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DISH TV / KVH SATELLITE ANTENNA
I rememeber the good old days when DirecTV wasn’t owned by ATT and I had a bulletproof TracStar antenna.
But ATT bought Direct and it became impossible to deal with them, and TracStar would not support Dish so I ended up replacing Direct with Dish, and TrcStar with a KVH RV1.
Since we have had that set up we have never been able to get all of the channels we subscribe to. As a result of one company blaming the other for that problem I have learned far more than I ever wanted. I can use the antenna wi-fi and IP address to do whatever is necessary to select satellites, measure signal strength, change settings and even have it pour me a beer. (Juest kidding about the last one. Wanted to see if you were still following this post)
So I now know I can find out anything I want about the Dish receiver, including signal strength, what satellite it is receiving, how to run a system check, etc.
We have never gotten every channel that is part of the package we pay for. Dish initially blamed that on our location saying some areas have poor reception, which I verified by pulling up Dish ad KVH maps of coverage areas. That is no longer true because everywhere the bus has gone it has been the same dropping of some channels.
Yesterday despite having strong KVH signal strength none of our Dish channels would come in and all showed we needed a subscription. After 54 minutes with “Brian” nothing he could do or suggest would get the system to reflect we have all the subscriptios,
Today I got it working, but like every other trip several channels we routinely watch will not even show up on the guide. Today “Matthew” blames KVH as not providing a good signal to the receiver. He claims if I had a Dish TV antenna everything would work.
Here’s the question: Is this typical of Dish with the KVH RV1? I am almost ready to ask Dish to put their receiver where the sun don’t shine.
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32 Replies
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Jon,
I may be barking up the wrong tree here. Why dont you use your mobile hot spot and hulu or netflix or any number of tv apps available? Its much simpler and cheaper.
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I pulled the plug on Direct TV and gladly paid the $400 early cancellation fee. My life was shortened dealing with the various “Brians” and “Matthews” at Direct TV while trying to get service issues addressed. It’s streaming or over the air antennae for me from now on. Worst case scenario I can read a book. LOL
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Just so everyone is aware of my objective, it is not to find an alternate. I am not going to use access to cable, wi-fi, over the air or any other means of watching TV as a reason why I don’t need to take this issue seriously. I never had an issue getting our subscribed shows on DTV and TracStar and see no reason why I should be not getting them all now.
I want the TV to be in motion so we can listen to satellite music as we travel as an option even though we have multiple sources of music or radio other than Dish.
My question remains. Am I unique in experiencing this problem with Dish / KVH RV1 or do others have a similar problem?
BTW I know of Netflix, and Hulu and the like and just don’t want it in the bus.
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My recent switch from Direct to Dish has been great. Jon, what receiver did you go with? Are you talking to the outdoor group that deals with RV’s and the mobile stuff at 877-784-0121?
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I am talking to folks in some foreign land who claim to solve my problem, but after having me reboot, check connections, etc. leaves me where I am. So far, tw calls to the RV folks and I have spent 90 minutes with the last one telling me my problem would be solved if I got rid of the KVH and bought the Dish in-motion antenna.
I use the KVH IP address to get into it and I have told “Brian” or “Matthew” if they blame it on the wrong series, such as the eastern arc satellites or the particular satellite such as 119 (which they told me is not supported any more) I will change it to whatever they want.
It has to be an issue with their receiver or their system that is sending my signal but now they are blaming a KVH antenna that has serious signal strength showing, as does their own receiver. I can read and change any setting needed, and have. I have learned more about how to access and change settings than I ever wanted to know and I am getting nowhere.
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I had the same problem with Hughes net and their WiFi. Could not get service. Stopped and sent their equipment back. Between them the UPS STORE. AFTER I COMPLAINED TO THEM AND SIX MONTHS LATER THEY STATED THEY NEVER GOT THE EQUIPMENT BACK–IT COST ME OVER $6000 because I could find the receipt.
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You may have already done this, but the KVH tech folks 401-847-3327 are very good and every time I called them they knew more about the satellite providers tech than the satellite company.
One other note when I had issue with not getting some channels in bus that I could get at home, it centered around the high definition channels. Had to do with my KVH unit not supporting high def with my sat provider.
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I have worn out Dish and Dish outdoor which is not Dish but another company and the finger pointing goes toward KVH and now they are saying dump KVH and get a Winegard.
On a previous trip KVH was throwing stones at Dish and their poor coverage. Today as my final effort I am making a last call to KVH even though I have tried both eastern legacy arc, western arc plus manually selecting 119 and 61 satellites, all with success at getting some channels, but far from all, including some we enjoy the most, Signal strengths have all been good as shown on KVH and Dish.
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Jon,
You may already know this…but on the KVH-RV1 web site it reads that the KVH-RV1 is not compatible with DISH Eastern Arc” (satellites 61W, 72W, 77W) at this time.
They also mention that sat-129 coverage is not available in the northeast U.S.
(Excerpt from that page below.)
*RV1 coverage for DISH Network is limited to “DISH 500” (satellites 110W and 119W), “DISH Eastern Arc – Legacy” (satellites 61W, 110W, 119W) and the “DISH Western Arc” (satellites 110W, 119W, and 129W). Note that 129W coverage is not available in the northeast US due to the low elevation angle to the satellite. RV1 is not compatible with the “DISH Eastern Arc” (satellites 61W, 72W, 77W) at this time.
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KVH is never a good choice for RVers. As the OP noted, he has had to connect via computer to even make changes other manufacturers handle with a dip switch or controller setting.
KVH comes in 4th in a field of 3 when it comes to satellite TV antennas for RV’s.
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Problem resolved.
We are now getting all channels we subscribe to. I will not spread blame around because Dish and KVH have dirty hands. But I know what I have to do in the future to cure the problem.
I am not going to explain the solution because since nobody posted they have the same combination or problems there is no need for me to explain the details, but the bottom line is I have a lot of hoops to jump through every time the receiver and antenna are dormant for a while, and I was finally able to get enough information from customer support from both companies to be able to get full subscription channels with in motion reception.
None of the hoops I have to jump through with the receiver or the antenna are listed in their manuals and both companies feel free to take shots at the other. Sad.
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I have had very good service from Direct for a number of years. I get the eastern feed for all th networks because I do not get local stations when very far from home. We seem to get all the stations that we get at home, both in motion sat and HD sat. The thing I dont like is after being in the barn for a number of weeks I have to call and get the receiver refreshed,or I can do this with my computer.
I never have tried Dish so I dont know if it is better.
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For us DirecTV was convenient and good in the bus. The TracStar antenna seemed bullet proof, always working, and after sitting for a while to refresh I went to the DTV web site and refreshed with the click of a button.
Dish does not have that feature and I have to call and go through their damn menu pressing numbers, listening to their specials, etc to get to someone somewhere on the other side of the globe (or in Arizona as they claim) to refresh my service.
Then I have to go into my KVH antenna via the IP address and Wi-Fi it has to make sure I am on the right satellite group. Then I have to go into the settings, do a switch check and when complete turn that off. Then I go into the Dish diagnostics and verify it is receiving all three satellites for the group selected.
Then I can call up any channel we subscribe to. The only problem with that is not all channels use the same satellites, so to switch from one to another we usually have to select what we want to see, and then get messages on screen for several minutes about lost signals, acquiring satellites, and telling us to check all connections. Eventually what we want to watch shows up.
It is a royal pain to go from DirecTV to Dish, but dealing with DirecTV since it has been taken over by ATT is even more painful.
I have added this irritating situation to the list of problems I intend to fix when I name myself emperor of the universe.
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Both DirecTV and Dish receivers will “sleep” after not seeing a satellite signal for about 30 days. They have built in fraud protection tied to the internal or external “card” that holds the account information. If that information is not updated (someone using an illegal card) the account will be shut down.
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Jon,
I had the same issue using KVH RV1 and Dish. KVH told me the issue was Dish needs to switch between different satellites based on the channels and there is an issue that the Dish receiver “cancels” the satellite change because the KVH doesn’t move fast enough to lock onto the next satellite. This puts the KVH in a loop trying to go from 1 satellite to the next and the Dish receiver trying to lock on a different satellite. They recommended I switch to Directv through Solid Signal and I haven’t had any issues. I setup a Directv business account, which gets me better support and a much lower cost.
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