Dish is Installed

[Captain Joe]

Finally, got the satellite dish installed. Camping World had a January sale so we saved a few bucks.

Thanks Bingo for your help and pictures. The install was just about the same as yours, except they took too of the leads and dropped them down behind the front cap, as you can see in the photo. We put a DVR in the Living Room with two inputs so we can record more stuff.

[mhs4771]

Captain, double check the roller on the feed horn when you lower the dish, it may contact your roof which is not good as there will be some vibration and movement going down the highway which won't be good for the rubber roof. Winegard offers a Roller Plate to mount to the roof for that roller. I went with the Heavy Duty Mounting Plate which distributes the dish weight over a larger area and also provide a contact surface for the roller. I was concerned about the wind force on the dish when only mounted to the roof via it base. I know it's rather late to do much, but I would at least look into the roller plate unless they've changed design so it doesn't contact the roof.

[bncinwv]

Looks good Joe, glad to be of help, I think I will check about the contact area, wonder if a good piece of Eternabond tape would serve the same purpose?
Bingo

[kab449]

The set of leads that enter towards the rear, are they routed through the wall and into the small closet inside the front door? Do they somehow go to the bedroom?

[bncinwv]

Keith, I can chip in with how ours was done. The leads came down the panel beside the closet where the thermostat is located. On our unit, they were passed into the basement behind the left hand panel where they were hooked up to the existing coax system in the camper.
Bingo

[kab449]

Bingo:
I kinda thought that was what was happening. I took the panel out that has all the switches and slide controls it to pull the wire for the EMS. I mounted my readout above the thermostat. I'll tackle the traveler in the spring and after I sell my carryout.
Another question: what did you and Joe do for a location for the sat receiver in the bedroom?
Thanks

[Captain Joe]

@Keith. Mine came down the same panel where the thermostat is located. The box is mounted on the shelf below the thermostat with velcro. The third lead (1 @ 2 leads to front TV) went to the basement below and a new connection was made. They ran the 4th lead to the bedroom (removed the belly and followed the existing lead). Our Camping World does not touch the existing wiring. Instead they run new RG7 wire to all the locations. The receiver in the bedroom was mounted (strap stapled to the bottom of the closet floor with a buckle locked around the receiver) in the closet closest to the back window. HDMI fastened to the post between the closet doors. I will check to see if the dish comes in contact with the roof and look into the roller plate or Eternabond tape. The Heavy Duty Mounting Plate was considered by Camping World to not be necessary because our location was solid.

I also had a 12V plug installed in the left closet next to the living room TV so I could plug in a small inverter for the DVR when travelling so the box would not reboot every time we stopped.

[bncinwv]

Our receiver (not an HD Directv receiver) fits directly above the television. I did have to do some manipulating of wires to get it to work. I run an extension cord along the top of the slide and down by the window to the outlet. The HD receiver for directv will not fit in this fashion.
Bingo

[jetenbu]

I have been trying to get my Dish DVR to play on the television in the bedroom for quite some time. I have tried all the connections from the cable connection in the bedroom closet to what is marked as Bedroom TV, Satellite, Outside Television to no avail. The power button on the cable connection IS turned OFF. I removed the fireplace and connected the DVR directly to the cable connection there hoping it would go to the back cable connection and get me some signal. Still no signal back to my bedroom television. I am really perplexed now. I tried station 78 as previously suggested but still no signal. I now wonder if I will ever be able to get any signal to my bedroom television. Any suggestions? Should I plan on running additional cabling? Any and all suggestions appreciated. Pictures sure would be a great aid in trying to figure this one out.

[bncinwv]

Jim,
I am assuming that your feed to the rig is from a satellite dish, correct? If so, is it a single feed or a multi-line feed from the dish? Ours is Directv so it is multiple lines coming into the rig for each television location and I have to have a receiver at each location, so I have three coaxes entering the rig from the dish. I do know that on ours each feed is attached to the individual television location feed which may not apply to a Dish installation if it is one coax entering the rig. If it is one feed in and you are trying to connect from the LR to the BR, I am certain that you will have to feed wire somewhere to connect to the cable run to the BR. This should be accessible behind the convenience center I would think. Wish I could help more, but I am not familiar with the intricacies of a Dish Network installation. Hopefully some Dish Network gurus will chime in.
Bingo

[Art-n-Marge]

Very nice, but I have a question. Does this hardware work with both Dish Network AND DirecTV? I've always wondered. I hope it's just a matter of changing the dish face and/or LNBs.

I ask because I've seen some automatic satellite equipment that works with one or the other. I have been known to switch services.

[mhs4771]

Some of the automatic seek portable dishes is just a matter of changing DIP Switch settings on the control board. Since ours is the DirecTV Slim-Line HD dish, I think it's Direct only.

[The Oldguard]

quote:Originally posted by mhs4771

Some of the automatic seek portable dishes is just a matter of changing DIP Switch settings on the control board. Since ours is the DirecTV Slim-Line HD dish, I think it's Direct only.

If you have the winegard traveler for direct tv "HD" you can change the reflector to part "RPSHII" $32.00 and the L&B to "RPSK 21" $280.00 change the DIP switch settings and you can switch to Dish.

But if you have the wingard Dish traveler you can not switch to Direct!!!