Auxillary Dishes

[WALT888]

I have a Motosat HD dish and Direct TV service. It was installed by Bill Adams and works great! Sometimes, however I am unable to get a signal because I am blocked by trees. I notice that Camping World is now advertising portable dishes for about $120 that they claim can be used as a secondary dish when your primary dish is blocked. Is this really the case? Can I point this secondary dish at one, or more, of my Direct TV satellites and get Direct Tv program at those times when my Motosat can't get a lock?

Thanks......WALT

[Route 66]

That's exactly what I did, however you may be able to get a free dish from DirecTV. They gave me one.

A little rewiring and you'll be in business.

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WALT888 I have a Motosat HD dish and Direct TV service. It was installed by Bill Adams and works great! Sometimes, however I am unable to get a signal because I am blocked by trees. I notice that Camping World is now advertising portable dishes for about $120 that they claim can be used as a secondary dish when your primary dish is blocked. Is this really the case? Can I point this secondary dish at one, or more, of my Direct TV satellites and get Direct Tv program at those times when my Motosat can't get a lock? Thanks......WALT

Hi Walt!
I don't believe that Camping World sells any portable multi-LNB antennas. They have a couple of dishes that will point toward the 101 satellite to pick up the main DTV programming. They can't pick up the HD satellite at 99 or 103 as these are KA and not compatible with the KU LNB. As Route 66 mentions you should be able to pick up a 3 or 5 LNB DTV dish (your really only need the SL3) designed for their HD programming and mount that to a tripod or other simple platform. It's still a pretty big dish so you will need to find some extra storage space.

[wa8yxm]

I do not suggest paying that much

I do suggest this: For each LNB in on your receiver get a simple A/B switch, These switches start at around 8-10 bucks, and frankly the low cost ones are perfect.

"A" goes to the Motosat on the roof up ABOVE
"B" goes to a connector down "Below" either in the Basement, or a Blukhead (Feed through) or in my case on the mountaing Bracket for the Brake master cylinder

I got a dish for way less than that from someone on Craig's list, then a tripod from Radio Shack or Lowes or Home Depot, the proper size mast from the last two as well. They also sell very nice RG-6 coax

[Gary RVRoamer]

Will a regular tv A/B switch work with the feed from the dish & dome? As I understand it, they have to be able to pass power out as well as signal in. I've been told that some splitters won't do that, but do A/B switches have the same problem or no?

I just picked up a dish and a tripod and want to simply hooking it in place of my KVH R4SL when the trees get in the way.

[footdoc]

I got a Radio Shack a/b pushbutton switch that works perfectly...my roof dish is on A(bove) and the bay connection for my portable slimline 5 is B(elow)
BTW, I use a Bullseye mount with a 2 inch post adapter and it actually works great with the heavy slimline...I've even mounted it on a picnic table and round rail fence when necessary...if I can find a hole in the trees I got my birds!!!

[roadwalt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Adams Hi Walt! I don't believe that Camping World sells any portable multi-LNB antennas. They have a couple of dishes that will point toward the 101 satellite to pick up the main DTV programming. They can't pick up the HD satellite at 99 or 103 as these are KA and not compatible with the KU LNB. As Route 66 mentions you should be able to pick up a 3 or 5 LNB DTV dish (your really only need the SL3) designed for their HD programming and mount that to a tripod or other simple platform. It's still a pretty big dish so you will need to find some extra storage space.

Bill,
Is the SL3 what some people are referring to as the "COBRA" head?
Can this head be put on the "Slimline" arm?
Thanks, Walt

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadwalt Bill, Is the SL3 what some people are referring to as the "COBRA" head? Can this head be put on the "Slimline" arm? Thanks, Walt

Walt,
Yes, the SL3 and the Cobra LNB are the same thing. Not sure what you mean by "the slimline arm".

[roadwalt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Adams Walt, Yes, the SL3 and the Cobra LNB are the same thing. Not sure what you mean by "the slimline arm".

I have the 5 LNB Slimline Direct Dish which is a bear to store, the Cobra head looks a lot simpler and would be much easier to store safely. Will it slip on the end of the arm of that dish? Could it also possibly be slipped on the Motsat 3 LNB dish? I have sent emails to Motsat but no answers yet. They just want to sell the $2100 new set up.
I am just trying to cut down on my satellite storage. I Have a 3 LNB dish, and the 5 LNB dish, two different mounting pipes, and the tripod. I find the roof 3 LNB Nomad set up only useable in about 50% of the CG's that I go to because of trees. I have been know to run 100' or more of cable into the woods to find a hole big enough to get a signal.

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadwalt I have the 5 LNB Slimline Direct Dish which is a bear to store, the Cobra head looks a lot simpler and would be much easier to store safely. Will it slip on the end of the arm of that dish? Could it also possibly be slipped on the Motsat 3 LNB dish? I have sent emails to Motsat but no answers yet. They just want to sell the $2100 new set up. I am just trying to cut down on my satellite storage. I Have a 3 LNB dish, and the 5 LNB dish, two different mounting pipes, and the tripod. I find the roof 3 LNB Nomad set up only useable in about 50% of the CG's that I go to because of trees. I have been know to run 100' or more of cable into the woods to find a hole big enough to get a signal.

If you have a 5 LNB dish, the LNB with the "hood" over it is the SL3. You might be able to cut off the 110 and 119 LNB's somehow and setup the proper switch but I am not about to begin to recommend it or how you might be able to do it.
You cannot modify (that I know of) the MHDTV antenna from MotoSAT to accommodate the SL3. That's not to say that it can't be done, but the Nomad has no software that would allow the SL3 to peak by itself.
I know that this is not the news you are looking for but the if you want to update to a MotoSAT that will work with the new DTV services you are going to need to replace the dish on your roof. In many, many cases this is a simple do-it-yourself project but you are correct that it is not a cheap conversion.

[WALT888]

Thanks for all of the help!!

I had previously contacted DTV trying to get a free HD tripod mount but was told they no longer give them out because "people had too much trouble setting them up". I am still wondering though how Camping World can advertize a dish at $99, even with a single LNB, that can get Direct Tv reception. http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...-antenna/18416

WALT

[John Hilley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WALT888 Thanks for all of the help!! I had previously contacted DTV trying to get a free HD tripod mount but was told they no longer give them out because "people had too much trouble setting them up". I am still wondering though how Camping World can advertize a dish at $99, even with a single LNB, that can get Direct Tv reception. http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...-antenna/18416 WALT

Regular DirecTV is the simplest to receive only requiring Sat 101

[Gary RVRoamer]

You only need the multi-LNB dish for HD reception or to get spot-beamed locals in addition to the main network feeds. The main networks are all on DTV 101.

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Roamer [Gary] You only need the multi-LNB dish for HD reception or to get spot-beamed locals in addition to the main network feeds. The main networks are all on DTV 101.

And all of the major programming (including DNS) is also on just one satellite with Dish Network (119).