winegard dome satellite dish

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The only "issue" I am aware of is that Direct is moving their HD channels to Ka band satellites and nobody yet has a dome type antenna that can receive them. However, both Winegard and Motosat have multi LNB dish types that work. Right now, if HDTV is a requirement, Dish is easier to set up for mobile reception.

Note, however, that an HD-capable receiver is required as well as an extra cost HD subscription with the service.  And most current RVs are not wired to provide an HD signal from the receiver to the tvs anyway, requiring some wiring changes to provide HDMI or component video to the tvs
 
That may have been it.  I was not at the session and one of the other guys gave me this alarm thing about it.  KVH was the presenter. 

My friend made it sound like Direct was getting out of the mobile biz, but it made no sense to me. 

Carry on.
 
DirecTV isn't in the mobile business, they're in the satellite TV business.  They don't care if you're in a fixed location or on the move, that's your choice, and your choice of antenna.
 
They don't care if you're in a fixed location or on the move, that's your choice, and your choice of antenna.
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They do now. Saw this on their web site recently:

If your permanent residence account lists more than one receiver and one of these is located in your vehicle, you will no longer be able to "mirror" the services on the additional receiver in your vehicle. We will need to charge you the full monthly programming package price for this additional receiver, instead of the $4.99 a month programming mirroring fee you may be paying currently.

Here's a link to the page.

This appears to be a change in policy. So, if someone plans to add a receiver to their DTV account, it had better be in a room in the house (or garage) unless they want to pay for separate service. Calling and saying they want to activate an additional receiver on a home account, but plan to use it in their RV, will ring the bell. So, all receivers on one account have to be in the house or all in the RV.
 
That applies to mirrored services, not a single account.  That's no different than having 2 receivers in 2 separate houses and should be treated the same way.  Would DTV allow you to mirror your services to a house in another city from your primary account location for $5?
 
Many folks mirror to their RV, boat or vacation home. As it says on their web site, it's a change in policy, for which I see no reason. If someone wishes to take a receiver from their primary residence and take it with them, why should that receiver be treated differently when they walk through their front door?
 
Taking one receiver from the house to the RV isn't mirroring, mirroring is have a second receiver in the RV.  You can still take one receiver anywhere you like, that hasn't changed.  What has changed is you can no longer mirror your account to a 2nd receiver in a different location.
 
If someone has 2 or more receivers in their house, the 2nd, 3rd, etc receivers are mirrored and they pay $4.99 each for the privilege. If they take one of those receivers with them when they leave, the new policy says they then need to pay full package prices for the second receiver.
 
That's correct, if you have more than one receiver.  If you have only one receiver, you can take it anywhere you like at no extra charge.
 
OK, I have 3 receivers in the house.  I have an RV.  If I take one with me, won't it still work?  Or is there some sort of link to the dish itself?

 
Bill,

If they're DTV they'll work, unless you call DTV and tell them you're using one in the RV. However, their web site states that they periodically check if they're connected to the same land line and, if one isn't, they'll disable it. I haven't had any of mine connected to a land line in 7 years. In practice, the phone line is only needed if you want to order some PPV stuff.

Don't forget to call 'em before you leave town  ;D
 
I only have one of th3e three connected to the landline.  I would like to dump the landline.  Have no real use for it.
 
Just unplug the landline Bill and it should work unless you need PPV.
 
It will, but under the latest rules, you are supposed to register it as a separate account.  However, the only way they would know is if you applied for the DNS waiver for the RV.  Of course, if you travel too far, you won't get your locals on that receiver until you return home.
 
Ned said:
It will, but under the latest rules, you are supposed to register it as a separate account.  However, the only way they would know is if you applied for the DNS waiver for the RV.  Of course, if you travel too far, you won't get your locals on that receiver until you return home.
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It seems that periodically a receiver receives a code in the downstream that tells it that the particular card in that receiver is still valid.  I know that if I don't have my receiver on for 3-4 weeks it won't display any stations and it has an on-screen message telling me to call DirecTV to resolve the problem.  So far, I've been able to call, punch in my account number, and they immediately send the signal to activate the receiver.

So the question is this:  If you stay far enough away from your local-channel spot beam for a long-enough period, would your receiver de-activate?  And then would you not be able to re-acttivate since they might just send your code down the spot beam that goes with your home address?  It seems like they wouldn't broadcast all the nation's receiver codes to the entire nation...
 
The receiver knows it hasn't received a signal for a period of time and deactivates itself.  As long as it's receiving programming from the satellite, it won't do that.  It has nothing to do with the spot beam local channels.  Ours did that when we were in Alaska, and a quick phone call via Skype reactivated it.
 
There is another way DTV might "know" you had moved a receiver. Those who move a receiver to an RV often call DTV and change their "Local" zip code if they move out of their local programming spot beam. That's to avoid the need for Distant Networks service, which they can't get on a home receiver anyway.  Under the new policy, DTV might refuse to do that chane - or at least might ask questions about it.
 
They would need to do a software update on the receiver via the sat.  This could eliminate the zipcode entry option.  When you enter a zip it does a lookup on the internal table, this gives the elevation.  If you were to use a tripod dish you could just check a chart.  In extreme zip changes I suppose you may need a different sat, and that too could be restricted, but only by software change. 

In our case, most of our travel is within the same elevation, so they need never know.

I can see the economic reasoning to do this, but the rationale for the customer is off.  If you are buying a package for say 3 receivers and you travel in RV with #3, then you aren't benefitting from 1 & 2. 

How about if you get 3 receivers for your RV and put 2 in the house?  They expect you to be moving and sitting still.  Hmmm....
 
Ned said:
The receiver knows it hasn't received a signal for a period of time and deactivates itself.  As long as it's receiving programming from the satellite, it won't do that.  It has nothing to do with the spot beam local channels.  Ours did that when we were in Alaska, and a quick phone call via Skype reactivated it.
Click to expand...

Ah, but hadn't you been using it on your trip up there?  That would fit with the hypothesis that your normal "okay to stay active" code is sent via your home's spot beam and you weren't getting it in Alaska.  When you called to reactivate it, perhaps they then sent it out once on all beams.
 
No, we couldn't use DirecTV in Alaska, and were offline for about 3 months.  That's why we had to reactivate the receiver when we got back south.  It has nothing to do with spot beams or locals as we don't have any local channels, just the DNS channels.  When I made the Skype call, DTV sent the reactivate code via the satellite over the control channel, which is not a normal video channel and is broadcast over the entire service area of CONUS.
 
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