What is the best RV satellite solution for me?

Lou,
We will be up to the Cape around the 4th of June. Hope to have the Sat. rig in by then.
Jim

Lou, the very first time was a pain in the neck but after that it's like riding a bike you just have to remember from time to time how you set things up. Manual set up is a snap.

We are in Salem, Ma for the balance of the summer. Until around mid-September. Set up the manual dish which took about 20 to 30 minutes. Calibrated the dish to the satellites and we now have Boston local stations. Directv switched the locals in about 5 minutes. I did have a hard time talking them out of sending a tech. to set everything up. They finally understood I already was watching everything but local. I do admit I didn't know if I would get Savannah or Boston, but its Boston and they said to call when I leave and they will switch back. This was actually painless. Nice.
Jim

Just Lou said:

It is/was not my understanding that the P-A-Y-G plan is SD only.

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I've been using the pay-as-you-go with Dish for several months now, and after paying the one-time HD fee I get HD on that service -- it's identical to the "contract" service, in terms of what programming you get, i.e. you choose one of their packages; mine is $59.99/mo. I also bought a large hard drive, paid the one-time fee, and my 211K is now also a DVR. So for the month(s) I pay for you cannot tell the difference between PAYG and "contract."

I use the Carryout dome, and have had good luck with it. I'm afraid that manually aiming a dish each time I set it up, and each time I changed channels needing a different satellite, would get old in a hurry, but with the dome automatically finding the satellites, and automatic even when switching satellites (HD, for example, is on 129 -- all else is on 119 or 110), there is no going outside to set up after the initial dome deployment.

All in all, I'm well pleased.

Gary RV Roamer said:

Since Dish has both SD and HD on the same satellite, I don't see any reason for it to be SD only. Unless maybe the PAYG plan only provides an SD receiver.

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Actually, Dish uses 119, 110 and 129 -- 129 has the HD. My Carryout dome changes satellites when I change channels, if needed. The 211K I got with it is HD, as well as SD, and tells the dome when to switch satellites. HD requires a one-time additional fee ($99, I think).

Hmmm... Guess I should have looked more closely to discover that this is an older thread.

The Directv system has 5 satellites, I do not move the dish to switch channels, no do I do that at the stick house. Its aligned to all 5 which are in a 20% vertical span. One thing I might have mentioned is there is a app for a Iphone that turns the camera into a satellite finder, shows where the are so you can just look a the Iphone screen and see the 5 satellites and it has the name of each, I only tune to the 101 and 119 seems the others are in between and connect.
I think the auto units are great but since we are stationary for more than we are underway the portability is a plus.
Jim

Jim,

What is that apps name? I can't seem to find it at the app store.

Thanks

Don, the app I have for Android is called SatFinder.

Lou,

I use a carry out dish on a tripod, and have found that it has another advantage besides the low cost. I have been in some heavily wooded campsites that had the same problem as your s & b house. By moving the tripod around I have usually been able to find a line between the trees.

Joel

Alaskansnowbirds said:

Jim,

What is that apps name? I can't seem to find it at the app store.

Thanks

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Don,
Its "Satoolz for Directv

jim and di said:

Don,
Its "Satoolz for Directv

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Thanks Jim, Got it.

Great Horned Owl said:

Lou,
I use a carry out dish on a tripod, and have found that it has another advantage besides the low cost. I have been in some heavily wooded campsites that had the same problem as your s & b house. By moving the tripod around I have usually been able to find a line between the trees.
Joel

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I thought I had come back and updated this thread earlier, but it must have been another discussion.

I settled on the Dish Tailgater and the 'pay as you go' plan and have been satisfied with it.  I'm currently parked in my sisters back yard (in Kankakee, Ill) where the trees are just to large to use the sat, but I do get good 'over the air' reception.

Lou,
I got 75 feet of cable for that reason, have you mounted yours to the roof of the coach?
Jim

Dish HD 1000 'IS' a pain to point, not really the pointing but the VERY VERY slow to react receiver (722k, but all seem slow).

I got so frustrated with the PIA slowness (you can be perfectly pointed & the receiver says no signal, for minutes at a time!!!!) that I bought a $100 dollar multi satellite meter (powers LNBs so no cable needed to point, does not say which sat you are pointing to but the compass tells you that & you get so you mostly know the group (110,119,129 I speak of) ).

Dish 1000 HD, you need 20 degrees of clear sky, DTV HD, ONLY 4-5 degrees of clear sky, DTV dish MUCH better mount too, very accurate settings, so finding a hole or gap around trees is more difficult in tree infested areas (which I love) for Dish.

Easiest solution, DTV HD (very quick to see/point satellites, fast receiver indicatins), OR  Dish 1000 & a semi or full smart meter. Full smart meters tell you which satellite you are pointing at, but are expensive $700 for a multi-satellite meter.

Good Luck!

PS: have no idea about this Go pkg.

Just Lou said:

The receiver that they advertise with it is the same one paired with the automatic Carry Out antenna.  I just checked The Dish Network ad, and it indicates HD among the tiers of service offered with PAYG.

I'm looking for confirmation that it is NOT too much of a hassle for an old man to manually aim the dish.

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Correctin: You can get all normal (maybe all-sports pkgs) DTV HD via 3 satellites, 99-101-103, the 5 sat solution is old & mostly for foreign languages, obsolete setups.

Winguard roof uses the old Slim-5 LNB's because their aiming is NOT good enough with a Slim-3 (emailed engineering at WG), Ka band sats are VERY hard to peak, higher frequency than Ku band sats (101-110-119) they use the 110-119 Ku sats for accurate aiming of the Ka band sats, 99 & 103. There is duplication on 110&119 but all of that HD is on the Slim-3 sats, except foreign & maybe small market locals!!  AFAIK, NO HD is on 101 DTV sat, its all on 99-103.

jim and di said:

The Directv system has 5 satellites, I do not move the dish to switch channels, no do I do that at the stick house. Its aligned to all 5 which are in a 20% vertical span. One thing I might have mentioned is there is a app for a Iphone that turns the camera into a satellite finder, shows where the are so you can just look a the Iphone screen and see the 5 satellites and it has the name of each, I only tune to the 101 and 119 seems the others are in between and connect.
I think the auto units are great but since we are stationary for more than we are underway the portability is a plus.
Jim

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