Getting Satellite TV In Your RV

Why have satellite TV in your RV?  If you are out for a short trip with family or friends, you may not want TV in your RV at all, but if you are looking for evening entertainment, are solo, or are on an extended trip, a good TV connection can enhance your RV experience.  The means by which you can watch satellite TV in your RV are increasing.  We will outline a few ways.  

First, the disclaimers.  The two authors of this piece represent two ends of the spectrum.  One has a residential Dish account using a 3 head dish and the Hopper 3 in his RV.  The other has a Hopper 3 at home and a 211z receiver with a roof satellite dish in his RV.  There may be other possibilities that we miss, and our experience is based on Dish Network as the provider.  We have no information about using DirectTV.

THE COMPONENTS

To get satellite TV in your RV, you need a receiver, a satellite dish, a TV, and good coax connections between them.  You need a Dish account that is compatible with your receiver.  More importantly, there are compatibility issues between certain dishes and receivers.

COMPATIBILITY

One way to get satellite TV in your RV is to have a satellite dish compatible with your home receiver.  You may need a tripod, a satellite location meter, and a means of connecting the dish to your receiver.  Then, you could disconnect your receiver in your house, sit it on a shelf in the RV, set up and align the dish, connect the coax cable from the dish, plug into 120v power, and connect from the receiver to the TV.  With that setup, you would have virtually the same TV capabilities and programming that you have at home.  BUT - it requires a compatible dish.  

Today, the hottest new DVR is the Hopper 3.  It requires a residential account rather than an account targeted at the more mobile RV world.  To get full function, it requires a 3 head Hopper 3 dish.

DISHES

So, a key element is planning so your account and your equipment will be compatible.  Here is a link to a guide to some antennas and their system compatibility.

http://www.winegard.com/dishnetwork/dish-compatible-satellite-systems

DVR’s and RECEIVERS

The difference between these two is a DVR can record, while a receiver needs an external hard drive to record.  The following link shows which receivers are compatible with an external hard drive.

https://www.mydish.com/support/use-ehd

The link below shows what receivers are available.

https://www.mydish.com/support/receivers/overview

One caution - If we understand things right, the Joey receivers are for multiple TV’s in one home.  They take their signal from the main DVR in the home, not from a satellite dish.  Thus, in our RV world, they are only useful in a multi-TV RV, as they will not work if not near the main DVR.

RESIDENTIAL TYPE SYSTEMS

The highest end of this type of system is built around a Hopper 3 DVR.  It can record up to 16 channels, and hundreds of hours of HD media.  It uses a 3 head dish.  On a tripod, it must be manually aligned either by using a very expensive meter, or by doing an approximate alignment, then having one person to tweak the dish alignment while another monitors the signal strength inside the RV.  Some models can mount on an RV roof and align automatically.  The dish and receiver tie into three satellites - 110, 119 and 129.  Conventional barrel connectors for the coax cable won’t work.  You need high frequency cable connections.  But, if you have all that, you have a system equal to any home system.

A mid-range residential type system would be based on an older DVR such as the 612, 622 or 722.  It would use a 2 head dish and standard barrel connectors, and would connect to two satellites with one setup.  This setup would allow recording two channels at once, and the receiver could hold hundreds of hours of SD media, and somewhat less of HD media.  The dish would be on a tripod, you would use a meter to align the dish, and a coax cable to connect the outside of the RV.

Simpler systems might use a receiver such as the older 211k or 211z receivers or the newer Wally receivers.  These use a single head dish, either roof mounted, a single head dish on a tripod, or a tailgater.  These dishes may be either manually aligned or self-aligning.  They are limited to receiving a single satellite and a single channel at one time.  If you want to record a program with these receivers, you need to add an external hard drive to your system.  There is a moderate one time setup cost to do this.

With any of these, you can use the same DVR or receiver in the rig as in your home, as long as the dish is the same at each location.  Simply unplug from one location and plug in at the other.

DISH OUTDOORS

With a growing number of RV’ers wanting to make use of Dish Network programming while on the road, Dish set up a type of account called Dish Outdoors.  It is not for the Hopper 3.  Rather, it uses a simple receiver such as the 211 or the Wally in your RV.  It uses a single head dish, which can be a roof mount, a dish on a tripod, or a tailgater.  It can also use the Dish SK-1000 roof mounted triple head dish.  If your dish is on a tripod, you will have to manually align it.  Some roof mounts and some tailgaters are self-aligning.  Single head dishes can make use of one satellite at a time, but can switch the alignment from one satellite to another, as needed.  This setup is often a low cost option added to a permanent residential setup, such as one with a Hopper 3 dish and receiver.

Just as you can only receive one channel at a time, your ability to record is limited.  The 211 and the Wally can record using an external hard drive.  The biggest advantage of these setups and the Outdoors account is that when you are home, you can put the RV account on hold, and when traveling and the Outdoors account is active, it may cost as little as $7 per month extra on your existing home Dish account.  That makes it a great package for someone who is in their RV for weekends and a few longer trips every year.

TRAVELING

If your Dish account includes local broadcast stations, those are transmitted via a spot beam from the satellite.  The reception area for that spot beam forms an oval on the earth’s surface with an east-west reception range that is less than the north-south reception range.  For example, if you are in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico, your broadcast stations will be from Albuquerque.  In Newport, Oregon, they will come from Portland.  If you are in the Grand Teton or Yellowstone area, they will come from Idaho Falls.  When you travel to a new area outside the oval that covers your home, if you want to receive local broadcast channels, you need to change your Point-Of-Service address.  

For Dish Outdoors accounts, Dish offers an app called MyDish.  It allows you to change your Point-Of-Service address yourself.  If you have a residential account, you must call Dish tech support and have their personnel change your Point-Of-Service address.  Once a change is entered, in about 20 to 30 minutes of use, your receiver will be reconfigured for the new broadcast channels, and you can watch them. 

If you are traveling and moving frequently, there is no need to change the Point-Of-Service address every night.  Most channels will work without that.  You only need that if you want to watch local broadcast channels.

SOME OTHER THOUGHTS

If you use a tripod, the web site TV4RV.com has some nice tripods, more functional for the RV lifestyle than a conventional home tripod, as well as some other stuff for helping with satellite setup.  Whatever tripod you use, either tie or stake it down, or hang a substantial weight (a rock, a 5 gallon jug of water, etc.), from the center of the tripod, near to the ground.  This is to reduce the chance of the tripod blowing over in a storm or wind.  It does not prevent a moose from knocking it over…

Satellite meters range from the very simple and relatively inexpensive to the professional units.  A simple one will tell you if you are receiving a satellite signal, but cannot discriminate between satellites.  It cannot tell you if you are connected to 105, 110, 118, 119, etc, or if you are connected to a Dish or a HughesNet or a DirectTV satellite.  It just tells you if it sees a signal.  The pro models will allow you to identify the satellite to which you are connecting.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to each decision you make.  A roof dish is the easiest to set up when you get to a campsite.  There is no need to go outside, possibly in rain, and there is no need to connect or disconnect coax cables.  Get your rig level, raise and point the dish, check the signal and tweak the alignment, and you are done.  The trade off as compared to a dish on tripod or a tailgater is if your campsite has a tree in the way, you may get no satellite, because your dish location is fixed.  A tailgater setup is the next easiest because they are self-aligning.  You do have to go outside to connect or disconnect the coax, but that is offset by the ability to place the tailgater to see past a tree of other structure.  A single head LNB on a tripod gives flexibility of location, but will only connect you to a single satellite without realigning it.  A residential setup with a dual or triple head dish and compatible receiver is the hardest to set up, demands a tripod, but gives you the best service.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Possible causes of poor or no signal include:

Equipment incompatibility

Trees or buildings in the way

Heavy storm clouds

A poor coax connection

A poor dish alignment

A problem with the receiver, or

A problem with the LNB, the part on the end of the dish arm that receives the signal.

Keep it as simple as possible.  

A) If you have been watching TV and you lose the signal, most likely, either something is blocking the dish or the dish has been moved.  Look for storm clouds, then check the dish alignment.

B) If you just relocated and you now are getting no signal with the new setup: 

> If you are using a tripod and meter, check the signal with the meter at the dish.  If no good, either (most likely) you are not aligned properly or (unlikely) you may have a bad LNB.  Tweak the alignment until you get a signal.  

> If you read a good signal at the dish, check at the receiver end of the coax with the meter.  If you have a signal at the dish but not at the receiver the coax connections have a problem. 

> If you have a signal on the meter at the coax connection to the receiver, reboot the receiver by unplugging it, waiting 10 seconds, then plugging it in again.  

> If you are using a roof dish or a tailgater, follow most of those steps if you have a satellite meter.  Re-do the alignment if you don’t have a meter.  

> Use a multimeter and check for 13.8 to 20 volts at the dish end of the coax cabling.  If the receiver is working and the cable is connected, that voltage should be there.  No voltage there means either a problem with the coax or a problem with the receiver.

C) If the setup has worked in the past but is not now working, the incompatibility issue does not apply.  Once you have done all the above tests that you can do, and have ruled out compatibility issues, a problem with the coax, or as far as you can tell, a problem with the receiver, go to the LNB with a multimeter in hand, remove the coax connection from the LNB, and with the receiver on, check the voltage in the coax.  It should be 13.8 to 20 volts.  It then sounds like you might have a bad LNB.

If all the above fails to establish a connection, call Dish tech support before you order any components.  The receiver may need to be re-authorized, a setting might have been lost, or the receiver may be failing.  Either way, they can help you diagnose beyond the above tests.  Our experience has been that the Dish tech support people have been highly motivated to serve their customers.  Our calls to tech support have been unfailingly positive and helpful.

DTV in Your Lazy Daze

Introduction:
• This article is intended to help you deal with television, especially DTV in your motor home.
• Notation: Since we are talking about both analog TV sets with DTV converters and DTV sets themselves, the word “set” here means any TV receiving device
Overview:
• The United States requires its larger (called full service) television stations to transmit DTV signals.
• There are other “secondary” TV services consisting of Low Power, class-A, translators and booster transmitters. Many are now transmitting DTV signals while others remain analog. These stations are typically found in the rural areas where we often camp.
• CATV systems in RV parks will typically have analog signals. Any digital signals on CATV systems will be in a different format than over the air DTV signals. Set top boxes typically will not decode them. Some DTV sets will
• Conclusion: The TV in your coach needs to have the ability to receive at both analog and over-the-air DTV signals.
The American DTV System:
• A DTV transmitter transmits 19.4 million bits per second.
• Computer networks typically send from 1 to 3 million bits per second.
• The DTV System is pretty spectacular, being able to send those 19.4 Mbits/sec under very difficult conditions.
• DTV has some other nice features
o Excellent picture quality
o Info button gives positive station ID
o Most sets have a program guide (what’s on right now and coming programs)
o Some sets are able to scan all stations and gather a full program guide
DTV Channel Numbering:
• DTV stations are able to send one very detailed program (HDTV) or several programs of varying definition. When they send several signals, it’s called multi-casting.
• A DTV signal’s channel number is always shown by the set as a number with a decimal or hyphen. For example, “10.1” or “10-1”. An analog signal may be shown as just the number. For example “10” or it may be shown as “10-0”.
• When multi-casting the signals are numbered thusly: 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 etc
• But, DTV channel numbering is very different than analog in a very different way:
o There is the “Physical Channel”, which is the actual RF channel that the signal is being transmitted on. These are the numbers you have known all your life.
o Then there is the “Virtual” or “Display Channel”. This is the number that the station tells the DTV set to show as the channel number.
o For example, in Portland, OR, KOIN TV’s old analog transmitter was on channel 6 so everyone knows the station as KOIN 6. Its DTV transmitter is now on channel 40. KOIN sends a message to your set to show its channel as 6-1 so viewers recognize it as KOIN. TV people will say that KOIN is on virtual channel 6-1. You typically will only know the signal’s virtual channel number. Some sets have the ability to show you the real or RF channel number, but many don’t.
o Furthermore, translators carrying signals from distant transmitters often show the channel number of their parent station. Thus, along the north Oregon coast you will see channel 6-1 on your set while it’s actually tuned to physical channel 38, 41 or 23 depending where you are.
Connecting Your Converter Box:
• While you need to be able to tune in DTV, you must still be able to receive analog TV:
o Translators and Low Power analog TV stations not immediately converting to DTV.
o CATV in RV Parks will still mostly be analog TV for some time.
• There are two connections that must be made:
o A signal from the coach’s TV antenna must be connected to the DTV converter’s RF input.
o The signal(s) from the DTV converter must be directed to the TV set.
• There are essentially three ways to make each of those two connections. You can mix and match the antenna connections vs. the TV set connections.
Note: If the diagrams below are hard to read, just click on them and they will open in a larger view.
Method A:

Method A shows that if one can get to the back of the Winegard RV distribution box, there is an unused RF outlet available to provide the RF signal to the DTV converter set. This approach is good when the DTV converter box does not have a bypass mode (that mode feeds the unprocessed antenna signal directly thru to the TV set).
Method A also shows that one can connect the signal from the converter box to the TV set using audio/video connections. This approach creates the best picture quality.
Method B:

In Method B, the signal is provided to the DTV box by splitting the signal from the front of the Winegard unit. The big advandage of this approach is that no access to the back of the Winegard unit is required.
The analog TV signal on channel 3 or 4 RF signal created by the converter box is used to provide the TV set with a signal. Because it is necessary to be able to use the TV set to view analog TV signals, an A/B is needed as shown.
Method C:

Method C is the easiest but it requires a DTV converter box that has a bypass or feed-through mode.
Keep in mind that one can select any method to provide an antenna signal to the converter box and independently select another method to connect the converter’s output signal to the TV set; like a Chinese restaurant menu.
Connecting Your Power to your Converter Box:
• You must also connect power to the converter box.
• This is much more situational; depends heavily on the converter box and the RV.
• Some converter boxes have an attached AC line cord. You must provide it
110 VAC power via an inverter or shore power.
• Some converter boxes have external power supplies:
o You can plug the external supply into an 110 VAC inverter or shore power, or
o If the supply has a DC output, you may be able to use a DC to DC adapter.
• If the converter uses 12 VCD, one can plug it directly into the 12 VDC power in the coach.
DTV Background:
• To steal a line...”It’s not your father’s TV signal anymore!”
• DTV is like Frank Sinatra’s song a DTV signal is “All or Nothing at All”.
• DTV produces flawless (no ghosts, herring bone, etc.), noiseless (no snow or fuzz) pictures and sound ... until the signal amplitude falls to the receiver’s threshold .
• It goes through a narrow “fuzzy” zone.
• And then:
IT FAILS COMPLETELY
As in ... NO Picture … NO Sound … NO Nothing.
• It goes from here...
.... to here...
To here...
... with a very small change (1 dB).
• It must be emphasized:
– Picture and sound are sent together.
– When you have a picture you will have sound. When the signal fails,
Picture and Sound Fail Together.
– In fact, the first indication that the signal has fallen below threshold is the sound muting.
• For those few who know the term, the picture/sound can go from IDEAL to NOTHING with a 1 dB amplitude change.
• For those that don’t know what that means, 1 dB is about the change in volume one gets with one or two clicks of the volume control on a modern TV or radio.
• If you have just barely enough signal, small changes can cause the picture to become “pixilated” or vanish. Causes like:
o A storm.
o A vehicle moving.
o A new source of interference (like a fan.
• DTV troubleshooting is difficult
o When there is a picture, the picture is ideal.
o When there is no picture, you have nothing.
o There is little in between.
o You are flying blind.
• The only available strategy: just keep trying various things until something works.
Tuning In DTV Signals:
•If you are camping where the signal amplitudes are low, tuning in DTV signals can be ... uh … .....trying.
•The RF performance of most set top DTV converters is adequate to good for use in a RV. However, the user interface is quite variable with some MUCH better than others.
•DTV sets try to make finding signals “easy” by providing an automatic scanning mode to find the stations for you.
•Many sets won’t let you tune to a given channel until the set finds it for itself during some form of a scan, either manual or automatic.
•Other sets will tune to a new channel just by entering its channel number on the remote control.  Try your set to see if it works this way.  If it does ,and you know the new signal's RF channel number that is a fast way to tune the set.
• During an automatic scan, if a DTV signal is detected but is below threshold the set may or may not add the channel to its list.
• It’s very useful if it does so because it points to where to search for a DTV signal.
• If you don’t know what direction the signals are coming from, you may have to turn the antenna, scan, turn the antenna, scan, etc., which can be very time consuming (more below).
• A few sets have a manual add/delete mode or allow a manual scan. These sets are the best for use in an RV.
• The DTV set-top converters that have the best user interface for use in a RV are the Artec T3A, the Winegard RDCT-09, the Zenith DTT 900 and 901, The RCA STB 7766G-1, The Radio Shack stock # 15-149 and # 15-150, The Insignia NX-DTA 1. These units have an excellent manual scan add/delete mode that works very well in a RV. The Artec and the Wineguard are the only DC powered units.
Setting Up Camp:
• So, you just pulled into a new campsite. How do you find out if there’s any TV to watch?
• You may have a DTV set or a set top converter so there is a wide variation of user interfaces. This makes it impossible to give just one best method. Just some general guidance ...
• Where do you initially point the antenna?
o Ask someone where the TV stations are.
o If you are camping with other RVs, note where their antennas are pointing and point yours there too.
o If camping alone, start by pointing toward the nearest large population concentration.
• If you have a set and DTV converter, first scan the analog receiver to see what is around. Transmitters are typically found in groups so if there is an analog signal there may be DTV signals there also. Turn the antenna to get the best analog picture for a starting point.
• Now scan the DTV set. Hopefully, that will turn up at least one decodable DTV signal.
• Or perhaps after scanning, when you push the remote’s up/down the set stops at a channel but there is no picture. This might be a near miss.
o Slowly turn the antenna first one way and then the other and see if a picture will pop into view.
o Slowly equals one Winegard antenna azimuth notch every 5 sec.
• Perhaps the scan turned up one or more viewable DTV signals.
• Slowly turn the antenna first one way and then the other to find the range over which the signal(s) are above threshold.
• Then center the antenna in the range.
• Signal strength indicators:
o Many sets have some sort of signal “goodness” indicator mode.
o If you have a signal above threshold, you can use the signal strength reading to aim the antenna directly at the station. (The strength indicators don’t seem to work until the signal is above threshold.)
• Aim the antenna at the center of the range that makes pictures on at least one channel.
• Run another scan to see if more DTV signals can now be found.
• If no signals are found on the first try, turn the antenna 45° and scan again.
• DTV transmitters are often, but not always, sited near each other so if you find one, you may find many.
• After finding station(s), you may want to try pointing the antenna in a different direction to see if there are more to be found.
• If your converter or TV set has a manual scan or manual add/delete mode it often can be used to find stations.
o Point the antenna in a likely direction.
o Manually tune the converter through the channels looking for the presence of a DTV signal on the unit’s signal strength indicator.
o Once a signal is found, slowly turn the antenna to maximize its strength.
• One of the oddities of DTV is that after the signal is above threshold, greater signal amplitude does not help. Therefore, if there are several signals, work to bring the smallest above threshold without loosing the larger signals.
The RV Batwing Antenna:
• Your present Winegard Sensar (batwing) antenna system works very well for DTV.
• For channels 2-13, the batwing is bi-directional: it gets its largest signal when you aim either of its flat sides toward the station. (There are very, very few DTV signals on channels 2 – 6).
• For channels 14-51, it’s directional: it gets its largest signal when you aim the flat side that’s away from its support posts toward the station. (Since DTV signals like to hide what channel you are actually tuned to, try to turn the antenna so that side is toward the station.)
• When looking for DTV signals be sure to turn the antenna completely around.
• Winegard introduced an accessory for the Batwing antenna called Wingman. Wingman improves performance and makes the antenna much more directional on channels 14-51. While the Wingman’s improvement is relatively small, because of DTV’s threshold, it can make the difference between receiving and not receiving a signal.
A Nag:
• Have you lubed your coach’s TV antenna mechanism lately?
• It gets stiff if you don’t.
Contributor: Linley Gumm

Revised: 6 Oct 11

TV On While Driving

There may be times when passengers want to watch TV or use the CD player while the Lazy Daze is being driven. For driver safety reasons, some Lazy Dazes are pre-wired so as to prevent the TV or any device run through it from operating while the ignition is on. The following information tells you how to bypass the ignition for passenger viewing. This appears to be an issue with the 31' model only, probably due to placement of the TV in the cabover above the driver.

Chris Horst: In our 2002 30' with entertainment unit, I was told to disconnect the TV lockout in 2 different places: look for a blue wire directly behind the TV on the driver's side rear corner of the cabinet and/or a blue wire connected to the the yellow/black striped wire in the Ford radio harness accessible by removing the radio.  The blue wire receives power only with the ignition switch in run or accessory.

Jim Cummings: In our 2006 30', the solution was a 5-minute fix. In our case, the black Bosch relay box is behind the panel that has the inverter switch, TV amplifier switch, and amplifier plate. The wire was blue with a spade connector. He unplugged that and taped off the spade connector and it works now with the engine on. I am attaching a copy of the photo that Chris took of his wiring. The relay is at the back bottom left. The photo below shows the set-up when the 20" Sony TV was standard and is in a '02 30'. In all newer models, look for the disconnect in the area of the TV amplifier switch and plate. 

Understand that driving with the TV on may be illegal, so make this modification at your own risk. 

Chris H, Jim C