Summertime RV trip? Why leave your TV behind?

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Summertime trips are an American tradition. On the other hand, so is nesting in front of the TV. Why not combine the two?

If you can’t find a hotel with the DIRECTV Residential Experience, the next best thing is an RV setup.

Here’s what you’ll need:
DIRECTV HD SL5 Satellite Kit for Camping Rving or Tailgating from Solid Signal

or

DIRECTV HD SL5 Satellite Kit for Camping Rving or Tailgating With SWM Dish from Solid Signal

Which one? It depends on which receiver you have at home. It’s easier to buy a dish system that matches what you have at home. While watching TV at home, press the {DASH} button on your remote. You’ll see a window pop up. If it says “SWiM Connected” then you should get the system with SWiM. It will save time later.

Basic Setup:

You can bring a receiver and TV from home. If you’re traveling out of your local area you won’t get local channels, but you should get all the national ones. Note: If you leave anyone at home, it’s a violation to use the DIRECTV service at a second location. However, if no one is at home to use the service you are within your rights to use it on an RV.

When you get your RV to its parking spot, set up the tripod mast as level as possible. Go through Satellite Setup to get basic directions for aiming, including settings for the compass heading and the tilt of the dish.

Using the Signal Strength meter on your receiver you can adjust a satellite fairly well, at least well enough for one night. The satellite setup screen will give you basic settings for azimuth (compass heading), elevation (aiming the dish toward the sky) tilt (rotating the dish around the back). Start with the compass heading and elevation, and when you are getting signals in the high 80s or low 90s on the 101 satellite, change the meter to the 119 satellite. It should be possible to get signals in the 80s or 90s by rotating the dish slightly. Remember, this doesn’t need to be perfect, you’re only there for one night.

When those two satellites are in line, the rest should be fairly good as well.

Once you’re done and your receiver gets the guide data it needs, settle in for a night of DIRECTV programming!

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.