Community Forums

4tfamily · 10-21-2014, 11:51 AM

I have a KVH TracVision R5SL satellite dish on my motorhome which originally came Directv ready, but the prior owner had it switched over to Dish. I would like to switch it back to Directv, but was quoted a price of $200 by the local KVH dealer, and that was if I bring the coach to them! It would be at least $100 more if they come to us. I wonder if anyone has any experience doing this themselves. I'm fairly computer literate, so I'm not intimidated by hooking up my computer to the dish, but I'm not sure if I can even get the program to do it.

If that's a bad idea, any idea if that's something rv technicians sometimes do?

PS I've checked with KVH and they say the receiver is compatible with my dish.

Thanks!

lllkrob · 10-21-2014, 12:19 PM

Have you hooked up your DirecTV receiver to the antenna to see if it might work?

Hogbus · 10-21-2014, 12:24 PM

I had the opposite problem. Same antenna. Previous owner had Direct and I wanted Dish. I read that you cannot get Direct Tv HD on this antenna but could get Dish HD. Could not find anyone to help changing it to dish. Hooked up a dish reciever 211? I think. Followed all the steps and it worked. I guess the reciever taught the antenna?

4tfamily · 10-21-2014, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lllkrob

Have you hooked up your DirecTV receiver to the antenna to see if it might work?

Yes. And I was hoping that was all I'd need to do to go from 10 channel over-the-air TV to TV bliss! But this is RVing. And nothing is ever easy......

mel s · 10-21-2014, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4tfamily

I have a KVH TracVision R5SL satellite dish on my motorhome which originally came Directv ready, but the prior owner had it switched over to Dish. I would like to switch it back to Directv
PS I've checked with KVH and they say the receiver is compatible with my dish.
Thanks!

4tfamily
Ask KVH how it's done.
Mel
'96 Safari, (with a KingDome switched from Dish to DirecTV in '02)

4tfamily · 10-21-2014, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mel s

4tfamily
Ask KVH how it's done.
Mel
'96 Safari, (with a KingDome switched from Dish to DirecTV in '02)

When I asked KVH if it would need to be switched back they just said "Yes. You'll need to call a certified KVH technician"
I didn't raise the issue of doing it myself, but if I can't get any answers here, I may give them a call back.

lllkrob · 10-21-2014, 02:54 PM

Are there "service keys" installed in the communication ports? These are things plugged into the service communication port next to the off/on switch and one installed in the port on the back side of the switch panel that looks like a big phone jack, if so remove them and try your receiver again.

Also here is the service manual :http://www.rvsatellite.com/Manuals/KVH/540437A_web.pdf

4tfamily · 10-21-2014, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lllkrob

Are there "service keys" installed in the communication ports? These are things plugged into the service communication port next to the off/on switch and one installed in the port on the back side of the switch panel that looks like a big phone jack, if so remove them and try your receiver again.

Also here is the service manual :http://www.rvsatellite.com/Manuals/KVH/540437A_web.pdf

I did try that. There were no keys or jack. Thanks for the link.

1mainiac · 10-21-2014, 04:14 PM

Well if you have a laptop with a 9 pin serial port and windows you can reprogram it yourself. You use hyperterminal to connect to the antenna. There is a 9 pin serial port on the KVH switchplate connect a serial cable from it to the 9 pin on your laptop Yes you can use some of the USB to Serial adaptors but many of them don't send and receive well. With the KVH on in hyper terminal you should see scrolling lines of data type "halt" and hit enter you should see a echo of the halt command type "satinstall,dss_101.dss_110" hit enter if you typed it correctly and your cable worked it should change the sat you can use dss_72 or dss_119 for a second sat if you want. once it completes type "zap" and hit enter it should then restart and be a Direct TV antenna. Or if you want 101 only type " satinstall,dss_101,none " and hit enter then do the zap when it completes

4tfamily · 10-21-2014, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1mainiac

Well if you have a laptop with a 9 pin serial port and windows you can reprogram it yourself. You use hyperterminal to connect to the antenna. There is a 9 pin serial port on the KVH switchplate connect a serial cable from it to the 9 pin on your laptop Yes you can use some of the USB to Serial adaptors but many of them don't send and receive well. With the KVH on in hyper terminal you should see scrolling lines of data type "halt" and hit enter you should see a echo of the halt command type "satinstall,dss_101.dss_110" hit enter if you typed it correctly and your cable worked it should change the sat you can use dss_72 or dss_119 for a second sat if you want. once it completes type "zap" and hit enter it should then restart and be a Direct TV antenna. Or if you want 101 only type " satinstall,dss_101,none " and hit enter then do the zap when it completes

Thank you! This is what I was looking for. I'll give it a shot and let you know.

lllkrob · 10-21-2014, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1mainiac

Well if you have a laptop with a 9 pin serial port and windows you can reprogram it yourself. You use hyperterminal to connect to the antenna. There is a 9 pin serial port on the KVH switchplate connect a serial cable from it to the 9 pin on your laptop Yes you can use some of the USB to Serial adaptors but many of them don't send and receive well. With the KVH on in hyper terminal you should see scrolling lines of data type "halt" and hit enter you should see a echo of the halt command type "satinstall,dss_101.dss_110" hit enter if you typed it correctly and your cable worked it should change the sat you can use dss_72 or dss_119 for a second sat if you want. once it completes type "zap" and hit enter it should then restart and be a Direct TV antenna. Or if you want 101 only type " satinstall,dss_101,none " and hit enter then do the zap when it completes

It's easier to do this if you download the "KVH FLASH UPDATE WIZARD". Just Google it.

4tfamily · 10-24-2014, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lllkrob

It's easier to do this if you download the "KVH FLASH UPDATE WIZARD". Just Google it.

Would I do the same steps as recommended above?

lllkrob · 10-24-2014, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4tfamily

Would I do the same steps as recommended above?

Yes, the update wizard takes the place of the hyper terminal and offers more. With the wizard you can automatically download and install the latest firmware updates for your antenna in addition to running the sat config mentioned earlier. The hardest problem you will have is acquiring
the data cables to do the updates and config with. If you can find a large Radio Shack store they often have the cables.

Quite honestly, given the cost of the cables and everything, the $200 fee to update the firmware on the antenna and program the satellites is not all that bad a deal. Your lucky to have a KVH dealer close by that knows how to do this.