Upgrade tracvision tv4 and maybe other models too.

Marc Rainaldo

Marc Rainaldo

Active Member
Apr 18, 2019
260
Netherlands
Boat Info
Sea Ray 500 DA 1994
Engines
Detroit diesel 6v92
Hello all,

One of the first and best DIY jobs of our new boat was the customization of the tracvision tv4 and I think it’s a good thing to post this here to help many others so that they can use their tracvision tv4 for many more years instead of buying a €13k new tracvision. (In my story I talk of the Astra 3 satellite but of course this is the same when you want to point the dish out to any other satellite with HD channels)

The story begins on our new ship that arrived in august 2019 in the Netherlands. When we first inspected the ship we got a demonstration from the previous German owner of the tv system and at that moment the tracvision was pointed at the astra 1 satellite. The astra 1 satellite provides a lot of free to air channels (mostly German). It all worked great and at that point my knowledge of tracvision was poor and I thought when we arrive in the Netherlands I point the dish out to the Astra 3 satellite and it should work.
Unfortunately it didn’t work at all :(

I called some local distributors and KVH themselves and they all said it was impossible with a 45cm dish to receive the HD channels on the Astra 3.
For those HD channels you need a high dB and with the small tracvision 4 dish that’s impossible. I had to buy the tracvision tv6 €13000,00
Ouch that was a bummer since we like to watch tv and really don’t wanna spent 13k for that. On first I was so happy that we had a satellite dish on our ship and now it appeared that we only could receive German channels. That’s not gonna happen lol. Because I couldn’t believe this was the end of the story I went to a Dutch satellite forum and discussed the situation. Luckily there was a great satellite nerd and together we found out the solution :)

The first thing you have to do with the tracvision tv4 (when you want to receive channels from another satellite) is reprogram the tv4 and adjusting the LNB. I am not write about this programming at this point since you can look this up in the manual of your tracvision.

The main problem of not getting a high dB on the HD channels is the LNB. When you open up the dome you see a very big LNB. This huge LNB blocks a big space of the dish.

I bought a ‘Black Multiconnect Dielectric twin LNB’ from Inverto. This LNB has very good specs. The golfpipe was a bit longer but fits in the dome. Take the housing of the LNB and use a saw to get the part around the pipe off.
Take the old LNB out and put the new LNB in and the job is done.
Cost €15,00!!!!
My signal went up from 6.5dB to 9.8dB on the low dB HD channels.
On the end of the pipe you can glue some microwave folie (as you can see on the original LNB), this is for protecting moisture in the pipe.

When I arrive at a dock I tune my satellite receiver on a high dB channel and turn on the tracvision. When there is a ‘lock’ the tracvision stays adjusting and then I wait for the highest dB and turn the tracvision off. I don’t need to readjust at all and even when the weather is bad we have good reception.

Unreal that KVH just want to force us to buy a new 13k dish, can’t believe they didn’t test a smaller LNB on existing models.
Open up your dome, look if you have a big LNB, change the LNB and done.

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I only half understand what you wrote so here are a few questions.

1) Are you saying that with the new LNB you can now Lock in on the HD satellite and get all the subscribed HD channels?

2) When the SD satellite goes away does this mean I can just swap out the LNB on my TV1 and can then switch to the HD satellite? Although looking at KVH website, the TV1 is pretty small. It may not be big enough out of the box.
 
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ZZ13 said:
I only half understand what you wrote so here are a few questions.

1) Are you saying that with the new LNB you can now Lock in on the HD satellite and get all the subscribed HD channels?

2) When the SD satellite goes away does this mean I can just swap out the LNB on my TV1 and can then switch to the HD satellite? Although looking at KVH website, the TV1 is pretty small. It may not be big enough out of the box.
Click to expand...

I don’t know the exact specs of your TV1 but to answer your questions I try with the knowledge I have discovered on my tv4
1) with the new LNB we can lock the HD channels. When you have subscription for that HD channels you can watch them yes. Of course the new LNB is not a subscription hacker.

2j it works on my tv4. There is even a smaller LNB (the Inverto Multiconnect Single LNB), maybe that’s even better in your TV1. The cost are so low so it would worth a shot.
Before you try, open up the dome and look how your LNB is placed. On some models they placed the LNB behind the dish and then the size of the LNB doesn’t matter, the only thing that blocks the dish is the reflector. In that case only the tech of a new LNB will help. Just note the dB on a channel before and after.

The KVH distributor in the Netherlands wouldn’t even talk about solutions for the TV 4 and simple stated that it is impossible?? They just wanna sell new dishes.
 
Thanks Marc. Yes I just have a skinny collection tube in the center and the LNB is on the back. Oh well, it was nice to dream for a few moments.
 
All of this electronics stuff is above my pay grade. Sounds like a guy who really knows what he’s doing can make a few bucks on the side by upgrading these things for people like me........
 
I wonder if this will work with TV5. I've been looking at HD antenna's all morning. Looks like KVH HD7 is the only one? Any other options people know about to get HD? Mike
 
spikedaddy99 said:
I wonder if this will work with TV5. I've been looking at HD antenna's all morning. Looks like KVH HD7 is the only one? Any other options people know about to get HD? Mike
Click to expand...
Srry mate, just looked it up for you and you have the dish with reflector on his front and LNB on the rear.
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I have the older M3 unit (15 years old). It has worked until this spring. Direct TV, after 3 calls and a couple of hours on the phone has finally told me that it's too old and they can longer activate it. I called KVH this morning and was told at first I would need to buy all new equipment for $4k... I told them no not going to happen. I was then told if I get an H24 receiver from Direct TV plus purchase a DC Block splitter and a Destacker I could have Direct TV on the boat again... We will see.
 
The Bill Collector said:
I have the older M3 unit (15 years old). It has worked until this spring. Direct TV, after 3 calls and a couple of hours on the phone has finally told me that it's too old and they can longer activate it. I called KVH this morning and was told at first I would need to buy all new equipment for $4k... I told them no not going to happen. I was then told if I get an H24 receiver from Direct TV plus purchase a DC Block splitter and a Destacker I could have Direct TV on the boat again... We will see.
Click to expand...

I have the same system (M3) and it is still working.
Did you suspend service and try to turn it back on again?
Or did you have continuous service that just stopped working?
Ran in to a guy last fall at a local transient marina who didn’t understand how my system was still working and his M3 wasn’t.
Turned out he suspended his account the previous winter and was told the same thing you were when he went to re-activate it in the Spring.
I don’t suspend my service in the winter because I use the app to watch DirectTV on my iPad at the gym.
Please let me know exactly what you buy and how you connect it to get the M3 to work again.
I’m sure I’ll run in to the guy again this season at that same marina and will pass the info on to him.
I’ll probably gather the needed items for myself too. It will be nice to have them on hand if the same thing happens to me.
 
JVM225 said:
I have the same system (M3) and it is still working.
Did you suspend service and try to turn it back on again?
Or did you have continuous service that just stopped working?
Ran in to a guy last fall at a local transient marina who didn’t understand how my system was still working and his M3 wasn’t.
Turned out he suspended his account the previous winter and was told the same thing you were when he went to re-activate it in the Spring.
I don’t suspend my service in the winter because I use the app to watch DirectTV on my iPad at the gym.
Please let me know exactly what you buy and how you connect it to get the M3 to work again.
I’m sure I’ll run in to the guy again this season at that same marina and will pass the info on to him.
I’ll probably gather the needed items for myself too. It will be nice to have them on hand if the same thing happens to me.
Click to expand...

My problem is when the boat is in the boathouse for over 2 weeks I need to have them send a re-boot signal to my receiver. It's been this way the past 13 years. I pay these a**holes 12 months a year and have never suspended service in the winter when the boat is sitting there at least 5 months not being used. Here is the work around...
M10 DC Destacker_LI.jpg
 
The Bill Collector said:
My problem is when the boat is in the boathouse for over 2 weeks I need to have them send a re-boot signal to my receiver. It's been this way the past 13 years. I pay these a**holes 12 months a year and have never suspended service in the winter when the boat is sitting there at least 5 months not being used. Here is the work around...
View attachment 83903
Click to expand...

Thanks!
Funny, I just had to have them re-boot my system too last month. I have to do it every year before re-launching for the Spring.
I store on the hard in a boatyard and there are only a few electric outlets around the yard that are for use only while you’re there working, so the TV doesn’t get used from Thanksgiving week through the first week in April.
They were able to do it for me again this year. No problem.
I called the ATT DirectTV Customer Service number (1-800-531-5000) and gave the CS person the code from my tv screen. She verified the numbers from the box and card, she sent a signal and I was back in business as usual.
If you haven’t tried that number yet, give them a call and see if it works for you. You just have to be in front of the TV when you call.

Just noticed the other thing that is different than yours on my set up.
I have one 12 volt mobile receiver and 3 TV’s. No other receivers.
Not at the boat but if my memory is right, the coax antenna coming off of my antenna goes to the mobile box and then out to a 3 way (1 in - 3 out) splitter. From that splitter I have coax going to each of the 3 TV’s.
I can only watch one channel at a time regardless of how many TV’s are on, but we rarely have more than one TV on at a time anyway.
Salon TV if we’re hanging out. Master berth TV if we sleep over. Aft berth TV if I’m taking a siesta on a rainy day hanging at my dock.
My 12 volt box is over the fridge in the salon behind one of the flat panel TV’s.
Since the remote is RF, if I keep the master and aft berth cabin doors open I can change channels from anywhere inside the boat.
Wondering if I would even need a Destacker since I’m not looking to be able to watch different channels on multiple TV’s.
If you don’t care much about that either, maybe you can just get away with an H24 box and set things up like mine is set up.
 
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With the Direct TVapp you can re boot yourself anytime.
 
I have spent over 3 hours on the phone and on my computer trying everything under the sun to get it to re-boot. I have ordered the H24 & the splitter/blocker and I'll report back next week.
 
JVM225 said:
How?
Click to expand...
There's a button in their web gui/app that says "send refresh signal to my receiver". It's been there for several years (the last time I used it was ~4 years ago). Unless it's been removed, it allows you to do what you need without talking to anyone.

From the DirecTV site:
  1. Go to myAT&T account overview and select My DIRECTV.
  2. Choose Manage Package then Manage receivers.
  3. Select Refresh receiver.
  4. Wait 5 minutes. Your DIRECTV service may be interrupted during the refresh process.
 
stephenm27 said:
There's a button in their web gui/app that says "send refresh signal to my receiver". It's been there for several years (the last time I used it was ~4 years ago). Unless it's been removed, it allows you to do what you need without talking to anyone.

From the DirecTV site:
  1. Go to myAT&T account overview and select My DIRECTV.
  2. Choose Manage Package then Manage receivers.
  3. Select Refresh receiver.
  4. Wait 5 minutes. Your DIRECTV service may be interrupted during the refresh process.
Click to expand...
Yep still there, I have to refresh mine every couple months if I don't use them. I do it right from the app on my phone
dtv.jpg
 
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