Best option for TV Viewing in the desert?

Thank you Old-Biscuit.....definitely going to look up those websites too!

imgoin4it wrote:
If you are West of Tucson you are correct in the OTA TV is very limited. Dish has had monthly service for rv'ers for several years. If you don't like dish, Direct TV also now has pay by the month for only the time you are gone. Call direct and ask for their RV or recreational vehicle customer service office..I was surprised to hear this front a direct rep in a Sam's Club so I called them and it was all confirmed.

Excellent info...thanks!

If you are West of Tucson you are correct in the OTA TV is very limited. Dish has had monthly service for rv'ers for several years. If you don't like dish, Direct TV also now has pay by the month for only the time you are gone. Call direct and ask for their RV or recreational vehicle customer service office..I was surprised to hear this front a direct rep in a Sam's Club so I called them and it was all confirmed.

We used the roof top crank up OTA WInegard antenna.

Majority of our travels we got TV....major networks

Key is knowing which direction antenna head needed to be 'aimed'

We used various websites that gave direction/distance/signal rating to 'aim' antenna

Antenna Web

Antenna Point

DTV Reception

azdryheat wrote:
There are several excellent, resort-style parks in Tucson with full hookups so you don't need to be without cable.

That is true, but a lot of popular resorts are booked. If it proves to be a problem, and if there are other problems as well, we might be moving around a bit during the winter. Anyway, we will be back to Florida the following year. :)

Good information, thanks. (We aren't interested in dumping cable, we love Xfinity while at home). We had a bad experience with Dish here at our home, (very bad reception, no local stations which included all the major networks, and a battle to get our refund which we did). If Dish is our only pay as you go option, I think I am in trouble with convincing the husband. Let's hope OTA reception is better than reviewers are reporting!

There are several excellent, resort-style parks in Tucson with full hookups so you don't need to be without cable.

Dish pay as you go and only pay for the months you actually use it. Call when you arrive, tell them your local address, and they will give you the local channels of the nearest city. And you get HD.

donn0128 wrote:
Dish pay per month or, smarter, dump cable buy either dish or direct for home and take it on the road with you. Then all you need to do is wire your RV, setup a portable dish, connect up and your ready.

I too will second this. Now.. you said OTA reception is reported to be poor (As I recall in Quartsite it is and that's the "neighborhood" but it might be better in Tuson).

But before you go.. The very best RV antenna for DISTANT RECEPTION is the Winegard Sensar a II or III with optional wingman or an IV (Sensar 4) With the included Wingman.. If you do not have a wingman, get one, easy to install.

Additionally if you have the classic wall plate.. Replace it with a SENSAR PRO Crank the gain up to 20 and it really sucks in the stations.

The DISH pay as you go plan.. you buy a VIP-211 (Get a 211K if you can not a Z)at Camping World and a portable antenna like the Tailgater or Winegard Patfinder X2 (Either will work very well where you are planing to go)

Install the Smart Phone App Antenna Helper Free

now when you get to your RV park

Use APP to start aiming the Batwing, use Sensar pro to finish the job.. Find out if you need to send Dish way more money than I feel they are worth. If you do.. the phone number is in the owner's manual.

Dish has a Pay as you go option that might work for your situation. We have used both Directv and Dish and they both have pretty much the same channels and costs are similar as well. We didn't have any problems when we are camping in the Tucson area getting a few channels OTA, but we always set-up our HD Sat dish to receive all the same channels we have at home sans locals. Been doing it so long whole process takes maybe 10 minutes.