Hopper, Joey, when used RVing

[Rough2000]

I am considering changing from DTV to Dish. I presently have two HR21-200 receivers, a 5lnb antenna at home, and a 3lnb antenna that I take to the campground when we go RVing. I take my receivers from home to the trailer. I am considering going to the Hopper/Joey combination.
My questions are:

Would I be able to take the Hopper/Joey when I go RVing?

What antenna would I require when RVing. (I don't mind losing some HD channels. I lose some with DTV when I switch from the 5lnb to the 3lnb antenna). I would like to keep my locals when in range of the spot beam. Locals are Little Rock, Arkansas.

Currently both TV's in the trailer are wired to the outside. With my DTV configuration I run a separate coax from the antenna to the receiver. What additional equipment would I require to make the Hopper/Joeys work in the trailer?

Does the Hopper/Joey require full time Internet access? I don't plan on using any Internet access services such as Netflix when RVing.

I hope I didn't overly confuse things. Any other advice is appreciated.

 

[Joe Satellite Fan]

Using the Hopper and Joey in your camper is an easy thing to do. Unlike DTV, you use the same triple lnb dish that is used at home, no loss of HD channels. I assume you are pretty good at aiming your dish yourself. I think you'll find that the Dish system is a bit easier than DTV to set up.

As for actual physical system, you will need a single node hooked to two cables from the dish, you most likely want the 1000.2 western arc dish. You can put the node inside, but I put mine outside and then my 5th wheel has two inputs on the outside (one for living room and one for bedroom) that I hooked to the node.

You don't need internet for the system to function. I haven't ever hooked my system up to the internet.

I'm sure others will chime in, but I think you'll be real happy with this system. Some say that the Hopper is not a good choice because of the hard drive, but I've traveled and camped a lot with my system and never had an issue. My thoughts are that as long as the system is turned off while traveling, it's no problem.

 

[Brussam]

With Dish today, you use a three LNBF dish, the DishPro 1000.2 or 1000.4. That gets all the satellites. There is a DishPro 500 two LNBF dish with drops a lot, but not all, HD channels but the size isn't that much smaller to carry. And the setup of a 1000 is no harder than a 500, contrary to what some will say.

The connection point for the Hopper/Joey coax network is a device called a Solo. The Solo need two coax cables from the dish.

You didn't say if you have any coax cabling between the living room and the bedroom. I would venture that you di in the form of the coax that carries the OTA antenna from the living room to the bedroom TV.

So lets start. If you only have one external coax input in the living room, then you could mount the Solo outside and use the living room external coax input for the cable that connects to the Hopper. You would then connect a coax for the other output of the Solo and to the external coax input in the bedroom to the Joey.

If you have two external coax inputs in the living room, you could mount the Solo inside. Then the Hopper would connect to the Solo. You then use the OTA cable for the bedroom Joey. That is unless you want to keep the OTA antenna.

In either case I would acquire a separate Solo for the RV and leave the house one alone.

The spot beam Locals are just like DirecTV, if you are in the circle of the spot beam coverage, you keep your Locals.

I won't say the Hopper doesn't need Internet access all the time, but it seems it can periods of non-connection as long as you don't want to do Pay-Per-View thru the Hopper.

Assuming you have a good tripod now, is the mast 2" or 1-5/8". The DishPro dishes use 1-5/8" masts. If you need a different tripod, I recommend the HD Tripod from TV4RV.com. It is based on a surveyors tripod and has adjustable legs which are ideal for getting a vertical mast on rough terrain.

Instead of a lot of typing, I have a lot of information on Satellite TV, mainly Dish at Satellite TV>

 

[TechWriter]

I have a Hopper & 2 Joeys in my RV with a rooftop Winegard Travler 1000 dish & a portable 1000.4 dish w/Eastern & Western Arc LNBs. Also, I have DirecTV whole house DVR at my stick house, so I can compare the two services.

First, the DirecTV equivalent to the 3-tuner Hopper is the 5-tuner Home Media Center HD DVR -- IMHO the HMC is the superior hardware.

For HD, both DirecTV and Dish use multi-LNB dishes that are not easy to aim despite what others say. I base this on the many DirecTV RV forums I've read which start by someone asking how to get HD in their RV just like they have at home. These threads usually end with the original DirecTV poster saying he'll stick with SD after learning how involved DirecTV HD is.

From what I've read, aiming a DirecTV HD sat dish is no more involved than aiming a DishTV HD dish. However, DirecTV TV users have been spoiled on single LNB SD dishes that can be aimed by essentially throwing them on the ground. From my experience, Dish has been hard to aim from the beginning, so Dish TV users have a history of problematic sat acquisition and HD is no exception.

Anyway, if you're set on Dish, the Hopper & Joey work great. For a portable dish, I suggest a 1000.4 Dish. It comes with an Eastern Arc (sats 61.5, 72.5, 77). A Western Arc (110, 119, and 129) can be purchased in eBay. The LNB arm bolts onto a 1000.4 so the dish comes apart for easy storage. If you travel from coast to coast, the ability to swap between EA & WA LNBs is very handy. Also, I'd suggest a heavy duty tripod from TV4RV.com and a good sat meter like an Accutrac III+.

If you decide to stick with DirecTV (and there are good reasons to do this), I suggest you check this thread: Motorhome Magazine Open Roads Forum: May be Switching to DirecTV - Info Needed

The user schneid was VERY helpful when I was considering using DirecTV in my RV.

 

[Rough2000]

Thanks guys for your help.

I am confused about what determines if I use the Eastern or Western Arc antennas. I plugged the birds for both the Eastern and Western Arcs in my Dishpointer app and it appears here in Central Arkansas I can use either. In my stick home i have clear skies to both arcs. Most of my travels are in the mid and south west part of the country. If both work in this part of the country...would it be to my advantage to have both lnb's in my RV. I'm thinking there maybe times when I would have tree blockage from one direction and not the other.

Are there tables on the web that show the tilt, skew and az for Dish based on zip code, or do you have to have a Dish receiver to get these?

I've been setting up the DTV 3lnb antenna for several years, and normally no problems. Do you think the Dish 3lnb is anymore difficult or alignment critical?

Again, thanks for your help.

 

[TechWriter]

I am confused about what determines if I use the Eastern or Western Arc antennas. I plugged the birds for both the Eastern and Western Arcs in my Dishpointer app and it appears here in Central Arkansas I can use either. In my stick home i have clear skies to both arcs. Most of my travels are in the mid and south west part of the country. If both work in this part of the country...would it be to my advantage to have both lnb's in my RV. I'm thinking there maybe times when I would have tree blockage from one direction and not the other.

You got it! 1000.4s come with EA LNB. WA LNBs can be had on eBay. Basically, it's EA East of the Mississippi & WA West of the Mississippi, but there seems to be plenty of cross over.

Are there tables on the web that show the tilt, skew and az for Dish based on zip code, or do you have to have a Dish receiver to get these?

http://www.montanasatellite.com/manuals/DISH%20Network%20Dish%201000.4%20East%20and%20West%20Installation%20Instructions.pdf

I've been setting up the DTV 3lnb antenna for several years, and normally no problems. Do you think the Dish 3lnb is anymore difficult or alignment critical?

Nope.

 

[Joe Satellite Fan]

Before we got our Winegard Travler, I used a tripod system to use our 1000.2 dish. I found a simple but effective way to always get it up and running pretty quick. I put tinfoil over the two outer lnbs and set the dish up for 119. Once it was getting a good signal (and I use a really cheap signal finder), I turn everything off and remove the tinfoil. Almost always it just boots up and I have a good signal. Note that if your skew is very far off this is not so successful.

 

[Brussam]

While the tin foil system looks good, it can be very bad. If the multi-switch in the dish head has the cable with the meter electronically connected to the 110 or the 129 LNBF, you get no signal. But is a strong breeze, keeping the tin foil on can a challenge in its own right.

The key is to have the multi-switch electronically connecting the 119 LNBF to the cable with the meter. If that connection is made, then the tin foil has no value. The default low voltage on a cable from the receiver is a 110 LNBF selection.

The connection can be set by selecting the 119 LNBF in the receiver if the meter does pass thru. And that means you have to set both tuners in a dual tuner receiver, (three in a Hopper) to 119 because it is hard to define the tuner to cable relationship, especially with a Solo.

I found it a whole lot easier using a better meter that has the capability of generating a 22 KHz tone which will electronically connect the meter to the 119 LNBF. Note generating, not just detecting a 22 KHz tone meter. There are some cheap meters with a 22 KHz tone LED which means that that signal is on the wire. But the cheap meter cannot generate the signal.

Having a 22 KHz generating meter is especially handy when setting up a distance from the RV. A cable connection to the receiver is handy for the voltage on the wire which powers the meter generating the tone. But it doesn't matter what the tuners in the receiver are set to. Thus, I can set up the ground tripod while the boss is setting up the trailer interior without me getting in the way.

I use an Acutrac 22 Pro now, about $90. If I could, I would get a First Strike FS1 which I recently saw as low as $160 because the FS1 can read the satellite ID guaranteeing a 119 hit.

The key to the skew is the tripod mast has to be very vertical. A bubble meter on the mast top is a good check. For RVing where the ground is not level, the usual consideration, a tripod with adjustable legs will mean you cna get the mast vertical and the tripod can be security set to the ground. If the mast is vertical, the skew set on the dish scale will be right. The best tripod I have found is the TV4RV.com HD dish. I use two 5 gallon buckets with 3-4 gallons of water each for ballast attached to the tripod with bungee cords. Never had the dish blow over with that much ballast and yet I don't have to carry the weight.