Hooking OEM kvh satelite up to new service

[William Brosam]

So my goal here is to get my existing (OEM from Beaver year 2000) KVH Tracvision dish that i have working with new service. I would like to get Dish Network because of the ability to suspend the service when i am not in the coach fulltime.

currently there is a Direct tv sony receiver hooked up in the cabinet but its OLD, i was going to remove it but thought it might be useful to see how it was hookedup upon install of new one.

I have been told both, dont bother with it will cost you thousands to get it to work. and ive also been told that if you hook up the dish receiver, and it doesn't work we send it back into dish and they can reprogram it to work and send it back.

can anyone shed some light on this,

model #LM series and serial #99100151 TVLM
product Number 02-0899

-W

[Edward Buker]

KVH Tracvision may not have been the original system on your coach, so it possibly could be newer. The best way to get an answer would be to contact KVH with the model and serial of your current KVH system. The other question is do you care about HD TV? If you do then some form of new satellite system on the roof would likely be required. Dish HD is very doable with a roof mounted system.

I personally would be reluctant to put much money and effort into an older satellite system given the technology has improved a lot in the last few years and the mechanicals within these systems do wear and age.

Later Ed

[William Brosam]

well i know that the new satellite system for up top is 1800$ plus install so definitely not gonna do that will continue the antenna route first.

if i could get the current one working for 2-300$ or less i would be happy, yes i would like HD channels but if the dish cant do them ill have to stick with that until i can shell out the cash for a new dish.

my other option is the tailgater portable dish on the ground.

service guy coming to install my new slide seal is gonna look at the dish and tell me what my options are.

[William Brosam]

updated original post with Serial/model numbers

[David T. Richelderfer]

When we purchased our coach in late August 2012 we were told none of the "in motion" dishes would capture a HD signal.  We told the RV sales lot folks we wanted HD and had a DISH system, and would not be watching TV while driving.  When we returned a week or two later to complete the purchase details the old "in motion" dish was gone and a new RF Mogul dish was installed.  I did early on have some problems with the RF Mogul dish.  Its gears seemed to be in a bind when rotating.  After a software upgrade, the problem persisted.  Mogul sent a new gear box and a $100 check.  I swapped out the defective gear box on my own and cashed the check.  It took about 45 minutes and it's worked well ever since.  My DISH receiver runs both TVs in the coach - living room and bedroom - and it receives two channels simultaneously to watch/record in any combination, living room or bedroom.  Now I'm thinking about upgrading to the DISH Hopper to be able to receive/watch/record more channels.  I should have done the upgrade before the Bowl Season.  I think the Hopper will receive up to 6 channels simultaneously.

[Edward Buker]

For that model there was an upgrade kit for dish network. DISH Network Interface Part #: 02-0899 (Required for use with DISH Network) This is a brochure link which has a phone number for KVH that was copyrighted in 2000 so the unit probably is original. Keep in mind that what worked then may not work now and it would all depend if KVH updated the software and hardware to locate the current satellite compliment. Before I would order any part listed I would certainly discuss all this with KVH given this is 14 year old technology....Later Ed

http://www.turbosurf.com/SAbrochure.pdf

[Larry Fisk]

We have Direct TV in our coach and have always been able to suspend service when we return to our home and restart it when when we returned to the coach. I think we were allowed to suspend and restart 3 times a year. Just an FYI

[William Brosam]

we called KVH and they said it will work with a dish box, if it does not you must send the dish receiver in and have it reprogrammed (free) and have the box sent back out.

i will converse with the technician here today as hes installing the new slide seal

[William Brosam]

called a few rv satellite businesses and basically they have all told me i am SOL if i want to use this dish unit.

so i am now looking into a wineguard carryout type solution for 700$

[Dan Stussi]

Last May we bought a 1998 Beaver Monterey from the 2nd owner.  It has a KVH enclosed dish. It had an old non HD Direct box hooked to it which worked when we bought it. The previous owner cancelled his subscription and we had Dish at home anyway.  I have the paperwork from the original owners of the KVH being installed in 1998. I plugged in one of our dish boxes and it worked, but I heard you are 'legally' not suppose to use a leased box that way. I called Dish and they said I needed to purchase a VIP 211 HD box and plug it in where the Direct box was. I did that, hit the power switch for the KVH. It searched for about 5 minutes and locked on to a satellite. Since there is only one LNB be it either locks in on to Satellite 110 or 119, so I do not get all the channels. They come in as HD  with no problem though. I have an old dish with dual LNB's. I am planning and pulling the cover and see if I can make an adapter to use them. I will be trying that once it warms up a little.

There was no software update or anything else, and the people we bought it from was not the kind that cared one way or another about the T.V. or satellite dish working.

Sounds like we are lucky it works.

Dan

[Dan Stussi]

Oh yeah, forgot it is a TracVision also. I took the old behemoth over the driver T.V out and installed HDTV 26" flat screen in its place. I feel a lot more comfortable with that over my head then that old T.V.

Dan

[Dennis Crawford]

Ed,

As far as I know you can program your sat antenna to recrive Dish signals. Look at the switch for the antenna. If it has a serial port connector, you can do this yourself.  The biggest problem is having a computer with a serial port and a serial cable. The instructions should be available at kvh website.  Also Dish was not willong to sell me a receiver I could install. They insist on installin thremselves and I asm as bit particular aboutg whose hands touch my coach.

Dennis

[William Brosam]

Ed,

As far as I know you can program your sat antenna to recrive Dish signals. Look at the switch for the antenna. If it has a serial port connector, you can do this yourself.  The biggest problem is having a computer with a serial port and a serial cable. The instructions should be available at kvh website.  Also Dish was not willong to sell me a receiver I could install. They insist on installin thremselves and I asm as bit particular aboutg whose hands touch my coach.

Dennis

yes there is a serial connection the technician at the house said yesterday hes done a few of these software updates and said last one took him about 6 hours to update it.

i can turn the dish on it cycles and searches, but the direct tv box i have is dead it does not power on. (not a box i bought or leased came with the coach)

i played phone tag with kvh yesterday ill see if i can get in touch with them today.

an rv satelite guy said this unit doesn't work with the newer boxes it wont control it, you need to daisey chain the old box to controll the sat and use the new box for programming.

so much misinformation out there its rediculous.

[Edward Buker]

William,

Unfortunately, the way to look at this problem is that the unrelenting pace of technology change has caught up with you. It is best visualized by trying to put into service today a 15 year old designed computer or tablet. You may get some problematic outcome after investing an inordinate amount of time, some money, and effort, but you would not likely be very happy. If you are on an adventure of your own to experiment and see what you can get out of this equipment then go at it. If you are going to pay someone to try and make this unit dance then my expectation is it would be money not well spent.

If you see yourself owning this coach for any period of time and watching TV while on the road is important to you then it may just be time to bite the bullet. I use a domed Carry Out and it works quite well. My situation is that there are places I stay for an extended time that are treed and I need portability to get reception so that works well for me. My unit is fixed on the roof but can be taken down with the use of a ground stand.

 If I could get reception most all of the time from the roof I would own a Winegard Traveler. I use my home receiver and have no cost beyond my normal subscription when I travel. These are my personal thoughts after going through some of the same questions on a 2002 system that was on my roof that required a serial port connection which is not well supported today. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[William Brosam]

William,

Unfortunately, the way to look at this problem is that the unrelenting pace of technology change has caught up with you. It is best visualized by trying to put into service today a 15 year old designed computer or tablet. You may get some problematic outcome after investing an inordinate amount of time, some money, and effort, but you would not likely be very happy. If you are on an adventure of your own to experiment and see what you can get out of this equipment then go at it. If you are going to pay someone to try and make this unit dance then my expectation is it would be money not well spent.

If you see yourself owning this coach for any period of time and watching TV while on the road is important to you then it may just be time to bite the bullet. I use a domed Carry Out and it works quite well. My situation is that there are places I stay for an extended time that are treed and I need portability to get reception so that works well for me. My unit is fixed on the roof but can be taken down with the use of a ground stand.

 If I could get reception most all of the time from the roof I would own a Winegard Traveler. I use my home receiver and have no cost beyond my normal subscription when I travel. These are my personal thoughts after going through some of the same questions on a 2002 system that was on my roof that required a serial port connection which is not well supported today. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

I would just put a nice 3lnb slimline winguard up there, but ive had a lot of expenses lately so its not on the short list. dish cost 1800, plus atleast 1000$ to install it is what ive been told.

after just paying to have my roof resealed(failed attempt rain washed it away before it could cure), new slide seal that was a nice 1000$ wack.

probably do a new dish later in the year after these expenses slow down.