"STAR WARS" -Portable dish TV system questions

[Greywolf]

(Yes, I'm certified to do that too, but I'm not a ladder monkey at heart so I won't do that for a living anymore) Today was kind of fun. In half a day I figured out all of the problems with a brand new coaches satellite system, figured out how it could work as it was wanted to, did it, and heard about a counterpart of mine who went home late saturday still cursing because he could not get a picture to come up on the main TV in the coach in question. The salient points that I will carry with me are that certain kinds of AV switchunits won't allow the 12-18 volt LNB power to go through them to power the dish (but they pass RF signals), some coaches only have ONE line for the dish coming in, it isn't hard to run another line, and all the functions from the AV switch unit can be made available to a second reciever with a ten buck A to B source switch. OH AND BY THE WAY: If you have a satellite reciever set to output to TV channel 3.... IT HELPS A WHOLE TRUCKLOAD IF CHANNEL THREE IS ONE OF THE CHANNELS IT (the TV monitor) IS PROGRAMMED TO RECIEVE!!! Yeah - I've lost most of you, SO THERE! But that was just from my notes, which ARE highly condensed. I will say this - if you take things one step at a time, identify the right cables, know what your equipment can do (and what it can't) ... ANYONE can set up a satellite dish to work right in an RV. I will deliberately leave this thread open to questions, and take them on a case by case basis for as long as I can keep up with them all. But I have no intention of teaching "SATELLITE INSTALLERS SCHOOL" online. Alright - that having been said, FIRE AWAY!

[95van]

Good info - you haven't lost me yet.

Here's some more tips - if your setting up one of the more primitive systems that you have to aim manually, getting the post plumb to start with is important. If you're setting it on the roof of your RV,and you're up there with it, be aware that can change a bit due to your weight on the roof. Also, getting a clear shot at the signal can sometimes be a little confusing because the signal is reflected at an angle into the dish, then reflected to the LNB - so some thing that looks like a straight line of site can still have the signal blocked; or you might pick up a signal when it looks like there could be something small directly in the way.

[Greywolf]

And if you have a four hundred pound Aunt travelling with you - you are better off using the external sat connection and sandbagging a portable antenna dish outside the coach (that isn't as funny as you think!).

If you have your coach levelled with jacks, and it's stable no matter what! Here's a way to save wear and tear on your self-pointing dish (such as a King Dome).

- ONCE IT FINDS THE SATELLITE? Turn the dish control off.

Yes - you heard me right.

Most systems will remain in that position, and as long as your reciever is running you will have uninterrupted reception.

If you leave the dome turned on, it will continually try to refine the signal with small adjustments that are not necessary - and over time wear out the servo's.

TRUTH!

So then - activate your King Dome or whatever you have once the coach is level and set up at the site, let it lock on to the satelite (your reciever must be on and active), and then shut off the King Dome once it is securely locked in. It will STAY THERE, and no further activety from it is needed.

OH BY THE WAY....

Street lights, and high-powered lot illuminating lights of some kinds give off enough RF radiation so that a dome that self seeks can mistake them for a satellite. If the line of sight to the satellite is near one, or if such a light is too close to the RV, the dome will keep trying to pick up a modulated signal from it over and over.

[Greywolf]

Domes have a digitally stored "LIBRARY OF SATELLITES" in them (KVH domes have two extra slots for USER DEFINED sats).

If they are set to the wrong satellite - they look for and find the wrong one.

A laptop computer is used to read the output of the data port to see what the satellite dish is doing - there are two programs used for this.

MICROSOFT HYPER TERMINAL

And on KVH domes: KVH FLASH UPDATE WIZARD.

You need a serial port, or a USB to SERIAL PORT ADAPTER to read the goings on.

Also a laptop or other computer....

You can watch what the dish is trying to do.

It will exclude signals that are not right, each sat has an ident that it sends.

BUT THE DOME MUST BE TOLD WHAT SAT TO LOOK FOR.

This is done with a laptop computer. Directv uses DSS_101, DSS_110, DSS_119 exclusively.

DISHNETWORK uses ECHO_101, ECHO_110, and ECHO_119.

If the dome is told to look for the wrong satellite - IT WILL....

I fixed one of those today.

You have to use the laptop to tell it "NOT that one, THIS ONE!"

After that, it does a full SKYSEARCH, but it WILL find it.



I think prudence dictates that I not post the commands needed to do that.

BE PATIENT if you do this. It may take as long as 45 minutes or more for the dome to find the new source. Let it run.