Sattalight tv

[Tyandkate]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to get decent tv service everywhere I go. I'm thinking of getting dish or direct tv but not really wanting to pay several hundred dollars for the equipment. How do you go about getting a standered dish on a tripod? Or something I can mount in front of the camper?

[Mudinyeri]

Both DirecTV and DISH offer mobile solutions. Prices, of course, vary based on packages selected, contract term, etc.

With a little bit of technical expertise, you can sign up for home service and "take it with you" so to speak. YouTube has several videos of individuals who purchased an additional dish/LNB setup and a tripod or "skid" to which the dish is mounted at the campsite.

Make sure the dish and LNB that you purchase (or get for free) are compatible with your receiver.

Many people who have cancelled satellite TV service are willing to give you their dish and LNB for free if you remove it from their house. Again, make sure the hardware you get for "free" is compatible with your receiver.

The DirecTV dish is probably the easier of the two to point.

If you're looking for high-speed Internet at your campsite, you can usually package ISP services with TV services. There's a relatively new company, called Excede, launching a new satellite later this year - supposedly with unlimited 30-50 Mbps speeds. I have yet to try it (since the satellite has yet to be launched) so I can't vouch for the speeds. The nice thing about Excede (beyond the speeds, if they materialize) is that service isn't tied to TV service. In theory, you could stream any content available online, e.g. Netflix, with an Excede setup.

More questions. Feel free to ask.

[Tyandkate]

Thanks Roy Ken I'm going to call directv when I get home! I appreciate the info

[RoyB]

I was only interested in standard mode SAT TV bringing along one of my DIRECTV account SAT RCVRs with me.

I picked up on of those Winegard RD-9046 SAT Dish mounts with two ports head for DIRECTV signals AMAZON.. I think summitsource now carries this unit...


This is a neat portable mount where you can wrap around 150 feet or so of two RF cables around the base and have your SAT TV Detector unit in-line attached to the base to use..



Real easy finding the correct satellite for DIRECTV using this finder setup...

Being portable I always setup on the back of my truck hard folding bed cover panels so that I would have to put up the SAT TV dish if we both were leaving the trailer unattended...

Having the two RG cables hooked up I just run a RG cable to each of my two SAT RCVRs I brought along with me for the main TV and the other one for the bedroom TV.

Then I would run VIDEO OUTPUT cables from the SAT RCVR to the VID 1 input of the TV sets. Doing this allowed me to use the TV remote to select SAT TV-CABLE-OTA TV using the TV remotes. We found alot of time it was better to use the SAT at camp grounds with CABLE TV alot.

then the local NATL BROADCAST came out with high def digital TV which was the best TV signals ever so we stopped bringing along the SAT TV items after that happened... We just point our OTA BATWING antenna to the towns that are transmitting the HDTV signals and get perfect HDTV signals...

I did this for a couple of years using DIRECTV. Worked out great but sometims when you first hooked up you had to get the TV signals turned on again. Having th account info is a must have thing so I taped all of that info on the SAt RCVR. You can either call DIRECTV direct or go on-line to reset the TV signals. MY old SAt RCVRs would lose their memory alot when unplugged from 120VAC at the house haha...

Of course I would lose the LOCAL TV signals as soon as I got away from my local ZIP CODE area. DIRECT TV would reset your location if you called them but you could tell they didn't really like doing this haha... I just used the OTA BATWING to pick up the LOCAL NETWORK TV from the area we was at and just use the SAT RCVRs for the SAT TV signals.

Roy Ken

[Tyandkate]

Great thanks y'all, my thinking was on line with many moons ago before cable was in our area I signed a contract and they gave me equipment so I was thinking if I went that route maybe the installer would be cool enough to just hook it up to my camper using my home address for the service

[bobndot]

I dont know how you are going to acquire tv sat service everywhere you go without buying any equipment.
You need the eq as well as the sat service to acquire sat tv.

this is what i do:
As far as i know, Dish network is the only one that allows month to month pay as you go service. Thats what i use and pay for it at one month at a time, as needed, the packages you choose from month to month are totally up to you each time you order. its called "Gotailgater" . 211 recvr $149-199. with a vuqube portable dish $300-$350. i paid $149 and 300.00.

Another option (if you already have sat service at home) is to bring the sat service you use at home and buy an extra portable dish to match the recvr.
I like the portable dish over a perm mounted one because it offers me the freedom to move it around the site avoiding trees etc . i carry 100 ft on cable. I can also padlock the antenna to something solid to deter theft.

There are many apps to show you where the sats are in the sky if you need to have an idea , where they are. A portable dish antenna like the vuqube has an automatic built in sat finder, just plug it in and it searches. It keeps a signal thru some decent heavy rain events without loosing reception.
I like the DN 211k recvr and the vuqube because the reception as well as the 12v power is thru one wire instead of 2. For a one time $40 activation fee, you have DVR service every time you sign on for a months service.

If you boondock and run off batts, my system will use about 25 watts while viewing or not. Dish antenna is 12v and the recvr is 110v that runs off an inexpensive inverter.
I use a Simpex PSW 150 watt inverter with a 12v lighter plug. As long as they are plugged in, they use power sitting idle.
I disconnect it during the night. It will automatically power up and find the sats at the touch of the power button. It takes about 5-10 mns to do a boot up and sat search. Once you do it, you do not have to redo that step as long as you leave the system in a sleep mode. ( Again, it uses 25 watts while sleeping.)

So thats it in a nutshell .

[donn0128]

Several online retailers offer packages including a tripod, coax, and all necessary parts except the receiver for 200 dollars or less.
Do you have satelite service at home? If so take a receiver from home. In the past I would recomend Directv, but after this last 9 days, no more. They have the absolute worst customer service. So really Dish might be your best choice.