New ERA ready for the road

[georgelesley]

We bought a 2013 ERA in April, spent the last few months doing a few shake down trips and changes/additions the trips revealed were needed or wanted.

Some additions are, screen door on side, as well as rear, vent cover for fantastic fan, smart converter to save batteries, wife sewed custom fitting bedding, table cut down to better suit us.

I am addicted to college football, and so on Saturdays we will be parked while I watch the tail gator satellite TV. The other six days of the week we will go wherever the red roads (not interstates) lead. We just got the wifi hotspot in yesterday so we will have portable internet, no need to stop at McDonald's anymore.

We are heading to KS next month to the BEE social, then on to Utah and eventually back to MN to park the RV in a brand new garage to protect it from Minnesota winters. This will be our first trip where we have all the pieces of the puzzle in place to do exactly what we want, the way we want to do it.

We also have the first couple of stops from MN to KS scheduled with boondockers welcome hosts and have just hosted our first visitors from that site. Having a B is perfect for us, we love the go anywhere, park anywhere capability. Can't wait to get on the road.

[bobojay5]

Just a heads up, the group site at the lake is completely tree free. Bad for heat, but good for satellite. Sits on high ground also

[georgelesley]

drsolo wrote:
I got the tailgator too, and an app called "dishpointer" on my Galaxy tablet to find the position of the Dish satellites thru the camera against the background (and possible interfering trees or structures) which makes it easier to position the tailgator. I wish Dish would have broadcast on permanent channels so I wouldnt have to call them every time I move and get "local" channels. My tablet also has the "hotspot" feature so, like you, I have wifi all the time for my computer.

A question. Does it take 20-30 minutes to get the tailgater to locate the sats and download everything before TV can be watched?

It takes ours 10-15 minutes and we are watching TV. I got the nationwide networks going today easy to do as well. I will probably not turn them on except for fall trips. Gotta have my football. Since we don't use cell phones, I am carrying the pointing device I used when we fulltimed to set up our manual dish. It gives me a pretty good idea whether or not I have a clear shot.

[georgelesley]

NCWriter wrote:
Have a great time, George! We loved Utah in 2011.

We set off a couple of weeks ago, currently in Custer SP, SD, for about nine weeks. Our third long late summer/fall trip in the B. It amazes me that each trip is even more fun than the last one!

Too bad we will be on the road in 10 days. Make us a stop someday in the "arrowhead" of MN. Our profile is on boondockerswelcome.com. We will likely come home thru SD. I was stationed in Rapid City in the USAF years ago.

[NCWriter]

Have a great time, George! We loved Utah in 2011.

We set off a couple of weeks ago, currently in Custer SP, SD, for about nine weeks. Our third long late summer/fall trip in the B. It amazes me that each trip is even more fun than the last one!

[bobojay5]

georgelesley wrote:

bobojay5 wrote:
George, what did you guys get for a hotspot. We're using the Verizon 4G one, first generation.
It works just ok inside that metal box of a van. I'm trying an add on antenna with out amplification this trip. If that doesn't work very well, I'm going to get one of these: http://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/sleek-4g-v-amplifier-kit-26db-verizon-4g-cradle-815126/

Bob, I just ordered a wilson sleek with antenna. Will have it at the BEE rally. We got the Verizon jet pack thru Millenium.com. Works fine in the house, have not tried in RV yet. We live on the fringe of coverage, so for it to work even in the house without antenna was surprising.

Miillenicom is good. We'd use them too if we left our hotspot on all the time.
Be interesting to see the difference between our signals when we're there in CG.
Verizon's coverage says that area is a good 4G coverage area

[jjrai]

Your trip sounds like so much fun!

[georgelesley]

bobojay5 wrote:
George, what did you guys get for a hotspot. We're using the Verizon 4G one, first generation.
It works just ok inside that metal box of a van. I'm trying an add on antenna with out amplification this trip. If that doesn't work very well, I'm going to get one of these: http://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/sleek-4g-v-amplifier-kit-26db-verizon-4g-cradle-815126/

Bob, I just ordered a wilson sleek with antenna. Will have it at the BEE rally. We got the Verizon jet pack thru Millenium.com. Works fine in the house, have not tried in RV yet. We live on the fringe of coverage, so for it to work even in the house without antenna was surprising.

[bobojay5]

George, what did you guys get for a hotspot. We're using the Verizon 4G one, first generation.
It works just ok inside that metal box of a van. I'm trying an add on antenna with out amplification this trip. If that doesn't work very well, I'm going to get one of these: http://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/sleek-4g-v-amplifier-kit-26db-verizon-4g-cradle-815126/

[georgelesley]

drsolo wrote:
I got the tailgator too, and an app called "dishpointer" on my Galaxy tablet to find the position of the Dish satellites thru the camera against the background (and possible interfering trees or structures) which makes it easier to position the tailgator. I wish Dish would have broadcast on permanent channels so I wouldnt have to call them every time I move and get "local" channels. My tablet also has the "hotspot" feature so, like you, I have wifi all the time for my computer.

A question. Does it take 20-30 minutes to get the tailgater to locate the sats and download everything before TV can be watched?

Yes it does take awhile for the dish to do everything it needs to. I have a compass tied to our tailgater So I can approximately aim it in the right direction. I used to set one up manually when we fulltimed, so am pretty familiar with the process and angles needed for a good view. It does aim higher in the sky than you may think, so limbs that appear to be out of the way may not be.

You can get the four networks out of San Francisco good all over the country for $13 a month and they can be turned on and off a month at a time. Call 800-921-9677. We will have this for our trip, but I plan to see how much trouble changing the locals each stop on the internet is since we do not have cell phones except a trac phone for emergencies.

[drsolo]

I got the tailgator too, and an app called "dishpointer" on my Galaxy tablet to find the position of the Dish satellites thru the camera against the background (and possible interfering trees or structures) which makes it easier to position the tailgator. I wish Dish would have broadcast on permanent channels so I wouldnt have to call them every time I move and get "local" channels. My tablet also has the "hotspot" feature so, like you, I have wifi all the time for my computer.

A question. Does it take 20-30 minutes to get the tailgater to locate the sats and download everything before TV can be watched?

[yizit]

Congratulations and many happy and safe red road travels. We try to avoid the semi and get out of their way drivers on the freeways of stress.