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 hahaSo 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

Did you get the standard or high definition dish?

popere wrote:Did you get the standard or high definition dish?HD ! it was like $15 dollars difference. This was the buyer on eBay I used: satelliteoasis

Did you get an HD picture? I've heard that it's really hard to get all 3 sats lined up for HD. That's the reason I'll probably get one of the portable dome types.

goducks10 wrote:Did you get an HD picture? I've heard that it's really hard to get all 3 sats lined up for HD. That's the reason I'll probably get one of the portable dome types.To be honest it was bright in my driveway and the sun was beating down on us and the tv so can't tell you how the quality was and that's great on the portable domes for you, but I can't see spending that much money for me, I got cable tv and that's all that really mattered to me. The box I used was standard, wasn't a genie like in my house at home, but like I said it worked and I can watch all my channels in my trailer. They even give you a special cable extender that fits in your window and you can shut your window and lock it.S

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.

DirecTV dish for the trailer | Good Sam Community

popere
Explorer
May 11, 2015
Did you get the standard or high definition dish?
Sondy132001
Explorer
May 11, 2015
popere wrote:
Did you get the standard or high definition dish?

HD ! it was like $15 dollars difference. This was the buyer on eBay I used: satelliteoasis
goducks10
Explorer
May 11, 2015
Did you get an HD picture? I've heard that it's really hard to get all 3 sats lined up for HD. That's the reason I'll probably get one of the portable dome types.
Sondy132001
Explorer
May 11, 2015
goducks10 wrote:
Did you get an HD picture? I've heard that it's really hard to get all 3 sats lined up for HD. That's the reason I'll probably get one of the portable dome types.

To be honest it was bright in my driveway and the sun was beating down on us and the tv so can't tell you how the quality was and that's great on the portable domes for you, but I can't see spending that much money for me, I got cable tv and that's all that really mattered to me. The box I used was standard, wasn't a genie like in my house at home, but like I said it worked and I can watch all my channels in my trailer. They even give you a special cable extender that fits in your window and you can shut your window and lock it.

S
nadkaw1957
Explorer
May 11, 2015
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.
Sondy132001
Explorer
May 11, 2015
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.

that's awesome information and thanks for the heads up, I found it for my iPhone !
2oldman
Explorer II
May 11, 2015
Sondy132001 wrote:
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
You mean he was just holding the dish and moving around?

How did you know you had a strong signal?
Sandia_Man
Explorer II
May 11, 2015
Glad you were able to get it aligned, with more practice you will be a pro in no time. Takes us maybe 10 minutes tops, most times under 5 minutes and we are up and enjoying all the same channels including HD and even locals if we are still in NM.

Setting up the HD Directv dish in reality is no more difficult than the SD version as you are still trying to lock on and peak sat 101. If skew is properly set all the other sats come right in. Having a compass and sat app on your phone will make it easier and most of them are free.

Another thing to note is that we don't fiddle with the dish adjustments if we are camping within our region (four corner states) as they differ very slightly in most cases. We just set dish on stand, level mast and move dish to set azimuth. Using just a cheap compass I have locked on to 101 right off the bat with just minor tweaking to peak signal above 90%.

With Directv it is not possible to get HD content using an automated dome or portable, the other option is a roof-mounted sat system that can cost near $2K installed and will be nearly useless when camping among trees. Although we don't watch a ton of TV while RVing, it is unbearable having to watch SD programming.
Sondy132001
Explorer
May 11, 2015
2oldman wrote:
Sondy132001 wrote:
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
You mean he was just holding the dish and moving around?

How did you know you had a strong signal?

DirecTV has a setting you can click for signal strength, plus you insert your zip code for accurate sat information and the company I purchased it from gives you stats in their manual to go with.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
May 11, 2015
We use our home Genie receiver in the rig but it requires the SWM dish.