King Dome KD5500 with 2 Dish receivers - how?

Assuming the receiver is capable of viewing some satellite TV on some channels, you should be able to go to MENU>6>1>1 and find a screen that shows the satellite selected, the transponder selected and one or 2 other columns. In the upper right you should see a button that says Check Switch. Are you saying you cannot get to this screen?

Bill.Satellite wrote:
OK, I should have looked up the specific model number. The KD5500 is a unique King Controls antenna. It uses the same Dish Mobile Protocol as a Tailgator but inside a roof mounted dome. I know the Tailgator is setup for one receiver only but in reading about this dome it does say it supports 2 receivers.
Have you read the instructions on pages 18-19 about how that 2nd receiver operates? You must disconnect the 2nd receiver and do a check switch with no coax connected. Save the resulting search (nothing found). Now connected the receiver with the antenna pointed and working on the first receiver. Reset the 2nd receiver and allow the program guide to download. You should now be able to watch any channel being broadcast from the same satellite that the first receiver is pointing toward. If the front receiver changes channels and that channel is located on a different satellite the 2nd receiver will lose all programming until it is reset and you wait for it to download a new program guide for that satellite.
Here is a link to that owners manual if you want to read the step by step details. It is very well documented.
http://kingcontrols.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/PENDING-REVISION-21507-KD5500-Rev-A-Owners-Manual-01-04-13.pdf

Yes I did read that and tried it. The problem is the manual and the screens on the VIP211K do not match up. I never can get to a SAVE option no matter what I try. So there instructions must be written for older firmware/software than what is in my units. I did manage to get it to work last night by accident. I left the AUX unit on but the TV off for an hour. When I turned on the TV it was showing the "screen saver" messages about "your receiver is OFF...". I plugged in the cable from the dish and hit power on the remote. It acted much differently this time. It came up with "Acquiring Signal..." and progress bar. In a while I had channels showing. Now I have another question. I had the Main unit on the 129 bird and my guide on the AUX unit seemed agree with what channels are on 129. But I could only tune about half of them. I had 209 on the Main TV and tried 209 on the AUX TV and all I got was an error message about no signal. I kept hitting channel down on the remote and eventually it tuned in 206 and a few others. Why is this? I thought I would get ALL the channels on 129 bird.

OK, I should have looked up the specific model number. The KD5500 is a unique King Controls antenna. It uses the same Dish Mobile Protocol as a Tailgator but inside a roof mounted dome. I know the Tailgator is setup for one receiver only but in reading about this dome it does say it supports 2 receivers.
Have you read the instructions on pages 18-19 about how that 2nd receiver operates? You must disconnect the 2nd receiver and do a check switch with no coax connected. Save the resulting search (nothing found). Now connected the receiver with the antenna pointed and working on the first receiver. Reset the 2nd receiver and allow the program guide to download. You should now be able to watch any channel being broadcast from the same satellite that the first receiver is pointing toward. If the front receiver changes channels and that channel is located on a different satellite the 2nd receiver will lose all programming until it is reset and you wait for it to download a new program guide for that satellite.
Here is a link to that owners manual if you want to read the step by step details. It is very well documented.
http://kingcontrols.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/PENDING-REVISION-21507-KD5500-Rev-A-Owners-Manual-01-04-13.pdf

The "Scan" screen is where it says Pick Your State and there are 3 buttons on the right side: SCAN, DONE and SUMMARY. The only one that really does anything is SCAN. When you select it it brings up a new page that usually says Step 1 of 3 and it starts whipping the dish around looking for sat signals. Of course this throws the Main receiver into a tizzy. I am forced into the Scan screen on powerup unless there is some secret button sequence to bypass it. Eventually the Aux unit gives up looking for sat signals (fighting with Main unit?). Then your choice is to hold the power button for a reset since I can't find any way to get beyond this point either.

Maybe I am still not understanding. You have one dedicated coax cable running directly from the King Dome main output on the roof to one receiver and you have a second dedicated cable running directly from the Aux output on the roof to the second receiver. Is that correct?
When you say it comes up to a "scan screen" what exactly are you referring to? What are the exact things you are seeing on that screen?

I got mine in 2013, Used it one time.. (The rooftop antenna I have turned out to have a screw loose.. I have since fixed, but decided I really am not that hot for Pay-TV.. Rather get FREE TV.. Though last week reception was not so good.. I got down to about 20 hours of recorded video on my DVR's I've not yet had time to watch. .... And around 300 hours of movies I've not yet gotten to.

wa8yxm wrote:
Dang, interent, this was a much longer post

page 88 of the Vip 211K manual says to try this

When the scan stalls at 2 of 5,, wait for the popup, then press STAR.. Choose DISH 300 and the SAME satellite the other receiver is looking at.. you should get a good signal lock (forget zip code and such) now do a check switch and conteinue from 2 of 5.. Dish says it will work.. Have done it.. ONCE.

You must have newer manual than mine (2011). I will look for a newer one. My page 88 has nothing like that.

Bill - these are new but have been activated. I can get programming on both units no sweat, but only one at a time. I will try the suggestions given on the forum and see if I can get around the scan. Is there a good site with Tips and Tricks for the VIP211K?

Sorry, I missed the part about being NEW receivers. If these have never been activated I recommend that you find a regular home style Dish antenna and get them activated before attempting to use them with a dome. Once that's done you can follow my Check Switch instructions. If you want to try it with the dome you will need to go through this separately on each receiver.

Section 1
When you get on a new 211K and it attempts to start a setup routine you will see the receiver start a setup routine showing Step 1 of 5, you do not want to do what is prompted but quickly:
Press System info on the front of the receiver.
Using the Dish remote control, select Help when it appears on the TV.
Select Menu 611 with remote.
Do a front face reset on the receiver (press and hold power)
Wait for anything to appear on the TV and press menu 611 with remote and continue with a normal Check Switch setup routine as described in the owners manual.

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Section 2
If you were not paying attention and it has already gotten to Step 2 of 5 you can still recover with a bit more work.
(If you did the *#*# routine, do a front face reset and step 2 of 5 will reappear.)
You will need to wait for Step 2 of 5 to fail (time out) and a message will appear that says something to the effect that you need to check connections.
Press the system Info button, wait for the Help button to appear and click on that. The next screen will give you a Restart Setup option and you want to select Yes. By doing so you will return to step 1 of 5 and you will be able to follow the instructions listed above in Section 1.

Dang, interent, this was a much longer post

page 88 of the Vip 211K manual says to try this

When the scan stalls at 2 of 5,, wait for the popup, then press STAR.. Choose DISH 300 and the SAME satellite the other receiver is looking at.. you should get a good signal lock (forget zip code and such) now do a check switch and conteinue from 2 of 5.. Dish says it will work.. Have done it.. ONCE.

Bill - does not work. I can set each up independently but if I try to add the second unit after the first is running I still get sent to the Scan screen and I am stuck. I have tried the whole process in reverse using the AUX port unit as the "main" one and it comes up exactly the same: first unit OK, second unit wants to do a scan on power up. There must be a way to bypass the scan but I can't find one.