Satellite Dish

[Hardy]

We are thinking about Satellite TV at home and in the motorhome. Any opinions about DirectTV vs. Dish Network? Are they difficult to set up, is it worth paying a dealer or camping world? On the road, what do you full timers do for local and network channels?

2002 Winnebago 32V Adventurer
Towing a 2002 Honda CRV
Drinks 6, Dines 4, Sleeps 2 adults and one dog

[Hardy]

We are thinking about Satellite TV at home and in the motorhome. Any opinions about DirectTV vs. Dish Network? Are they difficult to set up, is it worth paying a dealer or camping world? On the road, what do you full timers do for local and network channels?

2002 Winnebago 32V Adventurer
Towing a 2002 Honda CRV
Drinks 6, Dines 4, Sleeps 2 adults and one dog

[Timturbo]

We have Dish Network. The four receiver plan. Our fourth receiver is in the rig, and we get all our channels as at home. Just have to be mindful that wherever you park has to have a straight shot at the southwestern sky! A palm tree can cause problems.
We had the dish already installed, so we just plugged into the receptacle in the electronics cabinet above the driver. All we have to do is to Install / Point Dish on the menu - need the zip code for where we are.

Timturbo
Adventurer 2001 35U Ford V10 20,500lb GVWR chassis
Durango 4WD toad, Sentinel braking, Demco Aluminator Tow bar

Security by Papillon and S&W
Playa del Rey, CA

[Beabop]

Direct TV is higher on the horizon so may have fewer problems with trees.Maybe someone who has it will answer you. That said we have Dish, one receiver at home, one in the coach, If we stay home for any length of time also use the 2nd receiver in the house. We had been using a portable dish which is easy to set up on one sat, we have dish 500 but only use 1 head on the road as we have a dish mounted on the roof, digimatic, and it has only one head, it is the less expensive at CW, no problems, we only take our portable along to FL in case we get into a park with many trees. We have both the standard Eastern ( New York) and Western (LA) networks and for 5.99 can change back to my local Eastern network which is on a second sat if we stay home for several months and hubby wants to see the Redskins. We had tried taking the 2 head portable along but found it awkward to set up and I just LOVE the sat that is on the roof, can even watch TV if we stop for lunch along the road if we want. Someone asked me one time how I could stand camping, I said we camped in a pup tent when the kids were little and this sure ain't camping. lol Happy Trails

2000 Adventurer 32V
toweds Cavalier & Venture Van
Brake Buddy, Remco pump
GoldWing GL 1800 (Big Red)

[Cruzer]

I have DirecTV. I originally wanted Dish Network. I wanted Dish because I liked it's lineup of local weather channels better and it offered the PVR-721. The PVR-721 is a dual input reciever/digital disk recorder. You can record 2 shows at once or watch one show while recording another. You can record around 30 hours of programming on it.

But at home I live in the woods. I can't get out over the trees to get a signal with Dish. The DirecTV bird is higher in the sky and I can see it. Mind you, I am in Wisconsin and the satellites are found in the southern sky. If you live along the Mexican border both birds are much higher in the sky and this becomes less of an issue.

Fortunately, DirecTV came out with their new Hughes DVR2 with TIVO which is essentially the same as the Dish PVR-721. I do have to pay $5 a month extra for the TIVO service and I don't get the nice local weather channels that Dish has but otherwise it's great. We have two of the DVR2s at home and just pop one out and stick it in the MH when we go RVing. We have a KVH L-3 in-motion satellite dome on the MH that works great when driving or parked. Unless you're parked in the trees, of course, then you're out of luck unless you want to get a portable remote tripod dish. But I've found that we are either in the clear or so far into trees the portable dish wouldn't help anyway.

Mark & Leann Quasius
2003 Suncruiser 33V - Workhorse 20
2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Toad

[bflem]

For the last several years,at least since 98, the Winnebago's are pre wired with a decal on the roof where to drill the hole. It is very simple to install a dish with this setup. Be sure you get the digital magic,electronic elevation sensor, and half of the search problem is solved. I prefer Direct as all channels are on one satelite where dish use two and you will have to move the dish unless you have the bigger oval dish. I carry a portable dish and only need it once or twice a year, I request an open site at campgrounds and sometimes you can move a few feet forward or back to recieve a signal. You can get several very good deals on equipment right now and start with the basic plan, you can always upgrade the programming.

bflem Springfield,Mo. Juno Beach,Fl.

[Izzyblueye]

I have had Direct TV for about 5 years now and use it in the RV all the time. Nothing could be simpler to set up. Usually takes all of 10 minutes or less to hit the bird and start watching. I stay with the ground dish as opposed to the roof top mount. I have used both, the ground model allows me much more latitude to move it around, to get a good shot at the bird. Here in the midwest we are blessed with many tall trees.

2001 Itasca Suncruiser 32V

[grundy7]

I did use a portable dish which I still carry but after having Campingworld install a dome dish, I couldn't be happier. There's nothing like pushing a couple of buttons and sitting down to watch your DirectTV signals,unless you are parked under trees or its raining pretty hard. If its trees, out comes the portable dish on a tripod with a 50 foot cable. If that won't hack it, I resort to the ole standby VCR or DVD. Come next month, when I can get back to Camping world, I am having a second cable run into the coach from the Dome in order to connect my DirectTV with Tivo. Then, trees will even be less of a problem. I can pre-record 35 hours of shows and watch whatever I want. If that is not enough, I might even resort to an ole standby called "book", or "conversation". That might be novel.

2002 Itasca Sunrise
2002 Saturn SL2
Roadmaster Sterling towbar

[CC38EL]

we had dish500 since it came out...and we moved a bedroom receiver back and forth to the coach when we traveled. but it was a pain to switch between satellites.

took up directv on a recent offer and found that 1) the picture 'appears' to be better. this has been noted by others who visit my house, not just me. 2) one satellite is much easier than switching between 2. 3) directv is much easier to setup on the road than dish500. the 'autoconfigure' is very handy. we still move the bedroom receiver between house and coach. no hickups from directv doing this.

that being said, dish500 is cheaper, has more offerings, and doesnt' surcharge you if you happen to live in an area where your directv comes from an 'authorized provider'. the equipment is yours and the customer service is better than directvs. and dishnetwork has never told us we couldn't use our equipment on the road.

either one works well....just depends on what you want at home. you get the same thing on the road....just may have to work a little harder for it or live without some of the stuff like we used to do.

Jim
2002 Ultimate Advantage, ISC350, Allison MH3000, Spartan MM, 99 Jeep Cherokee Toad (for sale!), RoadMaster Towing Setup, VIP TowBrake

[MojaveJoe]

Im in the market of an in-motion sat system, so could use some personal experiences on the subject.

Wondering if you folks using a Digital Video Recorder are finding that the vibration of the unit causes hard drive errors or image problems, either live or when recording while you are moving?

Also wondering if the KVH L3 will allow for 2 tuners onboard?

Planning on using my Dish Network 501 PVR

Thanx,
Joe

[Pat Z]

I had the track Vision in motion on my 2001 Adventurer with great results. I use a DVR with 2 inputs and it also works fine. One thing to be aware of, when I had mine installed at CW, the installer only put 1 feed in. SINCE I was thetre during the install I told him I wanted both, he did not understand why. So if you get one installed be sue they run both feeds.

[Savannah]

We have had Directv since 1996 and have traveled with it since then also. We use a dual LNB and have east and west coast networks. We started with taking the receivers from the house and putting them in the motorhome but now fulltime so applied for and was granted the waiver for fulltimers to receive the networks.

In 2000 we upgraded to Winegard's Movin View dome and in 2001 to their in motion dome. Had nothing but trouble with both and wouldn't reccomend them to anyone at anytime for any reason.

In our current motorhome we have the auto sattelite though we may go to the King Dome later on.

So for Mojave Joe NO on Winegards system. Otherwise can't help you. Sorry.

[The Shadow]

Do EchoStar and DirecTV, whichever you have, know that you have a receiver in your motorhome. Does either, in theory, require that you call them so they can turn off your receivers at home when you are out in the motorhome and then turn them back on when you return.

Or, are you allowed to have both locations operating at the same time?

[Duner]

Joe,
I've been using the Dish 522 dual dvr for over a year now with the Winegard Automatic (no in motion). I think I damaged the hard drive the first time I left it on while moving in the MH. We had it replaced and now we keep the new 522 on the couch & unplugged while on the road. It seems to me that in-Motion & dvr receiver would only work if you can come up with some kind of shock absorbing system. I don't think just using foam rubber under the rcvr would be enough. I ran a second coax from the lnb thru the roof to the rcvr to get both tuners since Winnebago only runs one coax.
Hope someone can help with a solution for the in-motion & hard drive delimna.

Happy Trail!
Bill