Satellite and Extended Camping

[Hvymtlc5]

We are brand new to RV camping. Our fifth wheel came with a Winegard satellite auto-locator/receiver and tripod. Right now we don't think we will ever use it - the room it takes up might be better used. We plan on an extended camping next year (12 months out or more). We have a digital antenna on the roof to get local channels when available. How important is it to keep (or sell) this receiver? What is the cheapest satellite service for basic TV when on the road (we have cable now so know nothing about satellite)?

[RustyJC]

NC Hauler wrote:
No, it didn't work that way....I didn't get ANY local channels while camping at the Outer Banks...For example, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox were blank...no picture...nothing...only got the Outer Banks local TV stations on the over the air antenna...

Correct. Once I move out of my spot-beamed Houston local channel service area, I get nothing except a "Searching for signal" indicator on DirecTV on my local channels. To get the local channels over DirecTV where I'm located, I'd have to change my service address.

Rusty

[NC_Hauler]

amandasgramma wrote:
NC Hauler....I think a better way to state is is "you won't get the locals from your home town, but you WILL get the locals from the closest town".... does that work?

No, it didn't work that way....I didn't get ANY local channels while camping at the Outer Banks...For example, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox were blank...no picture...nothing...only got the Outer Banks local TV stations on the over the air antenna...I don't pay for, nor get the East Coast feed locals...just local channels for the Asheville NC area...In Sevierville TN, Seneca SC, Myrtle Beach SC...I could still pick up my local Asheville NC channels.....same I get at home...no others came in....but again, while camping at the Outer Banks....those local channels were blank, maybe stating, "searching for signal"...never got them while I was there, but got all the other channels, ESPN, TNT, etc...

I was amazed that I got the Asheville NC local channels where i was in WVa, pretty cool, because where my camp is, you can only get ONE over the air channel...it's really out in the boonies..:)

[amandasgramma]

NC Hauler....I think a better way to state is is "you won't get the locals from your home town, but you WILL get the locals from the closest town".... does that work?

[NC_Hauler]

RustyJC wrote:

Roman Duck wrote:
Rusty, your quite right. I understand that extreme locations would prohibit accessibility to home-base local channels. For us we found that we can get service in a 1500 to 2000 radius from our home.(Farthest we traveled since using a sat. system in the RV)
The only time that we don't,is when we can't acquire a signal at all. Mainly due to overhead obstructions(currently have a roof mounted dish)
So as you said if your not in a spot-beam area, you won't get them

Sounds like, since you're in the Catskills per your avatar, your local channels are the East Coast national feeds. Those of us with "true" local channels (i.e., not the NYC or LA East or West Coast national feeds) have a much smaller spot beam area as I and others have described.

Rusty

Agree Rusty, they HAVE to be talking about East Coast Feed.....As I stated, I have true "Local" channels, ie Asheville NC, Spartansburg and Greenville SC stations...I've lost them when I drove from Asheville to the Outer Banks....but still had them in WVa, TN, SC...but the further you get away from the spot beam area....you will lose "true local channels"..

[amandasgramma]

Me Again...you're right...and that's the same with DishNetwork. I WILL add to this and say I find having the NY or LA channels is nice .....BUT, you don't know what's happening around you. Okay, I'm a news junkie. Years of living in high fire danger area makes me watch the news every day. 🙂 🙂 NY or LA news doesn't tell you what's happening in the area near your camping site. BUT, I will also say, for a west coaster who is getting old and likes going to bed early, it was nice seeing my favorite shows at 6:00 or 7:00 at night!!!!! LOL

[Me_Again]

RustyJC wrote:

Roman Duck wrote:
Rusty, your quite right. I understand that extreme locations would prohibit accessibility to home-base local channels. For us we found that we can get service in a 1500 to 2000 radius from our home.(Farthest we traveled since using a sat. system in the RV)
The only time that we don't,is when we can't acquire a signal at all. Mainly due to overhead obstructions(currently have a roof mounted dish)
So as you said if your not in a spot-beam area, you won't get them

Sounds like, since you're in the Catskills per your avatar, your local channels are the East Coast national feeds. Those of us with "true" local channels (i.e., not the NYC or LA East or West Coast national feeds) have a much smaller spot beam area as I and others have described.

Rusty

From Directv"

Distant Network Service (DNS) enables you to receive ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC channels from New York or Los Angeles. It's a great solution for travelers who want to enjoy these channels on the road in their mobile vehicle. If your main residence is qualified to receive Los Angeles/New York stations, you can also receive them in your RV, car or boat. If your main residence doesn't qualify for DNS, you may submit qualifying paperwork to obtain DNS channels. Learn more

Please note that a separate DIRECTV account is required to enjoy DNS in your mobile vehicle. Mirroring to the home is not allowed.

[RustyJC]

Roman Duck wrote:
Rusty, your quite right. I understand that extreme locations would prohibit accessibility to home-base local channels. For us we found that we can get service in a 1500 to 2000 radius from our home.(Farthest we traveled since using a sat. system in the RV)
The only time that we don't,is when we can't acquire a signal at all. Mainly due to overhead obstructions(currently have a roof mounted dish)
So as you said if your not in a spot-beam area, you won't get them

Sounds like, since you're in the Catskills per your avatar, your local channels are the East Coast national feeds. Those of us with "true" local channels (i.e., not the NYC or LA East or West Coast national feeds) have a much smaller spot beam area as I and others have described.

Rusty

[Roman_Duck]

RustyJC wrote:

Roman Duck wrote:
With direct tv you will receive your local channels no matter where you are.

Not if you're out of the spot-beamed area for your local channels. We live in the Houston, Texas area, and about 150-200 miles is the limit of my spot-beamed reception area for Houston local channels for DirecTV.

Rusty

Rusty, your quite right. I understand that extreme locations would prohibit accessibility to home-base local channels. For us we found that we can get service in a 1500 to 2000 radius from our home.(Farthest we traveled since using a sat. system in the RV)
The only time that we don't,is when we can't acquire a signal at all. Mainly due to overhead obstructions(currently have a roof mounted dish)
So as you said if your not in a spot-beam area, you won't get them

[jnharley]

You do not change your billing address, you change your service address. You do not want to change your billing address especially as a fulltimer as it can affect your DNS if you have it. I think Dish dropped DNS service a year ago and it is now only offered by DirecTv. We leave our service address in an area where we can see Cubs baseball games and we stopped watching news several years ago because it just raises our blood pressure and who needs that so we don't need locals. We DVR everything and never watch life TV. Not interested in watching 15 minutes of commercials for every hour show.

[Me_Again]

One can re-authorize a DirecTV receiver online yourself if it misses the boardcast. Go to equipment list and you will see the option. Chris

[Bob_Shaw]

When you change your service address, they send a signal to your boxes to pick-up the new locals. As per my experience, all of your boxes need to be turned-on or they (the boxes not turned on)will not get the signal. It's not necessary to change the billing address when you change your service address. We've been doing this for several years as Florida snowbirds with Direct. One of the main reasons I chose Direct was that I could get the channels I wanted to watch with a cheaper plan than I could with Dish.

[amandasgramma]

Me Again......I questioned the same thing to them yesterday. Asked WHY ....LOL I think it's job security for them to have to BE there to answer our calls....

[Me_Again]

amandasgramma wrote:

Me Again wrote:

amandasgramma wrote:
You will NOT get your home base locals. IE, My home base is Bend, Oregon....I can get them when I'm there, but when we go to Quartzsite, we get Phoenix stations for the locals. I simply get online and do a "chat" with Dish and they change our "receiver's location". I have done this at least 8 times since last Oct. One time the assistant told me I couldn't do it, and I told the person to talk to their supervisor. 🙂 he came back and made the change. 🙂 🙂 All done in less than 5 minutes. -- takes 10-15 min. for the locals to show up on the tv.

In our Jan/Feb swing through the SW I used Directv's "chat" session to change my address. It worked well, better that calling them.

BTW you are changing your billing address, so you want to set your account up to automatically charge to a credit card.

We have two HDDVR's the live in the trailer and a Geni and one HD Rec in the SB. Trailer spends the summer in a RV park a hour from the SB, so everything is cool. Can watch locals at the trailer in the summer. Chris

We are NOT changing our billing address. We're changing the LOCATION of our receiver. I've been doing this for 6 months and in the last 2 months our LOCATION has changed 5 times.....each time, I've double checked my account and my mailing or billing address has NOT changed.

Well maybe they charged it back. They have changed it a few times over the years. I just looked at my account and one can change their billing address themselves but not the location. If they would just let one change the location online, life would be better. But neither Dish or Directv has ever made things easy for their users. Well maybe for new users, as they give them things that they will not give existing customs(Directv). Chris

[C-Bears]

We have Direct-TV as full timers at about $111 per month. When we are in travel mode we do not bother to change our "service" address with them in order to get local programming, we just use our antenna.

We have found that you can not depend on all CG's to have good cable TV, just like you can't depend on them to have decent WiFi.

When we still had the stick-n-brick we would simply move our Direct-TV receivers from the house to the FW as needed with no extra charge from Direct-TV.