Satellite TV

BTW We installed a RF Mogul SWM dish and yes pricey like other dishes of this caliber. We have a 18" portable dish (no longer used) and maybe some day will add a portable SWM dish for the rig.

edatlanta wrote:
Does each TV has a single RG6 coax that runs to the central location where the sat antenna lead comes in from outside? If so you might consider what I did. If not DirecTV has wireless capabiity now as well.

I have DirecTV with a slimline dish and a tripod from www.tv4rv.com, HR44 Genie DVR, HR24 DVR (a Genie mini would work also, I just had this DVR already).

This system works great and has worked for a long time. The dish is easy to set up using the tripod mentioned above.

Good suggestion. The HR44 will record 5 channels so we always have good shows to watch regardless of trees. The HR44 does require a SWM dish which we installed on the roof. Two mini Genies and you are all set for your 3 TVs.

All of this equipment is HD so are your rig TVs HD?

As for the wireless Genie that is questionable. Look up the installation requirements with reqards to equipment location especially with other WiFi in the rig and you might conclude as I did that installation in a RV is iffy due to minimum equipment separation distances.

Also be advised that high quality RG6 coax and compression fittings should be used for SWM and existing rig wiring may/may not be adequate. It has to support the bandwidth of 5 channels and 7 if you add a HR24 to the mix.

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice. I appreciate your experience.

I'd rather be in an open field than under trees with limbs and leaves and bird droppings. So we opted for the Traveler roof mount dish. That way we could upgrade our 2-HD DVR's to get a Genie and clients for other 2.

Decided to keep one DVR for bedroom and try Client on the outside TV. But the DTV Tech couldn't figure out how to hook it up. So DH talked to one of his subs and he had a box from DirecTV that mirrors the LR Genie. So far, it's the best choice since we don't pay extra fee for 3rd TV.

In 2014 we have stayed at over 25 campgrounds. It has been one of our "traveling/sightseeing" years obviously.

We never had one all year where we could not get a signal from our roof mounted Travler DirectTV dish. We generally don't stay in state or federal campgrounds, but some of the private CG's are wooded. A couple times I looked over the spot they wanted to put us in and asked for a different site because trees could have blocked our signal.

I am not a huge fan of parking under a bunch of trees anyway. You can get all kinds of stuff dropping on your rig plus there is nothing worse than storms and high winds coming through while you are sitting under those trees.

I failed to mention earlier that, if TV were to go away completely, we wouldn't miss it. Different strokes.

Sandia Man wrote:
If you want HD Directv and automatic pointing you will need the Traveler dish mounted on the roof, about $2K installed. We have been pointing a sat dish for over a decade and just purchased the same dish (serves 4 TVs) we have at home from Ebay when we went HD a few years back.

Works for us as we often camp among trees and other obstacles, we carry 150' of coax that allows us to position our HD dish where we can obtain a signal. It takes about 5 minutes to point with clear access to southern sky, a bit longer if scouting a shot between the trees.

We love having all the same channels we have at home while on the road, also get locals if we are still in NM. We even set-up HD sat dish when park cable is available or OTA signal is adequate as nothing compares to the full blown package we subscribe to. We don't watch a lot of TV while RVing, but if there is a sporting event I want to watch or a particular program my DW needs to view it's great having the capability to do so.

X2

Bruce

If you want HD Directv and automatic pointing you will need the Traveler dish mounted on the roof, about $2K installed. We have been pointing a sat dish for over a decade and just purchased the same dish (serves 4 TVs) we have at home from Ebay when we went HD a few years back.

Works for us as we often camp among trees and other obstacles, we carry 150' of coax that allows us to position our HD dish where we can obtain a signal. It takes about 5 minutes to point with clear access to southern sky, a bit longer if scouting a shot between the trees.

We love having all the same channels we have at home while on the road, also get locals if we are still in NM. We even set-up HD sat dish when park cable is available or OTA signal is adequate as nothing compares to the full blown package we subscribe to. We don't watch a lot of TV while RVing, but if there is a sporting event I want to watch or a particular program my DW needs to view it's great having the capability to do so.

We've been fulltime travelers now in our 14th year. We've had satellite TV 3 times and have every time found it wanting.

Our last TV excursion was with an automatic Tailgater from DISH. Loved the no-brainer setup, (will NEVER set up another stand-set dish) hated the reception. If, when one is in the sort of places we prefer (heavily wooded), fugedaboutit.

Wife insists that we keep the equipment since we can activate for a month at a time without paying any other fees. She WAY cares more about TV than do I. Peace be with us. :)

Winegard Trav'ler with DirecTV Genie, and two slaves. This would give you the best combination for what you want. The Trav'ler does have its limitations, so it is likely you will need a ground antenna also in certain situations. For those occasions I would suggest an oval dish and a solid heavy duty tri-pod. To that you would need to add a separate cable input, enough coax to connect it up to about 50 feet away and a method of aiming the dish. All can be had for a price. You have to decide at what point sat TV is worth the expense