Direct TV to the RV - how easy ?

You need to call DTV have them fire up the new reciever and your good to go. Your old card will not work in the new box. They will charge you I think 10 bucks for the other receiver it's easy as that. Oh you need a satellite signal of course.

I don't know what kind of a deal you might have with Directtv regarding your receiver. Normally directtv would have to activate your receiver and you would be charged a fee for that receiver, You must have some kind of satellite dish and depending on what that might be it would have to be directed to the proper satellite.

Your satellite receiver should have it's own card and needs to be activated and added to your existing account. We take one of our HD receivers from home and use it in our RV. We purchased a Directv HD satellite dish from Ebay and mounted it on a stand, takes us just a few minutes to set-up as we have the routine down to a science.

There are automatic satellite dishes available that can locate and acquire Directv programming, be aware that many of these automated dish systems (domes) can not provide Directv HD content as it requires a specific roof-mounted system that is capable of locking into multiple satellites at the same time. Camping World has a good selection to choose from and currently has installation specials if going with the costly roof-mounted, automated HD satellite system.

Although we don't always have time to watch a lot of television while RVing, it's great to be able to watch all the same channels we have at home and not miss any important televised sporting events that occur while on the road.

It's fairly easy - if you have a dish wired to your coach either rooftop, carryout, or a directional model. You also need an active receiver. If all that exists, it's a matter of plug and play. However, if you have no dish you need to get one and it needs to be wired.

Many of them no longer have cards... But no, the card is "married" to the reciever and can't be used in other boxes.

You'll need to call DTV and have them "start" your service with your box.

I would get it all setup to work in the house first where you have everything you need to hookup to it.

Once it is working legally in the house then just move it to the RV. The one thing I had to remember was to have the account number and phone numbers to call as many times when I moved the SAT RCVR it would lose it setups and I had to call DirecTv to reset things. I ended up taping the account info to the SAT RCVR...

DirecTv condons the use of your legal SAT RCVR anywhere you wish to use it. The only downside may be your local broadcast selections on your DirecTv account will probably not work when you get outside your assigned ZIPCODE area.

I used to carry my SAT RCVR from my bedroom to the RV all the the time until the NATL BROADCAST network came out with their digital HDTV. Now we just use RV Televison to watch the National Broadcast channels to the public for free like NBC-CBS etc using our OTA BATWING antenna to pick up these stations from the local towns around the campground. They are all in full blown high def TV mode where my SAT reception was only the standard TV signals.

Roy Ken

A lot depends on what type of DirecTV box you have. Mine still uses the card and I had to go through the set-up procedure to match my box with the satellite antenna that I have. We have had this box for three years and I never have to contact DirecTV to let them know where I am. When parked at home, the box stays in our RV with the antenna aimed to receive a signal. It never has been hooked up to the internet or phone line and receives all of the updates through the antenna hook-up. The box costs us $10/month since it is the HD box. It is on my Son's Maryland DirecTV account and we are listed, ON HIS ACCOUNT, as the Florida RV, at our Florida address.

All the above, once its operational and its left unused for an extended period of time; you will need to call and have the receiver bump to re establish your signal

I should have made it clear in the first message that we do have an automatic Dome receiver on the RV's roof which sounds like it is ready to go as it will search for signals when it is fired up. It is also set up to receive the Direct TV signals.
I was hoping that all we had to do was take the receiver card from home & use that in the RV's receiver & all would be fine.
But are you all saying that I will need to have the RV's receiver added to our account & pay rent on it ?
Is there any way to use either just the card from home in the RV's receiver ?
Or to take the home receiver along in the RV & hook that up in place of the RV's receiver ?
Thanks for the feedback thus far !!!!
Bill in FL

You either need to register, and pay a monthly service for the new box or take one of the existing boxes from your house. It is no different than adding an additional box to your regular account.

Just because you have the dome antenna does not mean that it is a simple as plug and play. For my in-motion dome I had to go through the set-up and designate the type of antenna I had, which turned out to be the closest match which was an 18" single LNB. This works for my Kingdome. When we want to watch HD I then have to reprogram the DirecTV box to recognize my Slimline 3LNB antenna. As I said I guess it depends on the type of box that you have but if the box takes a card, I doubt if it is the newest one available.