Satellite dish connection

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
There are two exterior satellite/cable connections. Does it matter which one I use for my satellite dish? Also I have a dish with one LNBF. Will it work on a Directv DVR receiver or do I need a standard receiver? Can anyone tell me how much Directv charges monthly for another receiver? ..... Thanks, Mike
 

danemayer

Well-known member
If your dish has one coax connection coming off the LNB, at a minimum it'll provide a signal to the DVR so you can watch TV. If the dish is a Slimline 3 or 5 oval dish with one coax connection, it's probably a SWM LNB. One SWM coax line will allow you to also record on the DVR, but you will need the Directv power-passing splitter and the Power Insertion Module for the SWM LNB to work at all. Also, the DVR must be compatible with SWM.

If the dish is round with one connector, it's Standard Definition only to a single receiver. Should work with the DVR for watching, but not for recording.
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
simsfmly, that seems logical to me. They are not marked though. How do I identify which go's to which?....$6.00 a month isn't bad. I called Directv and ordered a receiver for the Gateway. They said the receiver's I have in the house won't work on the Winegard satellite antenna I have......Now, what about a park with cable tv? How does that work if the connections are separate?
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
danemayer, my dish is round, I believe there were two connector's at the LNBF for two cables. Directv said the DVR receiver wouldn't work. They are sending me a standard definition receiver. Got it for 39.00 plus tax and a monthly fee of 6 bucks. Sounded good to me....
 

Gaffer

Well-known member
I have Direct with the round 18" dish and si ngle LNB. The LNB has two cable connections. I run one to the SD DVR in the LR and the other to a reciever in the BR. Both work just fine in the RV and at home.
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
Yes sir....mine would work also if I had SD receivers. But I have whole home HDDVR with the Genie and according to Directv they won't work in my RV. I ordered a SD receiver for the RV. I'll only have one receiver so I'll only be able to watch tv in one room.....I'll just have to watch what she watch's...lol.....Thanks
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Yes sir....mine would work also if I had SD receivers. But I have whole home HDDVR with the Genie and according to Directv they won't work in my RV. I ordered a SD receiver for the RV. I'll only have one receiver so I'll only be able to watch tv in one room.....I'll just have to watch what she watch's...lol.....Thanks

The dish/LNB and the receiver need to be compatible. Some of the new receivers are SWM only. The round dishes are not SWM. Some oval dishes have non-SWM LNBs.
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
I guess that is what Directv was telling me.....Now, to figure out which exterior connection goes to which room??????????....Maybe the installer will be able to figure it out. I called Directv yesterday. They said they could have a installer here today with a new receiver. No charge for the installation. Pretty good service since I live so far out in the sticks.....we are out so far we have to drive 70 miles round trip to get to a WalMart.........
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Step 1: Before trying to use the coax connections in the RV, run coax directly from the dish to the receiver to get it set up and working.
Step 2: Move the cables to the RV connections. Hopefully it'll all still work. If not, try the other UDC connections. Occasionally they get wired in the wrong order behind the UDC. If none of the connections work, there may be a loose or shorted connector.

Here's a diagram that shows the UDC connections for the Rushmore.
 

Attachments

  • Rushmore UDC COAX Wiring.pdf
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Subdrv

Well-known member
Mike

I just moved my whole home Direct system to the Cyclone took me about 3 hours. I had help from a local Direct installer. We had to install a SWM 8 switch and splitter next to the Trav'ler and run seperate lines to each reciever like Dan talked about. Now I can watch what I want on any tv. The next thing I have to figure out is how to do the ondemand using WIFI connection.
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
Subdrv....wow, that was a lot of work!.......if I went fulltime that would be nice!!!...........................danemayer, if the Directv installer can't figure it out, that's what I'll do.....Thanks for your help...Mike
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
I dont understand why a DirectV reciever wont work with a carry out dish. We have the Wineguard carry out (dome) and DirecTV works just fine.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
I dont understand why a DirectV reciever wont work with a carry out dish. We have the Wineguard carry out (dome) and DirecTV works just fine.
The carry out dishes use the older multi-switch technology. Older receivers all use the multi-switch technology. Some of the more recent receivers work with either SWM or Multiswitch technology, selected by menu. Some of the newest receivers are SWM only. A SWM only receiver doesn't understand the signal coming off a multi-switch dish.
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
Got the DirecTv receiver in the camper! The installer confirmed that my receivers in the house wouldn't work on my winegard 18" dish. He said with the single LBN I'd only get one satellite, the 101. He said let me give you a free dish with the triple LBN's so you can get 3 satellites.....I said "works for me!". He also gave me two 75' cables with the weather proof barrel connectors. He set the elevation and showed me a easy way to find the satellites. By the way, on my 3200 RS the first exterior connection is for the living room and the other for the bedroom. He also gave me a splitter so I could have a TV in the bedroom without another receiver. It will only mirror what is on the living room tv, but that's OK with me.....Thank you DirecTv
 

porthole

Retired
Yes sir....mine would work also if I had SD receivers. But I have whole home HDDVR with the Genie and according to Directv they won't work in my RV. I ordered a SD receiver for the RV. I'll only have one receiver so I'll only be able to watch tv in one room.....I'll just have to watch what she watch's...lol.....Thanks

My house has the HD DVR with 3 Genie clients. That is 4 TVs, living room, kitchen, master bed and spare bed.
When we travel I take the DVR and mount it behind the TV in the trailer.

The spare house bedroom Genie is in the trailer bedroom for the camp season.

Although I have yet to actually watch SAT TV while camping due to dish alignment challenges, we have been able to watch whatever we have on the DVR, different shows on the two different TVs.

Today will be the "new" test on setup. Have a couple more tools in my iPhone for locating and a First Strike meter to actually align the dish.
 

GrumpyOneandTwo

Well-known member
Hey porthole.....let me guess????....NAVY?????.....lol......I wish you good luck with your alignment challenge's....it sure frustrated me! But I got to tell you, calling directv was the best thing I have done to fix it....$30.00 for the receiver, $6.00 a month for a receiver I can leave in the camper, free instructions from the installer on how to find my satellite, plus he threw in a new dish and 150 feet of cable....that's the best deal I made since I got grumpy two 32 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If your camper is parked at the same residence as your home address, call them.......sure can't hurt....Mike
 

kernst

Member
I have a 2014 Gateway 3650 BH. There are two coax inputs in the docking center. I labeled them, but off the top of my head today I can't remember which was which. I believe satellite was on the left, but I'm not positive right now. One was a satellite input that leads directly to the kitchen/living area, in the cupboard below the main TV. In this cupboard I installed a new directTV receiver and the power inserter box for the SWiM dish. The other coax connection in the docking center leads to a splitter that then leads to each of the TVs (kitchen/living, bedroom, bunk room, and outdoor kitchen). This would be where campsite cable TV would be connected, and would feed all the TVs. The OTA roof antenna is combined into these feeds as well, so each TV has a Cable/Antenna jack. Only the kitchen/living TV has a second satellite jack fed from the input in the docking center.

I have existing DirecTV service at home. I called them one day and asked for another HD receiver (non-DVR) for the trailer. I have been a DirecTV customer for over 2 years. They sent me an HD receiver for free. There is a $6/month charge for the additional receiver.

I already had a spare SlimLine 5 dish. I purchased a "non-penetrating roof mount" off Amazon (intended to mount a dish on an apartment roof, etc.) that just sits on the ground and you put 2-4 cinder blocks on it to keep it in place. I haul the mount and cinder blocks in the bed of my truck. When I get to the campsite it takes about 5 minutes to get the mount and dish set up and connected to the trailer, and another 5-10 minutes to align the dish. There are numerous iPhone apps that can tell you the proper alignment numbers, that helps a lot. The trick to the alignment is a perfectly vertical mounting "post". Once you have that, and the alignment numbers (skew, azimuth, direction) dialed into dish itself, you're usually pretty close.

I would like a more portable solution. The SlimLine 5 dish is the big dish, so it’s kind of a pain to haul around. I have read pages on the internet where people have mounted a SlimLine 3 LNB to an old phase 3 dish, and that worked for HD. Someday I might try that, but that’s getting into the “hacking” realm and I’d need to be pretty bored to undertake that. For now I’m investigating a way to “fold up” the LNB arm on the SlimLine 5 dish to make it more portable.

Keep in mind that all the above effort is so I can get an HD signal from DirecTV. If all I wanted was a standard def signal, a standard def receiver and one of the auto-point dome dishes would be the way to go. But currently I don’t know of any auto-point dishes that can get HD (SWiM receiver compatible) for DirecTV.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
I would like a more portable solution. The SlimLine 5 dish is the big dish, so it’s kind of a pain to haul around. I have read pages on the internet where people have mounted a SlimLine 3 LNB to an old phase 3 dish, and that worked for HD. Someday I might try that, but that’s getting into the “hacking” realm and I’d need to be pretty bored to undertake that. For now I’m investigating a way to “fold up” the LNB arm on the SlimLine 5 dish to make it more portable.
Hi kernst,

An alternative to modifying the LNB arm is to remove the 4 bolts that hold the dish to the mast. It takes me about 90 seconds to take it apart or put it back together. With the dish removed, each piece stores in a much smaller space. I keep both in the front compartment next to the generator. Just take some care with the dish so it doesn't get dinged. I use cardboard separators to keep them apart.
 

kernst

Member
Hi kernst,

An alternative to modifying the LNB arm is to remove the 4 bolts that hold the dish to the mast. It takes me about 90 seconds to take it apart or put it back together. With the dish removed, each piece stores in a much smaller space. I keep both in the front compartment next to the generator. Just take some care with the dish so it doesn't get dinged. I use cardboard separators to keep them apart.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have the dish handy to take a look at, but I don't remember seeing bolts there on the LNB arm on mine. I'll take a look this weekend. If so that'd be perfect for what I need. Maybe even drill them out and insert some sort of bolt/pin type setup with wing nuts, cotter pins, or something to allow it to easily pivot up and down.
 
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