Directv hookup?

One other thing I do is have extra remote and power cable in the camper so I only have to grab a box

How much portability do you need? I bought a portable dish from amazon on a tripod and could not get that to work. I used the compass and also verified it with an iphone app and it would not find a satellite.

SInce my camping spot is more "permanent". I called directv and they installed a dish for free. If I was a traveler, I would get the portable units.

Thanks for all the info. I am glad I asked because I didn't know anything about the SWM dish!

Just to make sure something like this: ebay Item

I am sure I could piece the system together for cheap but this looks like it will be easier!

Ed

If you want to keep HD then you need the same dish as you have at the house.

DTV has a larger dish so you need a better tripod one like this guy sells. clicky


If you use a different dish than you have at the house, you have to reconfigure the sat box every time you move it.

We have the Winegard G2 portable antenna and love it. One thing to be aware of that we didn't know. We too have DirectTV at home & assumed we could use one of our home receivers on the road with the G2. But the G2 doesn't accept a HD receiver for DirectTV, must be SD. So we had to get another receiver. With the 22" TV we have in our Lance 1685 travel trailer, SD provides a clear picture. As I understand it, the G2 does work with HD with DISH, but we've not tried that.

been doing it for years.

directv.. I call tech support.. NOT customer service.. some of the customer service people has no idea of the billing address and service area...

the Genie NEEDS the SWM dish... no menu to change to older dish...
I use a H24 receiver from home/kitchen. and a slimline 3 antenna for trailer and it does receiver HD..

and I also have a Genie in home/living room.. not going up 25 feet to disconnect home antenna. :) or purchase a second one.

I bought a slimline three SWM dish from amazon. Take the genie and one of the little boxes with me that goes in the bedroom.

About the local channels. DTV has two addresses for you. A service address and a billing address. The service address is where the dish is physically located. So when you arrive at tim buck too just call DTV and have them change your service address to where you are located and walla you will get the locals on satellite.

Nobody mentined it but you also need a power inserter to stick in the cable between the dish and genie.

I've been doing the following for years. Never any problems:

I have the "basic": dish/tripod/strength meter/compass.
I have a "passive junction box" (from Camping World) that everything goes thru. Cable,Antenna, VCR/CD player/satellite. Simply push the button you want.

HD is not important to me, but I get a very good picture with my SD box. I have a HD DirecTV box in my living room (for the big flat screen) but a SD box in the bedroom. The bedroom box comes out and goes into the RV. As long as you pay your bill , DirecTV doesn't seem to care. (You will lose your local networks when you leave your home area by about 100 miles. This is called a "spot beam.) But...no matter, if you want the local news, push "ant" simply put up your batwing, aim it and there it is. Otherwise you get everything from 202 (CNN ) on. Why would I want the weather for NJ when I'm in Arizona?

The DirecTV website has a page for the dish aiming instructions for where you want to be.

You'll have to have a dish/LNA for DirectTV.

My neighbor carries his with him since he already has it paid for each month.

He uses an old antenna from his home, mounted on a tripod. I've helped him rundown a coax problem and the system works fine once he finds the satellite.

He originally had the antenna mounted to a 5 gallon bucket and would store the coax in the bucket while travelling. He has several hundred feet of RG6 as there were times he had to get it out from under trees.

He's a bit of a nascar fanatic.