Canadians in the states about your Shaw account on line

Signed in a couple of minutes ago. No problem here in Yuma.

Okay, thanks for the reply. I just tried also a couple of minutes ago and I got on. It must have been another glitch in their system but thanks. Enjoy Yuma!

Toban

Hey fellow Canucks :
I'm a total noob when it comes to RV'ing and one of the things I'm starting to look into is how to do the satellite TV thing when we're in the States ?
Do you take your Shaw/Bell Satellite with you ?
What about the tuner/PVR ?
How do you get channels down in the U.S.? Do you buy a package...pay as you go ? or do you get some sort of add on to the CDN Express VU package ?
Thanks for your help..again total noobie here.

eightyeightkeys wrote:
Hey fellow Canucks :
I'm a total noob when it comes to RV'ing and one of the things I'm starting to look into is how to do the satellite TV thing when we're in the States ?
Do you take your Shaw/Bell Satellite with you ?
What about the tuner/PVR ?
How do you get channels down in the U.S.? Do you buy a package...pay as you go ? or do you get some sort of add on to the CDN Express VU package ?
Thanks for your help..again total noobie here.

First of all forget about Bell Express View. It no longer works more than about 100 miles south of the Canadian Border, period!! I take my Shaw Direct boxes from home, hook them up to my Park Model permanently mounted Shaw Satellite Dish and we are good to go... oh.. and do NOT forget the remote!! :) :)

As someone new to satellite TV, I would search the internet for forums dealing with the Shaw system- it will be confusing at first with different viewpoints etc, but eventually you will learn enough to make sense of it- there is a definite learning curve. You will also have to learn how to set up a dish to get a signal- this also takes practice- a good meter helps but there is also a learning curve there too for the good ones.You will have to get a system at home- set up by a Shaw tech and then take that system with you when you travel- don't mention that you will be traveling with it. Times have changed. It used to be easy to get a second dish but not now. Shaw used to be real helpful- but not any more- you will have to learn to do it yourself- especially if out of Canada. Good luck. Most RVers have learned how to set up these dishes and are very helpful- if in a park down south- just look for a Shaw dish and ask. Good luck

I'd also suggest staying with the 500 or older series receivers and the old style lnb. I'm hearing there may be reception issues with the latest greatest 600 series with new style lnb if you are more than a 100 miles south of the border. The new satellite's footprint is way further north than the other 2.

I'm in Las Cruces NM and have a 600 receiver and the new LNB. Reception is great and have been getting great reception all over the states. I don't know who told you their was a problem. I've heard the opposite from what is being said. You should have the updated #600 receiver and the new LNB as people have been having problems with the old equipment.

Toban

I generally agree with Toban's comment but I found that our 600 series PVR seems to have a cut off at a signal strength of about 60, below that it gives a red light and no reception, I don't recall this limitation on our older 200 series receiver. I notice this sometimes as we have the Shaw LNB mounted on our internet satellite dish (which is aimed at another satellite 99W). Because the skew angle is different for 99W compared to the Shaw satellites I get a signal degradation on Shaw. For the vast majority of US destinations there should not be a problem getting a minimum 60 SS with a "pure Shaw" dish. I wonder if it would be an issue in Mexico though. By the way, the "100 miles south of the border" comment refers to the loss of the HD channels on the third (new) satellite that Shaw launched, most if not all these channels are presently duplicates of those HD channels existing on the other sats. Who knows how Shaw may shuffle things in the future though! For now your hockey and curling is safe!

I changed over to the 630 receiver and new LNB in the summer of 2012 and used the combo in the southern USA in the winter of 2012/13 as far south as Yuma AZ and it worked.

we are in Quartzsite AZ. set the old style LNB on the dish last night. We did not upgrade(even at home) to the new LNB. We do have a new 600 series HD receiver. Just a plain one, no pvr. The dish has been sitting all summer, and the wind blew it a bit off skew, but by 7pm we were watching tv. no problems. The HD channels we got at home we get here. Say channel 360-NBC Detroit is 284 HD, it comes in great.
If questions, just ask. At least we can watch our tv, along with the US channels.
Dona

Shaw works well in southern mexico, so I doubt the US should be a problem.