Directv Hd Satellite Dish Rv Tripod Kit

After reading the reviews I almost didn't order this product, but I am glad that I did and I'm completely satisfied. I purchased this product for use with my RV supplemental to my home system so my comments and results reflect this. Here is a summary of what I think any prospective buyer should know:1. Everything pictured in the photos arrived with my kit including the instructions which are complete.2. Do your homework first before ordering to make sure that you order a kit that will work with your DirecTv receiver. Go to the company web site at http://www.satelliteoasis.com/ to verify this. They have several different kits to choose from based on your receiver which appears to include all of the possible receivers except the Genie models currently. With the model DVR that I was using (HR21-700) I could have chosen the SWiM kit but wasn't interested in using those features and did not wish to buy an expensive satellite finder tool (without which you would either need an assistant on the inside watching the signal strength meter on the TV screen or a lot of running back and worth). I choose the non-SWiM kit instead primarily because of this and it comes with an inexpensive satellite finder tool (that won't work with a SWiM model). It worked like a champ with this kit and I was able to fine tune my dish pointing without any problems achieving 100% signals on all three SATs.3. Don't assume that you only have to point your dish. Go through the setup process in the instructions which includes choosing the correct dish model and type. If you don't do this you are not going to get it to work unless you are lucky enough that your home dish that is already set up in the receiver is exactly the same.4. Use your DirecTV remote during setup and choose the menu key to get past the initial error message.5. Use the internet to get your initial dish pointing information here: http://www.satpointer.com/ or here: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/customer/dishPointer.jsp and write it down.6. If you are in a windy environment such as I am in South Texas on the coast you may need more than the three stakes that come with the kit to hold the tripod securely in place. I added a small one gallon bucket and 8lbs of cheap ($1) kitty litter to the center of the tripod to help hold it in place and so far this is working (40mph gusts and steady 26mph winds so far).7. The inside of my RV is pre-wired with only one coax cable (not two) for my satellite connection. If you are using a non-DVR receiver this is all that you need. If you are using a DVR receiver such as mine you will probably need two cables and a internet connection in order to experience full functionality. With one cable connected I can only record one show at a time and cannot view or record a different program at the same time. Without a internet connection I am not able to use VOD or the back up to the beginning of the program function when available if I join a program that is already in progress. While my DVR is being used in the RV away from my home network sharing between other DVRs such as the Genie on the home network is not possible.I hope that this information will help you to make a sound decision and choose wisely. I am very happy with this purchase and for just the cost of this kit (about $150) I can now take DirecTV on the road with me and still use the service that I have already purchased from DirecTV when I am away from home in my RV.

I am going to start this out with: After I worked out the bugs, I am satisfied with the purchase. I purchased this dish and an HR24-500 DirecTV receiver for my RV. When I first set it up, it did not work. I had no idea if the problem was the new (new re-conditioned) receiver that I had purchased, the dish, the wiring, my location, or the satellite signal meter that came with this kit. Add to it that the cheap compass that they send you for finding the direction of your satellite provides an ambiguous direction at best. I consistently got an error code “771 loss of satellite signal”. I replaced one of the short co-axial cables because one end of it was coming apart. After about 15 hours (off-and-on) trouble-shooting , I tried to contact Satellite Oasis for some tech support. You can’t call Satellite Oasis but they have an e-mail type contact on their web page. Two months later, I still haven’t heard from them. I talked to a couple of different customer service reps at DirecTV and finally talked to one who really seemed to know what was going on. She assured me that a service call would be able to fix my problem at no additional cost. The guy showed up at the appointed time and tried to tune in a satellite with his high dollar satellite signal strength meter. No joy. The next thing he did was swap out the LNB to make it SWM as he assured me this would be better for HD reception (no cost). He was still unable to tune in a satellite. Within a few minutes, he determined that the problem was that the actual dish was slightly deformed (maybe damaged in shipping). The deformity in the dish was almost imperceptible. It was just a slight wrinkle but he said it would never work. He swapped out the dish (no cost), tuned in the satellite with his high-dollar satellite signal strength meter and everything worked great. (He also said that the high-dollar automated tuning dishes don’t do HD as well as advertised). After he left, I moved the antenna across the yard just to make sure the system would work as advertised for an RV set-up-and-move scenario. That is when I discovered that the cheap little satellite signal strength meter that comes with this set-up will not work with SWM. I decided to try just getting lucky, pointing the dish in the direction of the satellite, and just moving it around a little. It worked. I turn up the volume on the TV and I can hear it suddenly start working when I get to the sweet spot. Once you have a signal locked, you can use the signal strength screen on your TV to refine your dish setting for strongest signal - but you have to have your wife in the RV and yell or run back and forth. OK, so after a few trials, and getting lucky finding a satellite in my backyard, I decided to take it on the road and try it out. In my new location, it took me about 30 minutes to get everything for the TV set up and working. Much of that time was spent trying to get the tripod perfectly level. It would be a very simple modification to send this thing out with leveling screws on the tripod. I installed my own. It still took me about 25 minutes to get lucky getting my satellite tuned in. On the positive side, it works great once you get it set up; for $7 a month (DirecTV additional receiver fee) you can have HDTV in your RV or at your tailgate party or hunting cabin; I am able to get the SEC channel (Roll Tide) and my All-Day-Sunday-Football ticket channels. For the difference in price between this and an auto-tuner, I like this one but I had a little experience trouble-shooting electronics when I was a radar technician in the Marines. Don’t be stubborn. If it doesn’t work when you get it out of the box, schedule a service call from DirecTV. I have had it for two months now and have had good service with it. It still takes about 20 minutes to set up from a cold start but it suits my budget and my lifestyle.

I wanted an HD DirecTV dish to take one of my DirecTV home receivers on RV trips. My receiver is an H23-600.Initially I wanted one of the smaller auto finding systems but decided against it for three reasons. 1) They supported Dish Network HD and I don't want to subscribe to another service 2) they only supported SD for DirecTV and 3) they cost about 4-5x more.Setting this up only needs a 13mm wrench. The procedure went fairly fast, slowed mostly by the receiver's power up self tests. Had 96% signal after first aim.Dish and support materials were new and packed well - appeared to be in original factory box. Manual was clear and easy to follow.I hesitated ordering this based on the other reviews listed here but found this to be a quality product at a fair price. The only negatives I have is that shipping was more than I thought it should have been (about $35) and I ordered it late Monday but it didn't ship until Friday.