DirecTV Help

I use a tripod mounted HD dish and the H24 box I take from my home when on the road in the MH. It works fine. The first time I set it up I did it while the MH was parked in front of my house. I have used this set up from CA to Montana. I essentially keep the same setting on the dish, then fine tune at each new camp. The Sat finder that comes with the package, while looking cheap, works fine. Recently, Directv made some changes in the satellite drop down menu when you are doing the set up procedure. I had a heck of a time getting my system to work after that. Finally, someone on the directv forum had me try going to "multi" first before choosing dish type. That provides power to the sat finder, and for some reason doing it that way solved my problems. Tip- go to Walmart and for ,$1 each buy a bunch of tent stakes. That helps secure the tripod so it doesnt move in a strong wind. Works for me.

PS, my guess is that you will need a B-converter. When you make the dish choice on set up, it will tell you.

RJsfishin wrote:
Quit being so cheap, and buy them an automatic portable Sat antenna.

Which auto portable gets HD?

wa8yxm wrote:
Direc has a number of different Receivers and antennas. Some need converter boxes (B-Band) some do not.. That is all I can tell you. save for this:

IN the box with the receiver is an Owner's manual.. What I read to find out the answer.. If you need I can download and read it.

He was saying he was using an H24 receiver so what is and what is not necessary is pretty clear.

Direc has a number of different Receivers and antennas. Some need converter boxes (B-Band) some do not.. That is all I can tell you. save for this:

IN the box with the receiver is an Owner's manual.. What I read to find out the answer.. If you need I can download and read it.

Do you not like your parents very much ??
As you probably know from all the posts so far, you didn't do them any favors. Quit being so cheap, and buy them an automatic portable Sat antenna.

cm11599ps wrote:
We just bought our parents an HD dish for directv and it came with a compass, coax cable, signal meter and tripod. This will all be used solely for their camper.

Directv just dropped off an additional receiver box for them but it's not activated yet because the new dish wasn't there when the guy came.

Are we going to be able to just hook up the dish to the receiver to get this working? I've been reading about a converter box sometimes being needed. I believe the box they dropped off was an h24.

Any guidance would be awesome! :-)

$99 sounds about right unless you are having the unit installed in a house by a professional installer and signing a 2 year contract. Even after you pay the $99, the receiver is a leased receiver and continues to be owned by DirecTV. If you do not return if when you end service with DirecTV you will be charged a large fee ($150ish?).

I wanted to order an extra hd receiver not dvr. One agent said a tech had to activate it one said I could do it on the phone. I have not ordered it yet.

Did you have to pay 99.00 for the receiver? I've called like 10 times to get one cheaper and they won't budge

2oldman wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Turn on receiver and go to setup and start searching. Without the correct tools and unless you have practiced already, good luck.

x2

Many folks try to use the Signal Strength screen (the one that shows each xponder) instead of the next screen, Signal Meters, which is MUCH easier and responds almost instantaneously to a signal.

Never knew this, thanks that will be very helpful!

Using any number of places get the coordinates for the bird. Load a clear line of site place the dish, set the angles and elevation, connect the coax between the dish and receiver.

The one I use also has a small bubble level in it which needs to be exactly level before setting angles and elevation and then the coordinates are spot on.

cm11599ps wrote:
We just bought our parents an HD dish for directv and it came with a compass, coax cable, signal meter and tripod. This will all be used solely for their camper.

Directv just dropped off an additional receiver box for them but it's not activated yet because the new dish wasn't there when the guy came.

Are we going to be able to just hook up the dish to the receiver to get this working? I've been reading about a converter box sometimes being needed. I believe the box they dropped off was an h24.

Any guidance would be awesome! :-)

You say they dropped off an "additional" receiver. Are there any other DirecTV receivers anywhere? If so, hook up this receiver to the coax feeding the existing receiver and get it activated. The converter box you are talking about is a B-Band converter and would only be necessary if you DID NOT buy they a SWM HD antenna. Hopefully, you did and if you did, the BBC is not necessary. They will need HD TV(s) in the RV to take advantage of the H24 and that receiver only has HDMI output for 1 TV so if they have a TV in the bedroom an the living room the receiver will only be able to provide HD to one TV but you may have the wiring available to send an SD signal to the 2nd TV without having to rewire the coach.
If you don't have any other DirecTV boxes then you are going to want to connect that receiver to the antenna properly setup on the tripod and then learn how to point one of these things. It's very difficult at first and it gets easier and easier the more often you do it. Once you (your parents) learn how to break-down, setup and aim the antenna is should take less than 30 minutes at each new location. It might take you a couple of hours the first time. I suggest that you download the Augmented Reality App (Dish Pointer or Dish Pointer Pro) as this will show you exactly where to point the antenna and the correct elevation to set the antenna.