Darrin,
OK. Great. Since you work a tripod now you know how to line up on sat 101. That is 90 percent of the effort. So, we can go from what you know.
Step one is to get another tripod with a 2" diameter pole. You really need to have this pole; don't try to shim the one you have. Shop around for tripods at flea markets or rv shows. I got mine in Quartzsite for about $30 bucks.
Next, get a pole level from Home Depot. You can use a torpedo level, but the pole level (that has two levels in it) makes things much easier. The key here is to have something that will allow you to get the pole dead nuts vertical.
You said you have a SWM head on your dish so you need the 21v power inserter. This is necessary to provide enough power to the SWM head for it to operate properly. While I have used steel core copper coated coax between the power inserter and the SWM head on my RV setup, the preferred method is to use solid copper for this run. You can various suppliers for this with a google search. (Home Depot does not sell the solid copper core coax.)
Next comes alignment. You already have experience finding 101 since that is where all your SD signals have come from. Everything you know about dish alignment for 101 is exactly the same for the Slimline dish. The only possible exception is that the pole has to be dead nuts vertical for the alignment to work properly on the slimline. You have to get the best possible signal on sat 101 and then make sure the elevation bolts and pole bolts are locked down. There is a process called dithering that uses the bolts with those back circle markings on them. But, I find that not necessary for RV setups.
Part of aligning on 101 is using some sort of metering device. If you use one of those under $40 alignment meters that work for SD they will not work for SWM. There are a number of options for a SWM meter, but you actually have one option that may just prove to be best in your situatoin and that is to use one of your existing SD receivers. You will need a Band Stop Filter to allow your current SD receiver to work on the SWM setup. You can then go to the setup screen and find the meter settings. You can turn on the tone and use it as an audible signal for your alignment. We can discuss more on this later.
Now you have one more setting; skew or tilt. You can mess around with this or just use the setting you will find on your receiver by putting in a zip code for the location where you are doing the setup. Another method is to get the skew from dishpointer.com (which is what I do). Again, you can spend a lot of time trying for the "best" signal by adjusting it back and forth. The last few times I have been out, I find that just setting it to the suggested setting seems to get a quite adequate signal. If you are going to be in any one place for an extended period of time it may be worth the extra effort to do all the fine tuning. But, for stays of a week or two it just doesn't seem to matter.
As far as the hookup in the rig goes, you should run the primary line to the receiver in the front of the coach. If you want to put a second receiver in the bedroom you will need a green-label splitter (you can get from solid signal). Just get a 2 connecter unit since the larger units have more signal loss. You may have an issue with the line between the front of the coach and the bedroom since it is probably R59 versus RG6 coax. If it is in really good shape it may take the frequencies of SWM. But, you do have the risk that you may have to replace it with RG6. Again, only trying it will tell how things will work out on that.
I know this seems like a lot of change. But, I think once you get into it things will move easily. Please feel free to ask any more questions as you go along.
PS. You could continue to use the SD receiver in the bedroom if you put in a band stop filter on that unit as well.
Hope this helps,
Bob
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