Another Satellite Question

Melntb1 wrote:
Please bear with me on another satellite question. I know answering them must be tiresome but please cut a girl and a newbie some slack! ?? ;)We have just bought our first and a brand new class c that is im pretty sure the dealer mentioned is cable/satellite ready (whatever that means). I am trying to figure out what "system" I need to fulfill our needs. Currently at home we have a nice DIRECTV package that gives all the programming we want or need so my initial thought was to get a direct tv satellite and grab our boxes and go...right? Apparently it's not that easy if we want the same programming we get at home. The most important to me is to be able to get ESPN channels and mostly CBS channel because I'm from Alabama and I need to see my Saturday football games if I'm going to be on the road! LOL. in looking at satellites for the rv I only saw one that was a roof mounted option that would catch HD. The TV in the coach is 39" and outside 32" as well as small tv in bedroom and in the sleeping area over cab. I read that SD signal on a tv bigger 32" is not good. To top it off my husband seems leery of attaching the roof mounted satellite onto our fiberglass roof, to which I explained that would put us in the market for SD only satellite. I've read about the king and wineguard portable satellites and the reviews seems so mixed. Can someone please tell me what I need to accomplish my goal of college footballpalooza on Saturdays?!!! Also is there a way that all 4 tv's can have service or can I only hook up two at a time and need to switch all the time?! I'm not a technical person so not sure how to accomplish making everyone happy. If accomplishing the goal would include switching providers I'm open to that as well. Please help!

There is no reason to not take your DirecTV hardware with you. Setting up a tripod is much easier with DirecTV than Dish as all 3 satellites are within 4 degrees of each other. Also, no matter Dish or DirecTV you will NOT be able to receive ANY of the Network channels from Alabama if you travel more than a few hundred miles from home. You will get ESPN and ALL of the cable type channels everywhere you go. If you want to be able to watch the Networks they will have to be the Networks broadcast near where your RV is parked. There are 3 ways for you to receive these Networks. The easiest is to simply crank up your OTA TV antenna, do a new channel scan at your new location and watch live OTA TV in the best HD quality available. The 2nd option is to call (the online chat option is even better) and give them your new address and tell them to change your SERVICE ADDRESS ONLY but not change your billing address. This will change all receivers on your account to that address so if anyone is at home they will lose all Network programming. You do this either before you leave your current location while connected to the satellite (give them the location you will be going to) or you have to wait until you get to the new location, point the antenna and have the receiver on line.
The 3rd option to receive Networks (something you cannot do with Dish) is sign up for the DNS (Distant Network Services) for $15/month. This will give you ALL of the Networks broadcast from NY and you will have this Network feed everywhere you travel in the US without requiring any setup.
If you find that you are going to travel often or for extended periods of time, the investment in a Winegard Trav'ler antenna will solve all DTV problems. Compare that investment to what you paid for your coach and the easy of use will pay for itself in no time. You do need to keep "generally" out of the trees (no trees to the South) but then you just park the coach and push 1 button and you are watching DTV in the coach with the exact same antenna you have on your home so (other than the Network thing) you can do all the things in your RV that you do at home.