thinking about adding a satellite tv system

[billr30656]

Anyone know a low cost satelite system out there for the RV?

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by billr30656 Anyone know a low cost satelite system out there for the RV?

Satellite antenna?
Satellite service?
What exactly are you looking for?
Do you now have service with DirecTV, Dish Network or anyone else?

[billr30656]

I only have the old tv antenna. I don't have anything as far as satellite service or equipment. I am looking for something low priced.

[paz]

A dish on a tripod and basic service from either Dish Network or DirecTV is the cheapest way to go. Dish Network and DirecTV will even supply the dish and receiver, but IMO it's probably best to buy your own tripod. The ones Dish and Direct have (if you can even find an installer that has one) are made for permanent rooftop mounting and are heavy and hard to adjust.

You can go up from there with manual roof-mounted dishes, automatic roof-mounted dishes, portable automatic dishes (VuCube), and automatic HD dishes. You can also add higher levels of programming with more channels and things like HD, premium movie channels, and sports packages.

[Bill Adams]

Take a look at the DirecTV and Dish Network websites. There are several plans available and if you find one that meets your needs at a price you are willing to pay you will be halfway there. Depending upon where you are an where your travels might take you, there might be an RV Direct or Dish dealer who would be able to set you up with the necessary hardware or you can discuss your needs with other RVer or the local DirecTV/Dish installer. Camping World (and others) sells some portable antennas as well as tripods if you obtain your own antenna.

[wa8yxm]

In the US you have two choices, now Dish advertises a lower price but by the time they get done playin KOA (Keep on Adding) the cost is just about the same as DirecTV, which advertises the most channels, but fails to deliver on that claim (Dish has more, at least NTSC channels)

What do I recommend: DirecTV standard (Not HD) for Rvers all your stations are on a single Ku band sattlite, this means you can use a ground mounted dish, a rooftop manual dish, an automatic dish or a DOME (Which can be either stationary or in-motion)

IN-motion domes are great if you have a digital video recorder such as a DVD recorder, TiVo or Replay TV (I have a pair or Replay)

Domes are limited to Ku band and one satellite AT A TIME

DISH standard uses 2 satellites, HD uses 3

DirecTV uses 3 or 5 and 2 of them are KA band (not compatable with domes)

NOW: you said low cost.. this eliminates domes but I am thinking of "Future upgrade"

You can get an RV-account, they may charge you 50 bucks for the "Disaster recovery kit) which is the antenna (Dish) and tripod you need. but be sure you get an RV account, NOT a house account.

You can then file the RV-Exemption form (Downloadable from their web site) and that way you cat network TV (NBC, CBS, et-al) no matter where you are from either the east or west coast.

Without that exemption (Which you house may NOT qualify for) you get too far from home and the signal goes away.

Another advantage of DirecTV is that single satellite is at 101 degrees west.. Dish's are at 110 and 119

101 is much closer to the center of the country (110 is right about the pacific coast)

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm 101 is much closer to the center of the country (110 is right about the pacific coast)

99, 101, 103 are about in line with Amarillo, TX
110 would be just East of Tucson, AZ
119 would be about in line with Oxnard, CA (just off the Pacific Coast in the LA area)
129 for HD is "out there" off the Pacific Coast.

[vito.a]

The least expensive method of getting satellite TV in your RV is to add an additional receiver to your home account (assuming you have a home account). Then it is only 4.95 per month for the extra receiver.

Then, for your antenna, the least expensive method is to buy an antenna on eBay. You can pick up several different home style satellite dish antennas for under $40. While your at it, you can also purchase a tripod for around $15 and a satellite receiver for under $100 and avoid the 2-year subscription required to get a free receiver from either Dish or Direct TV. Actually, I have seen some of the non DVR receivers sell for around $10. You can purchase a portable Winegard RV style dish antenna for just over $100, but they will only receive one satellite at a time and most of the home antennas will receive two satellites. (The new Dish 1000.2 will receive three satellites at once and includes HD.)

Another nice trick is the new Dish 211 receiver gives you a USB port that you can connect your own hard drive (up to 750gb). Dish will charge you a one time fee of $40 to activate it. This will give you digital video recording (DVR) capability.

My opinion: I prefer Dish Network for RV use because there is no waiver to sign, you can easily upgrade to High Definition (HD) at a later date, and 95% of the channels are on satellite 119. But, Direct TV also has very good service, just very difficult to receive HD and you have to sign the waiver.

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vito.a The least expensive method of getting satellite TV in your RV is to add an additional receiver to your home account (assuming you have a home account). Then it is only 4.95 per month for the extra receiver. Then, for your antenna, the least expensive method is to buy an antenna on eBay. You can pick up several different home style satellite dish antennas for under $40. While your at it, you can also purchase a tripod for around $15 and a satellite receiver for under $100 and avoid the 2-year subscription required to get a free receiver from either Dish or Direct TV. Actually, I have seen some of the non DVR receivers sell for around $10. You can purchase a portable Winegard RV style dish antenna for just over $100, but they will only receive one satellite at a time and most of the home antennas will receive two satellites. (The new Dish 1000.2 will receive three satellites at once and includes HD.) Another nice trick is the new Dish 211 receiver gives you a USB port that you can connect your own hard drive (up to 750gb). Dish will charge you a one time fee of $40 to activate it. This will give you digital video recording (DVR) capability. My opinion: I prefer Dish Network for RV use because there is no waiver to sign, you can easily upgrade to High Definition (HD) at a later date, and 95% of the channels are on satellite 119. But, Direct TV also has very good service, just very difficult to receive HD and you have to sign the waiver.

Both Dish Network and DirecTV require you to sign a waiver form if you want to be able to receive the National Network programming when you are out of your service area (known as Distant Network Services or DNS). Neither service requires you to sign a waiver if you just want to take an RV from your home and use it in your RV.

[DavidC1225]

If you decide to use a portable antenna and tripod, the satellite for Direct TV is much easier to acquire than the 2 satellites needed to receive full programming (not HD) for Dish Network. The Direct TV satellite is 101, Dish satellites are 110 and 119. Acquiring both Dish satellites manually can be difficult. Before I had in-motion satellite, I used a portable antenna and I switched from Dish Network to Direct TV because of the difficulty of acquiring both Dish network satellites.

[vito.a]

I have had both Dish Network and Direct TV. There are minor advantages to both, but mostly in the programming packages.
As far as setting up a portable satellite antenna for Dish or Direct, they are the same. 95% of Dish network programming is on Echo Star satellite 119 and it is just as easy to find as Direct TV DSS 101.
That said, setting up an antenna for multiple satellites has become much easier. I just set up a Dish 1000.2 antenna last week on a tripod. It took about 15 min to set up the first time in the dark and would take even less next time. The engineers have designed the 1000.2 with a larger dish antenna reflector and three feed horns precisely spaced for each satellite. All you do is aim it at satellite 119 and the other two feed horns do their thing for satellites 110 and 129. The great thing about this setup is the entire antenna and LNB assembly was only $33 on eBay and it receives High Definition (HD) programming.
Aiming any portable satellite on a tripod is a matter of looking up the azimuth (pointing direction), elevation (upward angle), and skew (rotation) in a table for your zip code. I then preset the skew and elevation using the scale marks right on the antenna. I use a small level (the same one I use to level the RV) to insure the tripod mount is vertical. I then use a compass to get the azimuth close. I have a small satellite finder meter (only $18) connected in series to the RG6 coax cable and I then rotate the antenna back and forth to peak the meter.

[zrxh14]

We got the DirecTV Slimline SL3-SWM dish, power inserter, and power passing splitter from www.solidsignal.com for less than $175. This dish has one cable coming into your RV with 8 different signals. We have a new HDDVR in the living room which only needs one cable to it and it grabs 2 signals so you can watch one channel and record another at the same time. We had a cable running from our LR entertainment center to the bedroom so we put in the power passing splitter and can watch a different cahnnel in the BR than the LR. We still have 5 signals left to use if we would want to add more TV's or DVR's. It is so slick it's hard to believe. We use a tripod and www.dishpointer.com for the settings for where we are. Make sure your tripod mast is level, hook up everything, set the dish according to the settings and it usually takes me less than 5 minutes to have a signal in the 90's on 99, 101, and 103 sats. The last 3 tines I set it up I was lucky and had signals in the 90's from where I had it pointed initially.

[pdiddley]

We have a In Motion Satellite -- King Dome but have problems getting it to lock into a satellite if around trees. Therefore, we are thinking of getting a stand alone dish and hooking it up to the existing cables. We have two receivers -- one in the living room and one in the bedroom. On the existing system, there is a splitter from the Dome to the two cables--one going to the LR and one to the BR. May we attach the cable from the stand alone dish to the same site of the satellite cable coming down from the Dome? Right now we have Direct TV receivers but we could change them out to Dish--is that correct?

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdiddley We have a In Motion Satellite -- King Dome but have problems getting it to lock into a satellite if around trees. Therefore, we are thinking of getting a stand alone dish and hooking it up to the existing cables. We have two receivers -- one in the living room and one in the bedroom. On the existing system, there is a splitter from the Dome to the two cables--one going to the LR and one to the BR. May we attach the cable from the stand alone dish to the same site of the satellite cable coming down from the Dome? Right now we have Direct TV receivers but we could change them out to Dish--is that correct?

The Trac-King that you have uses a single cable that comes down to a de-stacker which allows multiple outputs from there. You cannot connect to the input side of that box and output to multiple receivers but you could bring 2 cables into the coach and connect them to the coax cables that run to the receivers (you will by-pass the box entirely). If you can feed a couple of cables to that location you could install a couple of A/B switches there so that you would only have to connect the tripod to cables outside somewhere and then hit the A/B switches to select the antenna you want to use.
You can easily switch services from DTV to Dish Network with new receivers. You just need to program the Trac-King to point to the new satellites as well. You will need a much larger opening in the trees for a Dish Network tripod, however, since the 3 satellites are spread 19 degrees apart (110, 119, 129) vs. the DirecTV satellites that are only 3 degrees apart (99, 101, 103).