# Dish to TV in Camper



## Todd E (Sep 5, 2008)

Ran across a dish compatible with my home receiver. Have rigged it us to use with camper. Guy told me cannot hook it straight to camper connection as wiring and or cable/antenna convertor kills signal. He says he has to run wire through slideout seal and go straight to receiver.

Is that true?
I guess there is nothing to do to be able to hook it straight to rv conn..???


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## sodbusterman (Sep 6, 2008)

He is right. Mine has two connectors one for sat and one for ant. You could unhook the ant and the signal booster if you have one then just hook it to the outside connector.


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## Parker Phoenix (Sep 6, 2008)

I have to hook mine up directly to the sat.


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## DEERFU (Sep 6, 2008)

mine was a 1991 model 5th wheel and i had it hooked up direct


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## Todd E (Sep 6, 2008)

I figured new ones possibly have separate hook ups.

The thought of a cord laying in floor to go to the receiver just erks me. May have to see if I can route one out through floor under cabinet and tie off to frame with an inline connector on it. 

Thanks.


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## dhardegree (Sep 7, 2008)

Todd E said:


> I figured new ones possibly have separate hook ups.
> 
> The thought of a cord laying in floor to go to the receiver just erks me. May have to see if I can route one out through floor under cabinet and tie off to frame with an inline connector on it.
> 
> Thanks.



That's the way I have mine.  Screwed a splitter into the frame underneath.  Ran the cable through the floor under the cabinet to the splitter that connects to box.  Then all you have to do is set your dish and run your cable to splitter tucked up under the camper or your rug/carpet.


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## onemilmhz (Sep 11, 2008)

Yeah, sat dishes have to be directly wired, for now.  It won't be long before manufacturers start pre-wiring for satellite, if some haven't already.  As others have stated, it's pretty easy to accomplish and you can do it exactly how and where you want so that you have it right where you need it in the RV.


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## swamp (Sep 13, 2008)

Might sound dumb do you have to have service established already? I have 3 boxes from previous direct tv service.


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## Todd E (Sep 13, 2008)

Yes. 


I currently have svc at home. Found spare sat dish to mount as a take a long for trips. Just take one of the receivers out of the spare room and have sat svc when camping. Course it has to be lined up each trip.


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## SmokyMtnSmoke (Sep 13, 2008)

Todd E said:


> Yes.
> 
> 
> I currently have svc at home. Found spare sat dish to mount as a take a long for trips. Just take one of the receivers out of the spare room and have sat svc when camping. Course it has to be lined up each trip.



What service do you have and what methods do you use to re-align it each time? What or how do you mount your dish? Pics would be great


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## Todd E (Sep 14, 2008)

I just now found a free spare dish. I am on Dish Network. I took a metal chainlink post and sat it in the middle of a 6gal bucket. Poured some wet concrete down in the bucket to set post. Mounted sat dish to top of post. Hooked up 50' of coax to it and left coiled. You can buy tripods that do the same thing, but....the only money I have in this contraption is for a bag of Quickrete. I looked at the dish on the side of my house and somewhat tried to set angle based upon it. Took a reading of direction facing with compass. 

Granted, I haven't hooked it up yet. Been too busy. As for dialing it in.......haven't done it yet and dunno really. Do not have instructions for receiver. Friend said go into menu and select dish alignment. It will bring up a screen with graph. Then you just losen alignment bolts and dial it in.


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## buckmanmike (Sep 21, 2008)

Get you a signal meter. It makes finding satellite a lot easier. If you know the zip code your in reciever will tell you angles needed.


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## Bnathanb1982 (Sep 21, 2008)

*Dish Now*

For any of yall that don't have Dish Satellite at home, you can buy the prepaid system for 99.00 now and only pay for what you watch.  It's like a 1.00 a day for the top 100 and a little more for the top 200,  the only bad thing is you cannot get local channels.


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## Paymaster (Sep 22, 2008)

buckmanmike said:


> Get you a signal meter. It makes finding satellite a lot easier. If you know the zip code your in reciever will tell you angles needed.


Yep,get the local zip and follow the compass settings and elevation for your unit.
I have a tri-pod pole set-up that I mount my dish on.


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## Big Buck Hunter (Oct 5, 2008)

Where do you get a signal meter and how much does one cost?  I have Direct TV and will be setting mine up this weekend.


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## georgia357 (Oct 8, 2008)

Big Buck Hunter said:


> Where do you get a signal meter and how much does one cost?  I have Direct TV and will be setting mine up this weekend.



I've used a regular volt meter and had good luck with it.  Put it on the 0-3 volt scale, the higher the voltage reading the better the signal.


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## uga_fan (Oct 8, 2008)

I have had the dish/pole set-up mess with my compass readings.  If you know where you are going to be, the site below helps with the azmuth/angle and degree settings.  It also, through google maps, it lets you set the point where the dish will be set up and shows you the direction the dish sould be pointed in.  I found it usefull.

http://www.dishpointer.com


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## Big Buck Hunter (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks uga fan, that is a great web site. Very helpfull!!!


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## eric4jr88 (Feb 23, 2009)

Yes it's true. I have a 2008 travel trailer and I have to run the satellite cable through the window and plug it directly into the back of the reciever in order to get any signal at all.
Eric


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## skeeter24 (Feb 24, 2009)

Most are now pre-wired with satellite prep so that the signal does not pass through a splitter.


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