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Old 04-20-2016, 12:27 PM   #1
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TT satellite

Just so I understand correctly.
I have cable tv at our home.
We want to get a satellite for the TT, do I have to have a satellite service at home to get satellite for the TT?
In other, is their a satellite service provider that does RV without servicing the home?
We have our phone, internet, and tv with atlantic broad band, all cable.
What company and portable equipment does everyone like, pro and cons?
And what exactly will I need?
Thx
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Old 04-20-2016, 12:34 PM   #2
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That's right. It's almost exactly like cable, but it's mobile.

You'll need a dish, a box, and a subscription.

It used to be simpler before HD. We used to just take one of our receivers from home and connect it to the trailer. Our dishes don't work with the newer equipment though.

Do you have an HD antenna? Our CR toy hauler has an antenna and it works great if we're close enough to a city with broadcast service.
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Old 04-20-2016, 12:55 PM   #3
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Okay, thx. Dave, do you have any recommendation's as too which provider and why, and which satellite receiver? I've just starting researching today, seem's like the Winegard G2 and Tailgator come's to be mentioned a lot.
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Old 04-20-2016, 01:14 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by hvnbnd View Post
Okay, thx. Dave, do you have any recommendation's as too which provider and why, and which satellite receiver? I've just starting researching today, seem's like the Winegard G2 and Tailgator come's to be mentioned a lot.
Hmmm. That's kind of a Coors/Bud or Dodge/Ford/Chevy question.

We've been DirecTV customers for about 15 years. I'm not in love with them, but I think I love Dish even less.

You're in an interesting situation because you're not a home customer. You can call Dish and DirecTV and let them compete with each other. Explain that this is for an RV. Find out how flexible they are with month to month or even just pay as you go when you're travelling.

Do you have an idea of what channels you want? You should probably have a general idea of the package level before you start pricing them against each other.

And you should note that you won't be able to get local network channels. You can get the national feeds from the networks, but not the local news or sports. Here's how that works: As a DirecTV customer I get local channels at home. When we would take a receiver from home and travel through the western states, I could *usually* pick up those channels. The satellite beams the locals to a limited geographical region, so if you travel away from home but you're still somewhat close, you'll get those channels. Otherwise the local channels don't come through and I can't get the locals for the region where I am either because I'm not a subscriber in that region.

I guess one other thing I would try if I were shopping for satellite for the RV is to go to local RV superstores (e.g. Camping World) and have them pitch me on one over the other. They are in the unique position to cater to customers like you.

I hope this helps.
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Old 04-20-2016, 01:15 PM   #5
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Oh and by the way, the correct answers are:

Neither (Coors & Bud are both pretty gross, but Bud is less gross than Coors)
Dodge
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Old 04-20-2016, 01:44 PM   #6
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Thx. again Dave, any advice other than making sure the dish will support more than one tv, which dish?????????????
And I'm pro, Pepsi, but trying more water, Chevy all the way
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Old 04-20-2016, 02:18 PM   #7
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Thx. again Dave, any advice other than making sure the dish will support more than one tv, which dish?????????????
And I'm pro, Pepsi, but trying more water, Chevy all the way
Pepsi & Chevy...I'm no FBI profiler, but I think I could write a full dossier on a Pepsi/Chevy guy.

That's a great question about multiple TVs. One thing that isn't obvious about satellite is that you can't easily split the signal. The dish gets power from the receiver, so things like power boosters and cheap splitters cause big problems. That's why newer RVs have separate lines for cable & satellite.

So picking a dish shouldn't be too hard, but it's not simple either. The decision probably boils down to budget and provider. The dishes used to be brand agnostic (my first portable dish said Dish Network on it, but I used it with my DirecTV receiver). Not anymore though.

The most expensive dishes are permanently mounted to the roof of your trailer and automatically aim themselves. Awesome, but not cheap.

On the other end of the spectrum you have a portable dish, a portable mast, a compass, and lots of cussing.

Between those two extremes are the self-aiming (sort of) dishes that are about the size of a small cooler. They're a lot more affordable and they're pretty reliable. My understanding though is that they don't support HD yet, which would be a deal killer for me. They're easy to set up. You point them south and push a button to acquire the signal and then cross your fingers that nobody steals the device.

I reviewed one of the original portables for Toy Hauler Magazine back in 2008. Back then it was called VuQube, but they have been acquired by King Controls since then. Based on my feedback they added a second port for a second receiver and a loop for a lock. Here's a link to my old review: VuQube_Article_Toyhauler_Magazine.pdf

We haven't invested in satellite for our new CR toy hauler yet. When we do, I think we'll save up and buy the more expensive roof mounted self aiming HD dish. In the meantime we're pretty happy with the free OTA HD channels and DVDs.

I guess a couple of disclaimers would be fair:

1) My expertise is kind of dated, because I gave up on watching satellite in the RV once we upgraded to HD at home and I couldn't use those receivers anymore.

2) I have more experience with the cheaper equipment. I've never bought the good stuff and don't know much about how it works...yet.
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Old 04-20-2016, 03:03 PM   #8
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I have direct and it works fine. What Dave said above is true. We are fulltime in the trailer so we don't need to shut off over the winter. I know dish will setup an account for seasonal, not sure about direct. We have the roof mounted traveler dish. I carry a Winn gard carryout because if you end up in a spot with trees the roof mounted will not work. The carryout does not give me HD as it is 8 years old. All I do with it is hook up to the trailer cable port .plug it in to a 12v port and it automatically finds the sattelite
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Old 04-20-2016, 06:07 PM   #9
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We are fulltime also & just use the antenna which usually picks up 40-50 channels or watch DVDs. IMO the satellite dish are a huge expense to just get more of nothing to watch, there's nothing on tv that I'm needing to watch so bad I need to spend $$$$ on. If there's nothing on tv, we read.
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Old 04-20-2016, 06:11 PM   #10
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We are fulltime also & just use the antenna which usually picks up 40-50 channels or watch DVDs. IMO the satellite dish are a huge expense to just get more of nothing to watch, there's nothing on tv that I'm needing to watch so bad I need to spend $$$$ on. If there's nothing on tv, we read.
Good point.

A campfire beats TV any night (unless it's raining).
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Old 04-20-2016, 06:30 PM   #11
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That's why we have awnings
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Old 04-20-2016, 08:33 PM   #12
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I have a Winegard Carryout and Dish service. You don't need a contract with Dish, only pay for the months you use it. The Carryout is a portable that aligns itself.
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Old 04-20-2016, 08:42 PM   #13
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If you do end up going with DISH, the King Tailgater portable dish antenna works well for us.
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Old 04-20-2016, 09:31 PM   #14
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Just to add..

I have the Tailgater and it does broadcast in HD. Also, I'm not sure i would ever want a fixed roof top dish after seeing the effect of trees on reception.

No more compass and hunting, i use a satellite finder app that is very effective. Open the app and point it towards a clear spot in the sky where the 3 satellites line up in the SE. Put your dish there and you will get good reception.
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