Is there satellite reception at Smokemont in the Smokeys?

Satellite reception is anywhere you can get a clear shot of the southern sky. Cell phones are land-based towers.

Contact you employer and ask. If possible try to find out which service provider the former host had.

Otherwise I would hold up on a new subscription till you arrive and determine the possibilities.

Obtaining a signal for Satellite tv requires a clear shot to the southern skies regardless of whether cell phone service is available. You can camp in the middle of a metropolitan area with abundant cell service but still can't access satellite tv if a tree, building, or whatever blocks access to the satellite hovering in the southern sky. There is lots of good info on the forum for deciding which method and service is most suitable for your satellite tv viewing requirements. We use a portable set-up to acquire HD satellite tv.

2oldman is correct. They work on totally different reception methods. For cell phone service, you must be close to line of sight with a cell phone tower which is ground based. The satellite signals come from satellites which are in the southern sky for those of us in the U.S. As long as you aren't blocked by a canopy of trees, buildings or mountains, you should be able to get good reception. We were in 28 different states this last summer, from California to Maine. Only twice were we not able to get a signal due to thick trees blocking the signal.

This is encouraging. Thanks for your insight. I didn't think about cell towers vs satellite, I was mainly thinking about the surrounding mountains blocking the signals. We do plan to contact the park with this question.

We hosted in Smokemont but were in the D loop. We were able to get sat TV just fine.

wcbass! We met at Canyon in June 2013. We stopped by the office for a short visit and introduced ourselves, hoping you would be there, from your blog. Trip of a lifetime for us. Thanks for the information about Smokemont. This will be our first out of town volunteer venture. Last summer stayed at Big Lagoon State Park as resident volunteers for 10 weeks. That was a challenge with the heat. Excited about staying in the Smokeys during leaf season and cooler temps!

How funny! We volunteered twice at Smokemont and LOVED it! This was a few years back…2000 & 2001. We really enjoyed getting to know the Rangers and the other staff. We'll be heading back to Yellowstone in April. Enjoy your time in Smokemont!

We were in F loop in October. We have both a rooftop mounted dish and a portable Pathway X2. With the rooftop, there wasn't enough of a clearing for the South Western Arc in the 2 sites we were in (on the right just as you enter and at the bottom of the loop inside). But, we were easily able to get the South Eastern arc for dish with our Pathway X2 (Dish has 2 sets of satellites). The camp host had a portable manual dish aimed SW, and was a little higher in the clear area of the loop.

Cell signal was nearly impossible, even with a booster.