Satellite TV questions

[tim1970]

I am trying to find out what my options are for satellite tv. Do I carry around a satellite dish in the storage compartment, and then set it up in a bucket or on a tripod at every campsite I go to? Is it hard to get aligned? What about costs? Is this something I can add to my current bill fairly cheaply, or am I looking at $50 or $60 a month?

This is for a 5th wheel and our family will be weekend camping with the occasional week long trip. I know nothing about portable solutions, so any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

[ljr]

Get a sturdy tripod, a decent meter and a level. With those, setting up a portable is a snap. Most people I encounter having trouble are missing one or more of those.

[JohnG3]

We have Dish and a Winegard carryout. When we get out of our home area I just call Dish and give them our zipcode and the send a signal down to the box and local stations are there. Just have to remember to call them on the last day on the road home so your home box is on you home area.

[imgoin4it]

Not sure why so many people indicate problems with directv. Direct established a seperate function for RV customers. Seems like people are not aware. You can call Directv and ask for the RV office and get a knowledgeable person on the line. Unless something has changed recently I have found them very accomodating.

[BulldawgFan]

I have direct, added two more receivers to the rv, $6 each per month. Best money I have spent was on the King Quest dome. That and the sat finder app on my phone, find sat in sky, get clear view, set dome down, and it's automatic from there. SD is plenty of resolution, afterall, we're roughing it....right?! Hahaha

[CA_Traveler]

We rarely watch live TV. Instead we have a single DVR receiver and generally can watch 2 hours of shows in just over 1 hour. So our prior recorded shows are on the receiver. This works for us.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

If you have Direct at home - stay with Direct.

We don't have a physical home - being full-timers - so Direct doesn't want our business. We've been good Dish customers for several years. Dish makes it very easy to change our service address - and receive the local area channels.

My RV friends I have who use Direct also are able to change their locals.

One recommendation - get familiar with the Chat feature on the service site if possible - I've found text chat a much easier, more reliable way to 'talk' to service people.

Antenna - there are two type choices and two alignment choices

A three (3) LNB head is the best. It can see three satellites at the same time and does not have to change to different satellites if you change channels. Also if you want - you can have two different receivers/TVs watching two different channels on two different satellites at the same time. Or your DVR can record a second channel on a different satellite while you watch the primary channel live.

Most of us have a one (1) LNB head and only have the capability to 'see' one satellite at a time. We cannot watch two different channels unless they are on the same satellite, no record one program while watching a different one. We have one tuner receivers.

Alignment - manual or automatic

The 'cheapest' way is to get a manually aligned dish and a tripod. This works well for many people. It also causes many a great amount of frustration. I used one for about three weekend trips before I gave up.

I bought an automatic Winegard Carryout about 5 years ago - it requires a separate 12 volt power source and a separate coaxial cable. It has served us well. I've had to place it up to 200 feet from the trailer at times to get a signal. More modern automatic portable domes do not require a separate power cord.

I use a smartphone app to tell me where the satellites are located and to help me try to find an opening through trees, etc. Sometimes I put the antenna on a mount on the ladder at the rear, sometimes I put it on top of one of the AC's. Other times, it goes on a tripod places in a good reception point. Sometimes there is simply no way to get a signal.

You can get three LNB automatic antennas. They run $1,200 and up and should be permanently mounted on the rig. I've only seen them on Class A and higher end 5ers. Some of my friends who have those antennas, also carry a portable unit such as a Tailgater or such for places where the permanently mounted roof-top antenna is blocked by trees.

As far as content plans and costs - they are basically the same as the ones you have at home with Direct. RV plus home service only adds a few dollars to your bill each month.

[CA_Traveler]

tim1970 wrote:
I am trying to find out what my options are for satellite tv. Do I carry around a satellite dish in the storage compartment, and then set it up in a bucket or on a tripod at every campsite I go to?

Yes, I did this for many years. Or you can have a automated dish that sits on the picnic table or mounted on the roof elsewhere.

Is it hard to get aligned?

No except for getting over the learning curve.

What about costs? Is this something I can add to my current bill fairly cheaply, or am I looking at $50 or $60 a month?

You can take your home receiver and no additional costs except the one time cost for the dish for the RV.

This is for a 5th wheel and our family will be weekend camping with the occasional week long trip. I know nothing about portable solutions, so any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

There are many options available to you and there are thousands of posts on this subject.

We've always taken a home receiver with us in the rig and our receivers and dishes have evolved. The basics are that both dishes must be compatible with the receiver.

So what you need is dependent upon what you have and/or plan to upgrade to. So what model DTV receiver do you have?

[ksbowman]

I carried a portable dish and tripod for a couple years using the Dish network and only paying the $7 a month extra on my home plan. I found it would take 2-6 beers to finally get it sited in. This season I got the new dish/winegard Play Maker auto site in unit. Now it only takes 1 beer and I have lost no additional hair from my rapidly balding head. I would highly recommend this set up.

[rhagfo]

We currently have Dish on an RV package, only pay for when we use it.We own our Receiver and Tailgater dish, easy setup, and HD channels. I found it interesting that we had the dish on the roof of the 5er near a roof vent, many times when we changed channels the dish would realign, so it has the ability to switch between three satellites for best reception.

[goducks10]

Beaker wrote:

...DirecTv and a portable sat.

???

None of the portables or maybe I should say automatics will give DTV an HD picture. Only SD.

[CA_Traveler]

Big Katuna wrote:
DISH also lets you change to the local channels anywhere you travel. Directv couldnt handle it.

I've never had a problem changing locals with DTV. But then I'm a "very valuable customer". :B

[Beaker]

...DirecTv and a portable sat.

???

[Big_Katuna]

I had Directv for years and carried a full size dish with a surveyors tripod.

we switched to DISH about a year ago with their new pricing ($49/MO for two years). Free HD and DVR service.

I have a Winegard Pathway X2 carryout (about $400) that can find the eastern or western arc automatically.

I have found DISH to be more rv friendly that DTV. With a 211 sat box, you hook it up to the carryout, plug it in and it knows it is hooked up to an autoseek device. It asks you which arc you want to search for, you click it and it does the rest.

DISH also lets you change to the local channels anywhere you travel. Directv couldnt handle it.

I could not be more pleased.

[tinstartrvlr]

If you decide to go with Dish, the portable satellite antenna (Tailgater for example) finds the satellites automatically so no headaches trying to align the antenna. If you use a stationary antenna, you pretty much have to have a satellite signal meter or some other way to find the satellites.