TV Service

[exav8tr]

My wife and I are brand new to this RV thing and have purchased a 2006 3400RL and will be traveling this next year, for who knows how long. I understand there are several different TV systems that one can invest in. Would anyone like to weigh in on the pros and cons of their particular systems......? Thanks a bunch

[ols1932]

Are you asking about Tow Vehicle (TV) or Satellite TV?

Orv

[Steve and Brenda]

I think TV, cable vs FTA.

[Montana Sky]

I would suggest looking into the TracVision by KVH or the Kingdome for a mounted satellite dome on your roof. You could also go with Direct TV or Dish Network and use a portable dish set up on a tripod. Each has their advantages and disadvantages.

[Steve and Brenda]

I'd imagine that the dome dish would be easier to set up as compared to the portable dish but if you're parked under trees your signal is very attenuated.

[Tom Gina 06]

We are going to go with Direct TV soon. The reason being they have everything located on one satalite, HD signal, locals, and all the other channels. Dish has there feeds off three different satalites requiring multiple dishs from what I understand. Correct me if I am wrong on this. With HD fazing into the market we are trying to make the change as easy as possible.

Remember the............

[Ozz]

I think I have the best system for me. The automatic dome sat system, and Direct Tv. In all our travels, there has been only one time we couldn't get a signal. It was in Manitou Springs, Colorado. I saw a guy with a portable dish work for 2 hours trying to get a signal and he gave up.
When we pull into a site, I turn on the dish power, and when we sit down after setting up, we have sat service. All automatic. It is as advertised.
Ozz

[richfaa]

"a clear view of the southern sky"..If you can do that the vast majority of the time the automatic system is the way to go (cost aside) We use the portable dish and have for several years our camping style to date would render the automatic system useless most of the time.We will now be long timing and we will evaluate the dish question again. We would love to have the Automatic system.

[ols1932]

With the portable dish you are never out of view of the southern sky. Wife likes to park among the trees when possible. This makes it almost impossible to "see" the southern sky.

Orv

[Steve and Brenda]

So it boils down to where you like to park and how much set-up you wish to bother with as far as the antenna technology goes.

Then there's the type of receiver to use and programming packages as many programs are Free To Air (FTA). When I owned a C-Band and Ku-Band large dish set-up I used to watch many of the network and sports feeds which were free, in the clear programs.

I've been off the dish bandwagon for several years now and am considering some sort of ala carte deal where we'd not have to pay for service while the RV is parked for the winter. Anyone know of deals out there?

[DONnANNIE]

Steve, I still have a BUD (4DTV & FTA DVB). There isn't much left on CBand that is free, much less the networks. On the digital side, you have to pay for a digital package in order to get Denver chnls or east coast networks. I have a Fortec FTA rcvr. There is a lot of foreign programming and sports. But now they are doing a lot of HD broadcasting and my Fortec doesn't receive that HD video .

We are thinking of downsizing and getting a smaller yard so we can travel more. If we do, I'm looking into Hughes Net for satellite internet and Bird on a Wire(BOW) for Sat TV. I'd like to set it up at the stick house and move it to the Monty when we travel. That way I have one system year round.

[faeb and genb]

Tom Gina I think you need to do some checking on Direct T V We have it & I have 2 dishes mounted on our house. They may have come up with some thing new that I don't know about.
Gene

[Parrothead]

We just bought another dish last summer. Decided we had the setup at the stick house so good didn't want to take it down. So we bought a dish just for the Monty. It is HD capable. Cost a little more but we thought if that is the coming thing, we would be ready. It is a little heavier because it has two LNB's instead of one. But we can hook up four TV's to it.
Happy trails.......................

[rrheik]

We use a dish on tripod with Directv. It works great, except yesterday we had massive wind gusts and even with my 25lb weight and tiedowns, dish was rockin and rollin. Thought at one time it was going to be flyin over to Ozz's roof. We are getting a KVH Tracvision R4 installed next week. Will keep the dish/tripod for those times when we are hiding out under the trees. Remember if you want local access, ask Dish or Directv for a waiver form. Works great having the waiver, you get East and West Coast coverage on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. We like it cause if we miss a program on the East
Coast, we can watch the West Coast program a couple hours later.

[ols1932]

See another thread under Sitting Around the Campfire called: DISH-Local channels NO MORE

Orv