Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Samuel 7:17

"And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel: and he built there an altar unto Jehovah." — 1 Samuel 7:17 (ASV)

And there he built an altar - Whether this altar was connected with the tabernacle or not, we have no way of knowing. We are completely ignorant about where the tabernacle was at this time, who the High Priest was, or where he lived.

It is quite possible that Samuel moved the tabernacle from Shiloh to a place near Ramah. Indeed, it is improbable that he would have left it, having been brought up from infancy in its service. At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, we know it was at Gibeon, close to Ramah (1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 1:3, 6).

If the tabernacle had been at Shiloh during this period, Shiloh would likely have been one of the places where Samuel judged Israel. But Shiloh was probably desolate and perhaps unsafe because of the Philistines.