Community Forums

Homer Barney · 12-23-2008, 08:07 AM

Just bought a 2009 bounder with the automatic sat. antenna system. They told me it would work with Dish sat. After they worked on it and could not get it to work,I was told that I needed a 311 sat. box to get the sat. to pick up the 2 sat. 119 & 110. This still did not work. Talked to KVN and now they said I need service a & b keys. Anybody have this problem and how did you solve it? Homer

Homer Barney · 12-23-2008, 08:07 AM

Just bought a 2009 bounder with the automatic sat. antenna system. They told me it would work with Dish sat. After they worked on it and could not get it to work,I was told that I needed a 311 sat. box to get the sat. to pick up the 2 sat. 119 & 110. This still did not work. Talked to KVN and now they said I need service a & b keys. Anybody have this problem and how did you solve it? Homer

LindaH · 12-23-2008, 11:39 AM

I'm not sure I understand your problem: are you not able to get ANY satellite tuned in? Or is the problem that the dish won't rotate from one satellite to another? Or were you expecting both the 110 and the 119 satellites to be tuned in at the same time? If the latter, then you're out of luck...there is no dome that is able to *see* more than one satellite at a time.

lllkrob · 12-23-2008, 02:33 PM

I have a KVH R4SL Tracvision and the Dish Network and it works quite well. Like the other post said, it will recieve only one sat at a time to one tv. If you are trying to have different feeds to multiple tv's each tv will need its own reciever and both will have to watch the programing on the same sat.

FreshAir · 12-24-2008, 06:12 AM

I have the KVH R4 stationary unit and have used it with Dish for several years. I know KVH will tell you and the service techs that you need a 311 receiver. I've been told that a few times. I have used my KVH with the 4900, 301 and 311 receivers and they have all worked. The 311 seems to be able to automatically switch satellites a little quicker and less likely to hang up on satellite switching. But, they all work. At least they did for me and KVH knows it.

The most difficult thing with this system and probably others seems to be when taking a receiver from the house that works on a different setup like Dish Pro or Dish HD and then putting it in your RV and getting it to change over to your KVH system that I believe is programmed to use a Dish 500 setup. Just takes practice.

The A and B Keys you mention are also called an "A B Switch," and plugs into your KVH system. It can do multiple tasks like let you manually switch between satellites, let you check and set your KVH to either Dish or Direct, not need for a dealer appointment should this accidentally get changed and also used when doing software upgrades. The switch is a $200 item and used to be provided free when purchasing a new KVH system. You need to see if that's still in force.

Your system works as Linda and others explained it and like Linda mentioned you need to explain a little better the Problem. Like won't receive anything? Won't switch between sats. 110 and 119?

Pat

Homer Barney · 12-24-2008, 11:18 AM

I guess I did not explain my problem well enough. When I hooked my new sat. box(311 box) and ran the tests that the book said to do, the sat. would only find the 119 sat. but would not hook up to the 110 sat. I am hoping that when I get the a&b keys they will help solve the problem. I was hoping that somebody might have a solution or the same problem and how they fixed it. thanks Homer

buck62 · 12-24-2008, 12:31 PM

Homer,
I went through the same problems with my KVH L3 model. There was a "sat" switch that you have to press each time you wanted to change from either 110 or 119 sats. I had to press the "sat" switch each time I change sats and a check switch would only show the current Sat and not both. After much discussion with my dealer and KVH, I explained to KVH that I expected the dome to track to the correct sat as I changed the channels on my remote. After discussion with KVH's tech support I was told that I needed to upgrade my dome to an R5 model which required a new ciruit board, new DVB circuit board and new on/off switch to replace the "sat" switch. The software had to be updated using my laptop which was pretty easy and straight forward. Now the receiver changes the satellites by using my remote control and my check switch shows both 110 and 119 satellites. I am currently using a DVR setup without any problems and not using the 311 or 301 that KVH's recommends. I am now thinking about getting the software upgrade for Dish HD but, have not jump in yet. Just thinking about possible problems. I would call KVH and see if there is an upgrade to your dome.

Alan_Hepburn · 12-25-2008, 07:01 PM

Has the dish been programmed to find both satellites? When we bought our Bounder the dish was not programmed and the dealer did not know anything about how to program it. The KVH manual (packed in that huge briefcase of documents you should have been given) explains how to program the thing. You need a laptop PC with HyperTerminal and the cable that is supplied with the manual. You then program the two satellites you want to use and upload the program to the dish - then it should work.

bobmac · 12-26-2008, 02:08 PM

Homer: The "A" and "B" keys are actually dongles or "Service Keys" that connect to the controller and instruct it which satellites to receive. Download a copy of the R4SL installation manuual from the KVH site and you will see on page 13 which dongle you need for the particular service you have. If you have neither of the Service keys installed, the dish default should receive Dish 1000 service on Sats 110, 119 and 129 per the manual.

Bob

Bob

FreshAir · 12-26-2008, 02:23 PM

I have a 2 year old R4 model, not the SL. If you have a different model, an SL, then probably no need to read futher. ????

I'm assuming you have an R5 or possibly the low profile R6. The setup for the R5 is the same as for my R4 and I believe the R6 setup is also the same. Your KVH may or not have been set up for Dish as mentioned. When you hook up your 311 and do the " Configure the Antenna," for DISH 500 Mode per the instructions, you said you get the Sat. 119.Is that after you do the 1st Check Switch? If so, after the Check Switch does screen tell you "Installed Switch: SW42" or does it say no switch found?

If you get the SW42 message with 119 but not 110 you will most likely have to do the Check Switch operation a couple more times if configuring a new receiver that has been used on another Dish setup as in your house. Remember before doing the check Switch again, shut power off to the receiver, turn off antenna and back on, then turn on the receiver and do another check switch. Remember to give it some time, 15 minutes to complete the 500 configuration. You sometimes think it's finished and failed but will surprise you.

You may have already been doing the above. I wish you had the A/B tool so you could readily see if your set to Dish or Direct. If your not programmed for Dish and your Dealer is not familiar with KVH, you best find one that is.

Let us know how far you get in Configuring process. Do get the box after the Check Switch that tells you "Installed Switch: Sw 42"? and Satellite 119 but no 110. Or just 119 No Switch Detected?

If so,do you do another Check Switch or two? Before doing another Ck SW do you shut off power to the receiver, turn power off/on to the antenna and then power on to the receiver and do the CK SW again and give it 15 minutes as suggested to complete the 500 config.

You might try this tip I was once given.
Do the menu 6,1,1 and select SAT 119 and Transponder 19 or 11, then select 110 and Transponder 23 or 11. Dish will default to transponder 11 when it starts the CK SW download. In fact I believe Dish not to long ago messed with Transponder 23 and it has caused some problems for some KVH and other dome users. Keep that in mind. KVH on Dish will,I believe look for 119 first on the CK SW,and then for 110. I can usually make it look for the 110 first by doing the 6,1,1 and just setting the Sat to 110 and ignoring 119. This way instead of getting 119 I get 110. My input in the Ck Sw box will be 110, 110, 119, 119, reversed,works just fine.

These things can seem confusing when new, especially when having a problem.
If you don't get it working soon take it to a KVH qualified Tech. I think KVH owes you a Free A/B Switch Tool. They used to be free on purchase of a KVH system. You had to send for it.

I mentioned the Transponder 23 problem with Dish, as this will effect Sat 110. Something like this caused me to do a software download to receive Sat 110 last year. It was on the Net. Do a Google for it.

Sorry for so long winded, I probably just confused you more.
Pat

Homer Barney · 01-05-2009, 03:48 AM

Well, I have tried everything that I can do to get the sat. working. I got the keys from KVH (they sent them free) and started to experiment. Tried to get it to work with out the keys.
Could only get the 119 sat. to come up. Put in one key and tried again. Lost the 119 sat. and the 42 switch. Tried the other key by itself and same result. Tried both keys and that did not work. When we bought this rig they told me the sat. would work with dish. I guess we will be heading back to the dealers.

DougA · 04-29-2009, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homer Barney

Well, I have tried everything that I can do to get the sat. working. I got the keys from KVH (they sent them free) and started to experiment. Tried to get it to work with out the keys.
Could only get the 119 sat. to come up. Put in one key and tried again. Lost the 119 sat. and the 42 switch. Tried the other key by itself and same result. Tried both keys and that did not work. When we bought this rig they told me the sat. would work with dish. I guess we will be heading back to the dealers.

The R4,R5's are differant than the new sl 's, you need a special key that plugs into the front of the on/off switch and also plugs into the back phone plug on the back of the switch plate to make the new R4sl dish 500 or so it will only look for 119,110 satelites. you need to folow the directions that came with the key kit and if you don't have the key instructions i will send you by e-mail the directions. but your 311 is dish 500 and you need both keys installed.

Mobile KVH CSN