DirecTV dish for the trailer

[Sondy132001]

So I bought an HD DirecTV dish off eBay for $127.50, I was checking all those kingdomes etc. and spending that kind of money was just crazy, especially since my trailer was only $2,500 haha

So our next trip will be in July and I told the hubby I think we need to bust out that dish and set it up in our driveway last weekend and figure it out so were not stuck in the boonies and can't do it ... right ?

We couldn't get it to work after an hour, so we called DirecTV spent an hour with them, they told me to call the people I bought it from, it was probably faulty, or they (DirectTV) could send someone out for $50.00 and set it up. I hung up and figured after I called the vendor on eBay I'd take it from there. I'm a techy nerd and decided to keep trying, I sent my hubby to the middle of the street with the dish and the compass and kept telling him to move around, I used the coordinates I got from the dish company instead of DirecTV's and low and behold we made it work YAY serious that's the best $127.50 I ever spent !! I'll still bring dvd's and laptop with Netflix, but we have real TV. Pretty stoked.

S

[CA_Traveler]

I got HD in AK but didn't note the signal levels. Needless to say the birds were very low on the horizon.

[masongardner]

goducks10 wrote:

masongardner wrote:
Just so you know in the future, for everyone, if you see a Directv van or truck, we will give you a dish for free, usually HD, because we barely carry standard dishes anymore. Pointing an HD dish is fairy easy. Set your box to standard, align the dish to the 101 satellite, which is the standard sat, and then change your box over to HD, you should be on all 3 sat's if you have a pretty good signal on the standard.

That sounds too easy. I'm guessing you need signal strength in the 90's to be able to lock in on all 3?
Thanks for the tip.

Signal in the 90's should get your HD satellites no problem. And 90's on the standard side should be fairly easy.

[CA_Traveler]

The $30 signal meter was also very helpful to tune the signal when I had the SD dish.

[thirtydaZe]

mitch5252 wrote:

nadkaw1957 wrote:
Something I've found invaluable with my DirecTV dish is an app called Dish Pointer Pro. I got it from the android playstore. I think it was $19.95, but it has paid for itself in lowered frustration, especially if you camp in a forest, like we do. It shows you where the satellites are in the sky using your phone's camera. You can then move your dish around until you have an open view of the satellites. Instead of it taking me an hour to find the right spot for the dish (among the trees), it now takes about 2 minutes.

For my iPad, I use Satoolz Directv. It's $4.99 in the iTunes store. I, too, find it invaluable for locating those sats in between the trees!

good info, i'm purchasing. have had a winegard carryout for a few seasons now have never been able to make work.

[xzyHollyxyz]

nadkaw1957 wrote:
Something I've found invaluable with my DirecTV dish is an app called Dish Pointer Pro. I got it from the android playstore. I think it was $19.95, but it has paid for itself in lowered frustration, especially if you camp in a forest, like we do. It shows you where the satellites are in the sky using your phone's camera. You can then move your dish around until you have an open view of the satellites. Instead of it taking me an hour to find the right spot for the dish (among the trees), it now takes about 2 minutes.

For my iPad, I use Satoolz Directv. It's $4.99 in the iTunes store. I, too, find it invaluable for locating those sats in between the trees!

[goducks10]

masongardner wrote:
Just so you know in the future, for everyone, if you see a Directv van or truck, we will give you a dish for free, usually HD, because we barely carry standard dishes anymore. Pointing an HD dish is fairy easy. Set your box to standard, align the dish to the 101 satellite, which is the standard sat, and then change your box over to HD, you should be on all 3 sat's if you have a pretty good signal on the standard.

That sounds too easy. I'm guessing you need signal strength in the 90's to be able to lock in on all 3?
Thanks for the tip.

[masongardner]

Arms are pretty much all the same, just a matter of how new or old your dish it. Unless you want Spanish programming always go with the "single," lnb. I say single because the SWM is actually 3 inside what looks to be 1. But if you have 3 separate "eyes," its a waste unless you want Spanish.

[masongardner]

Just so you know in the future, for everyone, if you see a Directv van or truck, we will give you a dish for free, usually HD, because we barely carry standard dishes anymore. Pointing an HD dish is fairy easy. Set your box to standard, align the dish to the 101 satellite, which is the standard sat, and then change your box over to HD, you should be on all 3 sat's if you have a pretty good signal on the standard.

[Sondy132001]

CA Traveler wrote:
Careful - just followed your link. That is not a SWM arm but rather can be used with SWM 8/16 adapters. Should work OK but check it out first.

SWM looks like almost like a single LNB and only has 1 coax, connects directly to the brick and receiver. Or to the green splitter to include Genie Clients.

thanks I will research it further !!

this is what I have:

[2oldman]

CA Traveler wrote:
Careful - just followed your link. That is not a SWM arm but rather can be used with SWM 8/16 adapters. Should work OK but check it out first.

Looking at that link makes me wonder what's on the OP's arm now.

[CA_Traveler]

Careful - just followed your link. That is not a SWM arm but rather can be used with SWM 8/16 adapters. Should work OK but check it out first.

SWM looks like almost like a single LNB and only has 1 coax, connects directly to the brick and receiver. Or to the green splitter to include Genie Clients.

[CA_Traveler]

The type of meter you got with your dish doesn't work on SWM. SWM meters are $. But somewhere I read that your meter can be used with some kind of adapter. Don't remember the details but I think it was a power brick and the green SWM splitter.

Since I haven't pulled the plug on getting a portable SWM dish others will likely chime in...

[Sondy132001]

CA Traveler wrote:
We use our home Genie receiver in the rig but it requires the SWM dish.

brilliant ! I found this to upgrade my dish, my dish is exactly the same just a different arm, so now I can use my genie thanks !!

HD Arm

[2oldman]

Ok, I'm just puzzled about the 'hubby in the street' part.