Directv

[timsos]

Anyone try the directv system off of eBay that is just the stand alone dish and a tripod that claims to be HD? I was under the assumption that only the traveler satellite would get you hd when on directv.

[klenger]

The traveler is the only automatic antenna for DirecTV HD. You can use a stationary dish on a tripod or some other support and aim it manually. I have a couple of RV buddies who do that. Personally, I have the Traveler installed on my 297RSTS, and it works great. Of course, trees in southern AZ tend to be fairly short

[HappyCampersJandT]

We have direct TV dish at the house. We have a slimline dish that has what looks like a single lnb (possibly l&b). We have HDTV stations. One of my friends takes his home unit camping. He puts the dish on a tripod and sights it in without issues. The only problem he mentioned was getting the Korean channels. They have a very tight window to shoot.

[jneubig]

I previously used a SWM HD dish from eBay on a tripod. I was able to get it set up and pointed in about 30 minutes or so at most sights. When we bought the Momentum last year, my first accessory purchase was the Trav'ler automatic dish. It is so nice to park the rig, press a button and be done with it. Of course, I do have to be mindful of getting a site with an unobstructed view of the southern sky. Has not been an issue for us at any campground we've been to.

[Dryfly46]

I bought the Directv dish/tripod kit on Amazon. It includes a signal strength meter which works, and a compass which does not. It is a little work to align, but I get all channels (SD and HD) with a good clear picture. The cost was under $150.

[Houndbb]

Hi, just wanted to ask if you take your home receiver or have separate service for RV?

[howson]

@HappyCampersJandT

I was just asking myself the same question Houndbb posted. Does your friend have just one subscription and use it in their home and then in the RV when they are on the road? Is it possible to have two hardware setups, using just one at a time?

[jneubig]

I have just the one subscription for my home. I used to bring one of my home receivers with us, but went ahead and purchased 2 dedicated receivers for the camper. One HD DVR in the living room and one regular HD box on the outside TV (we use the onboard antenna for the bedroom and garage as they are hardly ever used). I added them to my home account and get all the channels we receive at home provided we are still in the New Orleans locals spot beam area (about 100 mile air circle from New Orleans). They add $7.00 each per month to my bill.

[offtohavasu]

What I did when I upgraded to the Genie I requested the genie DVR with 3 wireless boxes and I wanted 1 additional receiver with a built in tuner (the genie boxes don't have tuners, they run off the DVR tuner). I use that receiver in my garage. When we go on trips, I bring that receiver with us keeping all my home channels (most for baseball purposes).

[vonzoog]

FYI: The Winegard Trav’ler is not the only fully automatic HD, roof mounted, satellite system for DirecTV useage. I personally have the RF Mogul. I also carry a separate DirecTV Slimline SWM dish for use on a tripod when there is a “tree” issue. Fortunately, I have not had to use the tripod since installing the RF Mogul.

I have been using the tripod for DirecTV for over 15 years. Yes there is a learning curve, but once you get use to setting it up, it really is not a hard thing to do. It takes me 5 to 10 minutes to set up the dish and tripod and another 5 minutes to acquire the satellites.

My advice is make sure you get the Slimline dish and that it has the SWM LNB. Simpler and easier to deal with. Also please note. DirecTV is shutting down their standard broadcast signals in 2019. Rumors are probably around April 2019. So the old 18 inch round dish are not going to be of much use. Hopefully this will mean more 4K broadcasting in the future as this will free up more signal space on their satellites.