Satellite TV

[tkasten]

We have a Direct TV account at home and when we switched to HD we kept the old dish and mount it on a Winguard portable tripod. The old receiver costs $5.00 per month extra on our home account. I have 100' of cable that allows me to move around most trees etc. It only takes 5 minutes to set up. I set the TV to signal beep and go outside and move dish until the beeb is really chirping. This works 99% of the time.....Tim

[goldwing70]

How about the actual wire connections? I have a 2005 CCD international, 25ft. Just subscribed to direct TV with two receivers. The install techs had an extra dish they gave me.

Does the AS typically have an in line amplifier that I need to bypass for the sat signal to work? Thanks in advance

[SilverRanger]

Originally Posted by goldwing70

Does the AS typically have an in line amplifier that I need to bypass for the sat signal to work? Thanks in advance

I have a 2005 Bambi, so it may be a bit different. There is an in-line amplifier, but I believe it is only for the roof top antenna. Mine has two separate connections, one for the roof top antenna with the signal amplifier (green LED light). The other is for the satellite/cable connection, and is labeled CABLE/SAT IN, and CABLE/SAT OUT. After I connect my DirecTV dish to the outside box, I connect a short cable from the CABLE/SAT IN jack to the satellite receiver. I leave both the roof top antenna, and the satellite dish connected at all times, and switch back and forth via the input switch on the TV. I don't recall having to bypass the amp.
Hope that makes sense. It's early here.

[SilverRanger]

I managed to get this picture without waking the wife (we're at a state park campground in Delaware). The top faceplate shows the connection for the roof top antenna. The lower one shows the black cable (CABLE/SAT IN)that connects to the television. The gray cable on the bottom is a short jumper that isn't connected to anything.

[goldwing70]

Thanks Silver! Pics are great. I have similar panels in my unit. I'll try that and see what happens.

[HandyHank]

I just recently (as of last Monday, 11/1/10) became an official full-time. I called DirectTV and they moved my receiver from house to 30' Excella. The installer was supposed to bring a tripod but never got the message. I called the 'movers' of Direct back yesterday and although I'm 500 mi farther west, they are coming here on Wed specifically to bring a tripod to fit the 2" post tripod to my Slimline DirectTV dish. I also have a 'swimmer' LNB which replaces 2 or 4 of the old LNB's. Apparently most dish antenna have a 1-5/8" post except the Slimline. Most tripods are also that size so if you have the new Slimline check to make sure about the post size. I'll let you know how this works out. BTW I have to pay for the new 2" post tripod. There was no mention of this being illegal or somehow stealing.