Another 'HELP with Hopper plus 2 Joeys in my camper!' thread. I need to get educated!

[TechWriter]

Here is what I would like to do if everything were easy: When we we go camping - I want to disconnect and bring that 'light usage' Hopper with us. There is already a LOT saved on the built-in DVR, and would save some cost as opposed to adding another hopper to our fleet. I would also buy (amazon?) two Joeys to supply video to the two other TV's in the camper. So again, 1 hopper + 2 Joeys is the goal here.

Here are primary questions:
1. Has anyone successfully set this up in their camper?

Yep. Here's a diagram of my original setup:
- Solo Node in RV (dual RG6 to RV): http://rvseniormoments.files.wordpr...sh_threetvs_hopper_2_joey_hdhdhd_dual_rg6.pdf
- Solo Node at Tripod (single RG6 to RV): http://rvseniormoments.files.wordpr..._threetvs_hopper_2_joey_hdhdhd_single_rg6.pdf (preferred method as you only run a SINGLE RG6 coax from portable dish to RV)

My website has a complete section on DISH for RVers -- http://rvseniormoments.com/tech-docs/dish-tv-for-rvs/

2. Assuming I am able to bring one of my current hoppers, and buy 2 new Joeys, will the Hopper recognize and be able to 'link' to the the two Camper Joeys? And then will it recognize and 're-link' to the Joeys in the house when we return from our trip?

Yep. I currently have two Hoppers + a Joey in my RV and I have disconnected one of the Hoppers, used it in a park model, then reconnected it to the other Hopper in my RV -- no problems.

I designed a more complicated system (3 Hoppers & 7 Joeys) for someone who wanted the same thing as you -- the ability to connect/reconnect Hoppers at will: http://rvseniormoments.files.wordpr...ee_hoppers_and_seven_joeys_single_network.pdf

3. Which actual Satellite dish would I need for this? Want to do one of the setups where I can place the dish on a tri-pod. Really do not want one of the Wineguard setups. Not familiar with a 'LNB' and have no clue what I would need 'before the node.' Need some big help here.

If you can afford it, then go with a Winegard Travler (~ $1200). However, a number of us with Travlers also carry much cheaper portable tripods (like a 1000.2 or 1000.4) because sometimes our Travlers are blocked by trees.

4. How does the 'aiming' of a dish work? Is this relatively easy?

If you're not patient, then it won't be easy. I've been RVing for several years and even with a good tripod and meter, it can be a PITA.

 

[harshness]

Monthly charges for 6 joeys is the same as it would be for 4 joeys and 2 211's.

I was thinking in terms of paying $12/month so you could leave the Joeys in the rig.

I'm pretty sure DISH only allows one 211 per Hopper subscriber.

 

[lucky86]

I believe you can have two 211s to accommodate for X2 users.

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[shaferz]

Holy moly! I went to work for 4 days and came back to 4 pages worth of thread to read! Thanks to everyone for the input. A few notes -

Unfortunately, we aren't camping enough yet for me to justify the Travler. I do understand that will result in likely frustrating times setting up and aiming a dish.

I went ahead and ordered the dish, LNB, solo node, two joeys, and tripod setup. All should arrive tomorrow so hopefully in the afternoon, I've got time to at least try to get the hopper working.

The 'kit' I ordered came with suggested azimuth, skew, and elevation numbers per zip code so hopefully that will get me close.

Have not had time yet to read through the entire thread, but wanted to thank everyone for the info. If we ever get into a mode where we camp every weekend, I may be able to justify a Travler, but at this point, the wife would be a hard sell.

Thanks again!

 

[Chris04626]

What dish did you get

 

[shaferz]

1000.2 with a foldable tripod. After reviewing everything that I received, it looks like I will need to acquire a second 50' RG6 cable to run from the lnbf to the solo node.

 

[Chris04626]

I am looking for one also what site did you get it from

 

[shaferz]

Bump for anyone interested. Am going to try to step through my trials and tribulations today...

UPS delivered my Solo Node and what was supposed to be a 3ghz splitter. What arrived was a solo node and some Chinese pile of dung $1.99 splitter. I needed to grab a 50' chunk of RG6 locally anyway, so I got a proper splitter from the same place.

Came home and pieced everything together.

Traced wiring inside of camper to figure out how it was all set up. I will draw a diagram this weekend, but the way the camper is wired makes it set up almost perfectly for a hopper + 2 Joey setup.

Aligning the dish was confusing at first but went well considering it was my first time. The kit I bought came with a little 'sat Finder' box that beeps louder as signal is stronger.

Finally got it lined up good and went to work on the hopper. Installed, check switch... GREEN bars! All of this went well.

Joeys were both getting stuck on the 1303 screen and after freaking out about a bad node or wiring somewhere, I realized I had never activated them. Online chat with dish and they were both up in about 60 seconds. Unfortunately, I only had enough short rg6 pieces to permanently mount one joey , but will finish it all up tomorrow.

My only gripe - I wish the hopper was more compact! Hard to find a ventilated spot in a camper to house the thing. May have to end up getting creative.



Quick picture of the TV in the kids room loading up after the 'permanent' Joey install.




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[osumike]

Nice work!

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[Chris04626]

What kind of camper do you have it in. I wish you could easily connect to the cable wall jacks that are already installed in camper

 

[shaferz]

What kind of camper do you have it in. I wish you could easily connect to the cable wall jacks that are already installed in camper

It's a 2013 Keystone Sprinter 311 BHS.

Here is a quick diagram showing how the camper came wired from the 'factory.'

 

[shaferz]

Will try to explain that diagram here. lol The back of the camper has two jacks. One that is not labeled, and one that is labeled 'satellite prep.'

The Satellite Prep jack on the back of the camper is directly wired to the top jack on the wall plate by the primary TV. This specific jack on the wall plate says 'Satellite.'

The input in the back of the camper that is not labeled at all is wired directly to the bottom jack on the wall plate by the primary TV... this bottom Jack is basically the 'amplifier' for the external over-the-air antenna. This jack/'amplifier' has power wires, coax from the rear non-labeled input, coax from the antenna, and coax that feeds the rear two Tv's.

In stock form, if you want to watch amplified OTA signal, you simply hook a coax cable from the bottom jack on the wall plate and plug it into the main TV. The other two TV's (towards the rear of the camper) are both fed from the back side of the wall plate which is located near the primary TV... this coax is hooked to a splitter (900 mhz) in the wall between the two rear TV's. Simply turn on the switch for the amp, and all TV's get amplified OTA signal. Easy.

Here is how I modified:

I swapped the splitter in the wall from the 900mhz stuff to a nice RCA 3ghz unit.
I installed the Hopper at the main TV. Hooked coax from the top jack on the wall plate to the Hopper. Ran HDMI from the Hopper to the Main TV (located on the right side of the attached picture above.)
I installed 2 joeys in the rear - one to each rear TV's. Hooked directly to those wall plates which were fed from that 3ghz splitter that I replaced in a previous step.
Checked MCOA at all locations - all registered strong with 4 bars.

This works because of the following:

Solo Node is mounted outside near the two input ports. Host side of the Node is wired to the 'Satellite Prep' jack on the outside of the camper (which is wired to the top jack on the wall plate near the primary TV.) Client side of the Node is wired to the unmarked jack on the outside of the camper (which is wired to the 'amplifier' that is on the bottom jack of wall plate near the primary TV.) Again - 'primary TV' is located at the far right hand side of the picture attached in the previous post.


The only way the Hopper and Joeys are connected at all is through the Node- I assume this is how the system was designed to run from the beginning - because quite honestly - this whole setup seems to work very well. Now, if I could only talk the wife into dropping $1g+ for a Travler so I dont have to mess around with aiming every time we set up somewhere new! Ah well - baby steps, right?

 

[Chris04626]

I have the 2011 Keystone Sprinter 311 BHS I have a main tv that swivels from living room to master bed room, then i have a cable jack in the bunk room, then i have a cable jack in the outside kitchen

Previous owner ran a cable from the outside of camper to the bunk room which he used for an internet modem.

I have my hopper in the bunk room because the shelf is bigger than whats at the main tv. I have a solo node with one output using the cable the previous owner installed going to hopper in bunk room, and the other cable coming from node going to Sat jack on the back of the camper, then at the main tv i have cable run from the Sat jack to the Joey. Im trying to figure out how to add another joey to the outside kitchen jack

At the main tv inside the cabinet under neath is a hole you can look up in the hole and see a splitter and the power wires and stuff going to the jack

Wonder if it would work for me doing it how you did where i have the hopper in bunk room instead of at main tv? then i could hook a joey to the outside "cable jack" in the outdoor kitchen

 

[shaferz]

I have the 2011 Keystone Sprinter 311 BHS I have a main tv that swivels from living room to master bed room, then i have a cable jack in the bunk room, then i have a cable jack in the outside kitchen

Previous owner ran a cable from the outside of camper to the bunk room which he used for an internet modem.

I have my hopper in the bunk room because the shelf is bigger than whats at the main tv. I have a solo node with one output using the cable the previous owner installed going to hopper in bunk room, and the other cable coming from node going to Sat jack on the back of the camper, then at the main tv i have cable run from the Sat jack to the Joey. Im trying to figure out how to add another joey to the outside kitchen jack

At the main tv inside the cabinet under neath is a hole you can look up in the hole and see a splitter and the power wires and stuff going to the jack

Wish you were closer to me! I'd be happy to help you out if you were nearer.

I originally wanted to put our Hopper back in the bunkhouse simply for the space concerns like you had, but after seeing how things were wired up - it made more sense to me to try to find a home for it somewhere near that main TV.

Do you have two jacks at the back of the camper?

If so, you could hook that 2nd wire from your Node into that unlabeled jack at the back of the camper. That would supply 'joey signal' to the outside kitchen plus the bottom jack on the wall plate that is in the cubby hole underneath the main TV.

Note that I am assuming that your camper also has the 'amplified' OTA antenna. Does that wall plate have two jacks and a power switch for the amp? If so, try what I put above. That should work - keep the amp off. Not sure what happens if you turn the amp on while hooked up to the dish - I actually disconnected and taped off the power wires to my OTA antenna amplifier. Did not want the kids poking around and potentially toasting something!

This also has me re-thinking my install. I could put the Hopper in the bunkhouse if wired up a dish 'tap.'

Node Host port wired to the unlabled input on the back of the camper which wires to the Tap. Tap sends host signal to Hopper in bunkhouse and client signal to the outside kitchen.
Node Client port wired to the 'satellite' input on the back of the camper which would send signal directly to the top port on the wall switch below the primary TV.

In theory, the above would work - but I do not know if I could still use the amplified OTA antenna after going this route (in cases where there are too many trees to get dish signal.)

 

[Chris04626]

Yes i have a sat jack and a cable jack at the back just like you do. Jack at main tv has the cable jack the ota switch and the sat jack. i will have to try what you did this weekend when i have time

 

[shaferz]

Yes i have a sat jack and a cable jack at the back just like you do. Jack at main tv has the cable jack the ota switch and the sat jack. i will have to try what you did this weekend when i have time

I updated my post above your last one with more info. GOOD LUCK!

 

[shaferz]

Also -

I just ordered a Tap as well. May try it that way so I can put the Hopper back in the bunkhouse. Would save me a LOT of trouble.

 

[Chris04626]

Input of that splitter does that come from the back of camper or the of a Jack at main tv. Where do the two outputs from that lead. I assumed it would go to bunk and outside kitchen jacks

 

[shaferz]

Input of that splitter does that come from the back of camper or the of a Jack at main tv. Where do the two outputs from that lead. I assumed it would go to bunk and outside kitchen jacks

That bottom jack at the main TV actually has the amplifier and 3 different coax jacks on the rear side of it. One is connected to the unlabeled input at the outside rear of the camper. Another is the OTA antenna downfeed. The final one is the one that feeds the splitter that is inside the wall between the rear bunkhouse and the outside kitchen. To find that splitter, I had to remove the wall plate from the bunkhouse and do some serious tugging.

 

[Chris04626]

I have a splitter at the main tv in the wall below jack

I see where it all connects to wall plate and I see the splitter right under it