Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzy
Interesting points about RV, jimbo & Bogey Boy. We initially got DTV through a referral from friends, and a discount for the first year. Happy, so far, and recently upgraded to whole-home HD DVR (but not top line). Anyway, an RV is in our future in about another year. Is a portable antenna on a stand the typical setup? We won't need TV while moving.
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Hi Buzzy,
There are a lot of antenna choices for getting satellite TV in your RV.
On our previous motorhome we had a dish on the roof that was totally automatic, just press a button and the antenna was raised and rotated to the proper position for reception. It also allowed for multiple TV's and recording one channel while viewing another. Only drawback was the tree issue.
My daughter has a small portable dish that you have to set up manually. Seems like a hassle and it is standard definition only. They do just short trips and usually choose one destination and stay there so it works out okay for them.
Our new motorhome has a dome antenna that only locks onto one satellite at a time. It can track satellites while driving down the road - have never used it for that. It gets HD on the Dish network but only standard definition on Directv.
There are a number of portable "automatic" and "semi-automatic" dishes. We have one of the fully automatic models that I stake to the ground. Once connected to the receiver I get a message that asks what state I am located in - then the antenna locks in on the appropriate satellite. It automatically changes between three satellites depending on the channel selected. Only drawbacks - it only works with a select group of Dish receivers and you cannot watch one channel and record another. A nice feature - you can plug in your OTA antenna and the Dish network recognizes the channels and adds them to your program guide.
I have considered another system which is "semi-automatic". You make one setting then it takes over and tracks the satellite automatically. It locks in on one Dish satellite that supposedly gets all the channels in HD.
The basic setup that comes with most RV's is an antenna mounted on the roof. If you are near a metro area this can work well - even picking up a lot of OTA HD channels. Here in The Villages I get very limited reception using that antenna, down near Tampa I get about 50 channels - but that includes many channels that are of no interest to me - advertising, languages other than English, etc. It is a very good way to get the major networks.
Which brings up one last issue - major networks on Dish or Directv. Major networks/local channels are spot beamed. That means once you drive out of the "local" area you don't get "local" channels. There are ways around this. Directv allows you to get either NYC or LA channels if you sign a form that says you are traveling in an RV (I think I had to send a copy of the RV registration.) Dish allows you to call and change you ZIP code.