Satellite TV on the Cheap?
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We are not big TV watchers when we are camping, but I have to admit that I have always been a bit enamored with the idea of having 100 channels of viewing pleasure in the middle of nowhere. Sure, I have looked (and dreamed!) at all of the latest auto-tracking rooftop receivers, but the thought of dropping $3,000 dollars on a luxury item did not seem prudent and besides, unless we are camping at the beach our rooftop is almost always shrouded in forest canopy – something that is not very conducive to locking onto a satellite. Then one day, fate reared its ugly head! I was on the DirecTV website ordering another receiver for our home system, when I stumbled across something in their product listing called a “Disaster Readiness Kit” for $49. Low-and-behold, a Disaster Readiness Kit appears to include just about everything an RV’er on a budget needs in order to add satellite TV. And did I mention that it was $49?
A week later, the package was delivered to our door. Yes, it really is called a Disaster Readiness Kit and yes, it even comes with a wrench and screwdriver! I plan on picking up a few more items for the installation, including a mount for the RV ladder and a signal-strength meter. I’ll go over those items, along with the installation, in next week’s article – wish me luck!
Happy camping!
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So for $49 dollars I can get a signal? If this does work then I’d have to say you’re a genius and thank you! For $49 I’m going to try this. Anything else I should know? Is the signal weaker?
Rick - I’ll have everything up-and-running this weekend and post the results next week. I am fairly certain that the only modification required will be to disconnect the cable TV input to the Winegard TV antenna amplifier, and connect that cable directly to the satellite receiver box. The receiver provides power to the satellite dish (actually the LNB), but the amplifier does not allow any voltage to travel out through that cable, because it would interfere with a cable TV signal.
Roy
I can not find a DRK on DirecTV’s website, has the link been removed?
I could not find the kit on the DirectTV’s website either. I’m a Direct TV customer at home but am considering it for the RV.
Direct TV calls the DRK a “temporary install kit.” I have one on order. When I spoke to a Direct TV representative, they knew exactly what I wanted. It’s $89 & change, which includes shipping, and it is shipped by Fed Ex.
I don’t believe the kit shows-up on the website unless you are logged into your account. I was going to link to it in the article, but I could not get the link to work if I wasn’t logged-in. When you are logged in, it will show up under the “My Programming & Equipment” link at the top of the page, then the “Add Kits & Equipment” link.
Roy
As a non-subscriber I read this and was very interested. I’m still toying with the idea of going with satelite at home so we can have the added channels when camping. (cable provider is our ISP as well) If this was being offered for $49+reasonable shipping I’d probably jump at the chance to see how it works.
I mean its not like they don’t give equip away to people who are subscribing… use a little lure here for possible new purchaes!
If this works I’d love to know!
• Standard 18″ round dual-LNB satellite dish
• Receives signal for programming on 101 satellite only
• Metal tripod stand
• Coaxial cable (50 ft.)
• Compass
• Level
• Wrenches and screwdriver
• Installation instruction sheet and DVD close
Nothin to it .. looks like the same item you can get from camping world for 49$ .. signal meter is nothing but a cheap compass. You also have to have a receiver .. either a second one or take the one from your home and put it in you rv.
Thanks Scrib, found it where you said at $49.00
Disaster Recovery Kit$49.00 Restore DIRECTV service temporarily after a storm with this portable satellite dish setup kit.More Info Features
If you live in a hurricane or tornado zone, stay prepared with DIRECTV’s Disaster Recovery Kit, a portable satellite dish setup kit that allows you to restore your DIRECTV service temporarily while you’re waiting for technical help. close
• Standard 18″ round dual-LNB satellite dish
• Receives signal for programming on 101 satellite only
• Metal tripod stand
• Coaxial cable (50 ft.)
• Compass
• Level
• Wrenches and screwdriver
• Installation instruction sheet and DVD
what is your RV net handle? trying to PM you.
Mine’s “Scrib”
Brilliant Roy. Is there one connection or two on the coax cable from the dish? If there is only one, and you already have a receiver on board, could you just plug coax into jack you would normally use for cable? This would save running wire in window, etc. to connect to receiver.
I went on the directv website and could not locate it. I sent them an e-mail inquiring of this product, describing it in detail. Their response was simply, “Dear Rich,
Thanks for taking the time to write. I understand you have some questions about our temporary installation kit and I will be able to assist you with today. Unfortunately currently we’re not offering the emergency kits. However if have any concerns with your installation or equipment our customer service representatives will be more than happy to assist you. Please call us at (800) 531-5000 for assistance.
“I hope you find this information helpful. Thanks again for writing and I appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.
Sincerely,
Johanna W
U5693
DIRECTV Customer Service”
Okay, so what gives? Someone commented about finding this product at Camping World. Is it the same product? Also, you can’t log in without an account number and you can’t get an account number unless you’re a paying customer. Rich
We are not Direct users, but have Dish Network at home & for our RV with a mobile dish ($59.00 w/ receiver). It’s great. Sometimes it is frustrating trying to get the satelite dish pointed the right direction but after a few attempts we are successful. A few times I have had to call customer service to get help. Once you have your dish & receiver you can have your satellite tv anywhere.
I have the link to the kit on my account. So, Can I just grab one of my receivers from the house and use it in the camper or is there something else I’m not considering? I have no problem setting up and aiming the antenna. Thanks for the great tip on the antenna
Yes you can; that is what I am doing. Just go into Setup on the receiver and change it to a round dish (if you have an oval dish at home). I just hooked everything up today, and it works great!
Hey there, I’ve been using my sat box in my motorhome all the time. I went to Circuit City and bought a set up and put it in line. then ran a plugin out the side of my home and sat the dish on a short pole tied to the electric box I plug into. After aiming the dish - - ENJOY!!!!
I ordered my kit on 2/28 and it arrived at my house on 3/1. While I had the itch to get my trailer out of storage before, I’m even more excited now to get going (now that I’m purchasing items for my trailer again); however, I have to wait until the 30 or so inches of snow melts off the cover.
Thanks for the great tip.
Ok, you have to help me with this one. I am a very UN-technical person! Lol. I have DirectTV at home, and found the kit you suggested when I logged on. Now tell me what to do. I take the kit, and put the dish on the tripod, I get that part. Now what am I connecting the coaxial cable to in the motorhome? Am I hooking anything to the cable port on the outside of the motorhome? Also I am guessing that I need to put one of my boxes attached to my home tv’s in the motorhome to pick up the signals. What do I attach that to, my TV just like at home? Where do I purchase the signal strengthening meter from? I too was turned off by the expensive $3000 price tag I was quoted for satellite. This is something I will definitely order if you can walk me through the installation. Thanks!!! Lynne
It’s me again. I read you instructions in Part !!. Where do I find the antenna amplifier? (I told you I was UN-technical!) I figured out where the “satellite In” is on the receiver, but I am not sure about the antenna amplifier. I just ordered the DRK (by the way, Direct TV offers free shipping on this!) So if you can provide me with installation instructions I will be all set! Have a great day! Lynne
Lynne,
Your RV might not have an amplifier - if it does, it’s in a wall-plate somewhere around the location of the TV and has a small black button and a small green light on it (that comes on when you press the button). Here’s pictures of them on the Winegard site: http://www.winegard.com/mobile/wallplates.htm
If you do not have an outside cable connection on your RV, you might consider just connecting the satellite dish directly to the DirecTV box, running the cable through a window with one of these:
http://www.rvwholesalers.com/catalog/product.php?productid=1339
Good luck!
Thanks for the usggestion. I talked with my son this morning and he suggested the same thing. Just hooking up the dish directly to my DirecTV box. I do have an outside cable connection though. My motorhome is older (1991 Tisdale) but does have outside cable access. Keep the blogs coming. I enjoy reading them. Happy RVing!
[...] outfitting our RV with satellite TV capability (see “Satellite TV on the Cheap” parts 1 and 2), I was presented with a challenge on how to operate the satellite receiver-box from our [...]
something you should be aware of if you have an older rv some will have rg59 cable run from outside connecter to tv. rg59 between dish and reciever will not work because it is smaller wire and has to much signal loss. you need to use the larger rg6 cable between dish and reciever.
Hi, we just got our kit and hooked it up, but it continues to say searching for satellite and won’t get a picture? Any suggestions???? Thanks
By the way, we don’t have the outside cable box, we have a 1978 Allegro, so we just hooked it directly to the receiver box, the tv and of course the satellite dish, any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
I use a portable single LMB dish from RF-Link that is wired to my Sony receiver for Direct TV. I’ve found that the best and quickest way to get a strong signal is to use a compass, satellite finder (beeper type) and a pair of talkabout radios.
Here’s how I do it. know where the satellite should be using the compass. For us it’s south south east at about 143*. Hook up the dish. I put mine on the roof of the RV and I have extra cable coiled up there if I need to relocate the dish if there is something in the way. Turn on the receiver and go to the signal strength setup screen. Have the DW watch this screen and communicate signal strength to you as you listen to the satellite finder and position the dish. As my signal finder puts out a tone that goes higher in pitch over the earphone when you have a stronger signal homing in is quick and easy. Unfortunately the satellite finder doesn’t know which satellite you want so that’s where the dear wife comes in to tell you when you are lined up to the correct satellite. The nice thing about this satellite finder is that you can just leave it plugged in and it doesn’t bother you with the noise from the speaker like the kind with the meter does. The dish I use has a suction cup base that I suck down onto a dinner plate. I setup the dish after I level the trailer and put down the stabilizers. Generally, the dish is already positioned from a level base for height from the last time I used it and all I need to do is position it left or right. More than a few times I’ve set it up and pointed it by memory and had great signal strength right off.
Jeff
Good news, today we apparently found the strong satellite signal and, bingo, we had a picture. Thanks, Debbie
On March 1, 2008 you answered Cheddarhead’s question - just go to Setup and change it to round dish if you have an oval dish at home. How do you do that?
Tom,
Using your receiver’s remote, hit Menu and select Settings, then Setup and you will see the Satellite menu option. Select “Repeat Satellite Setup” to get the the screen that let’s you select the proper dish, and show you the azimuth and elevation (and scew for multiple LNB dishes) for whatever zip code you enter.
Roy
Trying to get satellite TV for motor home. Not a home subscriber to Dish Tv or Direct TV. Have been unable to buy service for motor home only. Providers want me to purchase for home also.
Can you help?
We r subscribers of “dish network” with two receivers, it costs $5.00 per mo. for the second one. We just put it in the rig,hook it to the t/v when on the road and voila !! All u need is a directional device in order to aim the satellite dish. an on the ground unit is better than a roof mount so as to avoid trees etc. The satellite aiming device is a meter from camping world or radio shack and it does not cost much.
We are novice RV’ers. We have an ‘04 Holiday Rambler Vacationer and are not tech savy! We are going to subscribe to DirecTV, but don’t know what the best/easiest to use antenna would be to purchase. We of course have the crank up antenna, but have seen different things in Camping World to purchase. We’re looking at the portable Winegard w/tripod, the VuQube and the expensive dome. What would you recommend we get since we are not tech savy in this area?
We live in FL and are getting ready for a trip to TN next week.
I really enjoyed reading all of the responses regarding the “Disaster Readiness Kit.” If we got that, is that all we would need rather than purchasing one of the dishes at Camping World? We’d appreciate any advice you can give us!
What do you think about the Vu Qube at camping world? Does it really work as advertised?
How can I leave this receiver in the house, and us a different reciever in my RV? I subscribe to Dish Network
Does anyone read and reply to these questions? If so where would one go to read these reply’s?
Heck on e-bay they have a dish and direct tv package that includes the dish,cable,tripod,signal meter,compess,levels all you need to add system to your rv for about $75.00
Check out the Satellite TV Store from Amazon.com at http://www.1st-dish-tv.net/satellite_tv_store.htm
I could use some help. I have a roof mounted satellite dish that used to work. I t is a single LNB and I have never had a problem before getting setellite signal. However, I have been trying to get a signal (parked at home) where I have many times before but am not able to establish a signal. I retried the same (Direct) tv box in the house and it works fine. I bring it out to the motor home and I cannot get a signal although I am certain that it is aimed correctly. Could the LNB be bad? Any suggestions for trouble shooting?
Thanks Scrib. for the info. Just ordered it and you are correct, you have to be logged into your account to see it and purchase it for 49.00 + tax = 50 + change.
I have a tiffin M.H. with sat. dome I by mistake signed up for direct tv from an rvn magazine. it turned out to be direct sat. a sub contractor. I have had nothing but trouble and misinformation from them ever ssince 07. But at a recent rally for owners the fellow who does the electronics said that when the the H.D.Tv. comeson board that ddirect will be using 2 satalites and the rv’s will nor get all the programing . only dish will be still on 1 satelite for all h.d.tv.I’m dropping direct like a hot potato !!!!
Thanks for the tip on the $ 49.00 Dish. I have received it and it works great. I previously purchased a vu cube. The batteries in the remote were corroded and I had problems with it. So I returned it for a refund. When it worked ir was great.
I had dish sat service for over a year and a half ( contract time) dish does not offer distance networking abc cbs nbc or pbs there for when you travel from your home area you don’t have these stations direct does offer these on distant networking it come out of Newyork or LA check before you sign up Al have your LNBchecked I had the same problem new LNB solved the problem
I notice in your comments about the auto tracking unit your concerns about line of site when parking in treed area, then you go on to say about installing a ladder mount. We have found that this has the same drawbacks as a auto tracking unit as you are using a fixed location on the RV. We have dealt with 100’s if not 1000’s of RV’ers iin the last 15 years and have found the best solution is a tripod because of its flexibility as to where it can be located. This overcomes the problem of parking the RV for line of site. Now you will be able to park the RV in the optimal location and not have line of site dictate how or where to park the RV. Also for Canadian RV’ers, Starchoice works anywhere in the continental US unlike Bell. Call 204-725-DISH for more info.
Al - I don’t know anything about DirecTV vs. Dish, but my setup couldn’t work any better than it does. At our last site, I actually threw-down the tripod and got a picture on the TV without any aiming, whatsoever!
John - I don’t use the nationwide networks, but from our home base in the S.F. Bay Area, we have gotten our local channels as far away as Pasco, WA (~800 miles).
Ed - We use the ladder mount about half the time. When it is blocked, we set out the tripod and go that route - but with 3 kids running around the campsite, it’s always advantageous to use the ladder mount, when we can.
Hi Roy , THANKS!!!!!! works fine-whit
Thanks to all, I just ordered the Disaster Recovery Kit, $51.94, free shipping!
Just bought a WINEGARD DISH $140.00 with shipping.Got to this site too late ,but it does’nt show the DRK on my Directv site anyway.Thanks
I purchased a used RV that already had a Winegard dish installed. It is not a dish that can be used while moving, but you simply aim it when parked. This type of dish can be purchased at Camping World for $200 or so. I determine where to aim it by consulting http://www.dishpointer.com. My son has Direct TV at his house. He added a receiver to his contract for less than $7.50 a month. I have been able to connect just about anywhere I travel.
I always take one of my recievers from home and put in in my RV when I go off for a weekend. I always get my local programing and all subscribed channels when I travel several states away. I have a DTV dish on my RV and one at home. The one on the RV is a self powered signal model, so I can get a signal even when driving down the road. I have even taken one of my recievers to other peoples homes and hooked into their DTV dish after they have discontinued their service and my system still worked.
make sure you use RG6 cable there is 18 volts running from your recever box out to power your LNB mine got fire and burned up lucky it only burned a place behind the tv on the camper. If I had not been there it would have burned my 5ver up and that power is there even if you are not turn on as long as it is plud up to 110.
For $139.99 you can get an entire HD satellite kit. Check it out. I ordered today. Now I can have HD on my adventures.
The Dual LNB would be nice, but it takes the five LNB to get your HiDef channels.
That’s what I’d really like to have.
i was at a local swap meet and found a dtv dish and tripod for 10 buck, was already a dtv customer so i just take one of my recievers with me when i camp works great!!! ony other thin i bought was a meter and compas ebay $9.99, nothings else needed..
I saw a guy doing installation one day and asked about getting a dish and receiver and tripod and it was $105 for all three parts and cost me an extra $5 a month. Now when I am not using in my trailer I am using it in my bed room. I bought my own cable line.
I now use the Vu-Qube..used the Wineguard small portable dish , but it only lasted one trip, and Camping world was great, took it back and I bought the Vu-Qube,,,this little gem is great, 50 ft. of cord, weatherproof,,but the remote is a bit time consuming,,it is much better to purchase an input-output (MUST be both), DVD player, simply unhook the TV cable , and hook in the DVD cable. Then, using the sat finder, you can stand beside the “cube” and when your sat comes in, bingo, you have the picture on your DVD player!!! Works great when only one of you!!!
Then, simply take off the DVD cable to receiver, and plug in the TV one,,and enjoy….
Beth
I was reading comment about adding a receiver to existing contract of DTV system. Can you watch satelite TV at two different locations at the same time. Lets say, I live in Shreveport. LA and one of the family stays home and and the other members go away for the weekend. Can they both watch TV using the two different receivers even though they are in diferent locations and zipcodes?
Directtv has ads in Motorhome Magazine which will give you a free dish kit. with home service. I went to my local Directtv rep and showed them the ad so when they showed up to do the home installation the tech brought the kit with him.
I was eager to read this blog post, but very sad to discover that DirecTV no longer offers the Disaster Recovery Kit - Instead, they want you buy the new Sat Go, which currently will set you back about $500.00.. I guess I’ll keep looking….
I have a sat. dish on the roof of my fifthwheel that was bought in 2002 and I bought from the orig owner in 2003. It has a Hughes box but I have never had Satillite service so wonder if there is a way to get it only in the RV. Does Freesatillite work? if so what to do to get reception? I am sure it is a single
Anyone bought the Sat-Go from Diret-TV which is (similar to a laptop) sat tv all in one they now are offering for 999.00?