Satellite

[trogers]

I'm looking into a new satellite dish. My boat has/had a older KVH dishes (1 LNB and it had the lower profile). The unit that I have (that quit working) apparently required interaction with the receiver to complete its selection of which satellite to lock onto. Well, it no longer locks onto anything. We are currently in N. Alabama, TDY on a project in the Huntsville area and we get three and a half of the local channels - 4 if you can read lips.

I've been looking at the KVH M3 DX and the Sea Tel 14" and 18" models. Id appreciate any other thoughts regarding models or vendors that any of y'all have had experience with.

Any thoughts on such issues as, ease of installation, vendors with better FOB prices, ability to multiplex the signal to the various staterooms, etc.

I'm into a serious reading phase right now so the lack of TV isn't bothering me too much, but when the Longhorns start to play, I'm going to want to watch a game or two.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Tim,
If you buy a receiver with an RF remote, then you can change channels from anywhere in the boat. This can be nice if you want to stick with one receiver and you can also hide in away in a cabinet. One other thing you might look for is one of the receivers that have dual outputs HD and standard definition at the same time. This can be nice too if you just install one HD set in the salon, but also want it to convert the signals to SD for the other sets aboard.

 

[old41]

Timothy,

I have a Kingdome Sea King that I've had no trouble with. I just Googled
Kingdome satellite and there's even a vendor now that sells rebuilt ones
with warranty.

I don't know if other manufacturers are like King, but after 3 years I'm switching
to Direct TV because I won't have to change satellites as much. Also, Dish does
not offer, at present, a local NBC station. Usually not a problem, but the US Open is on NBC.


E-mail me if you would like pictures of installation.

Bobby Riley

rrsccoast@gmail.com

 

[johngalt]

Tim, I do not know what your budget is but I just installed the KVH M2 on my 41c and have working in the salon and both staterooms for under 3000 dollars. I got the antenna from Consumers marine . The M2 comes with one 12 volt cable box. The 12 volt feature is nice because you need only snake one RG6 wire down from the antenna to the receiver. A destacker {300.00} is also needed to convert the signal for regular 120 volt receivers in the staterooms. The total installation was M2= 2300.00, the destacker= 300.00, two new standard receivers from Directv= 100.00, 100 feet of RG6 cable=9.00 for a total of approx. 2800 dollars and about 6 hours of my time. We are very pleased with the results. The M2 is rated for at the dock or mooring only but that works for us. The M2 also comes with an RF antenna for the remote so the receiver can go anywhere. Good Luck, Bruce

 

[Nonchalant1]

Maybe try watching the little KVH box screen to see what it's saying when it can't lock on. I had that problem and bought an old Sony receiver that my old KVH dish liked and it now works great and has for 3 years. My old Sony has the RF remote too, so you can change channels from anywhere.

One problem with KVH and DirecTV is that they require you to have one set of local channels and you can't change them as you move around the country. We're from Chicago and we stopped getting the Chicago channels south of St. Louis. It just says "channel not available in your area". However, we do get all the national DirecTV channels, sports, etc. everywhere.

Doug Shuman

I'm looking into a new satellite dish. My boat has/had a older KVH dishes (1 LNB and it had the lower profile). The unit that I have (that quit working) apparently required interaction with the receiver to complete its selection of which satellite to lock onto. Well, it no longer locks onto anything. We are currently in N. Alabama, TDY on a project in the Huntsville area and we get three and a half of the local channels - 4 if you can read lips.

I've been looking at the KVH M3 DX and the Sea Tel 14" and 18" models. Id appreciate any other thoughts regarding models or vendors that any of y'all have had experience with.

Any thoughts on such issues as, ease of installation, vendors with better FOB prices, ability to multiplex the signal to the various staterooms, etc.

I'm into a serious reading phase right now so the lack of TV isn't bothering me too much, but when the Longhorns start to play, I'm going to want to watch a game or two.

 

[trogers]

I've got a RF remote for my current dish rig and have found that it works just marginally, typically with really annoying results. I could turn the volume up but not down.... I think I would prefer a multiplexed soluion where each stateroom could choose to watch which ever channel struck their interest.

I appreciate the advice on Consumers Marine. They seem to be somewhere from $100-800 less expensive than any other spot I've see.

Thanks to all for the advice

 

[trogers]

Looping back to an earlier portion of my post. Does anyone have any experience with multiplexing the signal from the dish to the various staterooms. My understanding is that there is upwards to a 10dB loss when you split to 4 locations. I've seen ampifiers that claim to increase signal strength by 7-8 dB.

Any one with some practical experience with what products break the signal out to 3 staterooms and the salon without too much degradation?

 

[johngalt]

Looping back to an earlier portion of my post. Does anyone have any experience with multiplexing the signal from the dish to the various staterooms. My understanding is that there is upwards to a 10dB loss when you split to 4 locations. I've seen ampifiers that claim to increase signal strength by 7-8 dB.

Any one with some practical experience with what products break the signal out to 3 staterooms and the salon without too much degradation?

Tim, my M2 KVH dish is now providing a beautiful signal to the salon and to both staterooms on my 41c without any amplification whatsoever. I have the KVH 12volt receiver in the salon as the master because it powers the antenna and I got 2 standard 120 volt receivers direct from Directv for 50.00 each. Everything works great except that I do not at present get the local channels through the 120 volt receivers. Regards, Bruce