I’ve been keeping myself busy while Donna is away. Donna left Thursday night on a trip to New York. She’s celebrating her dad’s 80th birthday with family near Albany, then going to New York City for a couple of business commitments. She’ll fly back to Portland Tuesday evening.

I had a slow start to the day on Friday. My priority for the day was repairing the cable signal and over-the-air antenna signal on our television. I have no cable signal and very weak reception from the antenna. I haven’t worried about it, since we usually use the Dish satellite for programs or we watch movies and TV series recorded on a hard drive.

The San Diego Chargers pre-season football game on Sunday will be broadcast locally on Fox. The only way I can receive the broadcast is over the air or on the RV park’s cable.

I studied the wiring diagram in the Alpine Coach Owner’s Manual. The original TV had been replaced. The Dish receiver and satellite system weren’t original equipment either. Looking at the original diagram gave me a few clues though.

I removed the TV from the front cabinet. This was a tricky operation. I really wished for an extra set of hands, but I had to get it done. I made note of how everything was connected. When the TV was replaced, the installer ran the coax cable from the antenna directly to the TV. The Wineguard antenna on the roof of our coach is supposed to run through a signal booster before it connects to the TV. The signal booster connection is in the wall of the cabinet above the driver’s seat. To rewire this, I needed a short section of coax cable.

I found a Radio Shack store online, about five miles from here. I bought a six-foot coax cable with connectors on each end. I used this cable to connect from the antenna booster to the junction box that allows me to select various input sources for the TV. I connected the TV cable to the signal out connector of the junction box. This was simple enough, but time-consuming as I worked in a cramped overhead compartment.

With everything back in place, I turned on the TV and did a channel search. The TV picked up a dozen channels. Some of them were digital high-definition broadcasts. This was looking good. But I had no sound. I pulled the screws from the frame securing the TV to the cabinet and pulled it out again. I saw the audio connections had inadvertently been pulled loose. I re-connected the wires while balancing the TV on my shoulder because the wires aren’t long enough for me to set the TV down and connect everything.

Now I had a good picture and sound. But I couldn’t find the Fox broadcast. I had ABC, NBC, CBS and other programing. There were several stations that I should have been picking up, but I couldn’t lock on to them. I was only receiving the strongest signals.

I decided to focus on the cable connection. The external cable connector hadn’t been connected to the junction box. I re-purposed the six-foot coax I bought and connected the external cable input to the proper connector on the box. Now I had a cable connection, but I could only find a few cable channels. It was the same problem as the antenna. Once again, Fox was not one of the channels I could receive. I was tired and frustrated. I gave it a break and spent the evening watching the NFL Network on the Dish satellite.

I was thinking about the day ahead before I got out of bed Saturday morning. The TV problem became suddenly clear. It was so simple. What are the common elements between the TV and cable signal or the TV and the antenna signal? The junction box and the coax cable from the box to the TV! A bad coax cable or bad connector would only pass the strongest signal from the box to the TV.

My first order of business was washing the coach. I wanted to do that Saturday morning, before I had direct sun on the  coach. I got to work on the coach around 9am. I started by breaking out the ladder and washing the roof. I don’t like heights and climbing on the roof of the coach is no fun. Actually, it’s getting back down that is a little scary. I spent the next three hours spiffing up the coach, including washing all of the windows. While I was washing, the FedEx truck pulled up and delivered my ScanGauge D from Amazon.

After dining on leftover chicken stir fry and rice for lunch, I wanted to install the ScanGauge. To put it where I wanted it on the dash, I had to run the wiring from the J1708 diagnostic connector on the passenger side of the dash, behind the console and up on the driver’s side. The ScanGauge intercepts signals from the Engine Control Module (ECM) through the diagnostic port. Diesel truck platforms (including diesel RVs) use either a J1708 or J1939 connector and protocol. This serves the same function as an OBD-II diagnostic link on cars built since the 1990s. The ScanGauge will display information sent via digital signal to the ECM from various powertrain sensors. I can program it to display information from four sources at  a time. I can also interrogate the ECM for faults in the system.

I couldn’t get the cable from the passenger side to the driver’s side. It kept getting hung up behind the console. I took a break from it and rode to the Radio Shack store. I bought two three-foot sections of coax cable to rewire the TV. On the way back, I saw a Harbor Freight store. I stopped and bought a package of thin, flexible fiberglass rods designed for snaking cable through tight places. The rods are 12″ long and have threaded ends to join them together to make the length required.

When I returned, I ran four sections of rod through the back of the console, then used the rod to pull the cable through. Job done!

Then I pulled the TV again. With it balanced on my right shoulder, I removed the old coax cable and replaced it with the six-foot section I bought the day before. I made sure the audio cable was still connected before I reinstalled the TV. I used the two three-foot coax cables to connect the antenna booster and the external cable connection to the junction box. Whew!

I searched for channels over the air and on cable. It worked! I have Fox on channel 12!

I completed the installation of the ScanGauge on the dash. While I was relaxing with a cold one at the picnic table, a couple walking their dog stopped by. We had met briefly before at an RV park in Junction City, Colorado! I remembered his name was Mike (hard one for me to forget). They were on their way back from a trip to Alaska in their coach. We talked about our travels for a few minutes and then they continued their walk. Small world!

By then it was time to order a pizza and call it a day. I had pizza delivered from Tom’s Pizza and Sports Bar. Excellent pizza, I recommend them.

Today, I plan to kick back and watch the Formula 1 race, and then hopefully I can watch the Chargers game. I say hopefully due to the earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area this morning. The game is scheduled to be played in San Francisco at 1pm PDT.