satellite newbie?

[JimM68]

Well after spending an hour reading some of the threads on satellites here, including one that had me crosseyed at the top of page 2...

We don't watch a lot of tv, but do like to relax for as bit before bed, watch the news, or leno, or maybe some two and a half men reruns.

My TV's are HD, so I'd prefer to recieve HD broadcasts.

New coach came with a KVH Trakvision R4SL
It says it will automatically acquire the satellites, and the directions say it is fully compatible with direct tv and satellites 101 and 119. It also has something called a "dish500" mode which will let it rcv satellite 110 also.

NONE of this means a thing to me.

I do like the idea of only paying when we use it, rather than a regular monthly bill.

Can anyone educate me on what I need to buy/lease/rent and who I need to call so the man in the brown truck brings me something I can connect to this:

[jfran304]

Contact Dish Network through the Good Sam Club. I understand they have a new program that allows you to pay only when you need it.

Good Luck,
Jon

[JimM68]

ok. Good stuff so far. Verified that my dome is compatible, so that's good.

Kinda wondering about the pay as you go program tho. It appears you need the top 120 package at a minimum to get the networks, and even then I do not see WGN listed, this is required for 2 and a half men reruns, as well as cubs and sox games..

Pay as you go prices this package at $45. Pay every month prices the same package at $30. So the break even is 8 months. At the ninth month, it cheaper to just do the whole year.

It seems to indicate the pay as you go limits you to the 211k box, which that website prices at $149. ( found it much cheaper, down to 99 bucks!) This box only supports one TV. My antenna supports 2 boxes, but I think putting a second box in the bedroom would be a wiring nightmare, where something like a 722k would plug right in up front and support both TV's and even have separate remotes... But not with the pay as you go.

And I still don't know nuttin. Does the dish america all hd $34 package include nbc, cbs,wgn, fox, and the other alphabet soup network that escapes me?

[texnet]

Receiving the networks, NBC, CBS, and FOX require one of two things... one that you provide your home base address for local programming or you jump through all the hoops for Distant Network Service which will not provide you local programming but will provide you either East Coast or West Coast major network reception.

If you elect local programming for you home base address then you will lose reception of those channels about 200-300 miles from home as they are "spot beamed", meaning a limited circle around your home address. If you are going to be in one place for a length of time, say over 30 days, then you can call the provider that you use and provide them the address you are at and they will reprogram the signal so you can receive local channels for that location. However, you also have to jump through a few hoops to get them to understand what you want and to get them to make the changes.

If you elect to have the Distant Network Service you will have to provide with paper wrok to provide you are only using the receiver in your RV. Once past the application proceedure you will be provided either a East Coast feed or a West Coast feed according to where you have told them you are located. You will NOT receive local programming like weather and news.

Sign up for Dish or Directv, we use a Directv receiver attached to our home account and it cost us an additional $5.00 per month. When we drive out of the local spot beam which is nomally 250-300 miles we just use the batwing antenna to pickup the local channels, thus getting the local weather and news. The only problem my DW has with this is if it is football season and she can't watch the Texas Longhorns play then I have to find it on the Internet for her!

One more note... the major network issue is not the fault of the sat providers, it is the fault of the local stations that don't want to lose advertising revenue so they got the FCC to implement rules that prevent you from receiving the "home town" programming when you are not near your home!

[JimM68]

Thanks Ronnie, that helps. I wonder how interested I'd be in New york or LA news and weather? Not so much I'm afraid.

Have to have WGN tho, that's non negotiable. And I suppose new york news would be better than futzing with that batwing. Since everything went digital, I've been very bat wing challenged. Even in my own driveway, I can't get nuttin. We're 55 miles outside of chicago.

What about the weather channel, how does that work on satellite?
Whose local weather does it give me every 8 minutes?

[Jeff and Cheryl]

With the Weather Channel, your home address is what will come up first. With DirecTV and I presume Dish Network, you can also program in up to 5 additional locations for which to recieve weather forcasts. You can change the local zipcode to wherever you are at the moment to get a little more complete weather information. For weather information, I usually look at the NOAA website (National Weather Service) and enter the location I want information about. This gives a pretty detailed forcast. Hope all this helps.

[texnet]

I have never noticed what the weather channel had as local weather, I assume they just continue with the same weather broadcast or a very long commercial :-) You would think I would as I was in charge of Skywarn for our county for over 20 years!! However, most of the time I just use the Internet to look up local weather and if severe weather is headed our way I turn on my ham radio and check out what is really happening!

[LindaH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimM68 My TV's are HD, so I'd prefer to recieve HD broadcasts. New coach came with a KVH Trakvision R4SL It says it will automatically acquire the satellites, and the directions say it is fully compatible with direct tv and satellites 101 and 119. It also has something called a "dish500" mode which will let it rcv satellite 110 also.

There is no dome that is capable of receiving DirecTV's HD programming, so if you're interested in HD programming, you will be limited to Dish Network with your dome. However, be aware that, since a dome has only one LNB, it can only "see" one satellite at a time. That means that if you have two TVs, both of those TVs will only be able to watch programming that appears on the same satellite.

If you want WGN with Dish Network, you will have to step up to their America's Top 200 package which is $39.99 for the first 12 months and $59.99 thereafter (plus taxes, of course).

[LindaH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimM68 What about the weather channel, how does that work on satellite? Whose local weather does it give me every 8 minutes?

It doesn't.

With the Weather Channel on satellite TV, you get the national feed with no interruption for "local" information.

I don't think Dish Network has a weather option such as DirecTV has that Jeff was talking about. I've never seen it, anyway.

[kjburns]

Dish does have local weather. Press the "Dish" button, select "News" and then "TWC". It shows The Weather Channel with local weather across the bottom of the screen. This is how it looks.

[jfran304]

You could also get Dish Network for your stick and brick home and just move the receiver into the RV when you are using it.

Jon

[LindaH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjburns Dish does have local weather. Press the "Dish" button, select "News" and then "TWC". It shows The Weather Channel with local weather across the bottom of the screen. This is how it looks.

Thanks for that informaton! Like I said, I've never seen it, but I tend not to play around with the buttons on the remote for fear of doing something to screw up reception! (I've done that before and haven't been able to correct things except by unplugging the receiver and resetting it.)

[Wayne M]

Okay! To many times I have heard that a dome has only one LNB. Not true say I. And the proof is in the King Dome products:

King-Dome AIR Stationary Automatic (2200 Series)

as only one example. There are others.

Not picking on you Linda, just trying to get the facts straight.

Also, with the dish network you can received High Definition (HD. I believe you have to have the Premium In-Motion (9762 Trac-King Series) for DirecTV and "Optional HD converter required to receive specially formatted HD signals from DIRECTV 110 satellite. These antennas do not receive DIRECTV Ka band signals from satellites 99 and 103."

[kjburns]

Getting back to the original post, your dish is compatible with Dish HD. Since you're looking at using it part time, I would contact Winegard about their Dish RV program. You can buy a receiver that suits your needs. Your dome will feed one receiver and get HD.