Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

HamRad · 08-28-2008, 07:13 AM

Gojodo,

Hughes does not support you technically if you are a mobile system. I got our system through a dealer (DustyFoot). Ended up with great support from them. I needed their help on several different occasions and always got prompt assistance.

The satellite you get in VA could be the same one you would get in MT. The various birds do have different footprints and you would need to decide which one would work best for your needs. If you spend a lot of time in the far south or down in Mexico you would want a different bird than if you were mostly in WA or OR or southern Canada. Your dealer will help you with that selection process. You can change birds after you have service but from what I understand it is a real hassle. Now if you go with the MOTOSAT system (very expensive) you can change sats as needed.

The MOTOSAT system is also completely automatic as compared to the tripod system.

Setup and breakdown can get to be a pain. It is just a physical problem to get take down and setup on a daily basis. When we were only staying overnight we would not put the system up. Pointing or aiming the system is fairly easy after you've done it a couple of times. The problems we had aiming often ended up being other problems. The connectors would sometime get corroded and block the signal. Or we'd get a bad cable. We had some frustrations from time to time with that sort of thing.

A new tripod system costs about $1500. That would include the tripod, dish, lnb, special bracket for mounting dish and some sort of aiming device. Monthly packages range from about $49 to a couple of hundred. It just depends on how fast and how much bandwidth you want or need.

A used system will run about $200 to $600 or so. Lots of used systems out there right now.

We no longer use our system and it is for sale. The reason is that where we travel we have good air card service. We have the Verizon system. If we were in an area where there was little or no cell service the satellite system would be the way to go. But if you have cell service the air card systems are the way to go.

Air card systems are as fast if not faster than the standard satellite service. At least that was our experience.

John I think I addressed all your concerns. If you have any questions just drop a post or email. Good luck.

HamRad

08-28-2008, 07:13 AM	#6
HamRad Montana Master Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Bakersfield Posts: 5,316 M.O.C. #15	Gojodo, Hughes does not support you technically if you are a mobile system. I got our system through a dealer (DustyFoot). Ended up with great support from them. I needed their help on several different occasions and always got prompt assistance. The satellite you get in VA could be the same one you would get in MT. The various birds do have different footprints and you would need to decide which one would work best for your needs. If you spend a lot of time in the far south or down in Mexico you would want a different bird than if you were mostly in WA or OR or southern Canada. Your dealer will help you with that selection process. You can change birds after you have service but from what I understand it is a real hassle. Now if you go with the MOTOSAT system (very expensive) you can change sats as needed. The MOTOSAT system is also completely automatic as compared to the tripod system. Setup and breakdown can get to be a pain. It is just a physical problem to get take down and setup on a daily basis. When we were only staying overnight we would not put the system up. Pointing or aiming the system is fairly easy after you've done it a couple of times. The problems we had aiming often ended up being other problems. The connectors would sometime get corroded and block the signal. Or we'd get a bad cable. We had some frustrations from time to time with that sort of thing. A new tripod system costs about $1500. That would include the tripod, dish, lnb, special bracket for mounting dish and some sort of aiming device. Monthly packages range from about $49 to a couple of hundred. It just depends on how fast and how much bandwidth you want or need. A used system will run about $200 to $600 or so. Lots of used systems out there right now. We no longer use our system and it is for sale. The reason is that where we travel we have good air card service. We have the Verizon system. If we were in an area where there was little or no cell service the satellite system would be the way to go. But if you have cell service the air card systems are the way to go. Air card systems are as fast if not faster than the standard satellite service. At least that was our experience. John I think I addressed all your concerns. If you have any questions just drop a post or email. Good luck. HamRad