NEW to RVing (DirectTV / KVH TracVision) Help

[jmitchell]

We purchased a 2008 Fleetwood Southwind 35A. It has a KVH TracVision Slimline satellite. Can someone tell me how to connect it to my home DirectTV box?

[Thunder_Mountai]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
What Doug said ^^^^^^^^^^^
You are likely going to need to find an RV dealer or local RV satellite guys with a computer with the necessary software and time to update your system (if it can be updated). If by slimline you mean a relatively flat antenna that's about 40" around but only 4-6" high I would just write this off. They "worked" great while driving as the wind would keep it clear but since we are parked most of the time, any amount of dew, rain or other moisture will kill reception of satellite TV in most cases. The antenna was built to be installed on cars (SUV's with a roof rack) and kids could watch TV. They were used by some RV manufacturers for a short period but they never caught on due to these kinds of problems.

X2 I had a KVH on our '07 Endeavor. It initially worked pretty well, except for the rain and dew. Then the software needed updating. Then KVH quit supporting my model. Then the dish totally lost its mind. Installed a Winegard Travler and never had another problem. Cut your losses and ditch the KVH.

[Daytonaman]

Fincd a satellite guy that does marine work
There are many units out there that use that KVH model.
Mine works fine with 2 DTV boxes. SD only no HD.
I had to use the basic DTV boxes That were ordered from DTV.
DTV tech support can give you the info on which box to use.
KVH needs to be re-programmed with a laptop.
KVH themselves were of some help. They had the info on what will work with that dish
Dish won't work with my model.
DTV might not support SD after 2020.

[dougrainer]

jmitchell wrote:
Thank you all! GGoodsell, we will look into that. I don't care about HD. We would just like to be able to watch when we want to.

My comments had NOTHING to do with HD reception. It has to do with HOW KVH Sat systems software find and lock in the 101 Sat(non HD direct sat) that Direct TV uses. Regardless of the poster that stated his 2009 works just fine, you will be better off and quicker to contac KVH with the Model and S/n and ask if that system will work for the 101 Sat. Doug

[jmitchell]

Thank you all! GGoodsell, we will look into that. I don't care about HD. We would just like to be able to watch when we want to.

[GGoodsell]

We have a 2009 Bounder with the same KVH dome. We have it connected to a standard definition DirecTV box and it works fine. NO,it does not get HD, but for our purposes it does just fine. The cables in your overhead front cabinet SHOULD be marked with labelled tags telling you which goes to the dish and which goes to the TV. You do need to change some settings in the set-up menu (which I don't remember at the moment) but it does not take long. If you wish to PM me I can get those notes from my RV and send them to you. We did not need to re-program anything and have used this system for the last six years. Yes, we do find that we often experience signal loss in light rain, but we just turn it off and read a book. Good luck.

[usersmanual]

I don't know what others like but iam not buying a sat dish system in this day and age without HD. man once you watch HD theres no going to just sd systems in my world

[sdianel_-acct_c]

agree with dougrainer - older dome satellite dishes' software is no longer being supported. We have a 2004 Class A and had to recently purchase a new dish. We went with Winegard G2 Plus. No in-motion which we didn't use anyhow and no HD. If you want to take a trip to TX to have the work done properly, we use Sats2Go in Houston. He removed our old dish, installed the new one. We have used his service for 4x in the last several years. He is professional, reasonable priced and does great work. He has some info on his website about the changes and software: www.sats2go.com - No way would we have attempted that on our own. I would locate someone that specializes in RV Satellite Systems.

[Bill_Satellite]

What Doug said ^^^^^^^^^^^
You are likely going to need to find an RV dealer or local RV satellite guys with a computer with the necessary software and time to update your system (if it can be updated). If by slimline you mean a relatively flat antenna that's about 40" around but only 4-6" high I would just write this off. They "worked" great while driving as the wind would keep it clear but since we are parked most of the time, any amount of dew, rain or other moisture will kill reception of satellite TV in most cases. The antenna was built to be installed on cars (SUV's with a roof rack) and kids could watch TV. They were used by some RV manufacturers for a short period but they never caught on due to these kinds of problems.

[dougrainer]

Sorry, odds are that KVH will not function. The software in the KVH probably has not been updated and there is a possibility that you CANNOT update that KVH to current Sat software. You need to contac KVH with your Model and Serial number of the Sat dome to see if it will still operate or can be updated with a Laptop PC. Doug

[azdryheat]

Plug the satellite feed into box and use the onscreen menu to finish the setup. You won't get HD as the only antenna that gets all three satellites is the Winegard Trav'ler. A little pricey but worth it.

[MountainAir05]

http://www.kvh.com/Pages/HDTV/TracVision-and-High-definition-TV/DIRECTV-HDTV-Service.aspx