Satellite tv

[Sewhappy]

We have Direct tv at home. What satellite receivers work well for HD, 2 receivers and the ability to DVR in an RV? Is it hard to get a signal?

[merrykalia]

We take an extra receiver from our house and put it in our fifth wheel beginning in April and leave it until the season is over in October. The receiver is usually in our kids playroom and if we are camping and it's warm outside, they don't need the playroom.
If you just take the DVR receiver from your residence, it will work fine in your RV.

We have a satellite dish that we picked up out of the garbage a few years ago. An apartment complex was re-roofing and had taken down all the leftover dishes that Directv had left when the tenants had moved.

Hubby made a dish holder out of PVC with directions he found on youtube. We got a satellite finder from Radio Shack and after a few tries, we now have no problems locating the satellite.

[Sewhappy]

Is your receiver HD and a DVR? I bet we gave away at least 3 direct tv dishes years ago never imagining we would one day wish we had one.

[merrykalia]

We don't take the DVR, but just one of the HD receivers.

If you have a trash dump, recycling center close by, check with them to see if they ever get dishes brought in. Around here, they get 2-3 each week. They might hold one for you if you ask nicely.

[merrykalia]

What part of the country are you in?

[Sewhappy]

We live in Clemmons, nc.

[danno2u]

The Cadillac solution is the Wingard Trav'ler. They make one for DirectTV & one for Dish. We have Dish. With the Trav'ler, you just pull into your campsite, push a button, and the satellite hones in on the signal. We receive three satellites & full HD. The downside to the Trav'ler is cost (about $1,500) and installation (about $89 if you don't DITY). You can also set up a DVR by adding a hard drive to the receiver(s). We're full timers in our RV and love our Trav'ler setup!

[Sewhappy]

You get what you pay for sometimes. We will check it out. We spend a lot of time watching tv. Hopefully, that will change with traveling but we still want to be able to watch tv. If the Internet had a better signal we would look into that but we are years away from having a good signal nationwide.

[merrykalia]

I was checking to see where you lived. If you lived close enough, I could get you a dish. If I can figure a way to get it there, I will send you a PM. We have a couple extras.

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by Sewhappy

If the Internet had a better signal we would look into that but we are years away from having a good signal nationwide.

Ah but I would beg to differ! We have a Verizon MIFI and we have had good (often excellent) internet reception from coast to coast. ATT also offers a portable MIFI but their coverage isn't as good as Verizon. With Verizon, we get 5 gig for $50 a month. My MIFI is the 4510L but there's a newer version out now.

A lot of the complaints about the MIFIs was they lose signal when switching from tower to tower. But that only affects those who travel while browsing. Sitting stationary in an RV, we never lose signal. Check it out!

[Taylorgso]

Originally Posted by Sewhappy

We have Direct tv at home. What satellite receivers work well for HD, 2 receivers and the ability to DVR in an RV? Is it hard to get a signal?

Earlier post referred the Trav'ler by Winegard. It WILL receive HD, but is not usable in motion - not an issue if you're only taking short trips. We elected to go with an in-motion receiver, so SWMBO can catch up on news, PBS, etc. as we go along. None of the in-motion antennas will receive DirectTV in HD, but will receive Dish in HD, though reception sometimes is iffy! Most of DirecTV shows are in digital format, with the exception being some older movies where there's a noticeable degradation in quality, but otherwise pictures are pretty good!

By the way, hello from a neighbor in Greensboro!

[Sewhappy]

Is satellite reception a problem when the dish is mounted on the roof? I know if there are no trees, it should be good but what about if you are under some trees?

[Taylorgso]

Originally Posted by Sewhappy

Is satellite reception a problem when the dish is mounted on the roof? I know if there are no trees, it should be good but what about if you are under some trees?

If trees to the SouthWest are close by, you won't get a signal - not as bad during winter - it can sometimes see the satellite through the limbs. It's definitely a trade-off if you want an in-motion or other roof mounted unit - you'll even occasionally lose the signal if driving down two lane roads with trees close to the shoulder. I generally ask when I enter a new campground if they have open spots without tree cover. In NC the DirecTV sat is at 43 degrees elevation. You can generally see the satellite if they're more than 150 feet away. The further north you get that angle decreases, further south the angle increases. I haven't had that much trouble. I've even considered carrying a Winegard GM-MP1 to set up when I can't get a signal from the roof-mounted antenna!

[Sewhappy]

Lots to think about. If you are under trees, don't you have the same problem with the portable satellite?

[slide5r4fun]

Originally Posted by Sewhappy

We have Direct tv at home. What satellite receivers work well for HD, 2 receivers and the ability to DVR in an RV? Is it hard to get a signal?

We have DirecTV and bring a DVR and HD receiver from home. Dialing in an HD signal is more difficult than standard def because you'll need to "hit" three satellites for HD as opposed to only one for standard def. As you might be aware, a standard def dish will not receive an HD signal, you'll need an HD dish and that requires a more substantial tripod/base since the HD dish is larger, heavier and has a larger diameter mounting post. Not sure what kind of rig you have but we were able to re-route our wiring in the basement and get feeds to the entertainment system and bedroom so our setup is plug and play, whether we are using satellite or cable from an RV park.

[Taylorgso]

Originally Posted by Sewhappy

Lots to think about. If you are under trees, don't you have the same problem with the portable satellite?

Sonewhat. But they come with a long coax (and you can add additional lengths so you can place it away from your own camper until you can hit a signal. There are some neat mobile phone apps that you can use to determine the best spot. Often it's just a matter of a few feet. I had a Winegard Carryout, and never failed to be able to get a signal - had 50' of power/coax cord to work with!

[RickV]

I have dedicated H25 receiver and use this



I take the dish off the mount to transport it. The mount fits between my tailgate and my hitch and I put the dish in front of the hitch. I have to align it but I have got it down to about 5-10 minutes total setup time. I found the whole setup on craiglsist for $30. It is called a rooftop mount.

[slide5r4fun]

I should point out that my post above regarding the dish only applies if you are using traditional dish and tripod. The setup is still cheaper than the portable units but there is still a cost associated with setting up HD. We chose the tripod setup and like most others carry extra coax cable to get away from trees.

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by Sewhappy

Is satellite reception a problem when the dish is mounted on the roof? I know if there are no trees, it should be good but what about if you are under some trees?

Just for my 2 cents. This may be too much information.

I have the Dish Trav'ler. It locates three satellites -- 110, 119, & 129 longitude. Of these, 129 is lowest on the horizon since it's further west. My Trav'ler is mounted on the roof center of my RV so if I need to reposition the Trav'ler, I reposition the RV.

We have been surprised at how well we get satellite reception, even when trees are present. When I pull into a site, I use my Iphone app to locate the path to the satellite. Then I determine if the best line of sight is a little forward or aft in the site. I position the RV there and set up. The signal will penetrate light foliage but not solid limbs. Of course it's best if you have a clear line of sight to the SW but quite often, and even on the east coast, satellites 110 & 119 are high enough to be seen above the trees. Satellite 129 carries many of the HD channels but all of those channels are duplicated in SD on one of the other satellites. So even when we can't receive satellite 129, we still get all of our channels, just in standard def.

For reference, I was able to lock onto satellites 110 & 119 even from Nova Scotia--that's as far east & north as you can go on this continent! 129 was below the horizon though.

We've been full-timing now for 19 months and have had the Trav'ler on 2 RVs with the same great results. And yes, I did a self-install both times. The Silverback came pre-wired which greatly simplified installation!

If you only use your RV for a few weeks a year, I'd say the Trav'ler is overkill. But for full-timers, we get our money's worth out of it.

[spock123]

I have a Tailgater from Dish and it works very well for me. I just find a place thats free of trees and set it on a tripod and it works, I bring a receiver from home, works for me