First, let me state, "I am not a resident expert on Satellite TV systems". RVers On Line has its own resident expert on the subject, who is excellent. We used his free services, via Email, when we were installing our system. However, Susan & I just bought our Satellite system a month ago and I think the problems (or opportunities to learn) are fresh in our minds. Therefore, this article is written from a general point of view that attempts to address those many little things we experienced and learned from the effort. For now, I would stay with the receivers made by Hughes Electronics or Sony. They both work off the established Direct TV satellites rather than trying to start their own network via a different satellite programming system. By far, Hughes electronics makes most of the receivers. They are resold as RCA, Magnavox, Zenith, etc. The only significant difference between them is the way the remote control accesses the functions in the system, which are many. They all have similar features. Sony has a faster processor in their system and it is much quicker to respond when special features are selected. Other than that, there is little or no difference other than price. Look for one that has a remote control that can handle the Satellite receiver, TV and VCR. It is very frustrating having 3 remotes to mess around with. In our case, the VCR capability did not come with the remote and we had to purchase a generic, do-it-all remote later. Unless you decide you absolutely need two TVs, viewing different channels on the satellite system at the same time, a dual system dish is unnecessary and over complicates the installation. As you will see later on, the running of coax for dual receivers is almost prohibitive on an RV.
We did find that it is wise to purchase a Winegard satellite finding meter. It is especially useful when trying to locate the satellite from outside of the RV and TV. We have a tripod (Purchased at Radio Shack) along with 4 foot of 1.25 inch heavy walled PVC pipe and a dish to use outside, as well as a roof mounted one that can be set up from inside the RV. The outside one is used when the roof dish is blocked from receiving the satellites by trees or other obstructions, which happens more often than I thought it would. When the tripod is set up outside, I insert the Winegard meter in the coax line where the short coax, from the dish, is intended to be connected to the cable that enters the RV. It makes for very short work of setting up the dish aiming. It is removed after getting top signal levels.
One thing to keep in mind, the receiver sends about 16 volts DC to the horn on the dish, through the coax. In the horn there is a signal amplifier and the DC provides power to it. The strange thing is that the DC is present even if the receiver is turned off. The DC is only removed by unplugging the receiver. For that reason, if you are dry camping with an inverter, unplug the receiver to keep from using unnecessary power. This is no big deal for the normal household installation. Following instructions, the household set up is only done once and dismantling is seldom to never done. When you are doing it as much as 2 or 3 times a week things can get out of hand. Before connecting any coax or meter to the dish or receiver, unplug the receiver. The same is true in reverse when putting the system away and packing it into the RV.
Another major difference between satellite and cable TV is the coax that needs to be used. RVs and homes are wired with RG-59 coax. It is very sufficient for cable TV or resending the amplified TV antenna signal to other places in the RV. The satellite dish antenna connections must be RG-6 only. This type of coax is better constructed and has a much larger core wire. Some RV dealers will install the dish coax lead with a portion of the coax run being RG-59. This will work under good circumstances, but low signals levels will be caused, giving you troubles while other RVs around you are receiving well. What this means is that one cannot simply plug the coax from the dish to the normal cable connection on the RV. That simply won't work. First, the dish signal is digital and will not pass through the normal RV preamplifier, which is for analog use only, so it would need to be bypassed.
With that in mind, how does one get the new RG-6 coax into the rig and at the point where it can pluged it into the back of the receiver? We have a motorhome. We routed the coax from the receiver area which is above the passenger seat, through a windshield post, under the dashboard, to under the hood. From there we use a male to male connector to attach the longer RG-6 coax that will run to the outside dish. We roll up that long coax on a reel designed to hold long extension cords, like those sold in Kmart or Walmart. That avoids kinks, which is a disaster to satellite reception and a pain in the neck to store. If your installation kit comes with a length of RG-6 having a grounding wire with it, strip off the grounding wire. Most RVers will never use it and it gets in the way as well as making it almost impossible to roll up the coax. Most new installation kits have dispensed with the ground wire as a part of the coax anyway.
If you are going to install one of the roof mount dish antennas, do not let anyone talk you into replacing the regular broadcast wind-up, directional antenna with the satellite dish. Some will tell you that they put a little directional regular antenna on top of the dish and it will work like the old antenna did. It will, but for only about 30% the distance and clarity of the regular one. Satellite TV is absolutely fantastic for getting good, clear reception from a multitude of stations and subjects, almost anywhere you park your RV. However, it will not give you the local news coverage, local events or sales that you can get from the regular old wind up, directional antenna coupled with the usual factory installed amplifier. If you largely lose that capability you will surely regret it quickly. If an installer tells you this is the best way to go, leave immediately. He or she has no concept of the extent to which you would pay for taking this "short cut". Also, they will obviously be wanting to use the existing RG-59 cable from the old antenna, which will even degrade your satellite reception under poor conditions. It is a lose-lose situation that some have agreed to and sorely regretted.
In most installations, the satellite receiver becomes the point where all signals come together. The normal RV coax, which contains either the campground provided cable TV and/or your own TV antenna stations, plugs into the back of the satellite receiver at a connection labeled "TV antenna or coax in". The TV or VCR is in turn connected to the satellite receiver labeled "Output to TV". In this case one either selects Satellite or regular TV, depending on which they wish to view. You cannot be watching Satellite TV in the salon while another is viewing a local broadcast station in the bedroom or at an outside entertainment center. The entire RV is provided either Satellite or Cable/TV antenna functions, but not both at the same time. When selecting satellite, only one channel can be selected on the satellite receiver at a time. If you want multiple capabilities, Camping World and many RV centers sell a small box that everything connects to. With this option one TV viewer could be watching satellite TV and the other watching a local TV station from the regular antenna or both could view regular antenna or cable TV on different channels. We don't find this necessary and compromise on our viewing preferences, which other than for some limited sports programs are fairly similar..
The above subjects are things the installation manual mostly doesn't tell you about. Other than program selection options, the rest is appropriately discussed in the manuals. We bought our Dish, receiver, and a monster installation kit from Sound Advice for a total of $99.95. The installation kit alone is normally about $100.00. It was called a Hughes DSS system. It simply wasn't renamed or resold as some other brand. Sound Advice gets a big commercial rebate for first time Direct TV users and that is the reason it was so inexpensive. I recently saw the same price and offering by Circuit City. It really paid off being a first time potential satellite TV subscriber, with a name, address and telephone number not on any satellite TV provider's records.
The first month you will get free full USSB options/channels and almost full, but somewhat paid for, DSS service. Since you get the full channel and option service from DSS free for a month, there is no benefit selecting high cost options initially because you will be billed for that immediately. Select the lowest cost possible option initially at $14.95 and upgrade to what services and channels you decide to keep at the end of the trial month. During that period you must decide what services to keep. DSS tries to market their total choice package $29.95 and/or their Silver or Platinum plans at more cost. If you ask, they will tell you about their basic package for $14.95, which contrasts so badly on channels and offerings, few people would want it. DSS doesn't mention a selection called "Select Choice", which includes almost everything the total choice has, except CNN Headline News and CNN Financial for $19.95. From DSS we choose "select choice" and the 24 package that includes all 5 major broadcasting networks for $5.00.
To be authorized to receive the 24 package of all network broadcast stations, you will have to answer many questions over the phone. Just say "no" to everything and do not deviate from that single answer. The series of questions is designed to make certain you do not have a cable company or TV broadcast station that could otherwise provide a similar, reliable service. Obviously, you do not have such regular, reliable service from an RV. Make certain they know you will be using the system from an RV, will not have it plugged into a telephone line, and that the mail address you provided is for billing and literature only. Keep stressing that you are calling from a pay phone. It is important to over emphasize that your satellite receiver will not be connected to a telephone line. The service operator must make a specific entry into their data base, otherwise they may discontinue service when your receiver has not reported in to them (over the phone) for over a month or so. From USSB we negotiated for their 5 HBO channels for $10.95. The total cost of all this is now $35.00 a month. One could do just fine with just the Select Choice at $19.95 plus the 24 all major network providers package. They don't tell you this, you must know it in advance. You can elect to have the monthly bill charged to your credit card
As I understand it, a feature in the satellite receiver has a buffer that stores pay-for-view requests. Apparently, without connection to a telephone line, one could opt to and receive about 10 pay movies, either intentionally or by accident. The first time the receiver is connected to a telephone line it then "calls home" to report your authorization and they will then bill you, whether or not you actually viewed the movie. This feature was apparently designed to allow for very busy telephones or disconnections from a single phone line in a home not having the ability to permanently connect the satellite receiver to a telephone line. To get around this possibility, we programmed a user option in the receiver that allows us to set spending limits. We set that to zero. If I accidentally click on a pay for view channel it notifies me of my error and encourages me to change my spending limit, which I ignore and get the heck out of the pay for view channel area. There seem to be hundreds of pay for view channels. Had we not done that, we would have eventually been billed for 3 movies I might think about watching but would not have thought them worth paying for. I have this irrational thought that if the thing doesn't reconcile it's buffer stored billing with mother computer at home base, the whole darned system will shut down until I let it call home. I really haven't got a clue what would actually happen or when. I can't imagine removing it and carrying it to a campground phone line or connecting it to a cellular data phone for it to "do its thing", although I guess you could do that. So, we just don't allow for selection of pay for view options.
Basically, DSS offers high channel availability of everything but movie type only channels. USSB offers all the movie type channels but no normal programming. They both have a multitude of Pay-for-View channels. Between them they offer everything imaginable, including access to all basketball, professional or college football and golf. Although DSS has an offering for a set of movie channels, it is not of the HBO, Showtime type that one expects to be available from a normal cable franchise. For most of us, the trick is to mix it up and get what is wanted from DSS and/or USSB, without getting taken by selecting everything from both of them.
We really wish we had done this years ago. Now that the prices are this low, it is senseless for us not to. Dollar-a-day cable charges in many RV parks are now unnecessary and offsets some charges. I am an advisor for "Computing On Line" and have articles posted under "articles and editorials" at this WEB site (RVers Online). If you have an interest in maintaining communications with friends, relatives, or to maintain a business via telephone, Email on the Internet or FAX, you might get some assistance by reading them.
Mel & Susan Chaney