What Dish hardware for Hopper in RV

[wires]

Hi,

I currently have DirecTV service at home and in my RV. It's the same account, I take one of the DVR receivers from the house to the RV when leaving for a trip. I am using a standard dish with a portable tripod so I'm comfortable aligning the dish at camp.

I would like to switch to Dish Network but am totally unfamiliar with their hardware.

Can someone please tell me what dish, LNB, switch, power inserter, etc. I will need in order to use a Hopper in my RV? Will a single coax feed allow viewing/recording multiple channels?

If you also have any suggestions for signal meter that would be helpful to. I'm currently using a DirecTV AIM 1.5 so that won't work for Dish.

Thank you,

John

[wires]

TechWriter wrote:

First, go through a local sat installer, not DISH. DISH CSRs aren't RV savvy and may steer you away from using a Hopper. FYI -- many RVers are using Hoppers.

Second, go with a Hopper 3, not the previous generation Hopper ("Hopper with Sling"). The Hopper 3 is WAY superior (16 tuners instead of 3, faster processor, etc) and I think it costs exactly the same each month.

Equipment:

- Dish: 1000.2 dish with Hybrid Western Arc LNBF -- don't get the DISH Pro Plus (DPP) LNBF. The Hybrid LNBF allows you to just run a single coax from dish to RV.

- Sat Meter: either a Super Sat Buddy (eBay since it's no longer manufactured). Or it's very expensive replacement: XR-3 with the XR-TS2-02 module (about $950 total).

If you just plan to use a Hopper 3 in your RV, then the PORT 1 output from the Hybrid LNBF can be connected directly to a Hopper 3.

Thank you for the detailed reply TechWriter. This is exactly what I needed.

[TechWriter]

wires wrote:
I currently have DirecTV service at home and in my RV.

I would like to switch to Dish Network but am totally unfamiliar with their hardware.

Can someone please tell me what dish, LNB, switch, power inserter, etc. I will need in order to use a Hopper in my RV? Will a single coax feed allow viewing/recording multiple channels?

First, go through a local sat installer, not DISH. DISH CSRs aren't RV savvy and may steer you away from using a Hopper. FYI -- many RVers are using Hoppers.

Second, go with a Hopper 3, not the previous generation Hopper ("Hopper with Sling"). The Hopper 3 is WAY superior (16 tuners instead of 3, faster processor, etc) and I think it costs exactly the same each month.

Equipment:

- Dish: 1000.2 dish with Hybrid Western Arc LNBF -- don't get the DISH Pro Plus (DPP) LNBF. The Hybrid LNBF allows you to just run a single coax from dish to RV.

- Sat Meter: either a Super Sat Buddy (eBay since it's no longer manufactured). Or it's very expensive replacement: XR-3 with the XR-TS2-02 module (about $950 total).

If you just plan to use a Hopper 3 in your RV, then the PORT 1 output from the Hybrid LNBF can be connected directly to a Hopper 3.

[Bill_Satellite]

You can just use your same setup and change to the DISH home style antenna. It doesn't really take any special hardware if you are just going to use the Hopper. As long as you can get the output from the Hopper to all your TV's you are all set. That sounds like what you are doing now so that should not be a problem. As with your current setup, you will be able to watch 1 channels and record multiple channels. All TV's will have to watch the same thing unless you add a Joey so 2 different people can watch 2 different channels at the same time.
DISH does have 2 different sets of satellites (Eastern Arc and Western Arc) but most travelers will do just fine with the Western Arc LNB setup. With a bit of work, the EA and WA setups can be made to be interchangeable.

[garyemunson]

So much easier with a Tailgater auto-point dish and Wally receiver. You can get the dishes with dual outputs which will also require a second receiver to get 2 different channels at once. Our previous RV had a roof mounted manual dish. When we got our new Winne, at first we had a tripod for our new auto-point thinking it would be easier to get a clear shot of the satellite vs a roof mounted dish. Half the time I ended up climbing the ladder and putting the dish on the roof to dodge bushes and other stuff on the ground. Finally roof mounted it and got in the habit of asking for/reserving a "satellite friendly" site. Most campgrounds have gotten hip to that request now. One less thing to deal with when setting up.