Local Channels
We use the Dish Tailgater. Is it possible to get our home base local channels when traveling well out of the area. Last time out a RV neighbor said he was able to...got interrupted during conversation and I wasn't able to ask how?
Forum Discussion
powderman426 wrote:
BB_TX wrote:
OK, egg on my face. The word home went right by me. I agree with above. You can get local channels of the nearest large city, but not local of your actual home base.
Actually you can get you home based locals but it requires you have good internet access and a device called a slingbox. With it you can watch any station you get at home.
But Not via Satellite..
That is via streaming over an internet connection- Sometimes changing locals works out even when both locals are on the same spot beam. Last night we were in Colchester, VT getting the Burlington area locals, and now we're back at our upstate NY cottage where we would normally get the Albany, NY area locals from the same spot beam. I haven't changed our service address yet, so we're still getting the Burlington locals. The reason I haven't changed though, is because the Detroit/New Jersey hockey game on Center Ice tonight is blacked out for the Albany market, but not for Burlington market. Tomorrow, I'll "move" us back to the cottage address. We can still get the Albany locals here OTA.
whistlebritches wrote:
When we went to Florida from Kansas in Feb of 2013, we called and had them switch our locals to down there. When ready to come home, I went online with a DISH chat agent and asked them to switch them back to our local area. When we got home two days later, no locals, so had to call them. They switched them back on, but intead of getting the Tulsa stations, we were back on our locals from Pittsburg, KS and Joplin, MO. That is where we got our locals from our antenna, so we just left it alone. If we ever go far away again and have them switched, they'll probably put us back in the Tulsa viewing area, even though we're 80 miles from Tulsa and only 50 miles from the other stations.
Which locals you get is normally determined by your service address ZIP code and which market area it's assigned to.- When we went to Florida from Kansas in Feb of 2013, we called and had them switch our locals to down there. When ready to come home, I went online with a DISH chat agent and asked them to switch them back to our local area. When we got home two days later, no locals, so had to call them. They switched them back on, but intead of getting the Tulsa stations, we were back on our locals from Pittsburg, KS and Joplin, MO. That is where we got our locals from our antenna, so we just left it alone. If we ever go far away again and have them switched, they'll probably put us back in the Tulsa viewing area, even though we're 80 miles from Tulsa and only 50 miles from the other stations.
dmcgiffin wrote:
We use the Dish Tailgater. Is it possible to get our home base local channels when traveling well out of the area. Last time out a RV neighbor said he was able to...got interrupted during conversation and I wasn't able to ask how?
Just to be clear, you cannot EVER get your home channels once you move far from home. You can get your NEW local channels (where the RV is located) by calling the provider and having them update you service location (don't change billing). If you live in Orlando you will likely be able to receive that programming within a 200-300 mile range. Once you get too far away you have no way to receive this signal as the signal simply does not exist outside of the spot beam where those channels are broadcast.
If you travel full time or a lot of time you can sign up (DirecTV only) for DNS and the the National Networks from NY and/or LA no matter where you park (my personal choice).- Plus.... you DON'T have to call them. If you have internet service you can go to MYDISH.COM and then bring up the "chat line". Tell the agent you want to change your "service address" but leave "billing address" the same.
Much quicker than calling them and eventually getting an agent from Bangladesh, or some place, and can't speak English without a heavy accent.
And, just to be clear....you will only change to the local "network" channels (CBS, ABC, NBC, etc). Usually those channels below 100. All others (above 100) will stay the same.
Ron BB_TX wrote:
OK, egg on my face. The word home went right by me. I agree with above. You can get local channels of the nearest large city, but not local of your actual home base.
Actually you can get you home based locals but it requires you have good internet access and a device called a slingbox. With it you can watch any station you get at home.- OK, egg on my face. The word home went right by me. I agree with above. You can get local channels of the nearest large city, but not local of your actual home base.
RoyB wrote:
If all you want to view are the local network affiliates you have an excellent plan. But if you want to watch the History channel or some such then you will need the sat dish system. We had two days of rain here in SE GA and we were able to watch the local network affiliates because I have the Jack antenna attached to the TV by coaxial cable and the sat system attached to the TV via HDMI. I did call Dish and had my service address changed to the local address for the local network affiliates but I keep the OTA as my backup plan. YMMV
The big BACKUP PLAN of course is to use the OTA BATWING and tune in the local National Broadcast stations from the close-by towns. They are now transmitted in full blown High Def and great viewing. Much better than my standard SAT DISH was...
Roy ken- Just be sure to have all the SAT TV info on hand to identify your acct and SAT RECEIVER you are using etc...
We was using DirecTV and they would change the view location only a couple of times a year and started complaining after that... Then the SPOT BEAM would then download your local assigned station to the new locations. i.e. I would get the Washington DC local channels I was paying for when I was in Gatlinburg TN after they changed my viewing address....
This was true for us using DIRECTV a few years back before the National Broadcast changed over to Digital HDTV... Things may be different these days. We stopped bringing along our portable SAT TV stuff when the Natl Broadcast changed over to Digital High Tv from the local towns.
The big BACKUP PLAN of course is to use the OTA BATWING and tune in the local National Broadcast stations from the close-by towns. They are now transmitted in full blown High Def and great viewing. Much better than my standard SAT DISH was...
Roy ken
