Why Bother Fixing KVH dish

[Muddypaws]

On our last two trips I wasted at least 3 hours trying to the the %£¥% KVH tray vision to operate. I even pulled the dome off of it and found it pointing 180 off from where it should be.

The thing is, I can assemble my 'upside down lowdown satellite stand' and dial in the DirecTV satellite in less than 5 minutes. I carry it as a backup but so far it gets used more the the KVH, which as far as I can tell is an unreliable piece of crap. Hey, I wonder if there's a way to convert it to manual aiming?

The only advantage I can see to having the dish on the roof is it's not likely to be tampered with.

Does anybody make a reasonably priced MANUAL rooftop DirecTV HD dish? or is the only option to put one on a tripod?

muddypaws

[Good man]

muddypaws,
Assuming that your KVH dish is capable of receiving the signal and the only glitch is the automatic "search and lock" function... You could intercept the wires from the control board to the axis motors and manually overide them with momentary contact switches... thus allowing you to stand in the comfort of your RV and aim the roof-mounted KVH dish.

Obviously, this would require you to have some way of "indexing" the orientation of the dish along both the horizontal and vertical axis so you would have some feedback, thus allowing you to point it at the desired sattelite. I would have to disassemble mine to devise a way of knowing where it is pointing and which way the operation of the switches send it.

If these electronic and geo-stationary orbit indexing challenges were to be too steep to overcome... I would go to the local high school and ask the science teacher who the geekiest kid in the 10th grade is. Problem solved!
Jim

[justaroamer]

Being a 2006, I am assuming that your dish is of the same era. KVH in that time needed to be connected to a receiver via a low speed data port. Does your receiver have this? This is how it finds the correct sat. There is also a firmware upgrade for this era KVH domes. Has this been done?

[texnet]

There are several threads discussing KVH domes and include info on how to "aim" the dish using the serial port connection and a laptop.

I had a 2003 era KVH LF/SF dome and got tired of multiple searchs. I replaced it with a used R5SL that I purchased off Craigslist and now it takes us 5 - 15 seconds to have a locked signal!!!

[wa8yxm]

Given all the tier 2 and 3 broadcast networks out there MY TV, Retro TV, THIS TV et-al.

I agree, why fix the dish.. Why pay for TV?

[DutchStar38]

My 2005 roof disk gave up proper operation years ago and I haven't used it since. I had DirecTV with a portable dish on a tripod for 3 years then gave up DirecTV. Now I just find better things to do than watch TV!

[Muddypaws]

My DirecTV receiver does not have a low speed data port and there does not appear to be any kind of serial connector (DB-9, RJ-22 or whatever) in the cabinet. The antenna and receiver have actually worked without a low speed connection so I assumed that's not the problem. And since there is nothing plugged into the DB-9 connector on the rear of the KVH switch plate it's probably not required.

As far as the software update goes I have no clue. But when I get back out to the Bounder I'll hook it up to my laptop and see what version it is. I've already have the instructions on how to update it.

[cat938g]

Huh?

[YC1]

Check your voltage at the dish. The long runs of wire can drop the voltage and the system will be a pain in the neck. On my 08 Endeavor it had issues from the start. As an ET I managed to figure it out and then was confirmend by KVH. I disconnected the chassis voltage and installed a small power supply. The thing has worked perfectly since.

[texnet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muddypaws And since there is nothing plugged into the DB-9 connector on the rear of the KVH switch plate it's probably not required.

Normally nothing is plugged into the DB-9. If the DB-9 is on the back of the switch panel then most likely you have a LF or SF antenna which works better with a low speed data port, but is not 100% necessary.

Below is the proceedure that I used to get a locked signal on our LF/SF.

1. Go to the menu selection to see the signals, but go to the signal meter. 2. Change the transponder to 19
3. Press the LF/SF search button (the one below the green light)
4. Wait for the green light to go solid and check look at the signal strength.
5. If I have a good signal strength start watching TV
6. If no signal, press the search button again.
7. Repeat step 3-6 until I get the signal, sometimes it takes 4-5 cycles.

[justaroamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muddypaws My DirecTV receiver does not have a low speed data port and there does not appear to be any kind of serial connector (DB-9, RJ-22 or whatever) in the cabinet. The antenna and receiver have actually worked without a low speed connection so I assumed that's not the problem. And since there is nothing plugged into the DB-9 connector on the rear of the KVH switch plate it's probably not required. As far as the software update goes I have no clue. But when I get back out to the Bounder I'll hook it up to my laptop and see what version it is. I've already have the instructions on how to update it.

All of the older Directv receivers had a LSDP (RJ22) that communicated to the dome which sat to lock on to. Without that, then Texnet's method is all you can do, even with the update. Try to find an old receiver to use for pointing, it does not even need to be activated. At one time KVH used to have the old receivers available, may try them.

[Muddypaws]

I tried the 'texnet' method and on the 4'th push of the button I got signal. What's so magical about transponder 19? (rhetorical question). It works, we're happy, and I won't be getting a new dish anytime soon.

Thanks for the education!
Muddypaws

[vito.a]

I bought a KVH R5SL about 3 years ago. I also have had a very hard time with it. For the first 2 years it was hit and miss and even the KVH techs couldn't get it right. These systems seem to be very susceptible to any electromagnetic interference. We ran ground wires to both the chassis and the 120V ground system. I purchased the KVH special 12V power supply for $150 and it still didn't work. I finally pulled both circuit boards out of it and mailed them into KVH. They charged me $300 to uncorrupt/update the software/firmware and then I had to buy the new serial port/RJ11 plugs. These new shorting plugs configure it for Direct or Dish depending on the configuration. It will work most of the time now, but it will still go off into Neverland, usually when my wife's favorite show is on.

If they made me king at KVH I would change their programming procedures. First, I would change to USB rather than serial port and second I would configure/program the KVH circuit boards using a laptop and get rid of the shorting plugs. I doubt I will ever purchase one of their products again.