Community Forums

Denali · 02-03-2015, 01:38 PM

Having received no response in another thread, I'll try again.

We have Dish, and I know almost nothing about DirecTV. A friend has joined us here in the park, with his "Flex" portable dish (looks something like a Tailgater). He had not used his rig, or the receiver in it, for about six months. The receiver was no longer active for some reason.

Once we got the receiver to talk to the dish, the guide came up on his screen. After he chatted online with DirecTV and gave them a service address in AZ, they activated the receiver and he was able to get reception down here, but I see that the guide still shows the local stations for central California, where he last used the rig.

Q: Does he need to contact DirecTV again to get the Phoenix locals?

Q: Does DirecTV charge extra for the locals?

Q: Does DirecTV still do DNS? What does it cost?

Thanks.

WagonMaster · 02-03-2015, 03:34 PM

pretty sure you can call Directv and give them the zip code of where you are and they will turn on the local channels, at no cost.

MSHappyCampers · 02-03-2015, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denali

Having received no response in another thread, I'll try again.

We have Dish, and I know almost nothing about DirecTV. A friend has joined us here in the park, with his "Flex" portable dish (looks something like a Tailgater). He had not used his rig, or the receiver in it, for about six months. The receiver was no longer active for some reason.

Once we got the receiver to talk to the dish, the guide came up on his screen. After he chatted online with DirecTV and gave them a service address in AZ, they activated the receiver and he was able to get reception down here, but I see that the guide still shows the local stations for central California, where he last used the rig.

Q: Does he need to contact DirecTV again to get the Phoenix locals?

Q: Does DirecTV charge extra for the locals?

Q: Does DirecTV still do DNS? What does it cost?

Thanks.

Dave, he can call DirectTV, give them the local zipcode, and ask them to change his "service address" NOT his billing address, and he will get the local channels. There is no charge for that.

I've been told that DNS is $15.00 per month, but can't verify that.

Lanny1763 · 02-03-2015, 04:10 PM

Joe:

We have DNS, just checked my statement and it is an extra $15.00 a month for the DNS locals.

Nana25K · 02-03-2015, 04:25 PM

DNS is $15. You will receive your feed (NBC,ABC,CBS,FOX,CW,)from LA or NY depending on your billing lication . You will not get both only those who had DNS prior to about 2009 or 2010 were grandfathered to that. You will not receive local channels. Yuoy will need your OTA antenna for that

Denali · 02-03-2015, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

Dave, he can call DirectTV, give them the local zipcode, and ask them to change his "service address" NOT his billing address, and he will get the local channels. There is no charge for that.

I've been told that DNS is $15.00 per month, but can't verify that.

Thanks.

He did that to get the receiver activated. Apparently, the activation signal is not sent nationwide, but only to the spot-beamed local area. Before changing his service address, they tried three times to activate the receiver, and failed.

24 hours after getting the receiver activated with a nearby service address, he still has only locals from his previous location on the guide, though.

I wonder if using this Flex antenna has anything to do with it. I saw a review of that dish that said that DirecTV locals are only broadcast in HD, which that antenna can't do.

Are there SD locals with DirecTV?

MSHappyCampers · 02-04-2015, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denali

Thanks.

He did that to get the receiver activated. Apparently, the activation signal is not sent nationwide, but only to the spot-beamed local area. Before changing his service address, they tried three times to activate the receiver, and failed.

24 hours after getting the receiver activated with a nearby service address, he still has only locals from his previous location on the guide, though.

I wonder if using this Flex antenna has anything to do with it. I saw a review of that dish that said that DirecTV locals are only broadcast in HD, which that antenna can't do.

Are there SD locals with DirecTV?

Even though the stations are broadcasting in HD, you can still receive them on a SD setup. That's what we have.

WheelingIt · 02-04-2015, 09:19 AM

Asking Direct TV to change your service address is what usually works. That said we had trouble in Phoenix a few years ago. Not sure what it is about the beam in that area (maybe something to do with the particular satellite that transmits it?). Other than that DNS is the sure fire way to go and will cost $15/mo.

Of course there is also OTA (over the air). In Phoenix you should easily be able to get all the local channels that way.

TVforMyRV · 02-05-2015, 09:41 AM

There are many areas in the US that the DTV SD channels are broadcast on Sat 119. Perhaps the antenna is not looking at 119. I've not worked with the Flex, so this may or may not be part of the problem.

If the receiver is active, then it should re-load the correct locals after DTV changes the service address.

bud1249 · 02-05-2015, 09:49 AM

have a flex and use dish was down in south tx it showed local channels in la. called dish they sw me to tx but that also switches at home also so u have sw when u get back home.

NITEHAWK · 02-05-2015, 09:54 AM

We had quite a lot of difficulty getting DirecTV to switch to our winter location until a friend told us to call after 3:00PM. He said that earlier in the day the idiots (his words) east of the Mississippi didn't know squat about what was needed by "winter Texans"

After calling late in the day we have never had any problems since.

MRUSA14 · 02-05-2015, 10:02 AM

DNS is not the same as locals. DNS gives you the networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS) but not local stations. The stations you get with DNS are NY or LA stations. We subscribe to DNS as it makes it easy to get the above networks. No matter where we go tere is nothing to do, the networks are there. But for true local channels you must use your OTA antenna or for DTV reception you must change your service address.

It is possible you are not seeing the locals because of a setting in the "Favorites" menu that restricts the channels that you can see on the guide. Go into setup and be sure your "Favorite Channels" are set to "Channels I get".

MonkeyClaw · 02-05-2015, 10:18 AM

I was told with DNS you still get your local channels when you are in your local area. So when in the Phoenix area, I will still get locals AND DNS but when I leave the local area I will ONLY get DNS.

I haven't subscribed to DNS yet, nor left the local area with my DTV setup so I can't verify this. Give me another month or so...

Denali · 02-05-2015, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TVforMyRV

There are many areas in the US that the DTV SD channels are broadcast on Sat 119. Perhaps the antenna is not looking at 119. I've not worked with the Flex, so this may or may not be part of the problem.

If the receiver is active, then it should re-load the correct locals after DTV changes the service address.

I think you have hit on the problem.

Further research (i.e., downloading the manual for our friend's VuQube Flex) tells me that he needs to both configure the Qube to receive "DirecTV plus locals" and configure the receivers for the correct type of dish.

I'll try that today.

Thanks.