Entertainment Center – Living Room

Aug. ’21: Living Room Entertainment Center Remodel

Along with the mods and equipment upgrades I’d done before (see below), I had the opportunity to work on a RV park handyman’s 47″ Vizio Smart TV back in the summer of ’20. I got it fixed and was waiting for him to pick it up and pay me the $125 I was asking but the other handyman informed me (after I’d waited to get paid for nearly a month and it was getting close to the time I usually headed south) that he’d been fired for stealing and that I shouldn’t expect to see him ever again. Oh, okay. So I’d been using my own 35″ TV and I thought, hey, I could enjoy this 47″ Vizio by putting it on the dash, so I pulled it out of the basement compartment I’d stored it in. And it turns out that it works fine on the passenger side of the dash as long as I turn the passenger’s chair to face the other way, I have a full view of the TV from my rocker-recliner. When it came time to leave and head south, with still no response from the owner, I took it with me. I bought a couple flat 48″ elastic straps and when I’m driving, I stand the TV on the couch and hook them around the TV up to the handles on the overhead cabinets. Works great, keeps the TV from falling over, and it’s easily moved (since it’s rather lightweight) back over to the dash when I’m settled at an RV park.

There’s just no way I’ll give up that giant TV now that I’m used to it. I love the size! The 35″ just looks tiny compared to the 47″. So I needed to come up with a plan to make it permanent somewhere in my Living Room. And after much thought, I decided to first remove the 35″ and install a door in it’s place, so I can use the interior space that was designed for a large CRT type TV as storage. I could tell that the TV that was here when I bought the RV was an optional upgrade OR the PO decided to have it installed a bit after they bought the RV. I’m the 2nd owner per the paperwork that was inside the RV when I drove off the lot.

What the installer did was add an aluminum bracket to the TV base and an aluminum assembly to the back screwed into the standard TV mounting holes. It was formed to allow the hook of a typical ratcheting strap to hook into it, the other hook attached to the frame in the back of the TV box. So the base was bolted to the bottom metal of the TV cabinet, and a ratcheting strap held it up higher. Here’s how it looked.

Here you can see the removable base cover that is held on by several screws that screw upwards into the bottom of the metal frame.

And here’s how it looks with the TV & base cover removed.

Once that was open, measured and cut a nice sheet of 1/2″ finish plywood to cover the opening. I had several ideas rolling around my brain but eventually settled on a door that lifted up, held open with a gas strut hinge type assembly. And then what I’ll do when I’m near the carpentry shop at the RV park in Pahrump, is build a wooden box to insert inside that frame to give a flat surface to store things on. Maybe incorporate some drawers.

First I bought some aluminum L stock and cut these two new brackets, attaching them to the metal frame.

Then I attached a long brass Piano hinge. It has a slight over bend which nicely allows for the door to be closed a bit beyond vertical without binding. Then stained the two sections of the door. The bright brass stood out a little too much so I stained it too. Looks fine that way. I could flip the hinge over and put it on the backside of the door so it would be hidden, but didn’t want to bother with the additional metal and carpentry work. Plus the gap would be fairly large and noticeable since I don’t have access to a router to make a hinge pocket though I did price them out and did try to find one at a yard sale. Well, whatever, it doesn’t look bad the way it is so I’ll leave as it is for now.

Then I added the gas strut…available at Amazon at this link: Gas Struts

I’d originally designed this door setup to directly hang the 35″ TV with access to the storage space, which explains the reasoning behind the heavy hardware, and I’d bought two of the struts to be able to lift the TV plus hold it open, but after I’d claimed the 47″ TV and changed my plans, I found I only needed one of the struts to hold the lightweight door open. So I now have a spare strut.

When the cabinet door is open or closed, it has approximately the same slope as the cabinet doors on either side. There’s plenty of head room too so I can stand under that open cabinet door without bumping my head. You might wonder why I didn’t cut off the bottom of the metal frame so that this cabinet would be flush with the overhead cabinets on either side, and I did consider that, but eventually, all that metal work didn’t appeal to me and I just don’t have a problem with bumping my head into this RV’s TV frame. Just doesn’t happen with this excellent design by Winnebago. Now in my old Fleetwood, I was hitting that overhead TV frame all the time, this RV? Rarely if ever. I guess this RV’s dash is slightly wider then the Bounder’s. If I ever feel the need to go back to an over-the-dash TV, like if I sell this RV and want to keep the 47″ for myself, I just need to add that 2nd strut, drill a few holes and bolt a used 35″ TV in place. Now that people can buy 75″ TVs at a reasonable price, there’s lots of used 35″ers around.

And here’s how it looks with the door closed. Used brass bolts to hold it in place and stained them so they’d be darker. The stain color was the best match of oil based I could find at True Value hardware but it looks very nice if I do say so. And it is shiny like the picture indicates.

There is a backwards slope to the door of about 3″ when it’s closed but the gas strut works fine to pull it into the stop AND hold it there. I don’t believe I’ll need any latch at all. I will need a handle and my next chore will be to find one. This RV is a ’02 and all the pull handles are polished brass which are hard to find so it might take quite a while to find a match to the other pulls in the RV. Meanwhile, I can just hook my finger under the edge and pull it open.

There are a few extra holes I’d drilled while I was originally trying to work out a plan trying different ideas, but I can fill those with dowels and stain them, if and when I buy some stock. Can’t really see them from a few feet away.

So that’s where the project is ATM, my next move is to remove and sell the couch, install the 47″ TV on a powered lift behind the passengers seat and create a ‘theater’ in my RV. Press a button and the TV will rise up around 25″ while I relax in my recliner in the area where the couch used to be. Part of the plan will be to remove the fold down table that’s behind the passengers seat and move it over to the other side of the RV. AND, if it’s possible, I’d like to install the 18″ wide dishwasher I bought at the end of the kitchen counter. We’ll see. When I tested the DW just recently for the first time since I bought it, it worked great. Took some getting used to the operation but now I’ve got a handle on it and have been able to set it up outside and use it several times so I finally am getting my dishes really clean. Cost me $80 at a salvage yard and I found them new online for $2200. Whoa.

Update Sept – Oct ’21: Continuing with the LR remodel…

This is a ’02 Winnebago Journey, DSDP,  with a 75″ wide couch that in this case is a powered infinite position but mainly 3 position couch (that are $1200 new). It has a motor/cable system that lowers the couch to a ‘Full Size’ and there’s also a Trundle that can be pulled out from underneath and makes the couch into a short ‘Queen Size’ bed. I rarely use it. Last time was when my brother visited with me last year for 2 days. So, I decided to get rid of the couch. What I can do if I do ever get a guest is for the short term buy a blow up mattress for them, and for the long term, just buy one of those European swivel, recliner, rocker chairs that make a nice bed for one. I have maybe one guest every 2-3 years so not really a big deal.

First thing to do was to remove all the bolts holding the couch to the floor, then the trundle railing, then remove the arms…those are held on by four bolts on each side. The couches are made this way for RV’s so the manufacturer doesn’t have to build the RV around the couch, the couch can squeeze inside through the door.

Removed the arms, the trundle (that is a wide foot rest that slips under the couch when not being used), and all the railings for the trundle and it was ready to remove.

To get it out the door, I extended it so it was flat. After it was outside, I cut off the 12 volt power connector inside the house and attached it to the couches connector so it’ll go with the couch to any new owner. Here’s one of the arms.

And after the chair is removed.

Then I removed the passenger side captain’s chair and with help, easily got the couch outside. Then hooked up my battery charger to the pigtail wires and set it upright. Than covered it with a 8′ X 6′ blue tarp as rain was predicted. The tarp has eyelets so I used nylon string to secure it to the couch frame in case of wind.

Got the swivel/rocker/recliner over there where the couch used to be shortly after the couch was outside. Good thing about this remodel is that I can still live here while it’s happening…and take my time at it as well. Really opens the floor plan.

And here’s how it looked after I got the TV in place and running. Remember that earlier I had added a flat HDMI cable to this side of the RV and it was in perfect position to use as the TV signal feed. The cable goes up to the 4 to 1 HDMI router that’s above the driver’s side of the dash, I point the DTV remote right at the TV and the IR from it bounces off the screen and as long as the cabinet door is open, the signal makes it up into the overhead cabinet to the satellite receiver, changing channels. Easy.

Didn’t really want it flopping around on the floor long term so I bought a TV lift from eBay for $111. I like having both the wired remote and the wireless remote. Someday soon I will cut the framework of the lift down so the lift doesn’t extend above the window frame when down, and gets the TV closer to the floor. There will need to be some metal work so I’ll have to find some RV park with a shop. Right now I have the TV supported by the pivot (supplied) screwed into the wall near the floor, and two custom made pieces of aluminum 1/2″ flat stock that I’ve attached to the metal window frame. Works great so far holding the TV lift (and TV of course) steady, even when driving the RV long distances. You can see that it goes a bit too far up, so I’ll be cutting it down a bit. Most likely.

After adding the mounting arms it’s ready for the TV…

Shows the pivot pin and the bracket that screws to the wall.

You can see from this shot that the TV obscures the view even when all the way down. When it’s up, I’m watching TV so not all that concerned with it blocking the view when up. I’m planning on moving the TV’s attachments down those 12″ or so and it’ll just peek up above the window bottom edge. To accomplish what I need to do, I’ll have to cut off a portion of the lift. And for that, I’ll need a fully stocked shop/garage. Where I can do metal work.

So that’s it for now. I’ve got a LR theater now with a large 47″ TV, yeah! You might wonder why it’s not centered on the window…I could certainly have done that, but what I plan on doing is installing an 18″ dishwasher on the end of the kitchen counter. There’s enough room there with where I’ve positioned the TV, and I already have the dishwasher so that’ll happen here soon as I finish the majority of the TV work.

Update: Feb. 2022 – Added a harness for stability

I found in the months of use so far, that the two aluminum (AL) brackets were in the way so it was impossible to completely close the curtain, and they were becoming a bit wobbly. That’s okay as long as I don’t forget to retract the TV when I am driving or something. But I wanted to improve the stability of the TV in this ‘temporary’ setup…which might turn into a setup that is used for years rather than just weeks. As I said earlier, I plan to build a nice wooden cabinet that fits under the window and the TV will rise up out of the cabinet for viewing. But right now, here’s how it looks, with cables hanging all over. Note that most of those cables will be covered when I get around to making the cabinet:

Here’s how it looks with the 2 AL straps in a nice upside down V shape. You can see the two plastic spacers I added, to be used with two longer screws and that I lowered them onto the surround, drilling new holes. This gives more room for the window shade frame to squeeze by the bracket nuts. I’m thinking of adding some bent AL brackets that hold the AL straps even further away from the window but this design will do for now. Plus I’ve added another ‘L’ shaped AL bracket lower down on the wall, then using a zip tie, secured the frame of the lift/lower mechanism.

And then here’s a close up of the bracket and zip tie. I used existing holes in the wall where there’s a metal plate under the thin wall covering. This is where the small table use to mount and it’s screws all screwed into that metal plate. I’ve moved that table to the other side of the RV. As everyone knows, those zip ties are really strong so what I’m thinking is if one or both of the upper AL straps give out and comes loose or both become loose for some reason, this zip tie will keep the TV from falling on it’s face. I often place things on the floor in front of the TV and the screen would likely be destroyed if it fell on one of them.

I also moved the AL straps from their current position higher up on the frame down lower on the frame and screwed them into new holes. I didn’t want to drill more holes and previously I’d used the existing holes, but drilling new holes allows the window blind to close nearly all the way so blocking sunlight, which is good. I figure I can cover those holes somehow when I sell this rig. Which would likely not be for 8 – 10 years from now.

And I’m pretty happy with this setup now. Nice and solid. No longer any danger of crashing to the floor so that’s good.

2) Oct. 2019: Enhancements to Living Room Entertainment Center

See 3) below for a run down of the satellite and other entertainment equipment in the LR installed earlier. Much of that equipment around the satellite setup was there when I bought the RV.

Spent 2016 and most of 2017 just getting use to and repairing a couple of issues I had with the satellite system and the Winegard Trav’ler auto-aligning satellite dish setup that came with the RV. Indeed, I didn’t even use the satellite for a year after purchase, preferring to use the OTA antenna for TV. [Refer to articles below]. By the end of 2017 I decided that just having OTA setup was a bit confining so signed up for DirecTv so I could utilize the Trav’ler antenna equipment. It was rather expensive originally and I thought it would be a good idea to get some use out of it.

Another year passed using DTV and occasionally OTA and by now I had in mind what I wanted to do regarding entertainment. Since I was running into better and better Wifi in RV parks all over the country, even state parks, I decided I’d like to run permanent HDMI cables up to the TV to facilitate ‘streaming’. One cable from each side of the RV. I’d already been using my computer wired via a long HDMI cable to the TV to play movies from DVD, and when I could, I’d use Wifi to pick up TV shows not shown locally. It was a temporary setup so when I was parked at an RV park, there would be a long HDMI cable draped over the furniture up to the TV. That cable would be one that came from my desk (dining room table) where my computer setup is, snaking behind the couch, and I felt I could use another one from the other side of the RV from the small desk/table where my rocker/recliner is, and where I usually set up my Android tablet. Or where guests would sometimes set up their computer.

By running an HDMI cable to that side of the RV too, I could have two computer streaming feeds, and turns out the DirecTv satellite receiver also outputs an HDMI signal. And if I used all those HDMI signals meant I was out of inputs on the TV. But I was still using coax cable from the B.O.M.B (Box Of Many Buttons) from the OTA antenna so I kind of wanted to improve that too by feeding that signal into the TV as an HDMI signal. As you can imagine, with all those cables, it would have become very inconvenient to work on the TV. Routing to the TV would be difficult too, so I decided I wanted a 4-to-1 HDMI switch I could put over in the satellite receiver cabinet and route all my HDMI cables there, and then from there to the TV with a single HDMI cable. Seemed more logical way to do it to me.

So went online and soon found there’s a whole group of these kinds of devices.This one did just what I wanted, has a small form factor and even comes with PIP along with being an HD device. [Edit: Aug. ’21 –  It’s now unavailable as I write this but there are other similar products that would substitute but without PIP]. One minor problem I found that none of available products addressed was the output HDMI connector was always in the wrong place for me. Sometimes on the side, sometimes on the back. I preferred the unit with the side output but it’s on the opposite side of where I wanted it. So what I do is set it on top of the DTV receiver upside down. That puts the output in the correct orientation for my setup so there’s less cable tangling. I use the remote with it as I have little need of the panel buttons so upside down works fine.

Once finding that switcher, and after ordering and receiving appropriate HDMI cables and accessories, I took a day and routed the HDMI cables through the overhead cabinets in the front of the RV. I wanted a halfway decent installation and routing the cabling under the floors of the overhead cabinets affords that. After exiting the cabinets, the added HDMI cables drop down to the floor along side the wall and are accessible there for plugging into whatever video source I happen to have now or in the future. The one behind the driver I’ve added a F-F coupler so I can easily unplug it when I’m extending or retracting the LR slide, not that I need too, I can though. HDMI is where it’s at right now for HD TV interconnections because of it’s excellent HD (High Definition) and audio properties and the smallish diameter of the cable. On the passengers side of the RV, I even used a nice flat, white HDMI cable so it’s hardly noticeable [Edit: Had to replace the flat cable in early 2022 as it failed. Went with a round cable this time.]

Pulling up the bottoms of the cabinets takes finesse so you don’t ruin the thin wood but with the right tools, it comes up pretty easily. Mostly there were staples but there’s a few nails as well. This is a view from the cabinet over the exit door of the RV looking forward. Once the cable is brought up into the cabinets, drilled a couple holes to feed it through along the covered area of the cabinets, than routed it around that speaker and it’s in the front end cap behind the electronics cabinets.Here’s a look back the other direction into the other half of the ‘over-the-door’ set of cabinets. I took these shots so I can always refer to them if I ever come up with another modification project. Pulled the cable back behind the VCR cabinet, behind the TV frame, then into the main satellite equipment cabinet on the left side of the TV. After the passenger side flat style HDMI cable was installed, it’s on to the drivers side. Same story, pull up the floor of the cabinets being careful to not damage the wood too much, drill a hole or three in the cross bracing, then route the cable. Easy breezy. There is a plastic channel on either side of the RV from the bottom of the cabinets to the floor that enclose the seat belts and I ran the HDMI cables on their sides so they’re hardly noticeable and are not obtrusive in any way. There’s so much electronics inside this cabinet that I had to use two new 1-to-3 AC cubes.

Didn’t take long and I had HDMI cables from both sides of the RV and from the DTV receiver all plugged into the 4-in-1 converter, output of which went to the TV. Much easier to plug in one HDMI cable on the back of the TV than 3 would be. It looks really crowded inside that cabinet and it was difficult to get it set up but now it’s working great. I have that fan there because it gets really hot in that cabinet when the sun’s shining on the RV. I leave the door open all the time I’m not traveling to allow airflow because several of the power cubes and devices put out heat.

So now I have a tiny remote that brings up the PIP view, then I can use it to switch between the currently 3 sources but typically, it’s set on the DTV output and stays there most of the time. The PIP helps so I can keep an eye on what’s showing and switch between the 4 sources when needed.

Now that that’s done, I started thinking about something over on the other side of the TV, where the converter, the B.O.M.B., the OTA antenna power and signal is, and the mostly unused shelf that used to hold a DVD/VCR/player. The player has been in my closet since 2016 when I tried to install it but found it was kind of too big. I did try a couple times to fit it in the space or modify the space but that never worked very well and it started to rub on the cabinet door so I took it out and it’s rarely used now. I’d already long since copied all my personal video cassettes onto DVDs. Well that shelf is usable space, I thought, so why not put another converter in there. This time it will convert OTA digital TV signals to HDMI while passing through the coax signal to the back and outside TV connections. And a quick search of Amazon in Oct. ’19 brought this little device to my attention:

I bought that and after a few false starts with figuring out how it works, I now have it installed and working well. Has a very nice HDMI picture that I send to the 4-to-1 converter, also has a simultaneous coax signal output that I run to the B.O.M.B. so it feeds the rear and outside TV coax outputs. I could also run it to a smaller VCR or DVD recorder if I wanted. It’s built to use external devices like a thumb drive or USB external hard drive DVR up to 1 TB so what I did was buy a 1 TB USB stick (thumb drive) and I use that to record TV shows to play them later. Pretty slick. Although the software isn’t the easiest to use, I’m able to treat it like a typical DVR to record shows in the future. [Edit: That box failed around a year later so I bought a new one, but different manufacturer. The one I have now is an Xuby.]

So now I’m surrounded by simple and inexpensive TV signal converting devices that make entertainment in my RV a breeze. All thanks to digital signals. If this stuff was still analog, the devices would be so huge as to take up half the RV. That’s hardly an exaggeration. Remember how big satellite dish antennas used to be?

Next up is to figure out what causes and fix the loud background hum I get when I radio transmit the TV audio from the TV output down to the dash radio using the Radio Shack remote audio transmitter/receiver devices I have. That’s what I’d like to use to feed the surround sound system in the RV. Makes for a cleaner installation. Must have those speakers working with my hearing as bad as it is, as the TV speakers are just terrible. Using the radio for TV sound also saves money and trouble because I don’t have to use one of those sound bars you see made for the tinny, poor dynamic sound you get from flat TVs. Some of those sound bars are pretty bad too, I know, I’ve tried them out.

Right now I’m using a small wired connection using an audio cable from the TV to the radio that works fine but I’d like to eliminate that as it’s unsightly and inconvenient.

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3) The Living Room Entertainment Center in this RV is a mess. Right up front, there’s far too many cables going every which way. And there’s not enough cabinet depth for a standard VCR/DVD player. I am loath to just toss mine because it was the last VCR & DVD recorder before the anti-consumer law was passed about it. Congress caved to Sony which owns most of the music and movie copyrights in this country and they didn’t like people recording their own copies of entertainment. Anyway, my VCR/DVD recorder is fairly deep physically, and doesn’t really fit in the space without the front jiggling into the closed door, scratching the wood. I’ve removed it for now so it’s not in any of these pictures. It would go on that shelf right above the B.O.M.B. (Box Of Many Buttons) the antenna interface, and the Dimensions Unlimited (Magnum branded now it seems) inverter. More on those devices later.

You can see the ceiling slope inside that cabinet can interfere with the rear of deep devices and the cables plugged into them. In the case of my VCR/DVD player, the AC cord plugged into the back panel, though it’s small, does interfere. So I can never really push it back deep enough. I’m thinking of dumping it and trying to find a stand alone DVD player/recorder. But I haven’t watched a DVD for so long, I’m not sure I’ll ever need it. I can watch or record DVDs on my computer too, along with passing a movie onto the TV.

The devices on the lower shelf, like the B.O.M.B. and antenna interface don’t go back far, but they have many, many cables going to and coming from them and it’s a rat’s nest behind that panel. The inverter box on the lower right in the cabinet however, does go back quite a way and the output 120 Vac cables plugged into the back of it do bump into the wall. Holding it out a bit too far, distorting the panel.

The inverter deserves special mention. I believe that it was originally optional equipment and it’s set up to supply power to the TV in the event of a power outage. That’s all well and good, but though the TV might remain on, the satellite dish, the DirecTv receiver, and auxillary powered devices all lose power.

Some satellite equipment may have been optional and chosen by the PO, I have no idea, but now there are what look like factory installed connectors on the back wall of the left side overhead cabinet that has a ‘Dish’ label. I don’t use those. Apparently, that original Dish satellite dish, if it existed, was replaced with a Trav’ler automatic satellite seeking and peaking system using DirecTv satellites (they also have a Dish satellite dish available). It was professionally installed and the installer did an excellent job. I’m happy to have that automatic dish setup since I’m a newbie to satellite and don’t have years of expirience with a manual satellite setup in a RV. All I do is push an On button and I’m done.

Something that happened here at this RV park in Mexico, and that was that I had many power drops by my Progressive Ind. Surge Protector when the parks power (shore power) would creep up to 133 Vac. Although the surge protector was protecting my equipment…those multiple shut down events seemed to damage my SWiM box that’s plugged directly into AC power, because it eventually failed. I have a spare so after figuring out what was wrong, I replaced it. There’s the SWiM, the Trav’ler Control by Winegard, and the DirecTv receiver all connected to AC power in there and although nothing other than the SWiM failed, I felt I should protect all those devices.

 

And what I came up with was to run an extension cord from the inverter in the right overhead cabinet, over to the equipment in the left overhead cabinet, shown below. There are two outlets on the inverter, the TV plugged into one, and now a DIY extension cord in the other. You can see the DIY cord with the yellow AC receptacle there on the right. The inverter is rated at 300 watts and 5 amp peak, and I feel that with the low power of the devices plugged into it, it’ll give me protection until I can shut off that equipment myself in a more dignified way than just having the power die. Because of all the attached items though, I won’t want to actually watch TV via satellite using the inverter. It would probably overheat and shut down.  

It’s a mess in there and the ‘special’ satellite cables are all stiff and difficult to route. Then I know myself and if I tried to find a cubby for those spare satellite, cable TV, TV accessories and cables in the plastic bags, it wouldn’t take long for them to be lost forever, even in this small RV.

Here’s what it looks like in the living room, next picture. I leave the left side overhead cabinet door open when I’m parked to help exhaust some heat from those devices in there and to allow the DTV remote to work.

I am not too happy with the appearance inside those two cabinets, but it’s going to be a major remodel to get it exactly like I want it. One thing I’m going to do is mount the TV on a plywood backing with gas struts that allows the TV to be lifted up towards the ceiling…giving access to that large unused space behind it. That was originally space where an old tube type TV resided and the flat LCD TV I have now makes it potentially a great place to store books and equipment…if I could access it. Future DIY project.

Then the two cables dropping down are a HDMI cable that goes to my computer, and the sound output from the headphone jack of the TV that I plug into the dash radio so I can use the RV’s surround sound. I’d like to reroute both of those soon. 

So as of Feb. 2017, that’s where the entertainment center in the LR is in the ongoing saga of adaption and upgrade. I am very happy with the Trav’ler dish because it makes setting up the satellite so easy. Push the power button when I arrive, it deploys and finds the 3 satellites and I have a picture. Well, as long as I pay DTV that is.

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4) Update: Aug. ’17 Satellite issues

I contacted Winegard about my non-functional Trav’ler satellite system soon after I’d arrived at the Crater Lake RV Resort. Just a few days before arriving in Oregon the satellite seemed to be behaving badly. It kept giving me an onscreen 775 error (loss of satellite signal) when I tuned to a station that I’d had just minutes before. This was a comes and goes thing. Eventually it was happening quite often. After I’d arrived at this park and deployed the satellite, it gave me a ‘No LNB voltage’ error. Called Winegard to help me analyse the issue after DirecTv decided it was beyond them and the Winegard tech thought that replacing the cable from the satellite horns electronics to the feed connection going downstairs would help. So I dug out a 6′ piece of coax cable (type of coax was unmarked) to replace the original cable. It was supposed to be a RG-6 but there were no markings on the cable I put up there. And that didn’t fix it. So I just used the RV parks cable system for TV. A few days later, I passed a Thrift store alongside the road and stopped in. And there was a nice commercially made, 6′, RG-6 cable in perfect condition. Never been used from appearances. For $2. Grabbed it.

Later that day I was in Vale, Oregon setting up camp at a RV park with rather mature trees, tall and bushy with leaves. Off in the direction that I needed the southern sky to be clear. Anyway, I climbed up on the roof and installed the new RG-6 cable…and that fixed the ‘No LNB voltage’ problem. I was now getting satellites at 99, 101, 103 all with a ‘*’ (means very strong signal) on the Winegard box readout. But no picture. All channels had the same 775 error message. So I contacted DirecTv again and this time, the tech determines I needed a new receiver. They send that, I installed it in place of the old one (and that one was only a year old), and boom, I’m getting all channels. And that’s through branches and green leaves. These satellite devices are really getting good at pulling out a good signal from a bad set up.

So I’m back up and running. Working up in that satellite electronics cabinet above the drivers dash is a real bitch and I’d rather not do it ever, but I really need to spend some time up there organizing. I’ll try to get to that soon.