KVH TracVision Tech Support

[RickCA55]

I had a very nice experience (my first) with the KVH tech support yesterday.

We have a 2002 Dutch Star DP and it came with what I thought was a TracVision SA satellite dish. We had Dish TV service and changed to Direct TV and I tried to just hook the receiver up to the TracVision dish to obtain a signal.

Well, that didn't work so I looked through the manual that came with the motor home and found that the TracVision SA has a 9 pin low speed data connector cable attached to it and you can obtain data from the dish with a computer. Of course you have to have a serial port on the computer to do this. We have an older Toshiba laptop that my wife uses for gaming and it has the serial port and the Hyper Terminal program in its Windows 98 operating system files. Well, I plugged the computer up to the TracVision and was able to download some information from it that it was searching for the 119 satellite but I needed the 101 satellite.

After browsing the KVH site and forums I decided to try calling their tech support to see if they could assist me. Greg was the tech that answered the call and he talked me through a data download and we found out that the TracVision had been updated to a TracVision S3 that was capable of tracking 2 different satellites, not at the same time.

He talked me through some commands to give the TracVision and in short order we were locked onto the 101 satellite and receiving good signal.

Greg then asked for my email address and sent me a link where I could download the proper manual that has all the commands in it to set up the dish. Greg was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.

Just thought I would let you know of a good experience.

Rick 2002 DSDP 3852, Spartan MM, Cummins ISC 350, '98 TJ Toad

http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb317/rickca55/

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2090792

[Thebigone]

Sir,

i bought this dome sat 2 yrs and go and have it collecting dust. I finally decided to install it on my rv but can't do much with it. According to them, i need a special satellite receiver of some sort, is that the case?

Can you please help?

thank you so much for any help and or suggestions.

thanks again..

thebigone!

[Gary RVRoamer]

Yes, you do need a receiver to go with the dome and also a subscription to one of the satellite tv services, usually DirecTV or DISH. The receiver used will depend on which service you subscribe to.

[RJRobb]

Yes, if you change sat provider you need to reset a KVH system. It remembers what sat it should look for and doesn't search for others.

[Thebigone]

Thanks guys for response, but do i need a special receiver for it? how aobut a new receiver. I was reading on the manufacturer website that i need a special receiver. i have directv service right now and also dish network service. these receivers are new and i dont' know what to use.

i will call Tracvision tomorrow and find out what i need exactly. but if you guys know otherwise, please let me know.

thanks again
thebigone

[Thebigone]

Hello everyone,

well, here is another question within same topic. i been reading alot and finally came up with the idea of upgrading my dome sa to an LM, it seems that PPLmotorhomes.com is selling an upgrade for my dome. lets say i go with this upgrade, will it do away with the low speed hi speed communication cables that i need to hook up to computer or receiver?

thanks and will be waiting for your answer.

thebigone

[Bill Adams]

I don't know a lot about the different models of KVH but some did/do require a special KVH 12V receiver to operate properly.
I would suggest that you call KVH, let them know the exact model # that you have and find out what the requirements are. They could also tell you exactly what you would need should you choose to update the antenna.

[DougA]

there was only one upgrades to the KVH SA years ago. that was a in-motion upgrade that you will still need a low speed data port but its cheeper now in the long run to replace the satellite completly because there is no DVB upgrade for the Sa that will remove the low speed data port from your system



Doug Astfalk
KVH CSN

[shwtrkman]

Originally Posted by RickCA55

I had a very nice experience (my first) with the KVH tech support yesterday.

We have a 2002 Dutch Star DP and it came with what I thought was a TracVision SA satellite dish. We had Dish TV service and changed to Direct TV and I tried to just hook the receiver up to the TracVision dish to obtain a signal.

Well, that didn't work so I looked through the manual that came with the motor home and found that the TracVision SA has a 9 pin low speed data connector cable attached to it and you can obtain data from the dish with a computer. Of course you have to have a serial port on the computer to do this. We have an older Toshiba laptop that my wife uses for gaming and it has the serial port and the Hyper Terminal program in its Windows 98 operating system files. Well, I plugged the computer up to the TracVision and was able to download some information from it that it was searching for the 119 satellite but I needed the 101 satellite.

After browsing the KVH site and forums I decided to try calling their tech support to see if they could assist me. Greg was the tech that answered the call and he talked me through a data download and we found out that the TracVision had been updated to a TracVision S3 that was capable of tracking 2 different satellites, not at the same time.

He talked me through some commands to give the TracVision and in short order we were locked onto the 101 satellite and receiving good signal.

Greg then asked for my email address and sent me a link where I could download the proper manual that has all the commands in it to set up the dish. Greg was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.

Just thought I would let you know of a good experience.

Rick 2002 DSDP 3852, Spartan MM, Cummins ISC 350, '98 TJ Toad

Pictures by rickca55 - Photobucket

1955 210 2 door was my grandfather's car - Rosamond, California

I hooked up my laptop to the serial plug coming from the dome but nothing came up. Do you remember any of the commands that got you started talking to the dish itself? I have tried calling KVH but they tell me since my system is old all they can do is locate a service rep for me. The closest one is 100 miles away so I would like to try some things on my own first before paying that big bill. I have the manual so I have so commands I can try but I need to make it talk first. Any help is appreciated.

[Gary RVRoamer]

You need to run some type of application that will "talk" on the serial port and send/receive from the dome controller. "Hyperterminal" is one that comes with Windows - you can find it in the Program list under Accessories-Communications

[shwtrkman]

I am trying to get off the ground with the serial port communication. When I tried I got nothing only to find out that my serial was disabled. It is now enabled but I am told that all I should see is binary communication. From what you have written, it appears that you were able to obtain english type communication as well as type in english commands. Is this true? If so, I should be off an running. I have DIRECTV also so with communication via a low speed data port so I hope this all works. The trouble I am having is that the dish does not locate DIRECT. It stops on some satellite as indicated by the transducer signals but it obviously is not DIRECT.

Originally Posted by RickCA55

I had a very nice experience (my first) with the KVH tech support yesterday.

We have a 2002 Dutch Star DP and it came with what I thought was a TracVision SA satellite dish. We had Dish TV service and changed to Direct TV and I tried to just hook the receiver up to the TracVision dish to obtain a signal.

Well, that didn't work so I looked through the manual that came with the motor home and found that the TracVision SA has a 9 pin low speed data connector cable attached to it and you can obtain data from the dish with a computer. Of course you have to have a serial port on the computer to do this. We have an older Toshiba laptop that my wife uses for gaming and it has the serial port and the Hyper Terminal program in its Windows 98 operating system files. Well, I plugged the computer up to the TracVision and was able to download some information from it that it was searching for the 119 satellite but I needed the 101 satellite.

After browsing the KVH site and forums I decided to try calling their tech support to see if they could assist me. Greg was the tech that answered the call and he talked me through a data download and we found out that the TracVision had been updated to a TracVision S3 that was capable of tracking 2 different satellites, not at the same time.

He talked me through some commands to give the TracVision and in short order we were locked onto the 101 satellite and receiving good signal.

Greg then asked for my email address and sent me a link where I could download the proper manual that has all the commands in it to set up the dish. Greg was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.

Just thought I would let you know of a good experience.

Rick 2002 DSDP 3852, Spartan MM, Cummins ISC 350, '98 TJ Toad

http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb317/rickca55/

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2090792

[buck62]

Shwtrkman,
There are settings for your modem to communicate with your dome through the 9 pin serial port. Once the computer and dome are communicating you will start to see english words and not binary. There are commands in your manual to stop the program and step through it. I had the same problem with my KVH dome where I had to push a "SAT" button to lock on a satellite and if it was the wrong one, keep pushing the "SAT" button to cycle thorugh all the satellites. I had an L3 model in-motion and it was a pain to cycle through the satellites so I upgraded it to an R6 that will automatically lock on and does away with the grey data cable. Recently, I moved on to HD and decided to replace my KVH dome with the Winegard Travel'er rather that upgrade my KVH once again. Best move I ever made.

[shwtrkman]

Thanks for your response. I have no modem nor communication available. I have a Cruiser KVH in motion system. It has worked perfectly for the three years that I have owned the boat. But it is odd that with the government mandate to upgrade to digital, it has not worked right since. Probably has nothing to do with the problem at all. Sometimes it finds the satellite and most of the time it does not. When it finds the satellite, it locks on for approximately 20 seconds and then moves on thinking it did not find the right one. When I hook up to the dish on the dock, it works perfectly so I feel it is not the receiver. I do not have a SAT button either. I know there are commands in the manual I have but if you say once I hook up the serial port, I will see the right stuff, that will be great. I will take my laptop to the boat tomorrow and give it a shot.

Originally Posted by buck62

Shwtrkman,
There are settings for your modem to communicate with your dome through the 9 pin serial port. Once the computer and dome are communicating you will start to see english words and not binary. There are commands in your manual to stop the program and step through it. I had the same problem with my KVH dome where I had to push a "SAT" button to lock on a satellite and if it was the wrong one, keep pushing the "SAT" button to cycle thorugh all the satellites. I had an L3 model in-motion and it was a pain to cycle through the satellites so I upgraded it to an R6 that will automatically lock on and does away with the grey data cable. Recently, I moved on to HD and decided to replace my KVH dome with the Winegard Travel'er rather that upgrade my KVH once again. Best move I ever made.

[Bill Adams]

But it is odd that with the government mandate to upgrade to digital, it has not worked right since. Probably has nothing to do with the problem at all.

That is exactly correct!