What should I do about Satellite TV?

[Meffrig]

I have been using my cable hookup with my 2014 Thor Windsport motorhome andt the reception I get at most parks is poor or has limited channels. I am only weekend camper so to speak. I have a main TV, a bedroom TV, an outside TV, and also TV's in both bunks.

I am ready to go to satellite and my coach is satellite ready. I have cable TV at home which works great and I really don't want to get rid of that but maybe I should. I know Dish has a pay as you go plan and from reading other posts, this may be the way I might want to go if it doesn't cost me a fortune to get set up. I am thinking a portable system but could go with a roof mount I suppose.

All ideas about cost and getting this done would be appreciated

[BigRabbitMan]

fyrflie wrote:
I gave up on satellite and cable tv for a view of the great outdoors. That's why I camp.

If for some reason I am stuck inside the coach (weather), I play a movie.

JMHO

I don't watch enough tv to have a system. I have a tv and an over the air antenna. If I get something , fine. If not, fine also. Read a book or watch a movie or watch nature turn into night.

[Jeff_Laura]

I have the dish Pay-As-You-Go package and an automatic satellite dome. For $35 a month, you can't beat it. Haven't had one problem with it. It was a rather lengthy phone call getting everything set up but their Techs do an excellent job of walking you through it. Good luck with your purchase.

I love having the option to suspend service without charge.

[Bill_Satellite]

Mile High wrote:
If it's truly "Satellite" ready like mine was, it won't have a splitter. The cable connection was full of splitters.

That's true but the OP said the dealer told him he just needed to plug the satellite coax into the Cable connection and that will not work. There would need to be 2 separate input options outside. 1 for cable and 1 for satellite.

[fyrflie]

I gave up on satellite and cable tv for a view of the great outdoors. That's why I camp.

If for some reason I am stuck inside the coach (weather), I play a movie.

JMHO

[Mile_High]

If it's truly "Satellite" ready like mine was, it won't have a splitter. The cable connection was full of splitters.

[Bill_Satellite]

Everything is correct except that you will not be able to use an existing Cable connection to run your satellite TV receiver. There is at least 1 splitter in there that will prevent this. Depending upon the setup, however, it's likely a very easy modification to add an A/B switch and change around a bit of coax wiring to make it compatible. You may also simply be able to run a new dedicated cable in a window or through the coach firewall (even drill through the sidewall and install a coax plate) for the easiest installation.

[Meffrig]

Thanks for the ideas.

I have a plan. I think I am going with Dish Pay As You Go. Since I don't have dish in my home, it will cost $35 per month for the basic package with I can activate on a month to month basis. I am going to purchase the Wingard X2 Bundle (probably from Amazon, with 1 receiver). I believe the bundle comes with everything I need or at least I hope so....... I plan on adding a tripod also.

My coach is satelite ready I believe. My service man at my RV dealer said all I need to do is hook into the cable outlet on the side of the motorhome from the satelite. Go inside my cabinet and to the input (use short coax) to the receiver, out of the receiver to the output to my TVs. Call Dish and activate the service.

Does this sound right?

[ncrowley]

We have Dish at home and the same programming on the road. It works well for us. When we moved, we got rid of cable TV so we could have our service when we traveled.

We use the portable automatic X2. Works great and we do not have to worry about trees. We went to many places where without the external dish we could not have gotten a signal.

[GordonThree]

I wish Dish would bring back the live video feed from their geosynchronous bird. It was so cool watching our blue planet rolling by from 50,000 miles out.

[accsys]

wa8yxm wrote:
I would recommend Dish over direc.. For multiple reasons some rumors some political but the biggest is one specific channel on Satellite 119 Dish has it , (Direct does not.. NASA) but that's my preference... Direc has more Sports channels you can pay extra for, (NOT interested) Thank dish.. receiver(s), and once properly aimed.. IT WORKS. period.

DirecTV channel 352 is NASA! But I would rather watch paint dry!!! :B

[Mile_High]

Depending on how they pre-wired your coach:

The Dish Hopper/wireless Joeys or combo of wired and wireless Joeys (or DirecTV equivalent) and a Winegard Trav'ler automatic antenna on the roof would be awesome! Every TV could watch what they wanted independently because the trav'ler locks into all three satellites. With a dome or portable that can only see one satellite, someone gets to take command and the others have to follow that satellite selection.

My coach has a HDMI 4X4 high def switcher that takes any of 4 input signals and sends it to any TV I want. With that, I have the Travler and the single receiver which is on my home account. I can just transfer the signal to wherever I am, but that wouldn't be popular with kids.

[wa8yxm]

Several ideas.. First No matter what the advertised price.. they will find a way to increase it for you.. This is an illegal sales practice and I suggest you not support it. Why they get away with it I do not know.

Second: First pick Dish or DirecHDTV.. I would recommend Dish over direc.. For multiple reasons some rumors some political but the biggest is one specific channel on Satellite 119 Dish has it , Direct does not.. (NASA) but that's my preference... Direc has more Sports channels you can pay extra for, (NOT interested) Thank dish..

Antennas: Dome or dish, Mounted or "portable"
With DISH a DOME (Which can see one satellite at a time) Selected models can work very well with a SINGLE RECEIVER (One channel) such as a VIP-211 line
With multiple receivers or with DVRs which pick up multiple channels you may not care for a Dome as you may need to see 2 or 3 satellites at one time.

DISH antennas however,, You get the dish that matches your receiver(s), and once properly aimed.. IT WORKS. period.

Rooftop automatic are very nice if you have a clear line of sight from where you are parked to the satellite, but if parked under the evil signal eating tree they are no good.

Portable antennas (both "cube/dome" type and Tripod mounted dishes) are more work, with the tripod dish being most work,, but can be set where the tree does not eat the signal in most cases.

Suggestion is both Roof mount and Portable with an A/B swich,, think A-bove and B-elow.

Finally cables.. If your rig is "Sat ready" there is a cable to the roof. may be RG-6 r RG-59 but for the short run (less than 50 feet) likely will not matter.

For ground mount portables or dish many re-purpose the Park-Cable line.. DO NOT do that, it's the wrong type of cable and likely much longer than the roof run.. Rather leave it as is and run a nice new quality RG-6 line to a ground block attached to a good chassis ground somewhere, Connect/disconnect there.

[donn0128]

Lwiddis wrote:
"All ideas about cost and getting this done would be appreciated."

I couldn't even contemplate camping in the great outdoors without seven TVs in my RV with Dish AND DirectTV.

Between 150 and 300 dollars for a decent dish/tripod package plus coax,and connectors.

[pennysmom09]

donn0128 wrote:
Directv has what they called a Genie which can accept up to 5 wireless mini Genies. Meaning 6 total TVs. Dish offers something similar. So IMHO your best move would be to dump cable, get either Dish or Direct. Direct has better sports packages if thats your thing. What ever system you select, have it instaled at home, and then buy a ground based dish tripod setup. Wire your MH to feed the main box to the main TV, and from there duplicate the setup the installer did at home. When you go, take the stuff you need from home and go.

X2. This works great for us. We loved XFinity with Comcast, but we gave it up for portability and have not been disappointed. When planning to stay for awhile we call and they "plug" us into the local stations, and we change the zip in our settings.