTube TV, they stat "Your current location will find which programs and networks you see. Your access may be limited based on where you're attempt to use YouTube TV. See: https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/7300225.

In an additional support link: https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/7129768, they state:

"When you sign up for YouTube TV, we'll ask you to share your home zip code. We may also ask you to verify your area via your device location permissions. This is to make sure you get the right networks in your location.

What you can watch and record on YouTube TV is based on your home area:
* Watch programs aired over affiliate networks in your location.
* When you travel outside of your home area, you can't watch local networks airing in your home area. You can see local programs in the location you travel to, but you can't record anything outside of your home area."

So, what that tells me, is as long as you are not using YouTube TV to watch and record anything on "local" channels (local to your billing zip code), such as NBC; CBS; Fox; ABC; etc., you will be fine. You CAN watch "local" channels in the location you are at (with location sharing turned on, on your device), but can't record anything on them.

So, if you wanted to catch your daily Jeopardy fix, you can, you just can't record it. I would assume this also means that you cannot watch any recorded programs from your local area.

Hope this helps!

Side note: Starlink RV is available to anyone. You can order it and it should arrive within a few weeks. (It used to be days, but now with over 30,000 orders, I think it will be a bit longer than that.)

Side note 2: Yes you DID highjack this thread!

[AZMike]

One of the personal pet peeves of mine is the proliferation of misinformation on the internet.

I am very sorry to inform you that everything on the internet is true!

[ajg617]

Yeah, we have ended our relationship with Dish. Home base is so rural our only choice until Starlink was Dish or Direct TV and interlaced DSL. Being on the valley floor, cell service is poor. Starlink has changed it all for us home base and on the road. Although my beta term has come to an end and we pay the full price everyone else does to have a residential setup with roaming, that cost of Starlink is LESS THAN HALF of what Dish and DSL combined was costing monthly!

I found a simple solution - a 5TB HDD connected to the USB port on the TCL. DW and I can watch all the movies/shows she wants - been recording them for years. I need to record some new ones before next long trip later this year however.

[geotex1]

Edit: I just hijacked a thread, didn't I?

Sure did! LOL!

Right now, to my knowledge, there is not a perfect Live TV streaming service. Those like subscription YouTube TV and Hulu plus Live limit the number of home address changes per year (I know Hulu plus Live is 4x) because of what they pay for local content and wanting to avoid account sharing. I had heard rumors of an RV-friendly version of YouTube TV during the height of lockdown, but seems to have gone quiet.

For us personally, an OTA antenna works for the news. We have found we can get all of the shows we watch on major networks from various streaming services, which is why we dropped Dish.