Direct TV/RV clueless

I checked at home and we have a H21-200 receiver in the main TV room and a D12-100 in my son's room. Since the TV is just a little wall mount in the TT I think we'd be fine without HD, but I'd like to have the option in the future.

Could I get an HD capable dish and use the plain receiver box with it? ( I realize we would not have an HD pic.)

Better decide whether or not you want HD or if SD will do. This WILL determine what receiver and Antenna you will need.

HD, then a SWM

SD any old standard direct tv antenna

Just buy an extra dish off of Craigslist and point it manually with a compass. That's what I did and it works great. Had an extra receiver when my daughter moved out. Dish and 50' of cable cost me $20.

I also have the small 18" dish mounted upside down on a low profile mount. I found the plans for the mount here over 10 years ago. It works out great. I also use the Dishpointer website and a sat finder meter powered by 2 9 volt batteries. Sometimes, though, I lock on to the wrong bird. Yesterday I purchased the 10 buck Dishpointer augmented reality app. With it I found that I was locking on to the 98 and not 101. Tweaked the setup a few degrees and done. Its neat how it shows the line of satellites on the screen with any obstacles that may be present. I have zero luck with compasses because it seems like the trailer throws it off.

We use an HD sat receiver from home and a Directv Slimline 5 dish we purchased online that we mounted to a homemade stand. I adjust dish settings as stated by Directv receiver, perform receiver set-up routine starting with dish type, plumb/level dish and use compass to point, most times signals are in the 90% range right from the get go. Peak signal to 95% or better on sat 101 and all the rest of the satellites come right in delivering all the same channels that we have at home. Do it a few times at home to get the hang of it. Unless there are trees to negotiate a signal through, entire routine takes maybe 10 minutes tops.

I have a Wingard portable dome dish. Its a little pricey but ever so convenient. All I need is an open southern sky at about 45 degree angle. I set it on the ground or tripod, hook up the cable and before I can get inside I have TV. It sure is a snap. As mentioned above it is not HD. To get HD you need a HD dish either mounted on roof or on a tripod. The tripod method is sometimes a challenge finding the satellite and getting it peaked in.

Also as mentioned above I remove a DTV box from the house and put it in the unit.

Since you already have DirecTV service and receivers you just need to bring a box into your RV, attach an appropriate antenna and sit back and enjoy.
Can you tell us what model number DTV receivers you have at home? Be aware that there is NO dome style antenna that will allow the reception of the DirecTV HDTV programming but ALL of the SDTV programming comes from just 1 satellite making that reception very easy. The reception of your Network TV programming can also be an issue depending upon the antenna you use and how far you plan to travel from home so any additional details about your plans would be helpful.

You will need a slimline dish, tripod and about 100' of good coax with good connectors to start. Amazon is a good place to look. You can use a box you already have in your house. Just set it up and try it in the rv at home.
You will need a box that is compatible with multiswitch lnb on the dish. If not then you will need to install a swm set up in the rv and this can be complicated.
Bottom line is that if you already have Directv subscription, yyou do not need to set up a separate account and it is totally legal.
Direct TV has a good forum. If you do a search there for rv installations, you should find plenty of information.
Good luck and feel free to PM me if an questions

Steve

This article and these previous posts may help:

Sat TV for RVs
Take receiver from house

Basic DTV from house

Directv on the road from house

Buy an antenna take receivers from home. You may or mat not need some different wiring in the trailer. Its simple as long as your home setup is not SWM. Then antenna will cost you a bit more money