46 replies to this topic

[klntl]

Hi, I'm a new RVer. I can not find the right satellite for my Dish Network. Dish Network's solution is to send "a service man to come and find it for me every time we move." It can't be this difficult. Any suggestions? I was told by a camper neighbor at one time dish is very difficult and he switched to DirecTV I need help. Thanks.

Travis

[TBUTLER]

Travis,

I had Dish Network for years and had a dish that we set up at each site. It would take me some time to get it aligned until I got a device (Satellite Finder, Catalog Item # 14067, now on sale $32.22). It gives a needle movement and a tone to indicate presence of signal and signal strength. While this device is in the line to the TV, you can swing the dish around until you find a satellite. I attached a short length of TV Cable to the box so I could hook it to the dish and then hook up the feed to the coach to the other side. Once the satellite is located you remove it from the circuit and store it until the next time you set up. It doesn't tell you which satellite you have. On the TV in the coach, your companion can tell if you have the correct satellite and using the menu, can tell you signal strength for fine tuning. This worked great with Dish Network and I am sure it would work as well for Direct TV. I switched to Direct TV when our new motor home came with the Direct TV equipment all set up. Their receiver worked with the KVH dish we had so we just stayed with that. Now with the KVH, I just hit a button and it finds the satellite and we have TV! Can't be easier than that.

One tip a camper shared with me early on is to look for another Dish (or Direct TV if you have their service) and see where it is pointing. You'll be within a few degrees and it shouldn't be hard to find from there.

[Jaxon]

Interesting... we're wondering the same thing (dish vs. direct) and it seems everybody likes Direct better. Seems that Dish has better choices for packages, though. We could care less for sports (especially 30 channels worth!), shopping channels or spanish language channels.

Why can we pick the channels we want and then go with them? If no one picks a particulaqr channel or group of chanels... well, Darwin was right! I kind of resent the satellite folks strong arm tactics... makes me want to stick with Blockbuster or Netflicks...

[Charlieanddawn]

Directv uses more satellites for its HD programming.
Some old KVH tracking dishes are not capable of receiving HD.
Many of the newer RV automatic dishes will not pick up all 4 of Directv HD satellites. (Limiting HD programming).
All of Dish network HD programming is sent on three satellites that can be picked up by most of the newer tracking RV top satellite dishes( KVH, & Winegard).
I just switched from Directv to Dish network after finding that my old KVH LM would not upgrade to any HD and many of the newer tracking dishes only offer limited Directv HD programming.
Winegard a good price and were first to respond with excellent text support.
Dish has been very helpful in the change over.
Other than the above both networks offer similar products and values.
I had Directv for 8 yrs the only complaint was losing local (Chicago) channels on the satellite when out of Directv local signal area. It was strange how that worked. I would get Chicago channels al over Lower Michigan,IN,Il, and loose them in Upper MI,MN & WI.When I applied for exemption I was always turned down without explanation.
I really don't have any answers just a little lame information.

I ended up with:
Winegard Roadtrip SD (Stationary Tracking dish)
Vizio Flatscreen

[TBUTLER]

I'm with you Bill and Kim. I wish we could order only the stations we want on the satellite. I've heard talk of making that possible but the little used channels really don't want that. In reality, most of us would still order most of the expensive channels and it would eliminate the less popular.

Regarding Dish vs. Direct TV, we recently had to have our KVH dish repaired. A minor mis-adjustment was causing it to fail to find anything. The tech that made the repair told me that Dish was much more difficult to get a good signal than Direct TV. We were getting a Direct TV signal strength in the 90's after the repair. He said he seldom saw a Dish signal strength in the 70's. That pretty much matched my experience with Dish TV when we had it.

[DavidnDerita]

I have used both Dish and Direct while RVing, and Direct is much easier to acquire than Dish. To receive all the programming for the Dish Network two satellites must be acquired, but with Direct only one satellite must be acquired to receive the programming. I switched from Dish to Direct for that reason. When we upgraded coaches the new one has an in-motion satellite system and it does all the work. I don't have an HD receiver so reception might be quite different for high def systems.

[GreenBeaver]

Hi, I'm a new RVer. I can not find the right satellite for my Dish Network. Dish Network's solution is to send "a service man to come and find it for me every time we move." It can't be this difficult. Any suggestions? I was told by a camper neighbor at one time dish is very difficult and he switched to DirecTV I need help. Thanks.

Travis

Here is what I use; http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item5ad2956684

First I turn on the sat box and TV, go to setup, and plug in the zip code of where I am. The sat box gives me the declination, elevation, and skew. I am using a tripod for my dish, so I go out and adjust the dish to the skew, and elevation. Then I plug in the above meter and fine tune the dish by rotating it side to side. When I get the highest signal I can I'm done andd go in and watch TV. Never had a problem even in some heavy wooded areas of southern Ohio/northern Kentucky.

On the other note, I to would like to be able to shop for programming ala carte.

[GreenBeaver]

I'm with you Bill and Kim. I wish we could order only the stations we want on the satellite. I've heard talk of making that possible but the little used channels really don't want that. In reality, most of us would still order most of the expensive channels and it would eliminate the less popular.

Regarding Dish vs. Direct TV, we recently had to have our KVH dish repaired. A minor mis-adjustment was causing it to fail to find anything. The tech that made the repair told me that Dish was much more difficult to get a good signal than Direct TV. We were getting a Direct TV signal strength in the 90's after the repair. He said he seldom saw a Dish signal strength in the 70's. That pretty much matched my experience with Dish TV when we had it.

I've never had a signal lower than 75 with Dish, even in Ohio/Kentucky. Maybe it's because I'm using a tripod with a Dish 500 dish.

[scrim325]

Travis,

I had Dish Network for years and had a dish that we set up at each site. It would take me some time to get it aligned until I got a device (Satellite Finder, Catalog Item # 14067, now on sale $32.22). It gives a needle movement and a tone to indicate presence of signal and signal strength. While this device is in the line to the TV, you can swing the dish around until you find a satellite. I attached a short length of TV Cable to the box so I could hook it to the dish and then hook up the feed to the coach to the other side. Once the satellite is located you remove it from the circuit and store it until the next time you set up. It doesn't tell you which satellite you have. On the TV in the coach, your companion can tell if you have the correct satellite and using the menu, can tell you signal strength for fine tuning. This worked great with Dish Network and I am sure it would work as well for Direct TV. I switched to Direct TV when our new motor home came with the Direct TV equipment all set up. Their receiver worked with the KVH dish we had so we just stayed with that. Now with the KVH, I just hit a button and it finds the satellite and we have TV! Can't be easier than that.

One tip a camper shared with me early on is to look for another Dish (or Direct TV if you have their service) and see where it is pointing. You'll be within a few degrees and it shouldn't be hard to find from there.

I am a Dish subscriber. Someone has given me a satellite dish. It is compatible with my system.
The problem is that when I connect it to my receiver, I can't get a signal. I have tried many times; leveling the tripod and slowly moving the dish back and forth. Of course I use a compass to get it aligned as closely as possible. I am using the strength meter that is built into the receiver. I don't know if it is the dish or me.
Any suggestions on how to find out if the dish is DOA or it's me. If it's me, there has to be an easier way of setting it up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ken

[NWJeeper]

I am a Dish subscriber. Someone has given me a satellite dish. It is compatible with my system.
The problem is that when I connect it to my receiver, I can't get a signal. I have tried many times; leveling the tripod and slowly moving the dish back and forth. Of course I use a compass to get it aligned as closely as possible. I am using the strength meter that is built into the receiver. I don't know if it is the dish or me.
Any suggestions on how to find out if the dish is DOA or it's me. If it's me, there has to be an easier way of setting it up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ken

I found when trying to manually tune satellites that even though you have your tripod level and the azimuth seems right, the elevation being just a hair off can keep you from getting any signal. Remember that even though your tripod may seem to be level, just a few degrees off in elevation can screw up the whole thing. With your azimuth figured out, adjust your elevation a bit on the low side and scan 10 degrees either side of your azimuth, then adjust the elevation up a degree and do it again, continue to raise your elevation till you find it. I found this to be a great method and usually found sattelites fairly quickly this way. I am on Dish Network and have really had no problems with it at home or in the rig. Their customer service is excellent and when I have had problems with my receivers they replace them almost overnight, and I own my own equipment.

On another note, some have said they get lower signal strength on Dish Network than with Direct. I used to get between 90 and 105% signal strength however Dish Network changed the signal meter about a year and a half ago and those same birds will now show between 70 and 80%. I was assured by Dish Network and by an independant satellite technician that the signal is the same as it has always been it's just the display on the receiver that has changed.

[KevinBurns]

The meter on the receivers tends to be slow to react. You're better off with something as simple as this will react more quickly to help you find the signal and then fine tune it.

[twalton@povn.com]

Hello All,

We have a KVH low profile roof mounted antenna and as long as I have exposure to the south all I have to do is flip the power switch and it finds the satellite. Pretty simple. I'm really writing to explain my choice of DirecTV. We are in the MH on the mainland about 6 months each year and live in Hawaii for the balance. DirecTV allows us to put our account on "vacation status" while we're in Hawaii and we don't have to pay during the time we're not using it. We switched to DirecTV because the Dish folks wouldn't do this for us. This may be a consideration for others.

[Barnero]

I'll tell ya folks, we are really hurting for a customer orinted satellite tv service in this country. I have been really amazed how dumb or maybe sneeky, but definitely stubborn both companies are to deal with. Directv has a deal to just pay an additional $5 for RV coverage if you have their service in your home. I made the mistake of connecting my RV first and about a year later tried to get the home installed and do the $5 additional for the RV. They were most happy to help but since I was already a customer they would not give me the promotional rates so if I accepted their offer I'd have ended up paying about $20 more than expected and saving hardly anything for switching. Of course part of the savings erosion was Comcast increasing their in home cable internet service if I terminated my cable tv with them. I got frustrated and just told them to cancel my RV coverage and figured I'd maybe go back later and do the home first. When they started that process they insisted they had shipped me a receiver when I connected and requested I return it. Said they had records of the order. I told them their employee must have stolen that receiver because I had purchased mine with my RV. They told me at first you couldn't buy them so I asked if they had ever heard of EBAY?????????????????? Of course their are dealers too that sell the receivers as well locally. I am not sure I have ever had a good experience when calling either one of these services. Looks like to me with alot of the campgrounds providing service and digital free air service better now it may be best to stick with those. As far as setup of service at a site, Directv was a little easier to me, but if Dish could out their difficult customer service mindset I'd gladly go with them because it wasn't THAT much harder to set up the Dish system. Definitely easier though with the signal meter. Good luck!!!!

[GUNTHER]

DUE TO A RECENT COURT DECISION DISH NETWORK PROVIDES IN YOUR AREA LOCAL CHANNELS (MOST IN HD) THAT WILL COVER THE AREA YOU ARE STAYING IN AND WILL NOW CHANGE YOUR LOCAL NETWORKS WHEN YOU MOVE TO ANOTHER DESIGNATED MARKET AREA WITH A SIMPLE PHONE CALL (INCLUDED IN PACKAGE PRICE ALONG WITH FREE HD) JUST GIVE YOUR ZIP CODE AND ADDRESS for free ! --- OR YOU CAN GET ONE OF THE NATIONAL NETWORK PACKAGES EAST OR WEST EVERYWHARE FOR I BELIEVE $6.00 -----JUST REGISTER WITH YOUR RV INFO.
WINEGARD CARRYOUT STATIONARY AUTO FIND SAT.DISH NOW UNDER $700.00 JUST DO A GOOGLE SEARCH--SORRY NO HD FOR DIRECT TV--
WINEGARD CARRYOUT GETS ALL HD CHANNELS FOR DISH NETWORK ONLY

[da141]

WINEGARD CARRYOUT STATIONARY AUTO FIND SAT.DISH NOW UNDER $700.00 JUST DO A GOOGLE SEARCH--SORRY NO HD FOR DIRECT TV--
WINEGARD CARRYOUT  GETS ALL HD CHANNELS FOR DISH NETWORK ONLY

I do not have satellite TV in my motorhome, but am about to.  I'm going to purchase the Winegard Carry-out Automatic Portable (Mod. #GM1518). Right now one can find some really good prices on the unit. I also plan to "sign up" with Dish Network.

Question, for those of you that have this system, what type of receiver do you have?  Also some good bargains on Dish Network receivers right now.

[da141]

We have Dish and the VIP722 receiver. There are limitations when using it in the RV.  However, since it is a DVR, we have many, many hours of pre-recorded viewing preferences that we can watch, even when there is no satellite signal.  We can also switch to the batwing antenna and record a program/movie while watching the local channels on the antenna. Or, we can watch a pre-recorded program and record another, or we can watch and record the same satellite channel.  So even though there are limitations to having a dual channel DVR, there are also some advantages.  We are not full timers so we use it at the stick house the majority of time.

Thanks, Wayne:  I have about decided to go with Dish and get the VIP 222 receiver to connect with the Winegard portable automatic. I want one receiver and IR remotes because I want to conceal my wiring and the receiving equipment and be able to use both televisions in our bus. We don't need DVD, because we don't record. I have a nearly new Panasonic DVD that we've used maybe twice in the last three years. After talking to Dish reps today however, I found out its about as bad as trying to buy a car, pushy, pushy, pushy. I'm sure the DTV folks are the same.

Thanks again, safe travels!