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Satellite prep question

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Chris G

RVF Regular
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Messages
8
RV Year
2019
RV Make
Newmar
RV Model
Dutch Star 4369
RV Length
44 ish
TOW/TOAD
2016 Cherokee
I'm searching for the coax connection on the roof of my 4369 (both factory, and dealer said that coax or a conduit should be there as a part of the sat prep). I opened up three cover plates and cleaned off the sealant to find there are no holes in the roof or coiled up coax cable to connect my new system. Do I need to cut or drill a hole at one of these cover plates and somehow fish the cable down to the AV cab above the televator? Is the cable already there under one of the cover plate locations?
The King Tailgator Pro (roof mounting with a quick release boot for ground mounting) and does not require additional 12v power to operate. This unit only requires the RG6 connected to the Dish receiver to provide signal and power the unit. I wonder what is included with Sat Prep from Newmar? Am I missing something obvious? Anybody installed a first time Sat dish on a DS roof who can please advise?

IF I get an answer out of any dealer or the factory I will post the solution here. So far they have given me false info and I'm searching the forums.
 
I'm searching for the coax connection on the roof of my 4369 (both factory, and dealer said that coax or a conduit should be there as a part of the sat prep). I opened up three cover plates and cleaned off the sealant to find there are no holes in the roof or coiled up coax cable to connect my new system. Do I need to cut or drill a hole at one of these cover plates and somehow fish the cable down to the AV cab above the televator? Is the cable already there under one of the cover plate locations?
The King Tailgator Pro (roof mounting with a quick release boot for ground mounting) and does not require additional 12v power to operate. This unit only requires the RG6 connected to the Dish receiver to provide signal and power the unit. I wonder what is included with Sat Prep from Newmar? Am I missing something obvious? Anybody installed a first time Sat dish on a DS roof who can please advise?

IF I get an answer out of any dealer or the factory I will post the solution here. So far they have given me false info and I'm searching the forums.

SOP for Newmar. They place those plates "in the general area" of the preinstalled cables. The only way to avoid a fishing expedition with multiple holes is put a signal tracer on the coax in the coach and search for the ping on the roof. In my case the prewire cap was on one side of an aluminum brace with the prewire cable rolled up on the other side of the brace. No amount searching though the provided roof access would have found that cable.
 
Looks like I'm buying a signal tracer. Thanks for the great tip Turbopilot. I thought I was going nuts.
 
Looks like I'm buying a signal tracer. Thanks for the great tip Turbopilot. I thought I was going nuts.
Took me 4 holes and I had to build a special tool to snag the cables. They simply glued a plate to a general area on the roof then labeled it sat prep. As you can see one wire was found outside the area covered by the plate. You can see the end of the "fish tape" coming through that area. That is were the conduit terminated from the cabinet below.

IMG_0522_Detailed-X2.jpg
 
Same thing with SOLAR prep. It gets you in the area and always when drilling or cutting be careful not to go any farther through than the thickness of what you're cutting. Right under the SOLAR prep was a duct. I'm glad I was careful!
 
Is the “perp plate” near a roof vent?
 
I still haven't drilled the hole(s) yet... I spoke with another tech at Newmar today and he is certain the Sat plate I would need is over the driver's seat (sadly no roof vent nearby) He said the solar plate is the one mid-ship next to the half bath fan vent. I have a borescope that I can use to scout through a small hole for the coax tomorrow. If that method works I'll report back with a snap shot of the install. If I'm unable to find it, I'll continue my search for a signal tracer for using to locate the wire.
Thanks everyone for the great advice!
 
Thanks everyone for the great advice!

Check the overhead cabinet and make sure you have a conduit going to the roof. It has been 2 years since my install but if I recall correctly there was a wire and a RG6 cable inside the conduit. Per my image above I actually found the end of the conduit outside the foot print of the "SAT Prep" cover. The cover was fake covering a normal roof with no penetration. As I indicated above when I drilled a test hole directly under the cover I did not find the conduit. I could hear the fish tape banging on the roof coming out of the end of the conduit so I knew it was up there somewhere. When I drilled the 3rd hole (hole toward the top in the image) I found out I was on the other side of a metal roof brace and after fishing around found the end of the fish tape, then the conduit. I would not have found the conduit fishing around my initial test hole because the metal brace was in the way between hole one and three.

We went through exactly the same thing looking for the solar prep wiring. Fake plate was near but not over the actual location of the satellite prep wires.

Very sloppy work by Newmar.
 
Sounds like nothing much has changed in three years. On my 17 DS built in late 16, the cable was actually about 16 inches away from where it was marked on the roof.

Sloppy indeed!

Given what Newmar charges for SAT Prep, it would be nice if they could actually get the cable in the right place.
 
I finally found the Coax and got everything hooked up and working perfectly. IT was difficult finding the wires but I knew they had to be there somewhere. I drilled the first hole and kept elongating it (with a multi tool) until I could get the conduit moved (unscrewed from the frame and pushed it out of the way). The 2 Coax cables were zip tied to the side of the conduit and I clipped that zip tie and pulled out about 3' of wires (with connector ends) which was ample to get to the antennae. I connected both cables just in case I add a second receiver.
Thanks again everyone for the help figuring out how to get this checked off my honey-do list. I'm an even bigger fan of this forum.
after.JPG
before.JPG

FYI... This Tailgator Pro has much better signal reception than we had on our old coach with the in-motion satellite dome.
attached is a shot of during and after the install.
 
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