I am considering going to sat tv in the home for a couple of reasons. One of those is the ability to take it along when we are camping in remote areas. My question is: Can I bring just the sat receiver from home with recorded shows on it, hook it up to the tv and play recorded programs without having it plugged in to a sat dish?

I've never tried it that way so don't know if it will work. I'm sensing there may be a problem because when you plug in the sat box it automatically looks for a sat signal. There have been times when I've had an issue with my sat signal and upon plugging the box back in it still couldn't find the signal and would not let me get to the recorded programs in "My Recordings".You might want to try it at home by unplugging the box and then disconnecting the antenna. Plug the box back in after 10 minutes and see what happens. Also disconnect the phone line and or internet if you have it connected to the box.

It is very easy to bring along a tri-pod type SAT DISH. This is what we dis for a couple of years.Our portable DISH setup had two PORTS on it so I brought two SAT RCVRs from the house on our trips. Ran two RG cables from the two SAT DISH ports with one going to the TV CONSOLE and the second one going to the BEDROOM setup. I also brought along two SAT RCVRS form home. Connected the RG cables to the ANT INPUT on each SAT RCVR and then run VIDEO CABLE from the SAT RCVR to the local TV SET VIDEO IN port.This allowed us to use each Main and BEDROOM TV sets to tune different channels on the SAT RCVR side.This was all condoned by DIRECTV for us to use our SAT RCVRs anywhere away from the home location. The only deal was we would lose our LOCAL TV subscription.Our SAT units were old and most always would lose their settings when unplugged from the house 120VAC so we had to call DIRECTV to reset them or go online to do it. Just make sure you have your acct number and SAT RCVR info with you.Worked good for us with no extra charges from DIRECTV.Easy setup with the portable dish when you got use to the procedure.This was back when using standard SAT TV RCVRS... Have no idea how all of this would work with the new stuff they have now...Roy Ken

We just move a portable hard drive from the house Hopper,to the RV Hopper. While at home I record a ton of movies, then save them on the portable hard drive. Take the hard drive camping and you're good to go. We don't take the sat. dish any more.

Sat TV Receiver | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jan 03, 2015
Antennas:
Antennas come in 2x2 types
Domes: In motion or stationary, Work with DirecTV, do not work with DirecHDTV

Dishes: Both automatic roof mount and portable tripod mount, So long as the dish is the proper one for your receiver,, IT works, PERIOD.

(For Dishnework it is a bit different, DOMES work with a single receiver, DISH work period)

Additional: Roof mounted antennas (Dish or dome) Do not work when you are parked under the evil signal eating tree.. Ground mounts, can often be mounted away from the tree.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jan 03, 2015
YES and no: IF you drive very far you loose network programming (ABC, CBS, NBC and so on).

Get DirecTV for your RV (Can be DirecTV or DirecHDTV but read my next post) file the RV waiver, ask for maximum number of receivers (NOT A GENI) and get a disaster recovery kit or two.. install your own dish at home and wire it up.

Now you have Network TV wherever your roam (Ok you can use a Geni, and take it with you, did not think of that) Read the next post on Antennas.

NOTE: Dish is not allowed to offer Distant Network Service and where as they used to have a 3rd party provider, they lost them as well.
oldbeek
Explorer
Jan 03, 2015
I had terrible experiences trying to point my dish. I just bought a Dish automatic Tailgator antenna for Christmas
. Now dish cancelled FOX news and the tailgator does no work with Direct TV. Life sucks!
nomad297
Explorer
Jan 01, 2015
Yes
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Jan 01, 2015
I had this same question concerning the external hard drive with my 211K receiver. the answer is no. I "assume" that moving the entire receiver,etc. then the answer is yes as stated before.
bumpy
Bull_Rider
Explorer
Jan 01, 2015
We have a 1 TB portable hard drive that is powered via the USB connection. BUT, we have two Hoppers. I've read that this setup won't work with some receivers, but it works for us.

When I start the Hopper that has no dish connected, I just jump past the setup options and go right to the DVR portion, and select the hard drive, and all of the programming is available.
2oldman
Explorer II
Dec 31, 2014
yes
mackyb
Explorer
Dec 31, 2014
@ Bull Rider - That is what I want to do. We record a lot shows at home that go unwatched so just bringing along the receiver is what I want to do. What size portable hard drive do you use for your recordings. I assumed that the sat receivers had their own hard drive which stored the shows recorded and you wouldn't need a portable HD. I do not have any interest in watching live TV and do not want to bring a portable dish with us. I want to keep it as simple as possible.
Bull_Rider
Explorer
Dec 31, 2014
We just move a portable hard drive from the house Hopper,to the RV Hopper. While at home I record a ton of movies, then save them on the portable hard drive. Take the hard drive camping and you're good to go. We don't take the sat. dish any more.
lynndiwagon
Explorer
Dec 31, 2014
Yes