I just switched from Dish to Direct TV.  I already had Dish in the MH with a crank up dish on the roof and a portable dish.  (Wanted Dish in the house, but they wouldn't give me the free install, so Hello Direct!)

Direct came and installed their system in my house and I had an extra box "installed" in an empy room, to use it in the MH.  Unfortunatly, I was not home the day the installer came so I didn't see how to set up the system.

Can anybody give me the step-by-step proceedure to get it running, from pulling into a campsite with the roof dish in the stowed position to the up and running, tuned in?

I don't know what channel to start with to find the settings for the dish with the zip code.  I don't know what to do from there, either. 

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Best Regards!

It is pretty simple: we have been using Direct TV for years and years. We currently have a new Hughes receiver. My procedure is this, after the rig is level.

1. Turn on the receiver and TV; making sure the TV receives the "No signal" screen.

2. Find the zip code for the campground

3. Go to the setup menu (usually Menu, then setup satellite) and enter the zip to get approximate compass heading and elevation.

4. Set the elevation ( there are a couple of devices that allow this), then point in the approximate direction.

5. While watching the signal meter (or listening) rotate a few degrees at a time until you get a hit.

When you hit, you should start receiving a broadcast signal, check the transponders.

6. Fine tune and do a transponder check. You should receive on almost all transponders.

7. Set back and enjoy after the guide is received.

On a good day it takes about 10 minutes, on a bad day try again tomorrow, LOL

Hope that helps.

Mike

PS. A "Clear View of the Southern Sky" is understood. There are several signal meters and alignment tools available. They are usually cheaper on eBay.

Mike,

Thanks for the info.  I printed out your instructions and tried them out.  Worked like a charm.  Actually was easier than my old Dish network system.

Appreciate your help!

Best Regards!

We also have Directv and just want to comment about what I have to do sometimes.  After I get the signal,  instead of getting tv I will occasionally get a message that I need to call customer service and enter an extension number (I think it's 721, but I'm not positive).  When I do that, (800-DIRECTV),  I go through the steps given by their recording, enter the extension, they do something on their end; and then everything works fine.  Sometimes I also have to "reset" the receiver, just turn off, uplug, wait about a minute, plug it back in and everything's fine.  I went through a lot of times of heavy-duty frustration before I figured out those tricks. These problems usually happen when we travel a long distance from home.

Good luck and happy traveling!

Ellie

Thanks, Ellie for the additional info.  I've had to reset the Direct TV in my house several times this past summer after thunderstorms passed through.  Good to know that if it happens in my MH, it takes the same proceedures to get it back on line.

Appreciate you taking the time to give me a heads up.

Best Regards! 

Glad to help out, most of the time I feel like the novice.  I consider my husband and I to be fairly new at all the technology that is available. 

I have a question related to Directv -- we recently got a DVR for home.  We want to take it with us on our winter trip, which means we'll have to swap it with the receiver that is currently in our motor home.  Are there any different procedures I'll have to follow to hook it up in the motor home?  I will call Directv to let them know what we're doing and suspend service on the other receivers.

Thanks for any advice here.

Regarding the the Hughes DVR,

We have one in storage. I may try it on the road, the biggest issue is the time it takes to turn itself on, but 2 recievers would be a good thing. The unit we have can take several minutes to reboot itself. Remember the DVR's are computers with hard drives and as such where they are placed may be significant. I believe that Howard and Linda use a TIVO and as such the phone connection is not mandatory. Othere than that the setup, once booted, should be the same.

Mike

Mike,

Is the TIVO like a VCR, in other words, do you attach it to your sat receiver box and it records shows?  Or is it used in place of a receiver box?

I can tear down and rebuild the biggest diesel engine and get it to purr like a kitten, but when it comes to electronic stuff with all those buttons and things, I'm totally lost.

I really appreciate your help to this technology challenged RVer!

Best Regards!

Our Hughes DVR is also a receiver. There are versions that act like a VCR, the TIVO or similar brands. As far as I know, most versions require a TIVO fee.

Mike

The DVR takes the place of the receiver. It takes about 8 minutes to power up and get a signal. I have a xx-10 model, which is the older DVR with the TiVo technology in it. It can be used with a tripod system, since it has a signal meter in it, and is designed for signal aquisition after it completes initialization. Thus it is easy to set up. Just use the procedure above.

The newer DVRs, that are the DTV designed models: xx-15, xx-17, etc. do not have the ability to aquire signal, or allow you to tune a sat with them. They will show signal strength once set up, but they EXPECT a good sat signal to be present on initialization, and do not function properly if the signal is not there. They are designed to be used with GPS-based automatic dishes that aquire the sat before the receiver initializes. (or to be set up by an installer where the sat is aquired separately) They will not work with a tripod, but will work great with an auto dish that has a GPS sat locator in it. They will not work with the older auto dishes that have a data line to the receiver.

There is no separate TiVo fee, but there is an additional charge for the DVR - $6/month. No phone line is required on my model except during initial setup, although DTV will tell you it is required. On setup, my model downloads new firmware and initialization info across the phone system. On the new models, no phone line is required, ever, even during initial setup. On all models, program guides come from the sat.

-- Edited by Jack Mayer at 10:12, 2006-10-15

Hello, it's been awhile since Jack posted the information about the newer DVR receiver (model R15). I was afraid we wouldn't be able to use ours in the motor home because we don't have a dish with a GPS.  Finally, today we took our receiver out to the motor home to test it.  Jack's correct in saying the unit expects a signal to be present.  I called Directv and worked with their tech people to sort out how we can use this thing on the road.  It will be a matter of finding out where the dish needs to be set and finding the signal, then we can use it.  Seems a little backwards to me, but that's the way it works.  To find the correct elevation and azimuth for the dish at whatever location we'll be, we can call Directv and they will tell us, or we can check with other campers, or we could just set up with the old receiver first, since it guides us right through finding the signal. The other issue is the problem of needing two input cables.  We have an older dish, only one LNS (is that the right term?) so we only have 1 cable, meaning we can't record one program while watching another.  But we can set it to record something while we're out, so it's better than just the old receiver (I think).  Eventually we'll need to upgrade the dish, I'm sure.  Probably about the time we sell the sticks and bricks and move into the motor home full time.

Ah, technology, gotta love it!

Regards,

When the Directv installer came out to install. This was a new unit after I dropped for about 6 mos.

 The installer used a hand held ,self powered digital meter connected inline with LNB transmission cable.. These meters generate thier own signal, this allows the antenna to be aimed (aligned) without being connected to the reciever.

The  self power digital meter make it a snap to set up the antenna and knowing it is correct. If there is any problem get a picture you know it is not the antenna. Has to be the cable or you have to do a hard or soft set up on the reciever.  The hard/soft  set ups get more freguent the older the equipement gets.  Taking down and putting up the cable to get a clear shot at the bird, sometime causes degradation.     

Of course we use a tri-pod antenna set that has to be set each time we move which may be a few days or about 2 weeks at the longest. 

Since I got the self powered digital meter, I have never taken more than about 15/20 minutes to get everything working. Since I got the meter, about 8 years ago,  I wouldn't go back to the old method.

Just another method that IMHO works without my blood pressure going up.