Hi,

:confused:

We have a Bell 9242 PVR set up at home. We want to take this in our RV, but when a friendly technician offered to do this for $180 I thought that a bit high. I have a newish Bell dish that has one LNB. The technician was going to use that dish and add 1 more LNB. He was then going to put in two SW-21 (I think, but they were $35 each) that combined the two feeds. We plan on really only having 1 TV in the RV, and wonder what I can do to make this work? I currently have the Bell dish with 1 LNB with two output cables both labeled SAT 91. If my comments / questions seem raw, its because I am a newbie (but tech junkie)...

Questions:

Can I just use the 1 LNB dish to make things usable? What is needed to record / watch?
Can I use any coax cable to connect to the LNB's 2 outputs (they were cut off) or are these special cables?

My RV only has one input plug on the wall, so can I use those switches if I find them cheaper to "make do".

Should I take the Power Inserter with me?

My PVR doesn't seem to like 1 input only, would this be hard on it?

Remember the 9242 PVR has 2 inputs, so could I split the signal into the 2 inputs on the receiver and have the second one as record only?

Thanks,
DC

I would recommend that you purchase a 3100 or 4100 receiver (or even an old 2700) to take camping (unless you really need HD or recording capabilities). The SW44 power inserter can be troublesome ... wouldn't recommend connecting and reconnecting it too often either. Also, I would not take a $600 receiver camping ... if you drop it, you could damage the hard drive.

The other thing to watch out for, is your camper may have hidden splitters that may interfere with the satellite signal. What I did was install a seperate input into my trailer. You should be using RG6 cable for satellite.

A 6131 would work fine with 1 input as well and is not that expensive. 2 LNBs would be needed for HD. An external HD could be added for PVR capability. I wouldn't subject a 9242 to the perils of a camping trip either. The 2700/3100/4100 suggestion is probably the best since they are relatively cheap.

Two inputs are required by the 9242 for it to work reliably. Dish Pro Plus LNBs and a DPP splitter would work with one cable but would require extra purchases. An ordinary cable splitter will not work. The power inserter is used by the SW44 and is not required otherwise.

I bought a 4100 for camping. They are small so they don't take up a lot of space. No need for switches and power inserters. Keep it simple for setups. I have a 23 inch HD capable tv in the trailer but don't need HD for camping. At that size it's not worth it. There is more than enough programming on 91 for the whole family to watch on those rainy days anyway. Besides, you go camping to enjoy the great outdoors, not to watch tv all day. As for satellite through the coax input on the outside of the trailer. Not all campers are satellite capable due to the OTA antenna amplifier behind the wallplate where the tv plugs into. Mine wasn't so I replaced it with one that was. I wasn't keen on running wires through the window. I kept the old one for when I upgrade my trailer I can put the OEM one back in and take the new one to the next trailer I buy should it also not have satellite capability. The wallplates with the 12 volt socket and single coax and the little button to turn on the antenna amp won't work with satellite. If you can forgo the 12 volt receptacle you can replace the wallplate with a dual coax model from any RV dealer. The top one will be for satellite and the lower one will be for the amplified RV antenna. Basically you replace the 12 volt socket for a coax connection for your satellite dish. The wallplate is easy to replace and the 3 coax connectors at the back are labeled ANT, CABLE and TV2. Relocate the wire connected to CABLE [this is the wire that goes to the outside plug] to the SAT/AUX connection on the new wallplate and the other two to the same connections as on the old wallplate, remember which power wire goes where to for the amplifier or you'll fry the amp if you reverse polarity. White is usually the hot lead. YMMV.
Hope this helps.

The PVR is nice as it has recorded shows, but yes it is big and doesn't fit. If I lick up a smaller one (ie 4100), how do I make this live? Do I take my card out of the 9242? I have bypassed the antenna amplifier last year....

Thanks,
DC

Any receiver should come with its own card. Newer receivers may not have a card yet because the decryption is built in. I believe that 4100s have a card since the N3 update but a brand new one might not. You need to add the receiver to your account and have it authorized. That is easily done online or you can call Bell.

Whatever you do, do not tell them you are taking the reciever camping. Just add the receiver to your account and take it camping when you want to.

If you feel adventurous and you have one of these in your camper....

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=189&pictureid=1231

You can do a setup like this one and be able to pipe satellite audio to the trailer's sound system for music.
Or send the satellite output from the tv out to a second tv in your camper should you have one in the bedroom as well.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=189&pictureid=1232
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=189&pictureid=1230

Sweet set up! A wise person suggested a Dish Pro Plus Twin LNB and then a separator, but unsure where to find them on Vancouver Island?

Thanks,

Try: ebay dot ca ;) lol

Hey, could you repost these photos via a link please. The post is old, so the links don't work any more. Thx ;-(

The last time HT gearhead posted was January 2010, so I think it is safe to say he is no longer around.

you can take the smaller 6131 HD receiver and connect the external HDD to it, so much easier to lug around.

Sure you can do that but in my case I would have to buy a 6131 and an EHD, why would I do that if I already have a 9242?