Satellite TV and your camper

[dchaviland]

"Now you are saying to yourself, hey I'm camping, why would I want to take my dish along? "

Bill, I seem to be chasing you around on this forum. Initially, we thought why would we want to bring *that* much of home with us, and for a time that was OK. That was until we had to clear out of Houston because Hurricane Rita was bearing down on us. I won't go into the gory details but 21 hours later we found ourselves at one of our favorite places, Fort McKavett about an hour away from San Angelo. We were curious what was or was not happening to Houston and low and behold we raised our aerial only to find we had access to one freekin' channel. It wasn't one of the major news stations either.

At that point we decided that since we have 4 Dish receivers at the house, we would start taking one with us. We purchased the antenna and then it became an exercise to get it up and operating. To make a long story short, we had issues with wind which on additional trips, broke our dish, we got it fixed and we had take preventive measures. The enclosed pic says it all (attachment).

I grabbed what would have been a discarded pallet form work. Put the Dish antenna on it, marked where it's "feet" were going to go, drilled holes, and then for space reasons took the circular saw and buzzed the pallet in half. Shown here in the picture, and what is hard to see is that the Dish unit is bolted to the pallet and there are three 1 sq ft cement pavers holding it in place. Right now, this has been working very well us and the pallet and pavers keep this sucker grounded even in pretty modest winds. I have an in-line signal detector and being an amateur astronomer, finding the satellite isn't an issue and having the signal detector helps there as well.

The only thing we have to remember to do is make sure we call Dish and get them to "ping" the receiver about a week before we go. The last time we forgot to do this and went all the way to the campsite and had to call them from there anyway but at least from home they know the receiver is where it is supposed to be.

What was of interest was that when asking Dish about the portability of their receivers, we got two separate answers. The stoic person in customer service on the phone suggested we needed to rent a "5th" receiver dedicated to the trailer. More $$ to them. However, when we spoke to the Dish reps at a local home show, their answer was simple "just grab one of your home receivers and take it with you" -- so that is what we do.

Now mind you... we take it now where ever we go. But since we are CAMPING, it is not our primary means of entertainment.

David

[bill0830]

The received we carry around in the camper is currently located in my den. Since It's been awhile since the last time I used it, I like to keep it up to date, so that when we get ready to camp, it is ready. Now the main problem you will run into when using the receiver in a camper and you aren't using it at least once a month is it needs to be "kick" started by Dish or Direct before you can use it. I would not order another received for the "camper" as suggested by your dish provider as you would have the same issue either way. If after getting the dish set up at the campsite and it doesn't pick up correctly, I have just called dish/direct and informed them that I have have not used the receiver in awhile and they will send a signal to the received to update it. It only takes a few minutes. Let me know if this helped. Sorry I haven't been around the forum in awhile, but work has kept me pretty busy the past few months.

[carnuba]

this looks like the place i was looking for!

i think this thread just answered my questions

thanks y'all

[haroldj]

Thought I would share a picture I ran across, may help some folks out

I think this was for a wineguard setup, but that really doesnt matter.

[mark]

I spent 4 years installing satellite systems for dish network, directv and hughesnet. The one thing I recommend when using the existing cable connections that are build into your r.v is to replace the connector itself. It's very easy and can save you headaches later. If you look at the connector on the outside of the r.v. (the one you screw your cable onto) the center is white. That means that it is low frequency and is designed for cable, not satellite, the high-frequency connectors have a blue center and will accomodate either signal. the low frequency will work, but eventually will just stop working because they are not designed to withstand the low voltage that travels between the reciever and the L.N.B via the coax cable, which should be rg6, the older rg59 is also not engineered for voltage transfer and can just quit on you. I hope this info is helpful, and if anyone has any satellite questions, please feel free to ask me.

[hydrofoil82]

not exactly a good idea, or legal for that matter...

[spacea2]

Hello.. interesting reports. I too am new to satellite with my camper. I have Dish TV and and extra receiver at home. My question is about which dish to buy. Dish TV has a 300 and 500 dish (one or two LNBs) I think the 500 can receiver satellite 110 and 119.
Do I need the twin LNB dish?

[mark]

Spacea2... what you will need is a dish 500 with a dp plus LNB. and you are correct, dishnetwork looks at the 110 and 119 orbital slot satellites.

a new one can cost upwards of $120, depending on the supplier. a good used one shouldn't cost you more than $40-$50. If you can't find one at a good price let me know, maybe I can get my hands on one for you and ship it to you thru ups or fed-ex. The extra reciever you have... does it have a signal splitter attached to the back of the reciever?

[spacea2]

Thanks for the advise to get only a DISH 500 antenna.
What do you think of these listing on ebay? They are package deals for
twin 500 dish, tripod, etc. They seem to good to be true?

Dish Network 500 Satellite Tripod Kit w/ Finder NEW - eBay (item 350410456156 end time Nov-11-10 02:33:19 PST)

Dish Network 500 Satellite Tripod Kit w/ Finder NEW - eBay (item 350410456156 end time Nov-11-10 02:33:19 PST)

Dish Network 500 Satellite Tripod Kit w/ Sat Finder NEW - eBay (item 350410445250 end time Nov-11-10 01:17:42 PST)

Your offer to help me find a dish is appreicated but I also need the tripod.
I am in Mississippi.

[spacea2]

Mark.
I am new to this forum and got lost in getting back to your reply. I got a message one time about a popup blocker I might have. I do not know how to contact you about your offer.
Another thing is, my camping trailer has two coax outside connectors..one labeled satelite (blue) and another with labeled cable (a lighter blue or white). Inside there is only one connecter where I usually connect to the tv. There is another connector in the bedroom with the button to boust the antenna signal. I think I leave that off when connected to the satellite. I guess there in a splitter in the wall.

[mark]

you will probably have to run a seperate line from the dish to your satellite reciever, it sounds like you have a splitter in the line, and satellite signal will not pass thru traditional tv splitters

[artmart]

When we had our kids, we left the electronics at home. They learned a greater appreciation for where we camped when their faces were not "enclosed" by electronics.

Now they are grown and still go camping on their own sans electronics (except cell phones). But DW and I have graduated to RVing and now we pretty much bring everything along, including ceiling fans, fireplaces, satellite television, microwave and air conditioning all in the rig. We do set aside time to venture forth but have comfortable lodging to stay in. Occasionally I still backpack with friends and if we need to move fast or travel light, we bring the tent and other camping gear (and generator and satellite TV, LOL). After all, we pay the subscription, we may as well be able to use it. When we had a cable subscription, we couldn't lug 100s of miles of wire.

No matter, we can watch the Giants win the Superbowl, the Giants win the World Series and the Giant Sequoias where we camp. How spoiled we are!!

[williwilli]

Hi, Myself William and I am the new member of this site. I like to find this thread and also to reply on it.

[hideout]

thanks fore the advice,me and my wife just purchased a 2011 hide out,and will be using a direct tv dish to watch tv in our trailer,and i was going to buy a tripod to put it on,i do have a amp booster on it,but if my memory serves me corectly,i can turn it off if need be.
and since i live in the camping state of oregon,me and my better half will be hitting the coast as much as possible,but annyways thank you .

[SMOKEY2348]

Hey, I just bought one of these units for my C class, its in storage right now but as soon as the roads are a bit clearer it will be in my driveway once again! I grabbed the motion capable unit because of kids and our desire to watch the news in the evenings. Have you guys used something similar to this? RV In-Motion Mobile Satellite & TV Antenna KD-3200 - $1,398.99 : Its where we got the TV from, well both of them so we figured instead of just watching old movies and local broadcast we would upgrade the motorhome . I have to re-do the caulk this spring anyway so figured while I'm at it I should put it in.