Satellite TV In Motor Home

[EZ Livin]

We're trying to get satellite TV service in our motor home. We go to Circuit City and they can't help. We contacted Direct TV and get the run around and end up in a do-loop.

Can anyone point us in the right direction,i.e., who do you have for a service provider? How do you contact them and speak to an actual person??

Thank You,

EZ Livin

[EZ Livin]

We're trying to get satellite TV service in our motor home. We go to Circuit City and they can't help. We contacted Direct TV and get the run around and end up in a do-loop.

Can anyone point us in the right direction,i.e., who do you have for a service provider? How do you contact them and speak to an actual person??

Thank You,

EZ Livin

[Frankie]

Your on the right path by asking here . Do you have a dish of some kind installed on your MH? If not there are several choices always being discussed in the tech forum.You can get a portable set up through directv.com.I did all my ordering for my house through thier website,very easy.If you have an address your all ready to go.Most rv techs are trained for installation but wont or cant activate your reciever,only you can thru dtv.

[EZ Livin]

Frankie......thanks for the info. We already have an in motion satellite dome installed on our rig. All we need are the Direct TV receivers and someone to come and hook them up. I called Direct TV and they said I had to call the satellite manufacturer. They told me to go to Circuit City or Best Buy and purchase 2 Direct TV receivers and hook them up ourselves. Then call Direct TV and tell them to activate to our receiver #'s. Does this make sense to you? Sounds like you had a much easier time with Direct TV. Maybe the Customer SErvice person I spoke to didn't understand what I needed.
Not sure. Tney did not mention what you got.....the portable receiver. We do not have DirectTV in our home, we have cable. So we have to set up a new account. Were you already a DirectTV customer?
Thanks

[Savannah]

We are fulltimers and have had DirecTV since 1996. I ordered our new receivers from DirecTV's website and had them shipped to me directly, not our mail forwarder. Once received just hook up the cables according to the directions. We had extra cabling done at Camping World in Anthony, Texas/New Mexico.

Also Camping World carries all you need including the receivers and can do all installing.

To receive networks go to DirecTV's website and print out the form requesting distant mobile networks, send it in and DirecTV will do what is needed.

A phone call to DirecTV once everything is installed is needed to activate everything. You'll need the numbers off the back of the receivers and the number on the card. Takes just a few minutes.

If you have a problem ask to speak to a supervisor that is familiar with the mobile aspect of DirecTV.

OH also make sure they understand you don't need satellite install only receiver install.

[Frankie]

John if it was me,I would order it for your house.They will come and install for nothing and bring everything you need(recivers,etc.)Then ,after everything is up and running just pull the 2 recivers and put them in your motorhome.Thats what I did.I pay $ 5.00 extra a month for the box in my mh.You can also sign a declaration and get some local feeds from either new york or a west coast.I didnt because I dont travel outside my area that often.You may need help from the customer service of your dish,usually a 1-800 number , when you install the recivers in your MH.Or you could hire a mobile tech to come to you. I have dtv at home so it was a lot easier. Feel free to pm me if you need more info.

[John Hilley]

Here is a receiver you can order from Camping World DirecTV Receiver

[paz]

EZ Livin, if you're comfortable hooking the receivers up yourself, you can indeed call Direct and ask them to activate your receivers. I did it when I replaced my standard receiver with a DVR we picked up at Best Buy. Make sure you have the serial numbers and the card numbers for the receivers handy before you call.

[jfb]

When we changed to Directv, we went to our local Circuit City outlet where they registered/enrolled us with Dirctv. We were charged a fee for this service which included the receiver and a 5 lnb(?) dish. We took the unit, along with a modulator to hook up the 3 wires to our coaxial input to our in-house vidio distribution center, to our RV and tuned into a Directv satellite on our Kingdome. This done, we contacted the Directv customer service center and activated the system.

[EZ Livin]

Hey, good morning.
Thanks to everyone for the great feedback!
Camping World and Circuit City sound like the places that can make it happen. We have both close by. I like the fact that CW does the whole package, including install. We appreciate the info and are just 18 days away from being "full-timers". Yee Haa!

[LindaH]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by EZ Livin:
We appreciate the info and are just 18 days away from being "full-timers". </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Once you get your DirecTV service up and running, you'll probably want to get their Distant Network Service (DNS) so that you can watch network programming from Los Angeles and New York (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and one PBS channel).

Go to DirecTV's website and download their Mobile Vehicle Declaration of Intent, aka an RV Waiver. Complete the Waiver and FAX it to (208)363-6444 together with a current copy of your RV's registration. You should have DNS up and running within 24 hours.

[hamguy]

Order Direct TV. Get as many receivers as you need for your home. I have 5 in my place. Two of these are also used in my RV 6 months of the year and Direct knows which ones. I pay NO more for this. I got the RV waiver (available on line) and am able to receive network stations from NYC and LA. When I am near my home, I can also get Phoenix stations.

They (DTV) also installed the receivers in my RV and the RV is prewired for them anyway. I have KVH Tracking dish.

BTW, FMC is running a bunch Frank Sinatra movies this month. My VCR and DVD recorders are working overtime. They even are running Sergeants Three. Check it out. Will go great with my 140+ DVD collection of 1930's-80's flicks. Commercials and all.

[Bill Adams]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I got the RV waiver (available on line) and am able to receive network stations from NYC and LA. When I am near my home, I can also get Phoenix stations </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Just so you don't get confused when DirecTV tells you that you cannot do this, the law (not DTV) specifically forbids any one account holder from having DNS service on their account when local Network programming is available. With that said, DTV sometimes makes mistakes and there is a small contingent of folks that are mistakenly receiving both on the same account. It may be possible to setup and account with multiple receivers with both services with the understanding that only one or the other set of receivers could be active but not both. For full-time RVers this is not an issue as you don't need locals anyway, you just want to be able to get the DNS anywhere you travel. When you part time you would be required to turn DNS on and off if you choose to get local programming where you park for the Summer or Winter.

[Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376]

I'm one of those who get both locals and DNS. It happened when we lived in a city in California that wasn't close enough to be served by over the air local channels. I got DTV to petition the networks to give us DNS. We got ABC and NBC but CBS wouldn't agree. When locals became available via DTV they just left the DNS thing on. Later when we moved to AZ, we continued to get DNS and locals and when we went full timing in the motor home we finally got CBS when we filled out the DNS request. Short story, it that I can watch Letterman and Boston Legal, 3 hours early if I don't DVR them. For the rest I have no use for it. I'm thinking if I just keep paying, they keep providing.