Satellite cables revisited for "11"

[retired4fun]

OK has Heartland figured out you need two separate cables to run two separate satellite receivers from the docking station? One for the bedroom and one for the living room. I had a nightmare when rigging up our "06" and had to run another cable from the docking station to the bedroom in order for it to work. I am not interested in diplexers, switch boxes or other hoopla. Just a 2 straight beelines from the dish to the docking station, one for the bedroom and one for the living room. Don't need any cable to the roof because HD roof mounts are priced way out of my range. Besides I like to park in the shade where there would be tree interference. I tried to blow up the "11" on line literature to see the connection labels but it got too blurry. Thanks for any info.

[2010augusta]

our '10 has two dedicated feeds from the UDC to the bedroom and ent-center. I did add a third line to the Ent-center, so we can use a 2-line DVR and record 2 shows at a time.

[branson4020]

My '09 Bighorn has 2 dedicated cables.

[retired4fun]

Great! Glad Heartland is watching these threads! Now all I have to do is bring a continuity tester to the PDI to check cables. But I am sure the dealer will check 'em. HA HA I made a funny!

[Pizzaguy]

Our 2011 3610RE has 2 separate connections for satellite in the UDC. We are going to get another receiver for bedroom and hook it up like you are talking about doing.

[Wharton]

When we ordered our rig we asked the dealer to run a 2nd line from the UDC to the Entertainment Center and an extra coax from the BR to the Entertainment Center. He has no problems with doing that. I agree Heartland should start running 2 cables though. Time to join the satellite world.

I am not sure why husband wanted a 2nd coax from Entertainment Center to BR but that is his domain...............

[DXprowler]

As far as I see it Heartland has yet to address this issue of the need for 2 Sat feeds to the Ent center and 2 feeds to the bedroom. The way I understand it, on our '10 there is still only 1 Sat line running to the entertainment center and 1 Sat line running one to the bedroom. There is also a cable line but this is where you have to diplex to bypass the booster to get 2 Sat lines to the ent center. I did print out a diagram that someone graciously made up and posted here on the forum. You need one splitter and 4 diplexers.

Just took delivery of our 2010 BH 3410 and haven't dove into this project as yet as I'm waiting for delivery of the Surge Protector and will do all that needs to be done when the basement panel is off. I believe the diplexer approach would be easier than trying to fish a line through the bowels of the coach!

What the roof top Sat feeds are is beyond me! Since it's lines for a Sat dish on the roof why would the cable be feed to the UDC? I guess you would jump the connections in the UDC but why not just run them directly to the Ent Center and the bedroom? This would free up the inputs in the UDC for the extra Sat feeds!

[jbeletti]

Bill,

I agree with you that 3 coaxial cables, to both the bedroom and livingroom television locations would be ideal (2 satellite and 1 antenna/cable). That said, only a small percentage of our buyers have this requirement. To make all pay for the few is something we try to avoid. But like you are planning, there are workarounds (diplexers, running a 3rd cable, repurposing the antenna/cable line).

In terms of the satellite feeds to the roof, this is a prewire of 2 coaxial cables for this who want a roof mounted dish. Those wires go from the roof to the UDC. All other satellite feeds also wire back to the UDC. This is to give the end user as much flexibility as possible. Yes, jumpers are the name of the game. Merely jumper your source to its destination. I have 2 jumpers in place in my unit from the 2 roof feeds to the BR and LR jacks.

Best of luck with whatever you end up doing and please share back with the community, your project results.

Jim

[retired4fun]

When we ordered our rig we asked the dealer to run a 2nd line from the UDC to the Entertainment Center and an extra coax from the BR to the Entertainment Center. He has no problems with doing that. I agree Heartland should start running 2 cables though. Time to join the satellite world.

I am not sure why husband wanted a 2nd coax from Entertainment Center to BR but that is his domain...............

You probably have DirectTV HD with DVR (recorder). You need 2 cables to the reciever for it to work. I think Dish only needs one. You can not get the Direct HD DVR to work with only one cable, not even just to watch TV. Believe me I tried at the stick house. Had to use the regular HD receiver with out DVR that uses one cable for the computer room.

[DXprowler]

In my case with Bell TV (formally ExpressVu) you can get away with watching HD and using the PVR on one cable provided the proper switching is at the LNB's. However, this HD/PVR has 2 tuners in it and to get the absolute out of it you need 2 Sat cables so you can record while watching another channel.

Now in a perfect Heartland world, if there was another line into the bedroom from the Ent center then you could use the receiver in the Ent center for the bedroom TV as well. But you give up the record while watching another channel as you still need the 2 feeds to the receivers 2 tuners.

Jim, if it's going to save a few bucks I don't have a problem retro fitting myself. My god I've done this on all the previous trailers so why stop now! However, Heartland prides itself on innovation with industry leading features, which I totally appreciate and as a user ability goes I really enjoy, but as mentioned before this little extra wouldn't be such a bad idea! :)

[jbeletti]

Thanks for taking my comments in the spirit I intended :)

I have sent a request for consideration note into product management of satellite cabling as well as space considerations for all satellite receivers (including DVRs). Each model year, we tweak things. Who knows what we'll come up with in this area for next year?

Glad you'll be running your extra cable. Small price to pay for happiness :)

Jim

[DXprowler]

Tnx Jim! I have great admiration for Heartland and the Heartland Owners forum! It's this transparency that I especially like. You won't find that with other manufactures/customers where it's the "them against us" syndrome. Far more beneficial to work together in this imperfect world and try to make things just a bit better for everyone than banter negatively on and on. It is all about the spirit! :)

For those interested in the diplexer method of achieving 2 Sat lines (with the existing cable) to the Ent center here's the link to the post I mentioned earlier by Michael J. Kidd on the HOOT thread: http://hoot.heartlandowners.org/tips-howtos/menu-pwr/53-pwr-other/45-advanced-cable-wiring This is a great How-to post with a description and diagrams!

I intend to go this route as I can't see fishing a cable all the way from the UDC to the back of the coach an easy task. I have used diplexers before and they work well because of that reason. When I get to it I'll posts some pics.

BTW... I wonder what cabling challenges will be in store for us when 3D comes of age? Fiber-optic cable maybe??