DirecTV local channels on the road

[Dragnflys]

Hi all,

We are in Brookings, OR on day #4 of a scheduled 3-month road trip, taking us as far east as Pensacola, FL and then up into Canada before meandering back to Camas, WA.

I am able to use my portable dish to pick up DirecTV except for the local channels we enjoyed at home. Anyone know the reason for this, or am I just not lining things up well enough? We have HD at home but we are only using our non-HD receiver recorder and non-HD dish while on the road.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragnflys Hi all, We are in Brookings, OR on day #4 of a scheduled 3-month road trip, taking us as far east as Pensacola, FL and then up into Canada before meandering back to Camas, WA. I am able to use my portable dish to pick up DirecTV except for the local channels we enjoyed at home. Anyone know the reason for this, or am I just not lining things up well enough? We have HD at home but we are only using our non-HD receiver recorder and non-HD dish while on the road. Thanks in advance for any help!

Without going into a long drawn out explanation, you won't get your home channels once you are a dertain distance from them (150-250 miles generally). If you want to go through the bother, you can get local channels for where you are at the time, but since you will be travelling, I suspect it's not worth the bother. It has nothing to do with HD/non-HD.

[Max Hubrich]

Dragnflys,

As explained above, you won't get local channels out of your home area- they are pin-point directional for local channels.

You can apply for "Distant Signal" reception with DirecTv. You will then get the east and west coast feeds ( New York and Los Angeles) for network TV. It's great .

You can probably do it online. They will need a copy of your registration, or title for your RV.

Good luck,

[WindsorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragnflys Hi all, We are in Brookings, OR ... I am able to use my portable dish to pick up DirecTV except for the local channels we enjoyed at home. Anyone know the reason for this, ...

DIRECTV uses spot beam technology that paints a footprint that is confined to the geographic area served by the channels in question. Stated another way, KIRO 7 in Seattle via DIRECTV's satellite, has essentially the same geographic coverage as their own over-the-air broadcast via their transmitter and antenna.

Power and bandwidth are precious commodities aboard a satellite and they have to do everything they can to conserve on both. Thus the development of spot beam and other techniques to accommodate as many channels as possible.

I think there are something like 210 "designated market areas" (DMA) in the USA that could have their own "local" channels. If there were, say on average, 4 in each area that would be 840 channels. To paint the entire country with a signal delivering each of those 840 channels would overwhelm the satellite's power supply (solar cells and batteries) instantly.

There is some bleed over and I'm sure somebody in Oregon is getting KIRO either through the air or off the satellite. I think we were getting our local-to-Seattle stations via DIRECTV as far south as Coburg, OR. After that they were gone.

DIRECTV has something called "distant network signals" (DNS) option for those who have a mobile service for their RV or live in an area that is not served by local channels. That is just a selection of two representative stations for each of the major networks (1 east and 1 west coast). I don't know if any of the Seattle stations are in that package but doubt that they are.

We just took one of our DIRECTV boxes from the house and put it in the RV and continued to use it without the local channels. We put up the bat-wing antenna to get the stations local to wherever we happened to be at the time.

FWIW,

[Bill Adams]

Since you will be out for an extended period you might want to sign up for the DirecTV Distant Network Services (DNS) and you will be able to receive ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX from both NY and LA anywhere you travel. The service costs $14/month and returns the Networks during your travels. You get an East coast and West Coast feed so you can select the time to watch a program that works best for you. If you like 2 programs that come on at the same time (and you don't have a DVR) you can watch one at 5pm Eastern and then the other at 5pm Pacific.
If you want to find out what's going on in the town you are parked near you can always crank up your over-the-air antenna and watch the local news before returning to satellite.
You can find the DNS waiver form here:
DirecTV and Dish RV DNS FORMS

[tedward1555]

Interesting read, I haven't used my satellite and DTV yet because of a satellite problem... but when I signed up with DirectTV they told me "I could get network television anywhere in 48 contigs, but the local portion would be my local Austin TX channels". Seemed weird to me at the time, and I made the woman on the phone repeat it... might be worth a call to DirectTV to see.

[EngineerMike]

If your account is set up w/Dtv for a home & a mobile, they will switch your local programming on request to whatever is local to your rig. You can do this any number of times over the 800# (assumes cell service) as you move around. They have to change two fields or maybe 3 for it to work, and if they don't change all the fields you will be stuck on the last programming & guide no matter how many times you reset, re-aim, fiddle, cuss, etc. (don't ask). They should ask what zip code and what county. They look up what market that has assigned (e.g. for Havasu City AZ they give you Phoenix) and maybe enter that as well, but if the county isn't properly updated you will be screwed, screwed, screwed out of your wife's favorite shows, and you will die a thousand deaths and more explaining to her that it is not your fault, and would she please, please, please forgive you this egregious assault on her rights and her value as a human being.
Just make sure they change all the necessary fields, and life will be good.

[Max Hubrich]

EngineerMike,

OMG-- Sounds like the "Engineer" had a bit of a problem-Ha,ha.

You actually mean I'm not the only one that gets into trouble-

Seriously though, I just stick with the Distant Signal Reception giving me the East and West coast feeds for the networks and I use the Batwing for locals.

It all works great that way ,

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tedward1555 Interesting read, I haven't used my satellite and DTV yet because of a satellite problem... but when I signed up with DirectTV they told me "I could get network television anywhere in 48 contigs, but the local portion would be my local Austin TX channels". Seemed weird to me at the time, and I made the woman on the phone repeat it... might be worth a call to DirectTV to see.

You cannot get Austin, TX Network channels once you leave that area (200-400 or so). No matter what you may have been told, or may have understood, the programming simply will disappear once you drive out from under the spot-beamed signal that provides these Networks to your area.

[silverbowff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Adams Since you will be out for an extended period you might want to sign up for the DirecTV Distant Network Services (DNS) and you will be able to receive ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX from both NY and LA anywhere you travel. The service costs $14/month and returns the Networks during your travels. You get an East coast and West Coast feed so you can select the time to watch a program that works best for you. If you like 2 programs that come on at the same time (and you don't have a DVR) you can watch one at 5pm Eastern and then the other at 5pm Pacific. If you want to find out what's going on in the town you are parked near you can always crank up your over-the-air antenna and watch the local news before returning to satellite. You can find the DNS waiver form here: DirecTV and Dish RV DNS FORMS

Bill,

I am not clear on the Direct TV charges for RV service. DTV says "If your permanent residence account lists more than one receiver and one of these is located in your vehicle, you will no longer be able to "mirror" the services on the additional receiver in your vehicle. We will need to charge you the full monthly programming package price for this additional receiver, instead of the $5.00 a month programming mirroring fee you may be paying currently." Does this mean that if I want the DNS service it cost $14.00/mo. and only receive the national broadcast channels. If I want the same programming package I have at the house I will be charged for it at the current rate.

Thanks,

Jim

[Bill Adams]

All of the same programming is available to everyone everywhere EXCEPT the Network programming. The RV waiver applies only the reception of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX (PBS and CN are also available) either local or DNS. The DNS package costs $14 over and above whatever you would pay if you were at home with one of the DirecTV programming packages. You cannot have one receiver setup at home to receive local Networks and a second receiver in your RV setup to receive DNS Networks.

[HD4Mark]

DirecTv told me that in order to have one receiver with distant service the others in the house will have to be put "on vacation". This is so you can not have the east-west feeds at your home. This is not good if some one is still home. We only needed it for a month so we just went without local channels. That kind of sucked during NCAA playoffs when they were on CBS.

You will have to fill out a waiver form and provide a copy of your MH registration also. http://www.directv.com/DNS/DNS%20Mob...d%20Letter.pdf

Another RVer in the park we are in now spends winter months here so he simply changes his address. Be careful with that too because if you don't have a multi-satellite dish and receiver some smaller markets local channels are not on their main satellite so you will still not get them. Our home market is one of those so only the HD multi-sat receivers get them.

[silverbowff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD4Mark DirecTv told me that in order to have one receiver with distant service the others in the house will have to be put "on vacation". This is so you can not have the east-west feeds at your home. This is not good if some one is still home. We only needed it for a month so we just went without local channels. That kind of sucked during NCAA playoffs when they were on CBS. You will have to fill out a waiver form and provide a copy of your MH registration also. http://www.directv.com/DNS/DNS%20Mob...d%20Letter.pdf Another RVer in the park we are in now spends winter months here so he simply changes his address. Be careful with that too because if you don't have a multi-satellite dish and receiver some smaller markets local channels are not on their main satellite so you will still not get them. Our home market is one of those so only the HD multi-sat receivers get them.

I am not sure what DTV means by putting the receivers at home on vacation. If a hold is put on the service that would shut down all the receivers assigned to that address, unless they would selectively shut down receivers.

My situation is even a bit more complicated by the fact that we have a winter home and a summer home and RV out of both locations for extended periods. I would like to know if any one can tell me of their experience with a situation like this. We want DTV at both homes and in the RV. I understand that we can have separate accounts for each and can put several holds each year on the accounts depending on our location. I would like to have my programing coverage to be similar for each situation. I realize that I won't get local programing in the RV and would have to go with DNS. I assume that putting a hold on the locations not occupied will put the charges on hold at those locations for the time they are on hold. Correct me if I am wrong on this.

Thanks,

Jim

[dagray]

We live in California and have Direct TV. On vacation in Florida, Missouri and Washington DC and got our local channels. For some odd reason we could not get one local channel in Arizona.