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Old 08-08-2016, 06:32 AM   #1
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Satellite TV reception

Hello,
We have Dish TV at home and I'm thinking of adding a setup on our class a next year. I'd have it fixed mounted to the roof. As I walk around the campgrounds I see folks with the tripod mount antenna and they are shooting it through the trees. I'm wondering how good the signal is with the trees in the way? There is never anyone to ask when I'm passing by.
Also I'm assuming that with one receiver you cannot put two different channels on two different tv's. And does dish charge you double for having two receivers?

Hope that makes sense

Thanks
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Old 08-08-2016, 06:40 AM   #2
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It doesn't cost much each month for the receiver if you own it. I think we pay something like $6 a month for the one in the RV with Direct TV. You pay per receiver. We have to watch the same channel on both front and rear TVs unless you have two receivers and I think you have to have a different antenna to run two receivers. We get pretty good reception, although our receiver is so old it isn't HD or a DVR. We have an automatic system attached to the roof of the coach. It's convenient most of the time, but occasionally we get blocked by tall trees. I don't know if the trade off with the portable antenna is worth the few times we can't get reception from the roof top unit.
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Old 08-08-2016, 06:50 AM   #3
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I have the Wineguard stationary satellite antenna on my coach (was part of my deal). You can get a wide variation of stationary roof mounts that work with DISH network. The 211Z dish receiver is about $90 per unit and your antenna will run multiple receivers if you want to be able to view different channels on different TV's. I have one receiver and it is run thru a HDMI splitter to ALL my Tv's. I have not found a need to have more than one receiver. The receiver cost me $7 extra a month on my DISH bill.
I have had a few times that my signal was blocked by trees and a portable would have solved the problem i am sure; however, to me it is not worth the extra hassle of getting it out setting it up and all that is required, over being able to pull in, turn my antenna on, and let my Dish receiver find the satellites.
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Old 08-08-2016, 07:18 AM   #4
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Quote:
I'm wondering how good the signal is with the trees in the way? There is never anyone to ask when I'm passing by.
Satellite signals don't go through trees. It doesn't take many leaves to blocks the signals. With that said, it doesn't take that much of a hole in the trees to get a satellite lock either.

We average 33 moves a year and maybe have tree blockage of our roof dish 1-2 times. In the spot we are in now, the Google Earth photo didn't show how high the trees really were and yet we were still able to lock onto one satellite. We do carry a ground tripod and if we were going to be in this site more than a day,we would have put the tripod up.
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Also I'm assuming that with one receiver you cannot put two different channels on two different tv's. And does dish charge you double for having two receivers?
The pricing is based upon tuners. Two single tuner receivers have about the same price as a dual tuner receiver. DVRs has a surcharge and the Hopper Whole Home System has a surcharge.

Ground and roof domes satellite dishes are easy but only have one LNBF which allows for two tuners but only to the same satellite. We started with a single automatic LNBF dish 10 tears ago with a dual tuner DVR. In just a few weeks, we realized that too often either we wanted to watch different satellites at the time or wanted records on different satellite. We stopped using the roof dish and put the ground tripod up because that dish locks onto all three satellites. We did that for 6 years before getting a Winegard Trav'ler automatic roof dish with triple LNBFs.

If you are a part-timer, the easiest thing is to take one of your home receivers.
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Old 08-08-2016, 10:53 AM   #5
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Since owning a motor home, I have come up with a new definition of "roughing it."

Roughing it is staying in an RV park which has too many trees for the satellite TV to work.
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Old 08-08-2016, 11:30 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by Rich-n-Linda View Post
Since owning a motor home, I have come up with a new definition of "roughing it."

Roughing it is staying in an RV park which has too many trees for the satellite TV to work.
Amen
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Old 08-08-2016, 11:42 AM   #7
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IMO a portable dish is preferable to a fixed as you can move it around at campground sites to get through the trees to the satellites. I'm paying about $15 a month for Dish. I have the older Tailgater and an older VIP211K receiver. I can only have 1 TV hooked up to mine but have an option to add an external OTA antenna inputs as well as an external hard drive.
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Old 08-08-2016, 12:02 PM   #8
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IMHO best to have both. Most often we use the automatic antenna fixed on then roof. Also have a automatic portable that is set out when needed/wanted.
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Old 08-08-2016, 12:14 PM   #9
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You assume correctly, and if you use campgrounds (that have lots of trees), you will be much better off with a portable antenna. Just get one with three LNBs on it and it will provide you with sufficient capability to drive a single or multiple tuner receiver.

It all depends upon what you want for television viewing. You can go from one (single tuner) receiver and a single LNB antenna to multiple (dual tuners) receivers and a three LNB automatic antenna.

For instance... We spend a lot of our time in a motorhome resort so our television requirements are much the same as we have at home. Therefore since we have two TVs (living room/bedroom) we installed a Wineguard Traveler fully automatic three LNB antenna mounted in a fixed position on the roof and two receivers (722) that have dual tuners. This is about as versatile as you can get that allows us to have two totally independent televisions that each are able to view a live channel while recording another channel.... or watch a recorded program while recording two additional ones. Just like at home as both of these 722s I remove from our home and install in the MH since we spend half the year in the MH an half the year at home.'

When we travel and arrived at that day's destination, I just get on-line to MYDISH.com and access their "chat" line and tell the person to change my "service address" to the current rv park we are staying at. Very simple.

One push of a button and the antenna is activated and locks on to all three satellites for almost instant tv reception.

With the exception of a Hopper/Joey, this is probably the most versatile set up DISH offers.....at a cost, of course.

Hope this helps

Ron
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Old 08-08-2016, 12:28 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barmcd View Post
It doesn't cost much each month for the receiver if you own it. I think we pay something like $6 a month for the one in the RV with Direct TV. You pay per receiver. We have to watch the same channel on both front and rear TVs unless you have two receivers and I think you have to have a different antenna to run two receivers. We get pretty good reception, although our receiver is so old it isn't HD or a DVR. We have an automatic system attached to the roof of the coach. It's convenient most of the time, but occasionally we get blocked by tall trees. I don't know if the trade off with the portable antenna is worth the few times we can't get reception from the roof top unit.
We have had Direct in two RV's, just take two receivers with us from the stick house. Can watch different channels on each receiver. In our present rig both lounge TV's are connected to the front receiver and the bedroom has it's own receiver so both TV's in front have to watch the same channel but the bedroom can be totally separate. Both receivers are connected to one antenna so you don't need two antenna's. It was that way on both RV's too.
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Old 08-08-2016, 12:32 PM   #11
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Since we are full-timers, there is no house versus RV TV viewing. We have a Hopper 3 with a tweaked Winegard Trav'ler and a ground tripod with a DPP 10002. dish with a WA and an EA head for when the Trav'ler is blocked or when we are in East.

Single satellite just doesn't make it for us, i.e. no domes for us.

With decent tools putting up a tripod is a few minutes job. I put the tripod up over 200 times before we got the Trav'ler
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Old 08-08-2016, 12:48 PM   #12
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I suggest STARTING with a solo tuner (ViP-211k, 211z or the new Wally-211w) and a portable dish for the RV (only $7 added to your bill)...packages costs about $400 complete.

Just put the receiver (no moving stuff) and the portable in the RV and go. One wire hook-up and the antenna is never blocked by trees.

If you find that a roof-top antenna is your preference, you can add it later..the Trav'ler is about $1,500 and an in-motion dome is about $1,300 - plus install.

The home style antenna on a Tripod next to the RV is called the "Divorce maker" because aiming it at every destination is not for the meek (invlolves lots of yelling from inside the RV during aiming ...YMMV.

Best luck

P.S. You can also add an External Hard-Drive to the receiver for DVR functions -and- you can add a broadcast TV receiver to the "z" and "w" receiver to allow SAT like control of OTA TV (included in the 211k).
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Old 08-08-2016, 01:49 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by oilman51 View Post
Hello,
We have Dish TV at home and I'm thinking of adding a setup on our class a next year.
What type of receiver do you have at your house?

I ask because while you can certainly buy another receiver for your RV, you can also just take your home receiver on the road with you.

However, the type of receiver you have is going to dictate your RV setup. By "setup" I mean the type of dish (open-faced dish on tripod, carryout like a Tailgater or Pathway X2, or a rooftop Winegard Travler) your RV uses.

For example, a single-tuner 211 (or Wally) works with any of the above dish options. However, a multiple-tuner receiver (722, Hopper) requires an open-faced dish and/or a Travler to fully function.
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Old 08-08-2016, 02:12 PM   #14
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The home style antenna on a Tripod next to the RV is called the "Divorce maker" because aiming it at every destination is not for the meek (invlolves lots of yelling from inside the RV during aiming ...YMMV.
No yelling at my place. Never used the receiver for setup. I have a meter at the dish. Big difference if you are setting up 200' from the RV.
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