KVH confirmed my fears...

[fansill]

Since purchasing our 2005 Revolution in April, we have been unable to get reliable and/or consistent Satellite service. Much of the time the dome whirrs and whirrs only to get a message on the screen that it is unable to find a satellite signal. I was blaming DirecTV but recently a DirectTV tech told us that he suspects it is the age of our Trac-vision dome.

I called KVH today and he confirmed my fears. He told me that the system is 7 years old now and cannot easily find the correct satellite signal. The older analog system is now antiquated. He recommended replacing the Dome at a cost of $1000 to $1300.

My question is...in the meantime until I save my pennies for a new rooftop system can I somehow use my portable Wineguard dome? I purchased it last year to use with our older coach and I know that with that coach I connected it directly to the coax cable inlet in my electric compartment. Can I do the same thing now...??? Or do I have to rewire anything because I am still hardwired to the dome???

Thanks for any suggestions.

Faith

[Pusherman]

Faith, answer is 'yes'. Most failsafe way is to run the Winegard dome coax directly to the input into the satellite box. It should work.

Don't know how your coach is wired. If you have an 'aux satellite' input, the cable still needs to get to the back of your sat box. In my coach, it's a manual cable change in the front cabinet where the sat box sits.

[texnet]

If your coach has a input switch box then swap the coax that goes to the "Cable" Input with the "Satellite" Input and they plug your external dish into the outside cable connector.

Most techs on the phone will always recommend replacement because they aren't going to spend the time talking to a end user in troubleshooting the system. If parts are still availabe then your dish should be able to be fixed although it is possible the price of the parts and the cost of a repair perrson may exceed the cost of a new dish. Just because the dish is 7 years old and uses older technology is not the reason to abandon the dish. Our 2003 MH has a in-motion dish that was made in 2002 and still works fine.

[JimM68]

I spent a few hours talking with KVH tech support this weekend. Not an experience I'd recommend.
I did manage to find the flash wizard software they said was dealers only, and use the info in my installation manual to install the dish satelites, and it worked just fine even without the software upgrade they told me it needed (from a dealer) before it would do anything.

Keep trying.

[wa8yxm]

"The older analog system......."

Satellite Television HAS NEVER BEEN ANALOG, Never, Ever, DirecTV has ALWAYS been Digital, sme for Dish Network.. The technician was talking through his hat.

Now, that does not mean your dome has not reached end of life and is in need of either overhaul or replacement.. It just means the person you spoke to was a liar.

No surprise there..

Now, as for High Deff.. No dome gets DirecHDTV yet.. Not a one, including the one he tried to sell you.

Re: using the cable inlet.. Depends on many things.. I do not recommend using the park cable inlet on most MH's because RG-59 is very lossy compaired to RG-6, and you loose a lot of signal that way.. What's more you need to make sure the cable goes DIRECTLY to the receiver, no electronics between the port and the receiver. Though a manual A/B switch like the RCA VH-71 is ok (A goes to the dome up Above, B to the connector down Below)

But Sat TV has NEVER EVER been analog. Not even "C Band" (The big ugly dishes some folks have)

[texnet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm "The older analog system......." Satellite Television HAS NEVER BEEN ANALOG, Never, Ever, DirecTV has ALWAYS been Digital, sme for Dish Network.. The technician was talking through his hat.

Giving the tech the benifit of the doubt, I think he was talking about the boards in the sat dish.. the older system did you a lot of analog circuits, the newer ones are almost all digital.

As far as not using the cable inlet just because it is RG-59.... I still recommend this as a simply way to use an external dish until the one on the roof is replaced. Yes, RG-59 is a higher loss cable and doesn't have as much shielding BUT if a person tries it and it works to their satisfaction then the technical specs mean nothing!

[FreshAir]

Many techs will now refuse to do an install using existing RG-59. That's sad as they are only covering their behinds. I'd probably do the same if I were an installer.
However; before going thru all the hassel of routing new RG-6 try your existing cable input RG-59. I am betting you'll be happy with it. Try running thru the window a straight RG-6 for comparison and I doubt you'll be able to tell a difference in a short RV run of 50 or 60 feet.

However, with the RG-59 make sure all connections are in A1+ condition. The difference of the two makes are shilding and center connector wire diameter with the center wire diameter being the most important component of the two. RG-6 usually has the larger diameter. For more info and tech. info do some reading on RG-6/RG-59.
Compare RG-6 and 59 center conductors, in recent years I doubt you'll see much difference if any. In older years, 30 or so, RG-59 was normally superior than it is today and I wouldn't be tearing out any in older homes to replace with RG-6 unless there was a problem with pcture quality in a particular run.

Yes, RG-6 is the best and code compliant. But ????.

Pat

[deandec]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fansill Since purchasing our 2005 Revolution in April, we have been unable to get reliable and/or consistent Satellite service. Much of the time the dome whirrs and whirrs only to get a message on the screen that it is unable to find a satellite signal. I was blaming DirecTV but recently a DirectTV tech told us that he suspects it is the age of our Trac-vision dome. I called KVH today and he confirmed my fears. He told me that the system is 7 years old now and cannot easily find the correct satellite signal. The older analog system is now antiquated. He recommended replacing the Dome at a cost of $1000 to $1300. Faith

We are still running our 2002 KVH in motion dome successfully and have done no updates for the past 5 years that I am aware of.

I am aiming the dish with a 2002 vintage receiver which in our antenna's case requires a low speed data port on the receiver. That may not be your case. Behind that receiver I have a Sat Recorder with the ability to record two shows at the same time and watch a live show via the Receiver. All that is in SD only.

New equipment is better for KVH and simpler for Direct TV but costly for you.

If you can find a local installer like Camping World, it might be worth your while to have the system checked for problems before spending a bunch of cash to replace it.

You also may need to be sure the current Sat Receiver is a good match for the antenna if the receiver is not the original installed.

[vito.a]

Faith,

Do you know what model your KVH system is?

I also had a difficult time setting up my KVH R5SL system and in doing so learned a lot. You probably can get it working properly if you configure it correctly and run a "Check Switch" routine using your Direct TV receiver to locate and memorize the satellite locations.
I recommend getting someone to assist you as they are difficult if you have never set one up. You can go to the KVH web site and locate a local dealer, ot just find another RVer or boater that has experience with KVH.

[tomdent]

I called KVH today and he confirmed my fears. He told me that the system is 7 years old now and cannot easily find the correct satellite signal.

Faith[/QUOTE]

I also am having trouble with an older 2005 model KVH. After about 15 minutes it starts losing signal, whirls for a while, then regains it. Then lost again. It won't keep a signal more than that, then it's sporadic. I took my cover off and cleaned it. The dish worked fine all day until we put the cover back on, figure it's getting weak.

[vito.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomdent Faith

I also am having trouble with an older 2005 model KVH. After about 15 minutes it starts losing signal, whirls for a while, then regains it. Then lost again. It won't keep a signal more than that, then it's sporadic. I took my cover off and cleaned it. The dish worked fine all day until we put the cover back on, figure it's getting weak.[/QUOTE]

Make sure you have clear line of sight with the satellites (no trees or power poles). You may also try cleaning and waxing the dome. The wax helps keep moisture from beading up on the surface.

[TurboDaveTX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fansill Since purchasing our 2005 Revolution in April, we have been unable to get reliable and/or consistent Satellite service. Much of the time the dome whirrs and whirrs only to get a message on the screen that it is unable to find a satellite signal. I was blaming DirecTV but recently a DirectTV tech told us that he suspects it is the age of our Trac-vision dome. I called KVH today and he confirmed my fears. He told me that the system is 7 years old now and cannot easily find the correct satellite signal. The older analog system is now antiquated. He recommended replacing the Dome at a cost of $1000 to $1300. My question is...in the meantime until I save my pennies for a new rooftop system can I somehow use my portable Wineguard dome? I purchased it last year to use with our older coach and I know that with that coach I connected it directly to the coax cable inlet in my electric compartment. Can I do the same thing now...??? Or do I have to rewire anything because I am still hardwired to the dome??? Thanks for any suggestions. Faith

I bought a 2003 HR Imperial and after our first trip to Big Bend NP, we saw the need for a satellite. We had DirectTV at home, so we bought a new receiver and we were in business following a stop at Camping World in El Paso and had a KVH dome installed. It worked well until we decided to upgrade our TV which was the beginning of a technology nightmare. I installed a 38" Samsung flat screen HD tv in 2009. We found the exiting Direct TV receiver was not HD compatible, so we had to buy a new HD DirectTV receiver. After buying the receiver, we discovered the new HD receiver does not have a low speed data port which connects to the satellite for communication. Without the low speed data port, the KVH automatic satellite location function does not work. I spent quite some time talking to KVH. They said you would have to let the antenna lock on a satellite and see if it a DirectTV satellite. It worked OK a couple of times then deteriorated to the point of being useless.

As the result, back to Camping World and bought a Winegard DirecTV Traveler. Now that is one good HD DirectTV antenna, expensive, but good. We noticed that when the antenna is down driving, it has a tendancy to rattle. It is soft of irritating to spend that much on an antenna and it rattles like a rock in a can.

After two years, we decided to trade the Imperial on a 2011 Endeavor which has a KVH R5 in Motion Satellite antenna. Since this antenna will not produce HD on DirectTV, but reportedly produces Dish HD, I think we are going to use the Dish Network RV pay as you go deal.

So as technology changes, your electronics become outdated. When you start replacing, there is no end to the madness!

[DA_BUS]

Same type of problem - they say I need to upload the software at a dealer....but it gets satellite signal in my driveway....were can I find the old flash software?

[Turferrw]

We had the same type of situation until we learned that direct TV receiver needs to be tuned to "transponder 19" when aiming. Dish now finds satellite quickly, usually within 3rd or 4th bump of satellite seek switch if not sooner. Once we have the signal we turn power off to the dish. Prior to using this method dish would wander aimlessly.
All the best!