Satellite TV and your camper

[artmart]

I have enough trouble paying almost $100 per month for television that still gives me commercials to pay that kind of money for additional equipment, but there are certainly enough people willing to do so.

I try and keep costs down and don't mind keeping myself busy (setting up the dish when we get there). It's just DW and I and most other we camp with are in the same boat (empty nesters) and we all use TV as a reward for getting our campsite set up. enroute we've always talked to each other and I prefer to concentrate on the road. When we had the kids we preferred they leave their electronics at home. Again, parental preference is the gauge and how much you're willing to pay.

[SMOKEY2348]

^ lots of saving my friend!

[RVGrandparents]

Hi. We just got a new-to-us class B with a TV and a satellite box, and a Kingdome and a Winegard on top of it. We've already removed the TV and the satellite box, and are planning on removing both "dishes" from the roof of the RV. Can anyone tell me what we can expect to find underneath them, as far as holes that will need patching? And will they have any resale value, or should I just <shudder> trash them? Thanks!!

[samanthajones]

Is it possible to purchase a sat tv system from Dish or Direct TV and use it
in two different locations? That is, one contract with two dishes and
receivers in two locations. I would only use it in one location at a time.
Or would I need to have two contracts and pay twice?

[artmart]

If you have a subscription for Dish Network or DirecTV, all you need to do is purchase an extra satellite dish and either mount it or buy a tripod and use this for setting up with your trailer. Then just "borrow" one of the receivers from the house and use this at the trailers.

I've been doing this for years. I started with DirecTV, switched to Dish recently for cost reasons, and got a different satellite dish with LNB.

The trickiest part is leveling and aiming the dish and making all the proper connections, but I'm pretty good at it now. Understanding the connections at the trailer can also be confusing at first, but with a lot of knowledge you'll love it!

I don't use cable or fiber optic just for this reason. They are not portable, but a satellite dish system is cheapest and allows me to use my subcription every day if I want to. The fine print of the their contracts will state this is legal and supported. I have heard that some of their support people don't know how to do this but consider them idiots and ask here and we can help you, or find someone else at their support department.

It can get tricky, but you'll overcome it.

[ctfortner]

It is a very common thing, as Art stated. I have also been doing for years and most campers I am around do the same. I also have an extra satellite dish installed on detached garage at home so I can take a box out there as needed when I am working in there and a big game is on

I got my extra satellites from yard sales, craigslist is another option.

[artmart]

For RVGrandparents they have a very nice and very expensive setup that provide much convenience. I think me and ctfortner took the much cheaper way out, but it works too. It's just that I wouldn't use an expensive system all that often and therefore was cost-prohibitive.

Ask yourself how important and how much you want to spend and how long you are willing to wait for the return on the investment to make your decision. For me it only cost me about an additional $75 bucks for the hardware (a tripod and homemade leveling platform) and a few coax wires. Aiming the setup and installing the wires is free except it takes some time to do. I find I have lots of time, just not lots of money.

We are all doing what Samanthajones wants to do. When we had the kids I left all forms of Television at home, but now that we are older, we'll bring it along, but that's because we pay so much for it we want to use it.

[mark]

As a professional satellite tech, I have installed/ repaired/ repeaked dozens and dozens of dishes for campers and rvs, just did another last week. the trick, as stated, is aiming it. when you hook the reciever up and go into the menu, and to setup, you can enter the zip code in your current location, and the azimuth, elevation and skew (if needed) will appear on your screen, all you need is a compass and a cheap satellite "beeper" meter and you can aim the 18" round dishes fairly easily, if you have a HD dish, its far more complex.

[artmart]

I gave up on my satellite "Beeper" because I kept finding the wrong satellite. The beeper will sound when it finds a signal, but not necessarily the best one for your subscription. Instead I use the compass and the coordinates to locate the satellite. Sometimes I nail it quick and sometimes it takes a while. I've also been known to find the WRONG signal, then I don't get all the channels in my subscription and you need to know how to recognize this.

I do find that between Dish Network (current) and DirecTV (prior), the DirecTV are equal when hunting for the signal, but the DirecTV equipment was easier to configure. For example, I use HD at home (big oval dish) and non-HD (round dish) for the rig. The DirecTV equipment can make this adjustment automatically. Dish Network requires time consuming manual configurations, but I find Dish is less expensive so there's the tradeoff.

Both system prices are getting so expensive (even with a contract, ouch, when the time is up) that we are just getting ready to toss them both out and just go with our extensive DVD library or find something else to do besides watch TV, like walk, talk and visit. Wow, what a concept. We get our news off the internet these days, anyway.

[salty]

a lot of good info thank you