Directv 18 Inch Satellite Dish Rv Tripod Kit

Just got this unit and couldn't wait to test it. Worried it might be difficult, but it wasn't. Assembly is very easy and the manual is actually helpful and accurate. The compass is a very well-made military grade item (brass, maybe?) that looks like it could be worth nearly as much as the whole package. Best advice is to follow the directions in the manual. Based on tips from others, we didn't use the satellite finder, but hooked everything else up exactly as shown in the diagram. Then we turned on the TV (in our case a PC monitor hooked up to a TV tuner in our RV), followed the instructions on-screen, which actually matched the diagrams in the manual, and had the whole thing running in about 10 minutes (we'd assembled the dish the night before, also in about 10 minutes). Piece of cake and works great! Great savings compared to a roof-mounted unit that would price out over $500 when you add labor. Not high-def, but this is not a big deal for us when traveling.

Got this for my RV. Dish is easy to set up. Receive my SD Directv channels with no problem. Still get my HD locals with antenna. Just remember to turn off receiver when using antenna and switch input on your TV. Select "18 round dish" and "multiswitch" in the Directv setup.The only real problem I had was originally I tried to setup my H25 receiver with this dish. The H25 does not work with this dish, I think because the H25 is SWM technology only. The dish company told me that is the only receiver that does not work with this dish, so I had to buy another receiver from a local dealer, have it activated and pay extra $6/mo for the programming. There was not enough time to have it swapped with Directv because I was leaving the next day for a long trip.Otherwise I really enjoy having all my favorite programs available while on the road and the difference between SD and HD is not a problem for me.

To be honest, I was skeptical when my husband wanted to purchase this for our RV; I thought that there was no possible way we would get it to work, but we did and it was actually quite easy once we figured a few things out. The kit did come with instructions, that for the most part were detailed enough to get the job done. Prior to set up, we did do a little research online and watched a few YouTube videos to better prepare ourselves for the task. Getting the satellite compass location in advance was very helpful as that part of the instructions were vague; we ended up being pretty dead on even prior to any adjustments. What we did find though was that the instructions for navigating the receiver were not really accurate (might depend on what model you are using). We had to play around with the menu a bit on our own to find the correct set up sections, but once we found it, within 20 minutes, we had TV. Another glitch that we ran into was that we first connected the coaxial cable from the satellite into our antennae port on the RV - we couldn't get the receiver to talk to the satellite. Once we connected the coaxial cable directly to the receiver, everything started communicating and the rest was pretty simple. And one last note - you do have to carefully select your satellite location or it won't work - this includes any trees, vehicles, people etc. Overall, we are extremely pleased with our purchase.

This was much harder to assemble than others. The centering bolts have nuts on both sides of the tube, but tge inner nuts are not attached to the inner loop which makes adjustments very difficult. Additionally one of the bolts was defective and snapped off. Very poor design.

For Satellite Oasis' part, I have no complaints. The kit arrived on time, and in perfect condition. I had read a lot of the reviews (some great, some quite disparaging). I went ahead & ordered this point-it-yourself dish as I'm fairly electronics savvy and didn't want to spend the money for an automatic signal acquisition device (probably more prone to theft as well). I waited to write this review in hopes that I'd have tips to make it easier for other first time users. Always set it up at home for the first time and DirecTv will assist you if needed. I actually had one of their contractors come out & help me the first time and he gave me a couple of hints. I do think having the dish level is important, though I didn't specifically ask the contractor about it. Using the "Setup" feature in your receiver, put in the zip code where you are then go to the "Point Dish" screen. It gives you the Azimuth & elevation readings you need to point the dish & acquire signal. That screen also indicates the transponder number. Always use 18 or 28. They are the strongest and will pull in the signal faster/better. The signal finder in the kit DOES work. Apparently there are 4 satellites that it will pick up signal from but only one is DirecTv's (someone elses seems to have a stronger signal and is somewhat more to the west of DTV's - my TV screen is quick to say "wrong satllite"). I turn up the TV volume and listen for the beeping signal to go to a solid signal and you can hear the signal changes from the signal finder as well. It certainly helps if you have someone watching your TV screen to alert you as to the percentage of signal strength as you're adjusting the dish. Don't take the elevation marks on the side of the dish to the bank. Mine are just slightly different from one side to the other, so even if I think I'm on 31 (for example), I will play with it up & down if the signal isn't coming in. Honestly, it almost seems like the elevation is more important than azimuth when trying to put the final touches on your signal acquisition. If you're RV'g make sure your receiver's signal has been refreshed (if need be) before you get to an area where you have no cell service (to call DTV) or internet (you can do it yourself online). Last note: we're using this with a camper, so space is limited. We bought a regular camera tripod with telescoping legs. My husband made a wood sleeve that fits in the pipe fitting of the dish & fits over the mounting peg of the tripod. I have a small square center-bubble level I use on the top of the wooden sleeve and the tripod legs are easily adjusted. We use a bungee from the center tripod mounting to a weight below (our boat trailer hitch works great for this) to keep the dish/tripod in place. Having run into this just today, I'm adding this note: be very cognizant of trees or other obticles that could be in the way of your signal. I was having trouble obtaining signal until I moved the dish to the other side of our camper, which improved the angle through a couple of trees.