Ventured into the satellite world and so far a bit disappointed

[porthole]

Venturing into the satellite world trials and tribulations

So, while at Dover speedway, watching our 1 or 2 two pixelated channels I went over to the CW tent and picked up a Winegard Rayzar Amplified Portable Indoor HD Antenna
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/winegard-rayzar-amplified-portable-indoor-hd-antenna/68966

One or 2 additional pixelated channels with that. That is getting returned, maybe replace it with a Jack antenna.

One of our neighbors in a TT that would not be allowed in a most campgrounds, literally spent hours trying to aim his sat dish. Seemed liked every time he got it lined up, a gust of wind blew it over. Kind of funny actually.

On another trip to the CW tent I took a gander at the sat stuff. With race pricing and an 10% off additional coupon, no shipping and no state sales tax and the promise of HD thousands of channels, DVR some Hopper thing that will allow me to watch my DVR stuff on my "I" stuff and all for only $29 a month ( yeah I know) I couldn't resist.

I picked up a Winegard carryout and two Dish ViP 211K receivers.

Now I see where everyone gripes about the lack of room for receivers ...........
Once plugged in and all hooked, avoiding the trailer's wiring, just in case there is an as of yet unseen issue, it was time for programming.

English really should not be a second language.

Anyway, I got my 29.95 package which is the RV'ers special and doesn't include ANY extras. No HD, no Hopper and ESPN is not included, which I specifically requested to be able to use.
No free HBO, Blockbuster, etc
No special new customer rate either.

So, the included local networks were nice, until they went out for for some network programing reason and were not available for my first 2 days of use.

Is it just me - is there really a commercial whenever you change channels to a non local network?
Is there really that many shopping channels and infomercials?

So far it stinks. The "Dish RV special" is half the channels that are on the basic 120 package.

One annoying trait is the system constantly has to re-download the channels every time the power goes out, which for us was frequent as we switched generators or just had them off for awhile.

For the Dish customers:

If you are in the Northeast, did you program the antenna to the NE hyrid coverage"?

Does your system constantly download from the satellites?

 

[Milton_and_PeggySue]

I just build a home made antenna and I wacht HD channels for free, about 55 depending on the location.

 

[codycarver]

We have a reflector (dish) on tri pod and take the receivers from home. I get my aiming information from dish pointer. Except for local over air channels works just like we are at home.

 

[Invizatu]

We have the dish tailgater and 211k receiver... It's been great and super easy. We have the full blown everything package with 240 channels and all the premiums... only $7 a month added to our home bill.

 

[porthole]

Guess I should have mentioned above, We don't have a home package, too many trees.
We do go to areas where there is minimal TV coverage, if any. And thanks to digital TV it is harder then ever to point the antenna.

 

[murry135]

Duane, We use a receiver from home with a tripod from Direct TV. My dish that I travel with is a 18" round SWM with 2 wire feeds from LNB. Sometimes I get it 1-2-3 and sometimes I just don't get it. Jim Reye's uses a VueCube and he is very happy with it. They come in single receiver and 2 receiver models. The 2 receiver model is a bit more expensive. Until we go full time we are keeping what we have when we go FT I will look into a roof mount Auto find satellite antenna.

 

[pegmikef]

Duane, I, like Bret, use the dish tailgater antenna and the vip receiver. There is little setup. Position the antenna so it has an unobstructed view of the southern sky, hook up the cable, plug in the receiver, select the area you are in and it does the rest. I have the package that costs around fify bucks a month and it has everything I want (probably a hundred plus channels). I only pay for the months I use it. I have to call to stop or start the service. Simple. So far, I haven't used a tripod, I just set it on the ground. I use another cable to keep honest people honest.

 

[kernst]

Milton, care to expand on your home made antenna a bit? I'm curious.

I just build a home made antenna and I wacht HD channels for free, about 55 depending on the location.

 

[Theresau]

Thanks for providing feedback regarding Dish's "RV" plan. I had been contemplating switching to Dish for the RV when my Directv contract is up. Won't do that now...

We're a long time satellite (Directv) user. We've had cable as well. We really like the Directv DVRs and their user interface as well as their customer service. We had some horrid cable customer service in the past. Directv is available 24/7 and has always been helpful and courteous when called. You can also do a great deal yourself online.

Yes it can take some time for the programs to come in when first hooked up - even if you use a home receiver. That's just the nature of satellite. However, it is nice to be able to use the service you are paying for at home while in the RV.

The Winegard carryout does not support Directv HD.

 

[Mizmary]

You can get the regular programming on dish- and not just the RV programming-- W have the tailgater with the 211k also. We don't have dish at home so our cost is a bit higher - but we can go up or down on programming whenever we want. We have the 120+ channels now- which includes at least 10 sports channels- if not more. I would suggest asking about the other options too.

 

[Milton_and_PeggySue]

I searched "homemade antennas" on Google and made the one that uses pvc pipe and 14 gauge copper wire. I found the cable adapter at Radio Shack.

 

[supernan1414]

We have had dish and directv and I think dish is more RV friendly. We changed to dish last year giving up cable and had directv ( many years) at our campsite 6 months a year. We purchaced a 211 reciever to keep in the camper so we wouldn't need to keep moving it. We went to Fl. for 6 weeks last winter and the campground we were in the so called cable was unacceptable, so we decided to buy a tailgater. We had a unobstructed view of the southern sky and it worked great. My reasoning to buy it was because we were dish customers when we go to the lake I would never have to sight in a satille dish again. Ha Ha After 2 weekends of moving it, putting it on top of the roof, called dish, they have a special rv dept, he helped us walk though every possible problem we might be having. It will not work at our campsite. The southern sky in upstate NY is actually sw where there are trees and the elevation is 29 degrees, not very high in the sky. This is for the 110 and 119 birds that tailgater looks for. We ended up calling dish, they came out and erected another dish that uses 61.5 and 72 birds that are higher in the sky at about 40 degrees of elevation. Broght the tailgater home, freinds stopped for a few days in their motor home, we broght out the tailgater pluged it in and walla satellite. Gist of my story you must have the clear view of the sky.

 

[porthole]

61.5 is what I set the antenna too, per the instructions that came with it.

 

[Vtxkid]

Duane, we started full timing about two weeks ago and doing so, moved our two DirecTV hr-24 Dvr's to the RV and turned everything else off. I purchased a nice 3lnb SWM dish and tripod along with a firststrike meter that speeds the process up. I'm not going to go without my HD. Works great and only requires one rg-6 wire from the dish to the RV. We have the ability to record two shows on Both Dvr's and watch a prerecorded program at the same time. All with one wire into each receiver. Very happy with the setup!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

 

[wdk450]

I take my Dish Receiver from home and duplicate my home 2 TV setup in the Bighorn. Right now i am watching the Oakland A's game in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I think that is neat.
I use a 3 satellite Dish antenna on a Radio Shack TV roof tripod mount (with a piece of plastic tubing as the mast). The tripod mount has feet with holes in them (for lag bolt roof mounting) that I drive nail-type tent stakes into when it is windy, but usually use just a bucket of water with a bungee cord to the tripod as a weight.
Aiming can be a problem, first thing is to be sure you can "see" all 3 sattelites at the antenna location you choose. I wasted about an hour by doing this wrong tonight, but with a good location, aiming co-oridnates, and aiming beeper, it was done in about 5 minutes.
I don't believe any of the portable self-aiming dishes will give you all 3 satellites, and I want the portability in case of trailer/sky obstructions.

 

[Eddhuy]

We use the Winegard GM-1518. It works with Directv standard definition satellites 101 and 119 and Dish Network standard and HD satellites 110, 119 and 129. It also supports Bell TV standard and HD. It is fully automatic and support 2 receivers. We use it with Dish Network for the HD content and month to month billing. We usually subscribe to the basic as well as some movie channels, you pay for a month at a time but can add and delete content on the fly to save money and or meet your needs. I have always just set it on the ground where I can easily put a chain to it. It can get to the satellite through light trees without interference. It is quick and simple, very happy with it so far.

 

[porthole]

My usage will be with Dish - so Direct or Bell responses are unknown to me. I already have the Dish Network ViP211K receivers.

For Dish customers;
1) Have you compared having the service at home and just taking the receivers with you in the RV?

2) Or, are you using the RV month to month package?

The month to month RV special is very limited in channels, unless you like to shop by TV.

We never had SAT TV at home because of the trees. Last night I tried for a couple of hours to get things working in the Cyclone at home with the Carryout at the end of my driveway. No luck.

Finally tried it on top of the camper and got a signal.
3) For those that have actually checked, what kind of signal did you get? I am currently getting a 40-50

4) For Dish users in the Northeast (south west corner of PA out to the northeast corner of Maine) and Wineguard Carryout antennas, which DIP switch setting are you using?
There are 3 different setting avaible for the Dish network.

For those that are interested, I have my "too big for the cabinet" receiver nicely tucked in behind the TV. Will post pics in my "special" thread.

 

[Eddhuy]

I do not use Dish Network at home, I have Comcast. As mentioned before, I use the month to month starting at $30 but then you can add whatever packages you like from there. I make sure we have the channels that I like and DW likes by adding the packages they are in. You can cancel the packages part way through a month or add more part way through the month and pay a prorated amount; that's what I do.

 

[pegmikef]

My usage will be with Dish - so Direct or Bell responses are unknown to me. I already have the Dish Network ViP211K receivers.

For Dish customers;

2) Or, are you using the RV month to month package?

Duane,
I just looked up my Dish programming package and it is "America's Top 120" and costs 49.99 a month when I have it activated. To tell you the truth, I don't know if I have the so-called RV package because when I call to activate or deactivate my RV package they act like . . . huh??? . . . then I explain that I want to turn it off for a few months, they say ok and it will cost five bucks a month. I tell them the RV package doesn't have to pay that and they say oh ok and they deactivate it. I think the trick is just getting the package you want associated with your account whether they call it RV or not. Mike

 

[szewczyk_john]

We have dish network for the entire house (2 receivers working 4 TVs). We have 250 channels with no premium channels. When we go out we take the second floor receiver from our bedroom with us. I have the automatic carryout which I place on the roof of the Road Warrior. I can get every channel on the road that I can get at the house. The only exception is that in some locations I get an error that does not allow me to watch my local channels. I think this is because I am to far out of range. 2 weeks ago I was in Buffalo watching the Penguins on our local sports network. I got the error when I was at richmond for the race.

Signal strength is never what you would think it should be. This reading is a relative number. Rain, cloud cover and tree branches blowing will all read differently. I believe that they say a strength of 50 is strong enough that you should be able to avoid rain fade. I also have had reading of over 110 before. I still use the old eastern arc sat and have not had any issues.

It took a little time to get used to setting it up for RV use but now it is easy as pie. Before the automatic carryout came out I used a tripod and manually found the signals. The good thing about the carryout is that it will rotate between sat 110 and 119. This allows the user to just change channels and view the right signal. I love dish network and like being able to take it with us on camping trips. We get full HD and have even used the PPV capabilities while camping before.

I want to see the pics of your set up in the Tv cabinet. I use a plastic folding table that most RVer's have infront of the entertainment center.

I have spoken to dish network about upgrading to their new hopper programming. Their customer support has informed me that the hopper feature does not work with the carryout satellite. For those that have dish network with the hopper feature you can use an application for your smart devices to watch any of your channels while away from home. For those like me that do not have the hopper feature at home you can hook up a device called sling box to allow you to use their app on your smart devices. Another feature that I am getting ready to explore is the dishanywhere.com web site. This allows you to use your receiver and DVR from any web connected device through internet connections. I know that you can view your apple IPAD and laptop screens on your TV. So with this system hooked up you could watch dish network programming on your RV TV thru your IPAD if your web connection is fast enough.

if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask me. I've copied more than one of your mods from your thread so I feel as though I owe you.