Ventured into the satellite world and so far a bit disappointed

[porthole]

2nd thing I learned. With a fairly good signal of all 80+ but 0 at transponders 4, 12 & 20, is indicating that you are outside the "spot beam" coverage for local channels.

Even though I was outside the beam coverage, I still had all my local New York channels.

http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html

 

[SeattleLion]

We bought the Winegard Trav'ler (DireTV HD) and had it installed by CW. Our Bighorn is prewired for sat so no problems with wires anywhere. I did have to run a HDMI cable in the bedroom from the receiver (in the closet) to the set. But the wiring is mostly hidden since it runs through the closet and only emerges for a foot or two near the monitor. We bring two DirecTV DVR's from home. No extra monthly cost and over 200 channels that we get from home. We love it. It was worth the cost to us. By the way, some worry that the Trav'ler only gets 3 sats. I checked and DirecTV has moved all their channels from the prior 5 birds to the 3 we get. When close enough to home we get local stations. We also subscribe to "distant networks" which get us a NY and a LA channel for ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox

 

[porthole]

SO - it appears that sometime in the last day or two, DirecTV did an automatic software download - update.

Every recorded program or series was wiped out! we have been hovering around 20-25% capacity. Turned on the tube last night and see 98% available - that is a huge wtf

I would not have switched from cable which I really dislike to SAT had I known things like this could be an issue.

0x8d4 software update.

 

[SeattleLion]

SO - it appears that sometime in the last day or two, DirecTV did an automatic software download - update.

Every recorded program or series was wiped out! we have been hovering around 20-25% capacity. Turned on the tube last night and see 98% available - that is a huge wtf

I would not have switched from cable which I really dislike to SAT had I known things like this could be an issue.

0x8d4 software update.

We have been with DirecTV since it started. We never lost our saved programs. You may want to call them. We find the Trav'ler works well when we can "see" the satellites. Trees get in the way at some parks.

 

[porthole]

Nothing to do with visibility, we are home and all transponders are 98-100

 

[jimtoo]

Everything is OK with ours. Have not lost anything here.

JimM

 

[f250dieseldad]

Duane, we have not lost anything. Just watched Big Brother.

 

[porthole]

A call to DTV got the result I expected, "that is very unusual".
But, the DVR still remains - software download at 3:00 am, first recorded program is after 3:00 am.

There is a history function on the menu, shows everything that was downloaded in the past year, every saved show was deleted for an error of some sort.

 

[murry135]

Checked ours and we have all our downloaded shows and even in the past have never lost anything unless I did an oops and deleted them. I would ask the usual suspects if they had anything to do with it, Molly, Regis and your answere are????

 

[porthole]

Those suspects were exactly were I would expect them to have been at the time of the disappearance, passed out at the foot and side of our bed :angel:

 

[danemayer]

A couple of years ago a Directv tech was trying to solve some problem I don't remember and replaced the installed firmware on the receiver (not an update), which wiped out all the saved programs and I think also the list of programs to record. It was like starting over with a brand new receiver.

 

[murry135]

OK,onto the next possible suspect??????

 

[porthole]

Vehemently denies

 

[murry135]

Ok then you might have gremlins. LOL

 

[mobilcastle]

Started out with a tailgater and it was a problem with trees around-Sold it I set up a used dish 500 with 2 lbn's and it works great. The setup was at the same place I used the tailgater. If you use a Tailgater and the sky is wide open it works well. I set up a homemade mount on my 5ver ladder and converted a suyveyor tripod for the used dish if I need to move it around. I am very happy with the setup. My tailgater used to loose the signal and have to download all the time(reboot)-very irritating when the best part of the movie gets wiped out!! Good luck.

 

[SeattleLion]

We had very good luck with the Tailgater, even when there were a lot of trees. Our problem is that we are DirecTV customers at home and we had to pay all over again for the Dish programming. When we got our new Bighorn this past spring, we splurged and got the Trav'ler with DirecTV. We mostly go to state parks and surprisingly have had good luck with reception at all but a couple. As we plan next year's trips, we keep an eye toward sites where we will be able to get reception.

If we can't get sat signals, we have a nice collection of DVD's, plus saved programing on our DirecTV DVR's.

 

[porthole]

2 things from this past weekend. The DTV OTA box integrates pretty good. Great to fill in local stations when traveling, or maybe getting some TV when stopped for an overnight and you don't put up the dish.

And after setting of the dish and getting a pretty good signal, I checked the set up info by entering the zip code. The numbers the box displayed were a little different then the phone apps. So I played around with the skew and picked up several points across all the available transponders. Don't know if it changed anything but, I know I got the best signal possible.

 

[porthole]

Our first stop on the way to Goshen was one of the Ohio Travel Plazas that have RV hookups. Since we were essentially in a parking lot, I did not bother to put the portable dish out. Used the Jack antenna and the OTA set top box from DTV and although we didn't get many channels, the OTA box worked as expected, picking up and integrating the OTA channels into the DTV channel guide.
The OTA box is mounted behind the TV using an angle bracket and some marine tie downs.
The DVR sits in front of it on the same angle bracket and is held in by nylon straps and buckles.
None of the shelves are deep enough in the Cyclone to hold anything larger the medium sized books.

Hard to see in the pics, but one pic is the OTA box only and the 2nd is the DVR and OTA box.

 

[porthole]

Spent the big bucks and went for a Trav'ler while at Goshen.
At the last Goshen Rally I hemmed and hawed just a bit too long and lost out on a pretty good deal for the Trav'ler.
Since Goodyear made good on my damage from the blowout we decided to add to the convenience level - if your gonna Glamp - may as well do it right

The rally special was $1750 for a DTV Trav'ler (a bit less for Dish). When I asked how much for no install I was told around $200 off. For $200 I figured, OK. I'll let them do it. I did bring most of the tools needed for this project, but forget the cable ends and tools. But, I had confidence that Mr. Holbert, right around the corner had what i needed in stock

The receipt broke down the parts and labor as you do not pay sales tax in Elkhart (for labor I think).
$1750 breaks down to $1350 parts and $400 labor. Had I known, for $400 I would have done it myself.

As it was, I did half the install. Being a bit particular on how things are done on our rig ........
Elkhart SAT did the rooftop stuff, I did just about everything else below the roof.

The Cyclone has a void space between the living room and bath room wall, for the vent pipes and wires.
I chose that void for the drop. Already had a sufficiently sized hole in the living room side that allowed a pass through to the TV area for the controller cable and it was a simple drop to the basement for the coax. I ran the coax to the UDC and am using a jumper there. I know at our two dog camps I will be using the portable, so I wanted to keep it easy.

Push button convenience for SAT antenna setup is nice. But I do think I can manually aim the antenna faster now that I know what I am doing and have the proper tools.
Once the antenna is locked on there will be an asterisk over each SAT in view, confirming the lock.
If you choose, you can then do a "two button" push to turn off the antenna controller. This is useful to turn off the very bright display if it is near your TV.
Only problem with that is when you turn it back on to stow the antenna, the system goes through a complete re-aim process before allowing a stow function. I guess a re-aim will also go through the whole procedure as well (such as re-leveling your trailer then re-aiming).

Stopover at another Ohio rest stop on the way home and with a simple push of a button we had SAT TV. Nice to have.

 

[JohnDar]

We still use the GM1518 portable. How's that roof unit work if you're parked with tall trees to the south of you?