DirecTV and KVH

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I have a KVH M-7. The dish would sometimes lock on to the satellites and then for no apparent reason will break lock and go into search mode.

Ordered a new receiver/DVR from Solid Signal.

Received a new receiver and hooked it up and called DirecTv to turn it on. They are a pain in the a$$ to deal with sometimes. Same condition remained breaking lock.

KVH sent me to McKay Communications. Just so happens there is a technician based out of Portland. He came out and troubleshot system. After a few calls to KVH it was determined that the receiver was not providing a steady 13Vdc through RF1 for the antenna LMB. It would cycle between 13v to 0v. KVH recommended I buy a multi switch which would provide the steady 13Vdc.

I purchase a multiswitch hooked it up and same issue. Break lock. Multi-switch was also cycling the voltage.

Called the technician. He came out and brought a DishTV receiver and his own multi-switch. Hooked it up and a steady 13vDC. Hooked up my multi-switch on his receiver and a steady 13v. Hooked his multiswitch up to my receiver and voltage would cycle. It appears the multi-switches are "smart switches" and when the input voltage drops below 12vDC, it shuts it down the multi-switch and cycles the voltage.

Bad receiver. I was told that these receivers has this issue.

Called Solid Signal and they are over night a receiver. I have requested the receiver be checked for the 13v.

I will update. But I am seeing my free money from the virus quickly disappearing.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well update:

Received a new receiver and it put out a steady 13.8Vdc. Turned the KVH antenna on and it immediately started to track 119 and 101.

Then it would cycle between tracking and an RF error.

The coax cables from the antenna to the receiver box check good, less than 2 ohms on a continuity check. The technician and KVH believes the issue is inside the antenna.

So he will be out again next week with his lap top and plug into the antenna/system. The weird thing is KVH does not want the technician to mess with the antenna. Proprietary issue?

The tech will plug into the system and KVH will troubleshoot it remotely. This should be fun to watch.

 

[firehoser75]

Jeez Tom, sounds like a lot of problems just to be able to have TV!
I do get it, you have the equipment and want it to work properly.

I do hope you get it working though, cause in that way, I will get to watch some TV this summer when you have me over for that scotch you offered way back when should we run across each other up here in BC.
Good luck with this, and I hope you get it sorted with the least "outlay".

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Jeez Tom, sounds like a lot of problems just to be able to have TV!
I do get it, you have the equipment and want it to work properly.

I do hope you get it working though, cause in that way, I will get to watch some TV this summer when you have me over for that scotch you offered way back when should we run across each other up here in BC.
Good luck with this, and I hope you get it sorted with the least "outlay".

Tom always have a drink for you my friend.

Yeah I know its just TV right. There are shows we like to watch and some places in Alaska and BC there is no contact with anyone, so its nice to sit back and watch something on those nasty days.

 

[firehoser75]

Tom,
I get the appeal of watching TV (at least sometimes), especially in remote areas. Sometimes I lose total track of what is happening in the world without it.
I bet you enjoyed taking a rest by watching the tube and having a "cold one" after cleaning that "monster fish" I recently saw a photo of??? Now that is one hell of a fish!!!
Oh, and I appreciate the offer

 

[Crusty Chief]

Jeez, when I think of the time, effort and money you have put into this system....could of bought a ton of good cigars and great Scotch. Hope it eventually works.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Tom,
I get the appeal of watching TV (at least sometimes), especially in remote areas. Sometimes I lose total track of what is happening in the world without it.
I bet you enjoyed taking a rest by watching the tube and having a "cold one" after cleaning that "monster fish" I recently saw a photo of??? Now that is one hell of a fish!!!
Oh, and I appreciate the offer

Ha, wish that was my fish. Mine was actually a bit smaller and yes Kay the Admiral out fished me all the time, but that's OK. I can go in and watch a bass show and dream of catching fish.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Jeez, when I think of the time, effort and money you have put into this system....could of bought a ton of good cigars and great Scotch. Hope it eventually works.

Still cheaper than a new M7........

 

[Woodland Hills]

M series is no longer on the market. KVH has the HD and TV lines. The TV series is much cheaper than the older stuff: TV 1 is $2000 TV3 is $3300 and TV 5 is $4000.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

M series is no longer on the market. KVH has the HD and TV lines. The TV series is much cheaper than the older stuff: TV 1 is $2000 TV3 is $3300 and TV 5 is $4000.

True. The reason I have an M-7 is the dish size. I can get sat tv all the way north to Skagway. Loose the Portland locals in K-Town

They still have the UHD-7 which is $11K to 13K

The TV 8 is around $13K or more

 

[Woodland Hills]

I understand very well: we lost the signal on our M5 when we got east of Nassau. Those with M7’s had TV all the way to George Town.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Update

Had Justin from McKay Communications out to the boat. He hooked into the system and KVH took over the antenna. KVH ran tests on the antenna remotely which was cool to watch. After all said and done, KVH wanted me to send them the circuit boards, (3 total) to them. It would seem the RF board does not want to play with the mother board.

This has been an adventure. Had a bad receiver, ran a multi-switch which wasn't needed. Multiple issues at the same time.

All this so I can watch President Trump on TV!

 

[firehoser75]

Tom,
At least it is for a very good cause.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Tom,
At least it is for a very good cause.

Yeah, but for the Admiral its finding Sasquatch or ancient Aliens!!

 

[GFC]

I'd sell you the system we have on Beachcomber but Tina would comb my hair with a brick. Oh, wait, I'm bald now. Wanna buy a virtually unused KVH DirectTV system?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I'd sell you the system we have on Beachcomber but Tina would comb my hair with a brick. Oh, wait, I'm bald now. Wanna buy a virtually unused KVH DirectTV system?

Just sent the boards to KVH, so I will almost have a new unit.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

The TV from Hell is finally up and working

This will be a long update so I apologize in advance.

The boards were sent back to KVH and they all tested good. Next? It would seem KVH will not allow service technicians to fix anything inside the antenna complex with the exception of removing the boards. So, KVH wanted me to send the entire antenna back to them to fix it. Shipment would need to be by truck and I pay for it all. Well I wasn't happy with KVH and let them know it. It would appear that dis-satisfaction made it up the KVH chain.

In lieu of sending the system back, KVH offered me a new TV6 system for $3500 with a two year warranty. The TV6 has the same dish size as the M7 and would mount the same. The TV 6 is an upgrade using SWM(Single Wire Multiswitch) technology which simply put it only uses one coax cable from the antenna to a box called TV Hub (WIFI). OK we are this far in send me the new unit.

So after waiting 2 weeks, a truck drops off the new unit. I install it in about 2 hours, instead of bring the technician out again. With a little help from KVH, I had a picture!!! Yee Ha!! Nope.

I noticed I was only receiving half of my programming. What? Called KVH and asked them what the hell. KVH asked me my address, why? It would seem here on the west coast DircTV is still using 2 satellites 101 and 119. All locals and others (Fox News) are on 119. Many east coast areas, DirecTV has moved all non-HD programming to 101. KVH tells me I need another part called a DECA adapter. This allows broadband communications between the TV Hub and the receiver.

https://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=decaepskit

Got the DECA yesterday. Hooked it up and called KVH. It would appear I have to get into the hub and change a bunch of codes. After about an hour we have all of our TV. Thing is, if DirecTV would move everything over to 101, than the install would be super easy.

One draw back. Not surprised? My DVR is just about useless. I can only record a show that I am watching, unless the show is on the same satellite I am watching. Go figure.

So there is your update. Ties in to another thread a few years back in with DirecTV was shutting down 119. Currently there is no date in which DirecTV will switch it all to 101 on the west coast. Joy Joy!!

 

[tiltrider1]

For less money you could have bought the Intellian and switched to Dish.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I needed a 24inch dish to get service north of Juneau. But once you start the digging the hole....

From what I saw Dish does not go as far north as DirecTV.

 

[tiltrider1]

Could be, my personal experience ends at the north end of Vancouver Island.

I was just yanking your chain for sport.

 

[catalinajack]

And have local stations wherever you move to.

For less money you could have bought the Intellian and switched to Dish.

 

[tpbrady]

ASD,

DISH should work just as well as DirecTV in SE Alaska. I have a similar sized antenna on the bull rail next to the boat. The only thing you would need to tell DISH as you get north of Ketchikan is to switch you to the Alaska HD package as different satellites are involved for the HD channels. In Oregon all the HD comes off the 129 satellite whereas in the far north they are on 110/119/129.

Tom

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Could be, my personal experience ends at the north end of Vancouver Island.

I was just yanking your chain for sport.

Yank all you want!!! No worries here. I now have TV!!!!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

ASD,

DISH should work just as well as DirecTV in SE Alaska. I have a similar sized antenna on the bull rail next to the boat. The only thing you would need to tell DISH as you get north of Ketchikan is to switch you to the Alaska HD package as different satellites are involved for the HD channels. In Oregon all the HD comes off the 129 satellite whereas in the far north they are on 110/119/129.

Tom

We seriously considered switching to Dish, but felt we were too deep into it already. We may later switch.

 

[Crusty Chief]

So now you can have 2 domes up top and look really cool! ROFLMAO! You have convinced me to forget the Antenna crap. Ill spend the money on Taco’s and Cervasa’s.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Hey I have an empty dome. Want it so you will be cool? I was thinking of offering it for free. They would have to come pick it up....

Taco my ass. Whiskey....

 

[Woodland Hills]

We seriously considered switching to Dish, but felt we were too deep into it already. We may later switch.

We had Directv in our land home for a decade or more, when we moved aboard and brought our old KVH up to snuff we switched to Dish. Content-wise we cannot see a difference.

 

[catalinajack]

We have had both and also could not see a significant difference in the channel packages or their cost.

We had Directv in our land home for a decade or more, when we moved aboard and brought our old KVH up to snuff we switched to Dish. Content-wise we cannot see a difference.

 

[Datenight]

Hey I have an empty dome. Want it so you will be cool? I

.....never mind, too easy.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Hey I have an empty dome. Want it so you will be cool? I

.....never mind, too easy.

LOL Yeah I know....bla bla bla