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Old 12-04-2017, 11:28 AM   #1
mtlakejim
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Sat TV advice

I see there are a lot of threads on this topic and I will be reviewing them.

Here in North Arkansas we camp at least one long weekend per month during camping season (March-October). We usually will camp a full week or maybe two weeks at least once per year (I have 4 weeks of vacation).

Our TV use is limited while camping and so far we have gotten along fairly well with just DVDs but with a new camper and expecting to increase our use of same somewhat I am thinking about going Sat service. We typically watch a movie at night in the living room and rarely use the bedroom TV. We really don't worry about local programing for the most part as we get our news via internet....

First question is what service would fit our typical use? We obviously don't need service for a full month and it seems silly to buy a month of service for just a few days use. Related to this question, how much does a month of basic sat service cost?

Second, what equipment works well for RV use? I had sat service at our house in the past (we stream TV now) so I sorta understand how that works.
 
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Old 12-04-2017, 12:05 PM   #2
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We have had the Dish pay as you go plan where you pay by the month for years. I did not authorize auto pay for my credit card and just call to pay for a month when we plan to use it. So if we do not plan to use it I do not call to pay for the next month and they simply shut off my service until I call again. But someone posted (either here or RV.net) that they call when headed home and tell Dish to TERMINATE their service. They said by doing that they retained any credit for unused service and would get that they next time they called to restart the service. Haven’t tried that. Yet.

I use some older equipment (vip211k receiver and Tailgater antenna) and it works well. Newer equipment is a Wally receiver. For an antenna the Pathway X2 gets good reviews for good reception , although it is more expensive than a Tailgater. Both are auto and find the sats themselves. A basic antenna on a tripod is cheaper but requires you to aim it.

Most basic package is $35/mo and you can custom add other packages of particular programming you might like. But that can run the costs up fairly quickly. Next higher plan with more channels is $75/mo.
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Old 12-04-2017, 12:35 PM   #3
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Jim,

What service do you use at home? If it is Dish, it is only $7 more a month to add an additional receiver. Dish is the easiest to use in an RV - we switched our home service from cable to Dish after trying it out a couple of months in the RV.

If you use something else at home then Dish pay as you go gets more expensive and you have to do it a month at a time. As I remember it was $60-70 per month depending on what channels you want.

Direct is also an option, I have not used it but understand receiving HD in a RV is a little harder.
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Old 12-04-2017, 02:38 PM   #4
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Thanks BB. I am trying to justify us even having sat at all based on our use of TV while camping.


AZ, We live in the sticks and used to have sat TV service at home. But I cut the cord on that high dollar sat as soon as they ran high speed internet via fiber optic out to us backwoods folks. Haven't regretted it a second. And boy on boy was that a great call to make "Hey high dollar Dish, we don't need your services any longer"! You could have seen the grin on my face from outer space!


We stream all our entertainment via ROKU box. It works great. I really like that you can go to any of the major news groups and select which story you want to hear. Want to see what Fox news thinks about President Trumps tweet today? One click and your watching that story instantly without having to wait for it over an hour long broadcast!!!!


We would have high speed internet anyway so that cost does not count toward the total cost of TV viewing (the sat. company tried to say it did and I just laughed at them). A ROKU box costs ya about $50.OO once to buy and your done with equipment. That sure beats the monthly fees for a sat box much less two!!! ROKU also happens to be plug and play so there is no installation charges!!! Anybody that can plug a TV into a wall can hook up a wireless ROKU box. No more waiting on the Sat or cable installation guy ALL DAY LONG!!!!


Netflix covers most of our movie and documentary watching at only $10 per month. That's a really good deal compared to the $120 the sat used to cost us! There are several free and pay per view channels out there for streaming too. So there is a LOT of flexibility.


The ONLY thing I am waiting for is a channel to become available that shows ONLY the ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS and no one else.....Based on what I am seeing with the constant improvements to streaming I suspect that will happen before long.....


But of course we are a few decades away from dependable and affordable streaming TV for camping (they are headed that way I suspect). So in the meantime I am trying to decide if I can justify the pay as you go Sat and the cost of the equipment......
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Old 12-04-2017, 07:52 PM   #5
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We like Dish and it's done the job for us the last 7 years. We full-time, but for what you want to do the pay as you go would be a good choice.
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Old 12-05-2017, 09:47 AM   #6
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We use directtv and take two receivers from the S&B when ion the road. We have a Sat dish on a tripod for extended stays and the Wine guard G2 for short term stays.It is not cheap but it is what we need.
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Old 12-05-2017, 09:57 AM   #7
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DD, If we were full time it would be a no brainer. I would have the very best sat. system I could get (our idea of full timing involves touring around the country not staying more than a month or so in any given location).


Rich, I actually did the same sort of thing when we had sat at the S&B but as I mentioned above we stream everything at home now so it isn't an option.


I am just wrestling with justifying the cost of sat. just to use it on the occasional weekend to watch one or two movies......We have been getting by with DVDs and streaming news via our hot spots. But we just bought the new camper and some of our friends do have sat. seemed like a good time to revisit the subject...
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Old 12-05-2017, 11:02 AM   #8
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With Dish and the Pathway x2 you can get both east and west satellites from those parts of the country. Other than that it only costs $7 month for another receiver. Also you get Sirius music included in any plan.
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Old 12-05-2017, 02:16 PM   #9
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topjustice,
Thanks for the input and don't take my following rant as a personal attack, I'm just sick and tired of the high entertainment bills!
That is one of the problems with sat TV. It is $7.00 EACH MONTH for this add on or that group of channels. Before you know it your up to $120.00 PER MONTH. That is why folks are cutting the cord in droves. I may have even stayed a subscriber IF they had offered a la carte channel selection. I don't need Spanish language or liberal news channels. And I don't want to pay for broadcasting of soccer in India to follow the ONE college team I am interested in.


Don't get me started on Sirius.
The one thing that I hope streaming does is open up the field to allow customers to decide what channels they want! Give us choice. Don't force us to pay for unpopular channels just so you can say we offer a 300 channels.....Truth is 90% of people are listening or watching about 10 popular channels.
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Old 12-05-2017, 02:24 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by mtlakejim View Post
topjustice,
Thanks for the input and don't take my following rant as a personal attack, I'm just sick and tired of the high entertainment bills!
That is one of the problems with sat TV. It is $7.00 EACH MONTH for this add on or that group of channels. Before you know it your up to $120.00 PER MONTH. That is why folks are cutting the cord in droves. I may have even stayed a subscriber IF they had offered a la carte channel selection. I don't need Spanish language or liberal news channels. And I don't want to pay for broadcasting of soccer in India to follow the ONE college team I am interested in.


Don't get me started on Sirius.
The one thing that I hope streaming does is open up the field to allow customers to decide what channels they want! Give us choice. Don't force us to pay for unpopular channels just so you can say we offer a 300 channels.....Truth is 90% of people are listening or watching about 10 popular channels.
The information provided by all of us was based on your initial questions when you started the thread. One size doesn't always fit all. If you don't need it or want it, don't subscribe.
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Old 12-05-2017, 05:27 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by mtlakejim View Post
DD, If we were full time it would be a no brainer. I would have the very best sat. system I could get (our idea of full timing involves touring around the country not staying more than a month or so in any given location).


Rich, I actually did the same sort of thing when we had sat at the S&B but as I mentioned above we stream everything at home now so it isn't an option.


I am just wrestling with justifying the cost of sat. just to use it on the occasional weekend to watch one or two movies......We have been getting by with DVDs and streaming news via our hot spots. But we just bought the new camper and some of our friends do have sat. seemed like a good time to revisit the subject...
Doing what you are doing I would not spend the $$. We are long timers and one the road maybe 9 months of the year.We got the G2+ dome on sale , demo model at a CW in AZ for 300.00.It does not receive DirectTV HD but that is no problem for short term use
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Old 12-05-2017, 08:11 PM   #12
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James I went ahead and got the Dish Travler when it was on sale at Camping World a couple of years ago, you can save quite a bit if you wait for the sale. You can also get installation at a discount when you buy the Dish at CW. I already have Dish at home so it was easy to just add receivers at $7.00 a piece. With the Dish Travler I enjoy the automatic setup and because it is on the roof I don't have to handle it or store it. Some times it can limit where you park depending on trees etc. By the way we do long weekends, and short weekends as we still work full time and still are happy with our purchase.

Tom Marty
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Old 12-06-2017, 11:48 AM   #13
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I have the Dish Traveler and love it.
Now my problem is I need two accounts, one for the home and one for the RV.

Why two accounts you say, well I own a tax practice in Ca and the stick home is in Az. The 3 months I am in Ca with the rig D/W stays in Az.So taking a box from the stick house is not an opinion. Mostly because I also would have to change the local channels. D/W would not be at all happy having to deal with LA news instead of her regular local channels.

But back to the issue, I too would love to be able to just pick the channels I like maybe 10 or 15 I don't need 250 channels. What a second nobody needs 250 channels.
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Old 12-06-2017, 04:38 PM   #14
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Wayne,

Depending on where you park your rig in CA you may be able to get the local network channels over the air. This would allow you to do a single dish account if you buy another receiver. Actually you can get a lot of channels over the air in some locations which could keep you from using Dish in your rig unless you are missing some key broadcasting.
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Old 12-06-2017, 05:44 PM   #15
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Since we do not boondock in out of the way areas we are able to get the local area channels 98% of the time OTA.
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Old 12-06-2017, 06:57 PM   #16
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We never boondock either. But some our favorite places there is no major network OTA available. Fredericksburg (60 miles west of Austin) and Kerrville (50 miles northwest of San Antonio), both in the Texas hill country due to the distance and terrain. Top of Raton Pass (NM/CO) and south central Colorado again both due to terrain and distance. Palo Duro Canyon SP in Texas panhandle due to being down in a deep canyon. Among others. I suspect west of the Mississippi and east of the left coast it is more of a problem than other areas.

I don’t watch much TV. But DW would not be happy missing her favorite shows.
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Old 12-06-2017, 07:03 PM   #17
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My favorite places to camp are where the radio won’t work and cell service, don’t even think about it.
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Old 12-06-2017, 07:20 PM   #18
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Yep here in the Arkansas Ozarks they have to pipe in sunshine thru the mountain passes much less TV signals.....We live on the southern edge of the Ozarks. If we go North Sat is only way to get signal. If we go South in most cases we will have over the air signal.


The more I think about it though. The best times we have camping are when we turn the TV off.......I guess there is something to be said for "unplugging" every now and then......
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Old 12-07-2017, 06:35 AM   #19
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We have such places in NW PA and have in such places in the SW part of the country .We do carry the G2+ dome when on the road but we still have very good luck with locals most of the time.
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Old 12-07-2017, 06:53 AM   #20
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Thanks to all for your replies. Helps me kick around what to do. I think we will spend the money on safety equipment first (better tires, tire minder, cushion hitch pin) first and let the sat wait a bit. I am sure we will eventually get a system but no rush. Safety first!
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