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Zugbug · 06-25-2008, 07:47 PM

On a recent trip I took the receiver from the spare room a portable dish 1000 dish and gave it a go. Well no luck I was able to find sat's 110 and 119 but not 129. Also the system gave me a smart card error, even though none of the three units I have installed at home use a smart card. Any suggestions?

overlander63 · 06-25-2008, 07:57 PM

All the Dish Network receivers should have a smart card. If your bedroom receiver was slaved from your main receiver, the system will look for the smart card and not find it.
Also, 119 and 110 should be the two satellites you need, unless you have HD, or some premium channels, in which case you would need a separate dish. We have the 200+, and our Dish 500 dual dish picks up both satellites.

Jim Foster · 06-25-2008, 08:12 PM

Our Dish Network boxes don't use a smart card either. There is a slot to put a card, but none is used.

On occasion when on the road, or when I return home I may get that same error message. When the message comes up, I just go do something else for a few minutes and it has always corrected itself. The first time it happened, I called Dish. I gave them my numbers and it came on as I was on the phone with them. Only called them once.

I only use sats 110 and 119. I don't subscribe to high definition so don't use 129.

overlander63 · 06-25-2008, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Foster

Our Dish Network boxes don't use a smart card either. There is a slot to put a card, but none is used.

For whatever reason, ours has one (I'm watching Sci-Fi channel right now), and we occasionally get a "your smart card is not authorized" message when the receiver has been unplugged for hours or days, but it comes back after about 5 minutes of being on.

toastie · 06-25-2008, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zugbug

On a recent trip I took the receiver from the spare room a portable dish 1000 dish and gave it a go. Well no luck I was able to find sat's 110 and 119 but not 129. Also the system gave me a smart card error, even though none of the three units I have installed at home use a smart card. Any suggestions?

If the receiver has been powered off for awhile you will get an error. Dish will have to send a signal to the built in card, just call Dish with error number and they will help you right on the spot. However, I would highly recommend Directv. With my Dish Pro 500, I had a good sat. finder, plus algin-a-site, I could find a Sat. but you need to skew the dish to pick all Sat. and that was hard to do, very lucky to get all channels. With Directv all I have to do is hit one Sat. for all channels, no skew.

Jim Foster · 06-25-2008, 10:02 PM

I use an Accudish base. It comes with thumb screws to replace the hex nuts on the skew and altitude adjustments on your dish. With this base set up, and using a sat finder, I usually get hooked up in about five minutes. The base fills with water for extra weight and has cables attached for "nailing" down. Comes with three stakes and all in a very nice travel case. Supply your own dish.

Love it.

Mexray · 06-25-2008, 10:25 PM

Or you could get a Trav'ler...

Denis4x4 · 06-26-2008, 09:51 AM

I use a King Dome. The local network channels use a spot beam and are generally unavailable outside your geographical area. 119 has Speed, the cable news networks, etc. and is the only one I bother to dial in. If there are trees in the RV park, I resort to a good book or Serius radio

Jim Foster · 06-26-2008, 10:12 AM

If you are on the road a great deal of the time, you may be able to subscribe to local networks through All America Direct. They use sat 119. We were able to subscribe as we are on the road a lot. We get ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX from San Francisco and Atlanta. Leno at 8:35 in the evening.

We use it at home as well. It's $9.95 per month.

Jim Foster · 06-26-2008, 10:25 AM

I looked at a roof top sat unit. There were two issues. First is that if you are parked with a tree or other obstacle blocking access to the sat, you have to move. Second, there isn't a space on the roof big enough to put one on our Caravel.

Down side of our unit, you must set it up and take it down each time you want to use it, up side, you can set it up "over there" to get a clear shot at the sat. More than once I have run a cable from the second output on our "Dish Pro" to our friend's sat box because their roof unit couldn't "see" the sat.

It's just a matter of choice.

Zugbug · 06-26-2008, 11:51 AM

Thanks for the information, any options if you are in a location were you don't have phone reception. Thats not going to work for calling to have them send a signal to the box.

Jim Foster · 06-26-2008, 12:03 PM

Having the dish NOT work because of an error message is by far the exception, and, it has not failed to come on by itself in the past year and a half. We move our dish box at least once a month, and many times we move it lots more than that, and all over the western US.

Not an issue.

mtpalms · 09-24-2008, 04:14 PM

I've come to the sad conclusion that my husband and I will never go camping anywhere unless he can watch tv. We even bought a cabover camper so we could go places that we don't dare take the Safari (our last trip north of Barstow literally popped rivets inside the coach and loosened the refrigerator vent

). But I digress.

We are Dish500 subscribers and have 1 receiver and 2 dishes (we used to have a 2nd identical receiver in the guesthouse for my late father-in-law). And I just have a few questions.

Can we use the 'house' receiver with the 2nd dish without issues? Most people seem to have a 2nd receiver to use with their dish, but is this necessary? Having had the f-i-l's subscription added to our bill, I realize there is an extra cost for the 2nd receiver.

Is a compass adequate for (quickly/easily) locating the satellites, or does anyone recommend any particular locating gadget?

We will definitely use a tripod, nothing fancy, but not something cheap and flimsy. Once again, any suggestions?

We will have a small generator, but naturally wouldn't want to run it in the evening, especially if others are camping nearby. We have a 12 volt inverter, is it possible run the sat receiver and 15" lcd tv off battery power?

Finally, wouldn't it just be cheaper to trade the husband in for a box of books?

Thanks in advance.

Jim Foster · 09-24-2008, 04:41 PM

Yes, you can run your Dish Box and LCD TV from an inverter connected to your 12v battery. You will need an inverter that supplies enough a/c watts to run both. The watt draw should be shown on the devices. You will also need an in-line "satellite finder" box to locate the satellite signal. A compass won't do the job.

You will need lots of battery capacity to watch TV for any length of time without running your battery down.

Mexray · 09-24-2008, 09:34 PM

We have used the VuQube antenna, it's got a remote control for finding the sat's...but only has memory for two sats, the 110 and 119...

We put a Winegard Travl'er on our 28 ft Ambassador...this unit is the greatest! As long as there's no trees blocking the signals, we just power up the Travl'er and it finds all three sat's by itself...it takes it about 5 min's, I believe it uses GPS to find out where it is, then proceeds to the proper elevation and azimuth for the Sat's...it also adjust the 'slew' to get the best possible signal...the Travl'er has a larger dish antenna and gets great signal strength, and allows for three coax antenna leads from the antenna...in you need em'.

We also subscribe to the the All American package that gets the East/West coast network channels, along with all the normal Dish stuff.

I installed a 1500 watt inverter for AC power in the evening if we can't run the Honda 2000 watt generator when camped without hook-ups. It just 'loafs' along when we're running our TV stuff.

I plug the 22 inch LCD TV, Dish Receiver, DVD player and Travl'er control box into an isolated plug strip. I can then plug the strip into the inverter or the shore power outlet as required, and we are protected for voltage spikes as well!

When running on the inverter in the evening, it's important to run the genny each morning to recharge the battery bank...if you let your batteries get too low, it takes hours and hours to recharge...a little each day gets the job done best!

mtpalms · 09-25-2008, 07:36 AM

"satellite finder" box"

Is this all I need? Satellite Finder Dish Alignment Tool
It's $15 here, +- $35 elsewhere.

There is a wide variety of units and price ranges.
Satellite Signal Meters & Finders
satellite finder - TV Accessories - Shopping.com

Any reason to spend $75 when I can spend $15?

Now all that is left is a tripod. I don't want anything too elaborate because when it travels with the camper, space is extremely limited.

Thanks for the info.

Jim Foster · 09-25-2008, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtpalms

"satellite finder" box"

Is this all I need? Satellite Finder Dish Alignment Tool
It's $15 here, +- $35 elsewhere.

There is a wide variety of units and price ranges.
Satellite Signal Meters & Finders
satellite finder - TV Accessories - Shopping.com

Any reason to spend $75 when I can spend $15?

Now all that is left is a tripod. I don't want anything too elaborate because when it travels with the camper, space is extremely limited.

Thanks for the info.

We really our Accu-Dish base. It comes in a compact zipper bag and is ideal for a two satellite dish. There is a photo in post #6 on this thread. I think they are located in Long Beach CA.

mtpalms · 09-25-2008, 11:21 AM

I will keep the Accu-dish in mind. Their web site is gone(???), but there is a phone number. I stumbled across a thread from some other forum, and the reviews were mixed:
RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Technology Corner: Anyone Using Accu-Dish Leveling Device

However,
My husband says the dish I thought we could use has only a single LNBF, and he wants a twin LNBF dish. I found a nice little combination for $99:
InstallerOasis.com*::*Satellite Dish Tripods*::*Tripod System Kits*::*Dish Network 500 Satellite Tripod Kit

The tripod that comes with it looks sturdy enough:
InstallerOasis.com*::*Satellite Dish Tripods*::*Satellite Dish Tripods*::*2ft. Satellite Dish Tripod Mount | Galvanized

Jim Foster · 09-25-2008, 12:04 PM

To use a dish with with a twin LNBF, the base must have some method to adjust the post to make it vertical in order coordinate the three adjustments on the back of the dish. This can be done with a tripod, using shims under the legs. The Accu-Dish has an adjustable "ball joint" on the post making vertical alignment very easy. No shims needed. Works easily on a uneven ground. The base fills with water for weight and has cable loops for nailing to the ground. They are not cheap, but work really slick.