Dish dual tuners

[tsbrewers]

Hey, my parents have an RV and are right now using a dish 322 with 2 tv's. They kinda struggle to get the regular sat. dish set up, so I ordered them a GM-1518 to use instead. I realize from reading that this is not the best sat receiver to use with this dish, which leads me to a few questions.

I have read that if you hook up both separate coax's it will work ok? (instead of "splitter" in back) Or is this still a poor setup? I don't want to have them have to struggle every time getting it to work.

I really prefer a single receiver, dual tuner setup for these reasons. The RV is older, so the cabling is not the best. I do not know if the cable going to the back of the RV is good enough to carry a sat. signal. It works well enough for video though. And the 2nd tv is built in to a wall in the back bedroom, with no place for a 2nd receiver at all.

I also read on this forum, the 222k is the best option for a dual tv setup. My concern is that it is basically the same thing as the 322 isn't it? Or is the firmware better on this receiver to allow it to work better?

If I ran two separate cables from their current 322, and set it to single mode (I know 2nd tv wouldn't work) would this work "flawlessly" I do know they use both tv's quite a bit, but just figuring out options.

Just looking for some guidance.

thanks,

Brew

[Bill Adams]

First, you cannot use the splitter. If you want to make an attempt at using the dual tuner option you would have to run 2 cables but the reality is that the dual tuner boxes will never work properly with the Carryout unless you set it to single mode and use it that way.

[tsbrewers]

Ok, if I set the 322 to single mode, do I just need one coax to the dish, or would I still need two?

I can get two 311's pretty cheap ($4 total for both off CL) I am guessing these would be good to use for 2 separate tv's. But I realize I would need two separate coax's, one from each receiver? And the second tv could only watch channels that are on the same satellite that the first receiver is on? Thanks,

Brew

[Bill Adams]

If you set the dual tuner to Single Mode then you only need one coax cable.
The 211k is the preferred signal tuner receiver (can even be updated to a single tuner DVR). The 311 should work and since you won't have much money invested you don't have much to lose. You will have to hook one to the coax connected to the "Main" output and preform a check switch routine exactly as described in the Winegard manual. Once it is successful and you have the necessary SW64 switch showing you will need to remove that receiver, connect the second receiver to that same "Main" coax connection and start over with the check switch routine (as if you had never done the first). Once you are showing a successful SW64 on both receivers you can connect one to the second coax cable and allow it to operate as a slave to the first.

[tsbrewers]

Ok, one more. Do these receivers remember the settings, or do you have to do the check switch every time you set up the equipment? Being in an rv it might be months in between uses. Thanks,


Brew

[Bill Adams]

Once you get the receiver setup to work properly in the RV, as long as you never connect it to any other kind of antenna (requiring a new Check Switch) the receiver will remember the SW64 setting.

[tsbrewers]

Ok, thanks. Even if it is unplugged (no power at all) for 6 months, it will remember?

Just trying to make it as easy for them as I can.

Brew

[Bill Adams]

Yes.

[Winegard Tech Help]

One thing to note with the 311s is that you'll want to use a modified setup as opposed to all other DISH receivers. I've enclosed it below:

1. Power up the receiver (not the satellite antenna)
2. Press menu, 6-1-1 to access the point dish screen
3. Highlight the checkswitch option on the right hand side
4. Disconnect the coaxial cable connected to “satellite in” on the back of the receiver
5. Highlight and select the “test” option on the screen
6. Let it run through 38 tests. At the end, when prompted by the screen, select the “save” option.
7. Reconnect the coaxial cable.
8. Select the cancel or done option on the bottom of the screen
9. On the screen titled “Point Dish”, configure it to show satellite 119 and transponder 11
10. Power up the antenna
11. Wait for the antenna to lock on and display a green signal on the screen with the message “Locked – Echostar 119 West”
12. If it is an in-motion roof-mounted unit, allow the unit 6-8 minutes to finish the conical search (washing machine noise) and proceed when the unit is completely quiet. If it is a stationary unit or a Carryout, proceed immediately.
13. Highlight and select check switch on the right hand side
14. On the installation summary screen, there will be two options labled “Superdish” and “Alternate”. Highlight both of these and press select, thus inputting a checkmark in the box next to each.
15. Highlight and select test again. This time it will run through 50 tests.

After finishing the tests, you should see six boxes with satellite 119 (odd/even), satellite 110 (odd/even) and satellite 129 (odd/even) and a switch that reads SW64.

If you get this, you are up and running. Cancel out of every screen you see and give the receiver time to acquire the satellites and download the program guide.

If you have any questions, you can either email me back directly or call into our technical service line at 800-788-4417.


Also, whatever receiver you end up using on the secondary line will not have access to all channels - only channels from the satellite (either 119 or 110) the primary receiver's program is coming from. For example, if the primary is watching ESPN (broadcast from 119) then the secondary will only receive programs from 119. If the primary is changed to a channel that comes from 110 (like DIY Network), the secondary will in turn lose access to 119 and will have to get a program from 110. There is no way to avoid this.