Satellite TV Question

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I know I am living in the dark ages, a fact verified by my complete lack of understanding most of these posts.

When we had "Classy Chassis" our first bus our TV options were to use the roof antenna to get local. If you did not raise the antenna too high you could receive nearby stations while moving. I guess that was the original in-motion TV. Our second option was to hook up to cable at a campsite.

After screwing with a KVH that was on the bus for far longer than we should have, we finally put a Trac-Star on our current bus, had a local dealer activate the Direct TV and the things has worked without issue ever since. The TV is one of those big old boxes with a glass picture tube but it works. As long as we can get our XM music for rolling down the highway and a few of our favorite Dierct TV channels when parked life is good. From reading the posts I know screwing with what we have appears to create nothing but problems so any plans I may have had to get a newer TV have just been postponed until the current TV dies.

I don't know how it works or why it works, but our current installation doesn't require me to point the remote at anything. Just push a button and it works. I like that because that way we don't need the satellite receiver anywhere in sight. More magic that I don't want to give up. You know we are crossing an invisible line when the electronics become more complex and important than the bus carrying them. Planes have gotten that way also.

A brain dump from a Neanderthal.

[truk4u]

It's OK Jon!

Geritol..jpg

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I knew that was coming. Don't you have some sheep to shear or whatever you do to them?

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Ray, what you said is all true.

When I switched to a New Direct TV box, I had to replace my ( Datron ? ) satellite dish, with a New TracStar 360 and the cabinet had to be redone to make what was going on inside the cabinet fit properly with the newsurround sound and DVD players.

The satellite boxes will always be a different size than what you have space for.

I now have HD , Dish network and love it. All though we haven't been in the bus but once since the first of the year. Work, house remodel and stuff like that !

Gary S.

[GSwaim]

Hey Gary,

How has your TracStar been with auto toggle between the Dish Network satellites? I found this to be a bit clunky and troublesome. do yo uhave a single VIP 211 Dish Network reciever?

[scott13]

Also in the latest firmware up grade, the IR (infra red) pulse time for holding down on a button (on the Direct TV remote control) for 2 seconds which made that button "repeat" the command was changed to .5 seconds What this does is completely screw up some of the commands from an automated system such as an AMX or Crestron remote system. So, in other words, if some of you with AMX or Crestron control systems start experiencing a "double firing" effect, you will need someone to change the programming to "fire" the IR command for .4 seconds to remedy the problem. Once again Direct TV totally messes up our day Did I say I HATE Direct TV???

Donnie, The last time out I couldn't get either reciever to pick up a signal. Would these updates you're talking about have anything to do with that? I called Direct T.V. and the guy had me do that thing with yellow button holding it down for two seconds. It didn't do any good, the tech put me on hold and then hung up after about ten min. I never got it working guess I'll try again this weekend. Scott

[GSwaim]

When it comes to troubleshooting satellite signal problems, it's helpful to understand you are working on two separate systems. Your mobile satellite system and your DirecTV satellite system. If you half split the problem you then can troubleshoot the right system. So what is half splitting? With a good signal meter like a birddog, check to see if the input coax running from the mobile satellite system to your DirecTV satellite receiver is indeed got the correct signal on it. If the answer is yes then the problem lies in the DirecTV receiver system, if no signal is present don’t bother to call DirecTV you have a cabling or mobile satellite problem. Now that you know which system has the problem you can start to troubleshoot the right system.

DirecTV receivers can show no signal if the receiver configuration is incorrect. For example, if you have a dome satellite system but have selected #4 (KA/KU SL5) in the receiver setup for dish type, your receiver will show no signal. If you sellect SWM instead of Multiswitch, then again the receiever will show no signal. Hint, for all dome style mobile satellite systems, use selection # 1 - round 18” unless you are trying to make the dome autotoggle between two or three satellites. Bottom line, make sure you have the correct dish selection and switch type for DirecTV receivers. Another issue I see very often is the DirecTV receiver becomes confused when it loses power during a generator to shore or inverter ppwer switch. The red reset button behind the righthand little door on the face of the DirecTV receiver fixes almost 90% of these isues. Momentarily pressing the red reset button will make a DirecTV receiver go from a no signal message to watching TV in about four minutes.

[scott13]

I guess what I don't understand is that you can start it up and have a perfect signal. Put the bus away, get it out a week later and it shows no signal. That's what drives me crazy. I wish you could just hookup to a thousand mile long cable and have it over with!

[Neal&Carla]

After we have not used our bus Direct TV for a while (more than a week or so) we frequently do not have a signal. A call to Direct TV take care of it in short time.
Neal

[GDeen]

I sometimes have to start the trouble shoot process for my KVH to pick up the satellite...annoying but always works in pretty short order.

As to direct tv, sometimes it will throw a code saying contact customer service, and show a problem identifier number on the screen. Usually a 2 minute run through their automatated tech service will cure the issue. Mine is more random that Neal's...