Satellite receiver

[sunbirds]

We have a 2007 Tourmaster T36. We have been thinking about getting satellite service, however when I checked the space available in the front overhead cabinet there doesn't seem to be enough room for the receiver box. There is only about 7" from the front of the cabinet to the back. Some space is taken up with an enclosure around the electrical box and antenna booster. Where do most people put their receiver box? Thanks for any help.

[03heritagerider]

All of our A/V controls are in a cabinet above the recliner chair, which is behind the passenger seat. The DVR box was too deep to fit as is. The wall at the back of the cabinet is a false wall that hides all of the wiring and did not go all the way to the bottom of the cabinet floor. I removed the wall, cut a couple of inches from the bottom and re-installed. I used velcro to replace the panel allowing for easy future removals.

The DirecTV box now fits in there, but we have to leave the door open for the remote signal to reach the box, which is unsightly.

I'm thinking of removing the dark glass on the cabinet doors and replacing with a dark speaker grille fabric. Hopefully the signal will penetrate the fabric.

[sunbirds]

Thanks for your reply! We'll try that.

[Luckiest Dreamer]

Same problem on my 40A Tourmaster. The only place that was already built in is for the bedroom TV. The cable box was installed there this winter while we were in Florida and we recieved premium channels only there, and the other three TV locations received only basic cable. I thought about building a removable shelf that would hang below the cabinet and still above the windshield that could be removed while in transit. We do not watch while in motion anyway. The direct TV box would need to be located there as all of the antenna hookups are located for the front TV. What we did was put our Direct TV on vacation and pay for cable while in our winter park.

[Chuck v]

Dreamer ad Sunbirds,

You can get an RF transmitter adapter that will work in your remote controller hand held unit (it replaces one of the batteries...) and a matching RF receiver that mounts at the satellite box which converts the signals back to infrared. This would work even if the door were solid wood...

Here is a typical on-line retail source for this gadget: http://www.smarthome.com/8045I/IR-to-RF ... MHz/p.aspx (http://www.smarthome.com/8045I/IR-to-RF-to-IR-Remote-Control-Range-Extender-Kit-433-MHz/p.aspx)

Chuck

[Luckiest Dreamer]

Thanks Chuck. It may have some potential if the cabinet above the driver was large enuf to fit the receiver. It is not.That is why the shelf is needed.

[Chuck v]

Dreamer,

The cabinet in my 2007 TourMaster is also shallow, but it has a perforated section in the rear panel at the 'floor' level of the cabinet space that can be removed. I got my old Hughes receiver for DirecTV in there by doing this minor modification

Not only does this give much more depth, but it also opens up the tiny enclosure for more air circulation. Note that this space behind the panel is open to the area over the windshield all the way to the inside surface of the front cap. You can easily pull additional wires to/from the TV mounting cabinet that is over the entry steps. I have added a small muffin fan to circulate air back there as it is an "unconditioned" stagnant air space (cold in winter, hot in summer relative to the coach's interior.) Hope this is of some help...

Chuck

[03heritagerider]

...put our Direct TV on vacation and pay for cable while in our winter park.Lucky...Yeah, we do that when we are stationary. This winter we put on 12,000 miles (almost half in the coach). Not all parks have cable available, so we had to take the DirecTV with us.

...get an RF transmitter adapter that will work in your remote.Chuck...Thanks for the tip! You can never have too many gadgets :D

[Luckiest Dreamer]

Thanks again Chuck, My set up is exactly like yours. However my Direct TV receiver is not. My receiver is too wide. I looked into buying another receiver from a garage sale and was told that they would not be able to use my card because they are specific to the receiver. So far I have been reluctant to apply for another account for the MH when I already was paying for the one at home and I could just move the receiver. Things would probably work better if I was not so cheap. I suspect that the second account would be cheaper than the cost of the materials for the shelf. Such a dilemma!