Trouble receiving directv channels with hr24 reciever

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Hello,

Being a complete newbie to satellite tv, I recently switched to directv in my home hoping I could figure out how to set up a system in my rv. I got the usual genie and mini genies for the house, and had them also bring an hr24 receiver to use with my older winegard roadtrip sat dish mounted on the roof of my rv. My first attempts were complete failures, but after much searching and reading for new things to try, I finally got a strong signal on the 101 satellite. I even got to the main guide page to pick the channels, and thought I was done. Turns out not so, most of the channels were grayed out and could not even be picked, and the ones I tried gave a message saying the receiver was not set up to receive these channels. I don't understand, I thought I should get all the same channels that I get at home? I get that some local channels won't work if your out of the local spot beam, but I was local and also many of the non working channels had nothing to do with being local. Well, I thought I was almost there. Any help, suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated. This sat tv deal has been quite the headache.

[chuckbear]

I would really suggest you do a reset on the receiver before anything. Just unplug it for at least 20 seconds, then plug it back in and let it reboot. Then if nothing changes, do a refresh. Chuck

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Ok, Thanks again for the info I will try refreshing the receiver in a few days when I get a chance to make it out to the rv. I assume the receiver needs to be powered up for the refresh to happen? I will also go to the settings menu and try "all channels I get" and see what happens. I actually did not try to directly tune a channel from the remote, I was picking from the channel guide. I will give that a try as well. Thanks again for the help.

[chuckbear]

siggyd777 wrote:
Set your receiver to 18" & multiswitch, that is setting: 2 & 2
That is what I set my H24 to. Of course , you will only get Standard Definition.
Siggy

He has already said that he did that. Chuck

[siggyd777]

Set your receiver to 18" & multiswitch, that is setting: 2 & 2
That is what I set my H24 to. Of course , you will only get Standard Definition.
Siggy

[chuckbear]

Forgot to mention, you will only want to refresh this receiver. Here are the instructions... https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/directv/KM1044884

Chuck

[chuckbear]

Refresh can be done online or calling DirecTV. It will not affect your service. You might also try going into the settings menu and under Favorites, choose "All Channels I get". Try a reset, by unplugging the receiver for at least 15 seconds and then let it reboot. Have you tried just tuning in a channel with the remote rather than the guide? Can you receive any channels, forget about the guide? Chuck

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OK I used the number 1 input so I got lucky there. That makes sense now that because I chose a non hd dish that I can't select to show hd channels. I was doing this manually because from what I have read while searching for info, I needed to set up the receiver first, then power up the sat dish and let it find the 101 sat. Remember, I'm a complete newby with sat tv, especially in an rv setting, so I'm going entirely by what information I can find online. I bought the RV used and it came with the roof mounted dish, so I can't say for certain if the LNB is good or bad, but on the signal strength page it was showing a 96 signal for sat 101. I don't know if that can confirm the state of the LNB or not.

What does the signal refresh do, is it something I would have to do online? Would it mess anything up with my home setup?

Thanks again everyone for the help.

[chuckbear]

You need to connect to the number 1 input. The reason the receiver will not let you change the guide setting for the HD is because you have selected a SD dish. You can try the set up for 2 receivers but you will get a message that there is no signal on receiver 2. I'm not sure why you're setting all this manually. If you go through the satellite set up and let the receiver choose, it should do all the proper settings itself. Once set properly, you may have to go to DirecTV site and have them refresh your signal. Are you sure the lnb on your dish is good. Using the satellite set up for the receiver will usually do a dish check and tell you if there is an issue. Our HR 24 took about 5 minutes to set up. ChuckChuck

[SCVJeff]

The HR24 can be really snarky when changing configuration, like from SWM to Multiswitch, and often takes a really long time. In the RV set it to 18" and Multiswitch and it should be happy, but it may take a few times to get it there. IIRC, tuner 2 is the DVR but don't remember if the main Rx wants that plugged in to work properly. I actually nuked one trying to do a SWM to Multiswitch swap. DIRECTV sent another receiver but the tech wasn't suprised to hear my story.

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Thanks everyone for all the responses. The receiver was activated by the directv tech when he brought it to the house. The sat dish is an older one (around 2008~09) and will only get SD. I knew this and wasn't expecting HD channels but it seemed like I wasn't getting any channels, SD included. I chose 18" round in the sat setup page, and changed the switch setting from swm to multiswitch. After I got it to show the channel guide page, I went to the menu, display, preferences page and set the "show all channels" setting to "hide HD". I tried to go back and change it back to show all channels again and could not, it was grayed out after I had set it to hide HD. Not sure why it wouldn't let me switch it back. I also had the receiver setup as a single tuner receiver in the setup page, thinking that if I'm not running two coax cables to it (only needed for recording), then I will only be using one tuner. The receiver does have two coax inputs, I wasn't sure if it mattered which one I used, I used the number 1 input. Maybe I should try input number 2? And maybe reset the tuner to a dual tuner receiver?

Thanks again for all the help.

[chuckbear]

If your receiver has been activated, you will need to go through the satellite set up menu. Most importantly is to choose the correct type of dish for the RV. Probably an 18" single lnb. The receiver should do a test and recognize this on it's own. In the HR, this should give you the SD channels. You will only be able to get standard definition, which is on the 101 sat. also be sure you have the coax connected to the correct coax input, there are 2.There is also a button on the front of the receiver to set it for 480P reception, which is standard definition. Star with those. Chuck

[rvten]

Sounds like receiver has not been activated.

[jpmihalk]

x2 on Murphsmom's comment. Your Winegard Roadtrip antenna will only pick up SD channels on a single satellite at a time, regardless of the receiver. None of the dome antennas can do HD, you need the Winegard Travel'r if you want DirecTV HD.

[jerseyjim]

I have DireCTV in the house. First set is HD with the HD box. Second set, in the bedroom is SD with the SD box. Both have their own dish. Both are different. I get ALL my satellite stations and local networks on both.

When going to snowbird, for instance, I take the SD box with me in the RV. I have the basics in the RV...dish, strength meter, compass. Everything goes thru my passive switchbox. Of course, when out of my local "spotbeam", I lose the networks. No biggie. Just put up the antenna, push the "ANT" button on the switchbox and aim the thing. Then...go back to the "SAT" button whenever. No problems.

Tell DirecTV nothing (why add any complications...they will want you to pay extra,(an "RV account")...but make sure you pay your bill on time.