lewisedge

Since we now live fulltime in our motorhome, we depend on data via campground Wi-Fi when available and via our Verizon Wireless service. Streaming HD videos from sources such as Netflix and Amazon can burn through 25GB of data quickly. After that, most so-called "unlimited" wireless data plans will throttle our speed until the next billing cycle. Often campgrounds will quickly slow down their Wi-Fi speed for campers who try to stream videos over it. For our TV stations and movies we have DISH-TV with a local TV channel package and most of their commercial-free movie channels. As we move from location to location, I call DISH-TV with my new Zip Code and they update my local TV channels for me. A one TB hard-drive attached to my DISH receiver and activated with DISH for a one-time fee allows me to record TV programs and movies for later viewing. That's especially handy when we're away during evening newscasts or wish to view a movie that is being aired at an inconvenient time. We originally had a dome antenna but changes in the satellite service rendered it obsolete. I had it replaced with a Winegard TRAV'LER DISH 1000 Multi-Satellite TV Antenna which gives us dramatically better performance than the smaller, much less-expensive dome antenna. As with all satellite TV services, shade trees or other obstacles blocking our antenna dish's view of the southwestern sky will prevent reception. When that happens, we can play recorded movies from our satellite receiver's hard drive and crank up our rooftop TV antenna for any local TV channels. We have found that waiting for and taking advantage of special premium program packages can reduce our monthly satellite TV bill by $30 to $40 per month. Here is a question for existing DISH users who've traveled into Canada. After contacting Canada's Bell TV satellite service several times I was finally able to determine that they do not offer satellite TV for RV travelers unless they plan to remain in a fixed location for two or more years. Otherwise there is a high cancellation penalty for every change of location. Has anyone reading this post tried to receive their DISH satellite TV service while in Canada? If so, I would appreciate knowing what, if any, success you've had with it and how far north of the border you've been able to get it to work.

This past June, we drove our Type A motorhome with a car in tow from Banff, Alberta to Vancouver, BC on the Trans Canada highway. It was a spectacularly beautiful trip but we encountered some issues. Road construction sites along the highway were common and some of those activities forced us to stop for up to an hour before we were allowed to proceed. Driving through the mountains, on some parts of the road that had just three-foot wide shoulders, no guard rails and sheer drops of a mile or more was somewhat frightening. It was especially scary when blasted by the powerful crosswinds, which were common. Plan for your trip to take longer than it would on US Interstate highways and for fuel prices to be dramatically higher and you should be okay.

Until our US Congress passes a reciprocity law, there are states where having a handgun accessible to a vehicle's driver and/or passengers can get you into as much trouble as trying to take firearms into Canada. New York, New Jersey and California are among the states that come to mind. Considering that RV owners who avoid confrontations and avoid camping in sketchy areas are rarely targeted for robberies and/or violence, it's probably prudent to have one's firearms securely locked in a storage unit as I have done. That way, I don't need to worry about firearms issues while traveling into any state or Canada. Having had my family and me threatened with automatic weapons by what appeared to be uniformed security forces in Mexico, I no longer travel there. While traveling extensively in Canada on-and-off for nearly fifty years I've never been robbed or threatened with violence in that beautiful country.

Our healthcare insurance covers my wife and me ONLY in the USA, so prior to our travels from the USA into Canada this past June, we contacted several insurance companies. Seven Corners, the company that provides FMCAssist, quoted us the best rate for the coverage we needed. I obtained the coverage by phone and was able to go on-line and print our ID cards.

BillAdams: Unless a document, scanned or not, is encrypted before it's attached to or included in an email, its contents can be intercepted along the way and/or stored on someone else's server. That is not the same as FAX. I suspect that is why medical professionals will not email sensitive records but will do so via FAX. I've also found that many otherwise competent office workers have no clue how nor do they have the software that is capable of encrypting sensitive documents. FAX is an old communications technology but it is simple for even an untrained worker to use and it does not get intercepted, hacked or transmit viruses and malware. Once again, the purpose of my post was not to persuade anyone to use FAX technology but rather to provide a solution for motorhome owners who can benefit from it. kaypsmith: Your experience with Verizon must be nightmarish. My wife and I have traveled more than 11,000 miles since March through the USA and Canada, use our smartphones as hotspots and have not run into the problems that you've experienced with data caps and slowdowns. Perhaps you need to elevate your complaint to a higher level. We did find, while we were camping at Yellowstone NP's Fishing Bridge campground, that data speeds there were excruciatingly slow. But it was slow for everyone even with four bars of 4G signal. It appears that Verizon's data pipeline into that area is inadequate. Once we were out of the park we got normal speeds again.

Thank you Bill Adams for your perspective after reading my post. Since I already owned the OBi200 VoIP device, my scanner and my laptop computer, my only investment in this capability was buying the wireless adapter for about $25 and my setup time. We each have our own lives and needs. Although you apparently can manage just fine without in-coach FAX convenience, I've found it quite useful without incurring any ongoing expense or receiving FAX spam. My objective in posting what I wrote was to let FMCA members know how to achieve what I did, not to sell or convert anybody to old FAX technology. I've never found a physician or medical facility, for example, that will send or receive medical documents via email. I've also encountered some business enterprises that require either signed FAX documents or hand-delivery of the documents. My stock broker uses email but recently requested a signed FAX document. I could have sent the document by snail mail which would have taken several days. I've had my Verizon unlimited plan since this past March and have never had my 4G speed throttled except when I encountered daily limits while traveling in Canada. Each morning the full speed was restored. My understanding of Verizon's throttling policy is that as long as I'm in area where there is plenty of available bandwidth, my data speed will not be reduced no matter how much data I may have used during the month. Thus far my experience appears to bear that out.

For many years prior to retiring, selling my house and traveling/living full-time in my motorhome beginning in March 2017, I had a FAX machine in my home. Although FAX is an old technology and my machine did not get heavy use, it was an especially convenient way to quickly and securely communicate with those who were unwilling or unable to use email. On vacating my house I lost that convenience and particularly missed it when, during my travels, I had to use an office supply store or mailing/shipping facility to send/receive FAX messages. Even wireless printers and FAX machines need a conventional phone line to send and receive FAX transmissions which, until recently, was unavailable to me as a full-time RV traveler. There are, of course, Web-based services that will convert email messages into FAX messages and vice versa, but their monthly charges usually range from about $8 to $17. Free FAX services severely restrict the number of pages and quantity of FAX messages that can be sent or received. Here is the way I was able to recently obtain a conventional phone line that operates wirelessly. An OBi200 1-Port VoIP Phone Adapter with Google Voice and Fax Support for Home and SOHO Phone Service can be connected to an Internet router with a standard CAT-5 cable. After it has been configured with Google Voice, unlimited phone and FAX calls can be made via the OBi200 using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) anywhere in North America without any monthly or calling fees. Recently I was introduced to the Obihai Technology OBIWIFI5G 2.4/5GHz Wireless 802.11AC Adapter for the OBi200 which allows me to use my cellular hotspot for the VoIP Internet connection. Like most RV owners, I don’t have an Internet router in my coach. Those who do will not need the wireless adapter. Amazon, Newegg and other on-line sellers sell the OBi200 for about $50 and the OBIWIFI5G adapter for about $25, making the total investment for having a conventional phone line in my coach with unlimited calling and FAXing for less than a year’s cost of the cheapest Internet FAX service. Here is a word of caution; VoIP does of course consume data. My data plan with Verizon is unlimited but if yours has limits you’ll need to take VoIP data consumption into account when considering costs. My campground’s office kindly allowed me to use one of their hard-wired Internet connections to configure my OBi200 and wireless adapter, but once that was done their connection was no longer needed. For my needs I used the FAX tool already available in my Windows computer and a modem connection to the phone line. If I’m sending a document from paper, I use my portable scanner, which I already owned. Otherwise I can FAX documents that already on my computer as easily as I can print them. Received FAX messages pop up on my screen which I can view, save and/or print as needed. Conventional FAX machines can now be bought for as little as $25 on-line. Since my installation, I’ve been able to FAX documents thousands of miles across North America and locally as reliably as I could with the land-line that I had in my home. Frequent boondockers can run the OBi200 directly on 12-volts DC or with its included 120/240 volt AC adapter.

My wife has a Samsung and I have a Motorola Turbo2 that run on the Verizon network, We both have unlimited data/calling plans and have used our phones as hotspots in both the USA and Canada for hours at a time with no apparent harm to either of our phones. Hotspot usage does cause a heavier drain on the phone's battery, so we usually have our phones plugged into a charging cable.

I just renewed for another year at the pre-increase rate. FMCA'a medical assist program saves me from buying that service from another supplier which costs as much as FMCA's dues. Considering the benefits, I feel that FMCA offers good value for motorhome owners which is why I continue my membership.

The $600 that you invested in your solar rig would have run your generator for about 600 hours at current gasoline prices. Dry camping in Andover, MA this past June Friday through Monday, I had to run my generator for only about an hour total to keep my coach batteries charged in my 35-foot Itasca Sunova 33C. Do you believe that you'll ever recoup your investment in solar or is the silence of solar to keep your batteries charged worth it in peace-of-mind?

That poison is highly toxic to pets. See: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/05/24/bromethalin.aspx

The active ingredient in Just1Bite is bromethalin which poisons the central nervous system by uncoupling mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, which causes a decrease in adenosine triphosphate synthesis. (Wikipedia). The same poison is sold under the trade name Tomcat Rat and Mouse Killer and is available in pet and child resistant refillable bait stations at Lowes, Home Depot and Amazon among other places. Like previous rodent poisons, it's toxic to pets if they eat the poison or the rodents poisoned by it. The poison bars or their pieces should always be handled with gloves both for personal protection and because rodents won't eat it if it has a human scent. This same disposable nitrile gloves that I use when emptying my waste tanks are ideal for handling bromethalin. Answers to frequently asked questions about Just1Bite can be found at: http://www.justonebitebrand.com/faqs.html

To: jleamont Moisten cotton balls with the peppermint oil and put them where there have been infestations. When the fragrance is gone replace the cotton balls with freshly moistened ones. The peppermint oil from Amazon is food grade, also repels certain insects but is not toxic to humans, so it can be applied almost anywhere. That seems to work for most folks.

The word "humane" is not what came to my mind for rodent control. Aside from their disgusting droppings, mice can transmit the deadly hantavirus and other diseases (See http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html) and will inevitably be destructive to a motorhome's infrastructure. I was able to remove an unwelcome infestation of mice that had invaded our motorhome with several old fashioned but highly-effective Victor mouse traps and chedder cheese. To keep the mice away I'm using Essentially KateS 100% Pure Peppermint Essential Oil 4 oz. with Glass Dropper and Detailed User's Guide available from Amazon. It costs only $11.95 for a 4 oz bottle as of this date and has far more five-star user ratings than Fresh Cab. If you're displeased with their peppermint oil in any way the supplier will replace it or refund your purchase on its return.

Italo, those are some useful apps...especially GasBuddy. We also like "RV Parky," which shows us all of the nearby places where we can legally park our motorhome to spend the night. "Field Trip" is an app that will show us nearby and often unusual points of interest.

September 1972, I rented a Type A motorhome in New Jersey and drove it, with my pregnant wife, young son and in-laws through New England, up the Maine Cost to Arcadia National Park and into New Brunswick, Canada. While on the way to Maine, on the I-495 bypass highway near Littleton, Massachusetts, I noticed that the motorhome's engine temperature was rising and that the alternator had stopped charging, so I took the next exit and stopped at a service station where we learned that the alternator bracket had broken. The mechanic told us that it would take about an hour and a half for him to have the broken bracket repaired at a nearby welding shop and to install a new "V" belt that would once again spin the alternator and the engine's water pump. It was nearing dinnertime and there were no nearby restaurants. That was when the versatility and flexibility of motorhome travel really came into sharp focus. My wife and her mother decided to prepare dinner while we were parked at the service station. After enjoying a delicious, leisurely hot meal and washing our dishes, the repairs on our alternator bracket were completed and we were able to continue on our way. Our rented motorhome by today's standards was underpowered, and of course did not have hydraulic leveling jacks and slides, but for the remainder of our trip, our elevated perspective and panoramic windshield saturated our senses with the colorful fall foliage and rugged beauty of Maine's coast. By the time our trip was over my father-in-law, nearing retirement, was so sold on motorhome travel that he bought a coach of his own. Although I could not justify owning a motorhome with just a couple of weeks of travel time available each year, I repeatedly rented or borrowed motorhomes until I had enough control over my calendar to justify owning one of my own. Our destinations included Disney World when our children were small, fishing trips to the Alabama shore and touring the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff and nearby Painted Desert with my son when he was an adult. May of 2012 my wife and I took the plunge and bought a barely used 2011 Itasca Sunova 33C and have been thrilled with our decision. The following Fall, after our purchase, we explored the beautiful national seashores of North Carolina's Outer Banks, including Ocracoke Island's pristine beaches. We've driven our coach more than 20,000 miles up and down the east coast from northern Maine to Key West, spent almost a month touring Florida to escape New Jersey's lousy winters and have attended motorhome rallies and many monthly meetings of our local FMCA chapter and of our Winnebago motorhome group, making many friends along the way. After more than forty years of motorhome travel, my love for it has not only been sustained, it has increased. Upon retirement, my wife and I have plans to see much more of this great country of ours with multiple bucket trips.

Our 2011 Itasca Sunova motorhome came equipped with three flat-screen TVs. The one in the living room is a standard 40-inch RCA LCD HD TV, the bedroom TV and the exterior tailgating TV are Jensen brand. All of them have traveled more than 20,000 miles and been subjected to extremes in temperature during storage from sub-freezing in winter to more than 100 degree interiors in the summer without any problems.

When I log into www.mydish.com to check my balance and view my bills, it shows that I have a credit balance of nearly a half-month's service. They apparently charge me $5/month while my service is paused plus for the days that I actually use their service. Their billing system reflects, in writing, what was explained to me verbally when I purchased their service. Even their automated phone system tells me that I owe DISH-TV no money when I call. I'm sure you can understand why, when my account shows a credit balance, that it doesn't make sense to me that, when I get a live person on the phone, he or she demands more money to remove my pause in service when the service I have used has not consumed what I've already paid them. If DISH-TV provides any documentation about their RV service on their Website, they've made it very difficult to find. The other infuriating thing that their representatives do is hang up on me if I ask them a question that they cannot answer or are unwilling to answer. Twice, when I asked them to explain why I owed them more money when my current bill shows a credit balance, the representatives with whom I was speaking disconnected my call. I have written to Charlie Ergen and am awaiting his response. Many of us who own motorhomes but who are not full-timers don't take our coaches on the road for a month at a time, so buying a full-month continuous block of programming to use for just a weekend or two would not be cost-effective. That was why the advertised DISH-TV service was more appealing than the alternatives we considered.

My motorhome dealer installed a rooftop Dish-compatible dome antenna and a Dish TV receiver before I took delivery of my coach in May of 2012. Shortly afterward, I opened a subscription to their satellite service. After I subscribed and paid in advance with a credit card, they eliminated my local channels from their service but never offered to reduce their price for the lost service. Although they require that I buy channels, that I never watch, in order for me to get the movie channels that I do watch, it was working pretty well until recently. Pictures were HD and beautiful. I dewinterized my coach this spring, after suspending my satellite service through the winter, then called Dish TV to activate my service. First they incorrectly told me that they would need to send a technician to "adjust" my antenna at a cost of $135.00 before activating my service. Since my antenna tracks the satellites automatically, that was completely unnecessary. Finally, after reaching a supervisor to explain that my antenna was on the roof of my motorhome and needed no adjustment they finally agreed to activate my service. On April 18th, I paid them $82.60 for a month of "premium" service with the understanding that I could pause my service when it was not needed and not pay for unused time. Dish-TV acknowledged all of my payments via email and also acknowledged via email every time I paused and unpaused my service. Until yesterday, I had used just nine days from my prepaid month having paused and unpaused the service three times. When I called them on July 7th to remove the pause again, even though their most recent bill stated that I had a half-month credit balance, they demanded that I pay them an additional $104.69. They refused to explain why I could not use the remaining time for which I had already paid but had not used. When I tried to get an explanation they offered none, but repeatedly and robotically said that I would need to pay them $104.69 or they would not unpause my service. There was also no explanation regarding how much additional time that the $104.69 would buy me. At this point, I have a huge investment in an automatic tracking antenna, receiver and hard drive (which they charged me $42.40 to activatein order to digitally record satellite programming) but am being blackmailed for more money that I do not feel that I owe them. Otherwise, all of that expensive equipment that I bought to receive satellite TV is useless. If Dish TV is going to bill me for service in my RV, when it is not being used, then their vaunted RV pause program is a sham. Have other subscribers had this problem? I am beyond frustrated over this. When I bought my coach from the Lakewood, NJ Camping World, their Website advertised the following: "Enjoy DISH Network Pay-As-You-Go programming with the ViP211k receiver. "Pay-As-You-Go is ideal for anyone wanting to enjoy satellite TV on a seasonal or temporary basis without having to commit to a long term contract. Purchase the DISH Network 211K HD receiver and prepay for 30-days of programming at a time. Stop and start programming as you need, without penalties. The DISH Network 211k is an HD single-tuner satellite receiver that works with any satellite antenna compatible for DISH Network on both SD and HD televisions. ViP211k is DVR ready so you can add our own external USB hard drive. Own up to 3 ViP211k receivers. Programming package, HD upgrade fees, additional receiver fees, installation and satellite antenna not included."

Thank you for your comment and for the address of Charlie Ergen. When I bought my motorhome the following was advertised on Camping World's Website: "Enjoy DISH Network Pay-As-You-Go programming with the ViP211k receiver. "Pay-As-You-Go is ideal for anyone wanting to enjoy satellite TV on a seasonal or temporary basis without having to commit to a long term contract. Purchase the DISH Network 211K HD receiver and prepay for 30-days of programming at a time. Stop and start programming as you need, without penalties. The DISH Network 211k is an HD single-tuner satellite receiver that works with any satellite antenna compatible for DISH Network on both SD and HD televisions. ViP211k is DVR ready so you can add our own external USB hard drive. Own up to 3 ViP211k receivers. Programming package, HD upgrade fees, additional receiver fees, installation and satellite antenna not included." I have email messages from DISH TV acknowledging every time I paid them and every time I paused and unpaused their service. From my perspective, if DISH-TV did not offer such a service then why were they sending me email messages acknowledging it?

Demco's Kar Kaddy SS is a top-of-the-line car caddy made from galvanized steel, uses surge disk brakes and tracks behind your towing vehicle which reduces the turning radius. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most expensive car dollies on the market. One of its nicest features is that it folds into a much smaller space, so it doesn't take up a lot of garage or campsite space when it's not being used. Unlike car dollies with electric brakes, Demco's Kar Kaddy SS does not require an electric brake controller and should work with virtually any front-wheel-drive car.

My motorhome dealer installed a rooftop Dish-compatible dome antenna and a Dish TV receiver before I took delivery of my coach in May of 2012. Shortly afterward, I opened a subscription to their satellite service. After I subscribed and paid in advance with a credit card, they eliminated my local channels from their service but never offered to reduce their price for the lost service. Although they require that I buy channels, that I never watch, in order for me to get the movie channels that I do watch, it was working pretty well until recently. Pictures were HD and beautiful. I dewinterized my coach this spring, after suspending my satellite service through the winter, then called Dish TV to activate my service. First they incorrectly told me that they would need to send a technician to "adjust" my antenna at a cost of $135.00 before activating my service. Since my antenna tracks the satellites automatically, that was completely unnecessary. Finally, after reaching a supervisor to explain that my antenna was on the roof of my motorhome and needed no adjustment they finally agreed to activate my service. On April 18th, I paid them $82.60 for a month of "premium" service with the understanding that I could pause my service when it was not needed and not pay for unused time. Until yesterday, I had used just nine days from my prepaid month having paused and unpaused the service three times. When I called them on July 7th to remove the pause again, even though their most recent bill stated that I owned them nothing, they demanded that I pay them an additional $104.69. They refused to explain why I could not use the remaining time for which I had already paid but had not used. When I tried to get an explanation they offered none, but repeatedly and robotically said that I would need to pay them $104.69 or they would not unpause my service. There was also no explanation regarding how much additional time that the $104.69 would buy me. At this point, I have a huge investment in an automatic tracking antenna, receiver and hard drive (which they charged me $42.40 to activatein order to digitally record satellite programming) but am being blackmailed for more money that I do not feel that I owe them. Otherwise, all of that expensive equipment that I bought to receive satellite TV is useless. If Dish TV is going to bill me for service in my RV, when it is not being used, then their vaunted RV pause program is a sham. Have other subscribers had this problem? I am beyond frustrated over this.

There are several Web-based vendors including Amazon that sell Canadian SIM cards. You can find them with one of the major Web search engines using "Canadian SIM cards for travelers" in your search request. They're invariably less expensive for calls and data than using your USA-based cellphone provider.

We subscribe to a breakdown service, so don't carry the kinds of heavy tools that would be necessary to service a motorhome engine or transmission, but we do carry a road cone and reflecting triangles (to warn others if we breakdown), WD-40, screwdrivers, pliers, both socket and open-end wrench sets, crescent wrench, Allen wrench set, wire crimper, electric drill and bit set, both a digital and an analog volt/ohm/milliamp (VOM) meter, tire pressure gauge, tire inflator with gauge, small 2.8 cfm 150 psi air compressor with air hose, a fluorescent work-light and a couple of 50-foot 20-amp extension cords. We also carry a full-size shovel and leveling blocks which we've used to pry up our hydraulic lifts when they've misbehaved.

Before I decide whether or not to use a regulator, which restricts flow, I test the campground's water pressure with a Watts DP IWTG Water Pressure Test Gauge for Garden Hoses, available from Amazon for less than $12.00. I've found the gauge to be highly accurate, but it must be protected from freezing temperatures even if it's not hooked up or it'll be ruined. To constantly monitor the water pressure, I use a "Y" connector at the faucet. My hoses will withstand up to 120 psi, but I don't allow more than 60 psi to go into my coach. The gauge is also helpful if I'm trying to diagnose low-flow problems. At one campground their pressure was just 17 psi, which was woefully inadequate for taking a shower. My solution was to use my coach's water pump to boost the pressure.