I recently had directv installed in our home, we also have a seasonal camp that we would like to have the service at. When we tried to use one of the home receivers at the seasonal location, all we kept seeing on the screen was receiving signal, it never did complete the signal. My question, are we able to use this receiver or do we need to purchase another one. Our equipment is leased..Also, is there a certain cable that we must install that is different from the one that is there,,,My brother set up the dish, he is currently getting service on his receiver, nothing on ours...are we doing something wrong in the setup. We hooked into his splitter, ran a line to our camp, which is approximately 60 foot. thanks for any help you can give us...we would really like to get this set up for the summer....
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possible switch problem?
after reading some of these other posts, I am now wondering if it may be the switch that could be our problem.. the switch that we are coming off is an older one,
my equipment was installed recently and is much newer than my brothers...guess, what I am now asking, can you mix old with new? His receiver worked at our place, but ours wouldnt work at his. we werent even able to access the menu on our new receiver ,,it wouldnt let us do anything..it just kept showing searching for satellite.. If the switch is the problem, can it be replaced with a new one and if it can, will my brothers receiver work with the new...? last resort, will I need to find an older receiver to activate and have it work going that route... thanks
after reading some of these other posts, I am now wondering if it may be the switch that could be our problem.. the switch that we are coming off is an older one,
my equipment was installed recently and is much newer than my brothers...guess, what I am now asking, can you mix old with new? His receiver worked at our place, but ours wouldnt work at his. we werent even able to access the menu on our new receiver ,,it wouldnt let us do anything..it just kept showing searching for satellite.. If the switch is the problem, can it be replaced with a new one and if it can, will my brothers receiver work with the new...? last resort, will I need to find an older receiver to activate and have it work going that route... thanks
Can you give a few more details?
What dish is at the camp?
The first post mentioned a splitter and then in the followup a switch was mentioned.
So, are you using a splitter at the camp or a multiswitch?
What dish is at the camp?
The first post mentioned a splitter and then in the followup a switch was mentioned.
So, are you using a splitter at the camp or a multiswitch?
Also, what Recvrs are you using ?
Dish, like JD said, what type, is it a newer Slimline 3-5, older 3lnb, newer yet SWiM set up.
If you can get to the dish or either recvr into the set up menu's will tell you what dish is set up.
If that doesn't work, look at the end of the dish and see what model numbers is on the LNB.
No splitters can be used between the dish and recvr(s), however a Multiswitch can be.
Dish, like JD said, what type, is it a newer Slimline 3-5, older 3lnb, newer yet SWiM set up.
If you can get to the dish or either recvr into the set up menu's will tell you what dish is set up.
If that doesn't work, look at the end of the dish and see what model numbers is on the LNB.
No splitters can be used between the dish and recvr(s), however a Multiswitch can be.
I am so sorry that my message is so vague, I am not at camp at the moment, so I am not able to remember what kind of dish is currently there,,I do know that it is an old set up that my brother had. The type of receiver he had is also old, I remember it saying hughs direct on the front,,,mine set up at home is a slim line dish, with a receiver model dit-700 (it is the only one that is standard def) and after accessing the setup menu at home, I was able to see that it is indeed a SWM, someone told me that I need to reprogram this SWM out of my receiver to be able to make it compatible with the old style that we have at camp...Does this sound correct and can it be done...
As far as the switch and splitter go....I must also check on that, but I am thinking it is a multiswitch...At least that is what I am hoping from what I am reading in your post,,,I do remember that it has 5 or 6 outlets coming off it,,,does that tell anything?
Is trying to combine old with new, the reason that I wasnt able to access any menu when we hooked it up at camp? That is the part that still confuses us,,,it would not show anything except searching for satellite, (minus the progress bar across the bottom of screen) and would not let us access the menu on either the remote or the receiver box itself.
As I said ,, I truly am sorry to be so dumb about this stuff, we were just hoping that once we got our directv installed at home, we would just be able to take the box, run another line, hook it up and have tv....LOL ya right huh...
Maybe its way more that we can do?? thanks for your help
As far as the switch and splitter go....I must also check on that, but I am thinking it is a multiswitch...At least that is what I am hoping from what I am reading in your post,,,I do remember that it has 5 or 6 outlets coming off it,,,does that tell anything?
Is trying to combine old with new, the reason that I wasnt able to access any menu when we hooked it up at camp? That is the part that still confuses us,,,it would not show anything except searching for satellite, (minus the progress bar across the bottom of screen) and would not let us access the menu on either the remote or the receiver box itself.
As I said ,, I truly am sorry to be so dumb about this stuff, we were just hoping that once we got our directv installed at home, we would just be able to take the box, run another line, hook it up and have tv....LOL ya right huh...
Maybe its way more that we can do?? thanks for your help
Well, the dish could be an older 18" dish with a dual output LNB for 101 sat or the Phase III dish with three LNBs (one each for 101, 110, and 119 sats). With these dishes, you cannot have any splitters. A multiswitch is required in order to get more than 2 or 4 tuners connected. There are several switches that could be used depending on what the requirements are at the camp.
As for the receiver, you will need to go into satellite setup and change the dish type to whatever you have.
As for the receiver, you will need to go into satellite setup and change the dish type to whatever you have.
thank you so much for all the info I am going to get all the information that you said is required and maybe then,,,we will be able to make a go of it. I will know more when I speak with my brother tonight, I would think that he will know what dish, multiswitch, etc. is up there I will post more this evening and hopefully we can make this happen this weekend,,,thank you again for your knowledge I am sure I will have more questions...
found more info out
ok,,got some more info and I hope it will be enough for you folks to tell me that this could happen, from all the info gathered,,,it is an old set up for sure,,its an oval dish (not sure on type) and it does have a switch not a splitter..
so is there a chance that I will be able to go in and program my new box, which is SWiM? If it is possible, is it hard to do? Also, we were able to locate an older receiver, it is more likely that this may be the way to go? As I said before, when we brought my brothers receiver over to our camp and hooked it up it worked on our tv set...so hopefully that means that the wiring end is correct. We are really uneducated when it comes to satellite connections ,so I really appreciate all your help.
I guess what I am asking is,,,can the new SWiMbox work with an older dish,once programmed ,or will we still have to make some more adjustments? Would an older receiver be more compatible and easier to put with the older dish,
or is this an impossible task for someone with such little knowledge, and we should throw the towel in and call it a day?
thanks
ok,,got some more info and I hope it will be enough for you folks to tell me that this could happen, from all the info gathered,,,it is an old set up for sure,,its an oval dish (not sure on type) and it does have a switch not a splitter..
so is there a chance that I will be able to go in and program my new box, which is SWiM? If it is possible, is it hard to do? Also, we were able to locate an older receiver, it is more likely that this may be the way to go? As I said before, when we brought my brothers receiver over to our camp and hooked it up it worked on our tv set...so hopefully that means that the wiring end is correct. We are really uneducated when it comes to satellite connections ,so I really appreciate all your help.
I guess what I am asking is,,,can the new SWiMbox work with an older dish,once programmed ,or will we still have to make some more adjustments? Would an older receiver be more compatible and easier to put with the older dish,
or is this an impossible task for someone with such little knowledge, and we should throw the towel in and call it a day?
thanks
A SWiM set up would require a NEW SL3 dish, would not work with the old dish you have currently.
The other older recvr you mentioned, do you know what model it is, you can Probably use that, but you will have to call D* and have it added to your account and probably get a new Access Card, once in a while they can remarry the older card, depends what generation is in the one your wanting to try.
Curious, the first recvr you tried to use and couldn't get to work, is that a recvr that is working elsewhere , at the other home, just making sure it's an active recvr .
The other older recvr you mentioned, do you know what model it is, you can Probably use that, but you will have to call D* and have it added to your account and probably get a new Access Card, once in a while they can remarry the older card, depends what generation is in the one your wanting to try.
Curious, the first recvr you tried to use and couldn't get to work, is that a recvr that is working elsewhere , at the other home, just making sure it's an active recvr .
thank you for the reply, I dont know what the model is of the other receiver, but I do know that it is an older one. the first receiver that we tried to use and didnt work is was the Swim one,
my brother brought his receiver over to make sure that it worked at our place, mostly to make sure that the connections were ok from the his dish to our trailer....
I guess that we could buy a SWim dish and set it over at his place, right? The whole reason that we are trying to use his dish is because where our trailer sets, we cant seem to get a signal...too many trees..
Is there a way to know if the older model receiver, that is an unused one, will work with his dish before we activate it?
thanks again for all your help
my brother brought his receiver over to make sure that it worked at our place, mostly to make sure that the connections were ok from the his dish to our trailer....
I guess that we could buy a SWim dish and set it over at his place, right? The whole reason that we are trying to use his dish is because where our trailer sets, we cant seem to get a signal...too many trees..
Is there a way to know if the older model receiver, that is an unused one, will work with his dish before we activate it?
thanks again for all your help
I REALLY doubt that if your brothers LNB is set up for SWIM, that you'll be able to use the OLDER recvr. The only recvrs I know of that will work on a SWIM set up are the H/HR20 series and up to the HR24's.
If youhave something older than that, they are not capable of working with the SWIM.
On the other hand, your brother COULD go back to the version of dish just before the SWIM came out Slimline 3 or 5 and just change the LNB, the remove the Power Inserter and splitter for the SWIM, and yours and his would be able to work of that one dish.
Main difference with the two set ups is the ability to use the DVR with one line vs two, the normal way for a DVR is to run 1 line to each input on the back of the DVR recvr. The SWiM eliminates the need for the second line.
Are these both mobile situations, if so, I wonder why he went with the SWiM set up.
To bad you guys aren't into Ohio instead of PA, I might take a drive and come out to help .
the units are not mobile, my home unit is the SWiM, brother took an extra dish and an extra bedroom receiver, took them to camp and hooked them up..his works great
I took my receiver (the SWiM one)to a satellite shop today and they were not able to get into the menu either...said something about not having the same SWiM line hook up there that I had at hom,, so he told me to take the receiver home and told me how to access the menu,,lo and behold,,I couldnt access where I needed to go from even my home setup. would only let me in so far and then it through me back,, he also mentioned going out and doing what you have said with the splitter or line or something like that,,, way to complicated for me...I would have everyone of my receivers messed up.......
thinking about a plan B now,,,either activate a another receiver that isnt SWiM, or try and see if we can get a signal and set a dish of our own..
spoke with someone from directv today and they informed me that i wasnt allowed to take a receiver from home and use it at camp, said I need to add another account...but before i signed up for direct I called and the lady told me all i had to do was activate a receiver and it would cost me 5 dollars more a month...I had dish previously,they allow you to take your receiver..I wasnt aware that this wasnt allowed or for that matter,,,legal...read somewhere its a hefty fine..just my luck they would hunt me down......LOL
Will try and get something going this weekend,, thank you so much for the offer of help... No doubt, we need it....but we will get it worked out hopefully...without too much hassle and confusion...
I took my receiver (the SWiM one)to a satellite shop today and they were not able to get into the menu either...said something about not having the same SWiM line hook up there that I had at hom,, so he told me to take the receiver home and told me how to access the menu,,lo and behold,,I couldnt access where I needed to go from even my home setup. would only let me in so far and then it through me back,, he also mentioned going out and doing what you have said with the splitter or line or something like that,,, way to complicated for me...I would have everyone of my receivers messed up.......
thinking about a plan B now,,,either activate a another receiver that isnt SWiM, or try and see if we can get a signal and set a dish of our own..
spoke with someone from directv today and they informed me that i wasnt allowed to take a receiver from home and use it at camp, said I need to add another account...but before i signed up for direct I called and the lady told me all i had to do was activate a receiver and it would cost me 5 dollars more a month...I had dish previously,they allow you to take your receiver..I wasnt aware that this wasnt allowed or for that matter,,,legal...read somewhere its a hefty fine..just my luck they would hunt me down......LOL
Will try and get something going this weekend,, thank you so much for the offer of help... No doubt, we need it....but we will get it worked out hopefully...without too much hassle and confusion...
If you cannot get the recvr to work at your home, WITH the SWiM that it was previously working with, hook it up and call D* they will try to fix it, if they cannot get it fixed they will send you another one, but doubt it will be in time for the weekend.
If you were planning on getting a new recvr for this, you probably could get one locally if you have any available still at BB or Costo's take it up there and hook it up to your brothers dish , get your signal and call D* to activate.
I could get into the menu at home, I counld not get into the section that would let me change the dish selection from SwiM to a round dish. It would not let you access that one section.. wasnt highlighted at all,,like it was a permanent setting..so the guy figured that it was set not to recognize anything other than the SWiM setting and we would have to possibly unconnect the switch and get into changing things that I have no clue about..with a chance of then messing the remaining tvs up...and trust me,,,that I could do very easy...
I think that the new receiver is the easiest solution, however, isnt that what they meant about not being allowed to have receivers at different locations and only one account, or am I misunderstanding their policy? Is it okay to activate a new receiver with the same account, just not allowed to take a receiver that is already been activated for home use? All I can imagine is them being able to tell that I have a receiver somewhere that I am not supposed too and violating the contract...maybe watch too much NCIS...they can pinpoint anything.....being that I already called and asked them about this...they will say that I was told how the contract works.
However, when I called before installing in my home, she told me exactly what you are telling me,,,activate a receiver pay the monthly rental fee and all is good,,It was the main reason that I switched from dish,,,no signal up there, only direct signal is available..,Gosh, I am confusing me, let alone you reading this...I just feel that I got 2 different responses and not sure which one is correct..
thanks again for all the options that you have given me..
I think that the new receiver is the easiest solution, however, isnt that what they meant about not being allowed to have receivers at different locations and only one account, or am I misunderstanding their policy? Is it okay to activate a new receiver with the same account, just not allowed to take a receiver that is already been activated for home use? All I can imagine is them being able to tell that I have a receiver somewhere that I am not supposed too and violating the contract...maybe watch too much NCIS...they can pinpoint anything.....being that I already called and asked them about this...they will say that I was told how the contract works.
However, when I called before installing in my home, she told me exactly what you are telling me,,,activate a receiver pay the monthly rental fee and all is good,,It was the main reason that I switched from dish,,,no signal up there, only direct signal is available..,Gosh, I am confusing me, let alone you reading this...I just feel that I got 2 different responses and not sure which one is correct..
thanks again for all the options that you have given me..
They would like you to have a separate account, of course, so that make more money from you, awhile back it was a big deal .... it's not like your doing this every week.
I believe a few months back they actually OK'd this type of thing, Stone Cold can verify it for you.
I would rec. getting the recvr and NOT hooking it up at home , so that it never sees the SWiM, set it up where your going and activate it from there. Normally I would rec. setting it up at home, but in your case, not .... your SUPPOSE to be able to go from Reg . dish to SWiM and BACK without any trouble, but thats NOT happening in a lot of cases. I don't know if the SWiM voltage is screwing things up or what it is, but I lost a recvr the same way, just trying to do exactly what your doing, went from my home to my camper.
They sent me a new recvr, but if your trying to get this done before the holiday weekend, not sure you'll get it done that quickly.
The fact you got the OK from one CSR and a different answer from another should tell you something. All depends who you get.
Just walk up and give them a Head Slap next time your talking to them !
update
was able to get the new receiver to switch over to the menu that allowed me to change the setting,,,my power went out and we lost our signal...when our signal was out, I was able to go into the menu, change to the round dish and set it,, however, as soon as the signal was back on, the menu would not let me access the portion of the menu that you could change from SWiM to round, etc..... bottom line,,,as long as the system didnt detect the the SwiM, I could change, as soon as the system was up and running, could not change,,gotta plug the receiver in, change the setting, THEN hook up to the satellite after that..
was able to get the new receiver to switch over to the menu that allowed me to change the setting,,,my power went out and we lost our signal...when our signal was out, I was able to go into the menu, change to the round dish and set it,, however, as soon as the signal was back on, the menu would not let me access the portion of the menu that you could change from SWiM to round, etc..... bottom line,,,as long as the system didnt detect the the SwiM, I could change, as soon as the system was up and running, could not change,,gotta plug the receiver in, change the setting, THEN hook up to the satellite after that..
OK, your right, as long as the unit is hooked to a SWiM set up, the power insertor sends the voltage to the LNB and is detected.
IF you are disconnected from the system entirely, you should be able to access the menus and change to the dish you want.
So did you get it working out there yet ?
No, we didnt think there was any way to use the new receiver with the old dish after asking different folks, so we had a seasonal package installed up there. We will be able to disconnect it over the winter months...There are two of us that are on site so the cost will be minimal...Just wanted to let you folks know in case you had any issues that would require you to be able to use your current receiver no matter what the set up on the system is set at .Maybe it would save someone from having to buy another receiver.:up
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