setting up directv

rons5er

Member
Started playing around with setting up a dish for our BC yesterday and need some help. Some time back a Diectv tech gave me a round dish when I mentioned using one in our rv. Not wanting to spend a bunch at first, I took a piece of heavy wall pvc and put it in an old umbrella base we had laying around and mounted the dish on the pvc. After reading a couple posts I see that being plumb is important so I will have to watch for that when I set up. Our fiver has four sattelite connections, two are for BR and two for LR. Why are there two for each and does it matter which one is used for the LR? I hooked one of our reciever to the sat connection and used a HDMI cable from box to tv and it on. the searching for signal came on but no signal was showing. I had taken the longest piece of cable I had and ran it to the dish which was pointed as close to the angles of the main dish in the back yard so I thought I would get at least a weak signal but no. I know I need a longer coax to get a clearer shot to the sattelite but figured I would ask for some of you advice first. Thanks much. Good Travels
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
first off, 2 of the connection are feeds from the satellite prep on the roof, and 2 are the feed to the tvs (one LR and one Bedroom). if using the round dish for standard def tv, being plumb is not near as important as for the HD dishes.

When aiming the dish if you are off by more than a degree or 2 you get nothing. A compass and a angle finder are a must to aim it and get a signal.

the quality of the cable is also very important. you should have about 50' of cable to easily place the dish where you need it to clear trees.
 

ncrebel8

Wesley and Niki Norwood
If your BC is wired correctly the 2 connections you need to use are the first one from the front of the rig and the third one from the front of the rig. #2 and #4 should be for roof mounted sat connection.

One more thing, You said an old round dish. If the dish you are using is not the same as the one connected to your boxes normally, you will have to go into the menu in the reciever and reset that information before you are going to be able to hook up and get anything to work. The best thing to do is get a dish exactly like the one you are normally hooked up to.
 

rons5er

Member
Thanks for the quick replies. The dish the tech gave me was a new round one. The box I hooked up is a HD box from the house. One would think something in the owners manual would have explained the four connections. At the very least the dealer could have pointed this out on PDI. I did use a compass to replicate the HD dish in the back yard but didn't realize it was that sensitive, so I was no doubt off by more than a degree or two! Thanks again. Good Travels
 
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