Ok, need the help of all you video people that are smarter than me .......

Here's the issue - if I use the OTA antenna (we have one of the Winegard automatic ones that looks like a small dome ) the picture on both sets is great. Crystal clear, lots of channels, full HD when available. If I then turn off the booster, switch to the cable in from the park, one set is at most "fair" and the other set has maybe two channels that are watchable. Have looked at a rig a couple of sites away from mine and their cable is ok. The park maintenance has checked our site with a meter and said "its within specs and should be ok".

And the tv search is restarted when switching from OTA to cable.

I'm smelling the park maintenance is full of it. Am I correct or is there somewhere else I should be looking ?

Not sure about your system, but I'll bet it is the park's problem. Where we are right now we can get internet through the park's cable system, the internet tech said "if you get a crummy TV signal then our internet won't work well". He tests the park cable connection before he sets up the internet.

Question: Did your Park Cable input work prior to changing to the Automatic OTA Dome??
Just wondering if something got messed up making the change from the Bat Wing.

The line from the booster to the TV is the same regardless of whether your watching OTA or cable. SO the only fault on your end could be the line from the cable input (wet bay on mine) to the booster. To check this I would attach the cable to the sat in (wet bay on mine) that goes directly to behind the living room tv. Scan again and see. Also make sure your selecting cable not air when you scan. If that works then its your cable in line to the booster. If it still looks bad, then is the signal form the park.

Cheers
John

Hi Vaughn,

Here I am again. Having the exact same problem that you are.

I have done all of the typical trouble shooting: checking connections, etc. Ran a cable direct from the park connection to the back of the TV, picture perfect.

I read below from John Anderson that following all that the problem would hav to be the cable from the basement connection to the booster.

I am wondering if you have solved the problem?

Thanks,
Bob

Hi John. Bob Arnold here. I am having the same problem as Vaughn. My trouble shooting procedures consisted of:
1. Confirming a clear picture on antenna.
2. Running cable direct from park connection to TV - clear picture
3. Checking all connections for tightness. Except the connections on the splitter between the 'SET' output of the booster and the two TV's. But I think a problem there could be eliminated since there is clear picture from antenna input. Both cable and antenna signals to the TV's use the same path.
4. Running a cable from the park connection to the cable input of the booster - bad picture

I believe that eliminates any cable or connector problems and leaves only the booster, which baffles me. How can there be a clear signal from antenna, amplifier on, and a poor signal from cable, amplifier off. Could there be some sort of electrical bleed in the unit with the amplifier off?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Edit - I thought, there I go thinking again, what can I do to double check my conclusion it must be the booster? Well, bypass the booster with cable input. So, I connected to park, to the basement connection. At the booster using a barrel connector, I bypassed the booster by connecting the input cable to the cable going to the TV's, ugly picture. Aaaaaaggggggggghhhhh!!!!!

Hi Bob,
It’s frustrating for sure. Here is what I would do now based on what you have said. I would pull the booster down (assuming yours is like mine and in the cieling closet. On the back you will see three connections marked Antenna, Cable, and Set2. I would try and connect the cable you ran direct inside to the port that says Antenna. Make sure the booster is off. It all is clear, then it’s the cable attached to “Cable” which runs to the wet bay. If you want to confirm I would then use a barrel connector to join the line you ran direct and the line that was plugged in to Set 2. That would eliminate the cables going to the living room tv and/or basement being bad. This will confirm it is either the cable between the wet bay and the booster or the booster.

Connected direct to the SET cable. Ugly
Edit:
I am wondering now if the signal strength from the park is "right on the edge" of quality. Direct from park connection to TV with a 20'cable gets a decent picture, though not perfectly clear (see attached photos). Maybe passing through the longer cables and splitters is enough resistance to reduce the signal strength within the coach to below quality level?

Just want to confirm. You connected the cable that you ran direct from the park, to the cable that was connected to the "set 2" plug on the booster. The booster is now out of the equation. I will assume you used a a barrel connector and did a scan on the tv. If you did all this then the answer is the fault is in the cable running to the living room/basement TV from the booster. What seems strange is if that cable is bad, you would have had bad antenna picture as well not just cable. In my trailer that cable is split in the ceiling sending one to living room and one to the basement.

just to be clear if you take the line you ran direct to any tv the picture is clear?

A splitter will definitly affect the signal and reduce strength. I'm sorry to say Redwood wasn't using the highest quality splitters in my case. I swapped them out.

Yes to all except I did not run a new scan. The original scan was saved.

And yes, when direct from post to TV picture is clear(er).

Do you have a basement TV as well? At this point I would drop the light over the left side of the bed and feel for a splitter. From what you have said, its in that cable.

Little confused. Would you be agreeable to phone conversation? 407-832-9978

Typically with a RL floor plan the bedroom TV is connected directly to the Booster, while the Living Room comes off the Set 2 connector, that's where problems come in. That means the signal was just split in the booster with a 3db loss (which cuts the signal level in half, now down stream somewhere is another spliter for Living Room/Basement or Outside TVs, this again is another 3db loss which again cuts the remaining signal in half.
So if I'm reading things right, with a cable directly from the park to the TV you get a signal, but not the greatest. So if that's the case, once you have split the signal twice you are probably below the level for good reception.
Best of luck.

I almost hate to provide input here because there is a wealth of wisdom shared already. But depending on where you are, the problem could start with the park cable connection. In the West Yellowstone park last summer we carried bags full of new park connectors and replaced many each week. Those little connectors are subject to a lot of weather extremes and abuse just from hooking and unhooking which could degrade the signal to begin with.