Best Satellite Service For Occassional RVing

[lebjdixon]

Im a newbie at owning a motorcoach, and we have a Winegard Traveler Slimline dish.

Now the question is, it has an old box from Direct Tv left by the former owner,, but was told that it was obsolete by the salesperson, the dish itself is just 3 years old. The dish reads Direct TV on it.

Could you possibly use an extra box from your home (Direct TV), I pay $5.00 a month for the extra receiver, or should I call Direct tv and and start over and get a new receiver? I would only be using this receiver occasionally, so don't want to spend alot for the service.

So, does anyone have any ideas on starting a network service, before I call Direct TV?

Thanks for any information

[hermanmullins]

Although we have Disk Network, we take the receiver from our home when we go traveling. If you have your local channels on your Direct TV you wont be able to get them out side your coverage area. We have at times called Dish and they will set us up with the local channels where we are. We then have to call Dish to have our home units reset when we return. There could be a problem if your receiver is HD and your Dish on your coach is not. Maybe someone out there knows if the two are compatiable.

Welcome to the forum.

[Guest BillAdams]

Im a newbie at owning a motorcoach, and we have a Winegard Traveler Slimline dish.

Now the question is, it has an old box from Direct Tv left by the former owner,, but was told that it was obsolete by the salesperson, the dish itself is just 3 years old. The dish reads Direct TV on it.

Could you possibly use an extra box from your home (Direct TV), I pay $5.00 a month for the extra receiver, or should I call Direct tv and and start over and get a new receiver? I would only be using this receiver occasionally, so don't want to spend alot for the service.

So, does anyone have any ideas on starting a network service, before I call Direct TV?

Thanks for any information

Don't call DirecTV as they really don't have a clue about service in a motorhome. Just grab a receiver from your house and put it in the MH. It will work just fine. It's unlikely that the receiver current in the coach is "too" old. What model is it?

If you wanted to use that receiver while in the coach you could add this receiver to your account and activate it and discontinue it when you travel. However, the easiest is to use a home receiver and move it back and forth. You will receive all of the same programming you receive at home. The only exception is that if you travel too far from home you will lose your network TV programming (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) as those signals are spot beamed and only available within an area 200-400 miles from the broadcast location.

[chucknewman]

If you only use the service occasionally as you say, then Bill's advice "...The easiest is to use a home receiver and move it back and forth." is the best solution for the least price.

More things to consider:

You didn't say if your Directv home service is high definition (HD)? If your coach has the Slimline KU/KA dish it will expect to see a HD receiver. If you have HD receivers now in your house -- problem solved at no additional cost. Just put one in the coach when using it.

If you have standard definition (SD) receivers in your house, the coach's antenna solution becomes more complex.

"The only exception is that if you travel too far from home you will lose your network TV programming (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) as those signals are spot beamed and only available within an area 200-400 miles from the broadcast location." That's true if you now are subscribed to "local stations" via satellite. If not, you can get the networks anywhere you have satellite coverage with Directv's Distant Network Service (DNS). It will not be your local stations, but rather network stations in Los Angeles and New York City. To subscribe to DNS you need to send a written application and a copy of your RV registration to Directv. More info at http://www.directv.com/go

Regarding the "old" Directv receiver in the coach, look on back. If it is a D12 model, don't throw it away. It is the current non-DVD standard definition receive only unit used by Directv. You can keep it as a spare (SD only) receiver or sell it.

[Guest BillAdams]

If you only use the service occasionally as you say, then Bill's advice "...The easiest is to use a home receiver and move it back and forth." is the best solution for the least price.

More things to consider:

You didn't say if your Directv home service is high definition (HD)? If your coach has the Slimline KU/KA dish it will expect to see a HD receiver. If you have HD receivers now in your house -- problem solved at no additional cost. Just put one in the coach when using it.

If you have standard definition (SD) receivers in your house, the coach's antenna solution becomes more complex.

"The only exception is that if you travel too far from home you will lose your network TV programming (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) as those signals are spot beamed and only available within an area 200-400 miles from the broadcast location." That's true if you now are subscribed to "local stations" via satellite. If not, you can get the networks anywhere you have satellite coverage with Directv's Distant Network Service (DNS). It will not be your local stations, but rather network stations in Los Angeles and New York City. To subscribe to DNS you need to send a written application and a copy of your RV registration to Directv. More info at http://www.directv.com/go

Regarding the "old" Directv receiver in the coach, look on back. If it is a D12 model, don't throw it away. It is the current non-DVD standard definition receive only unit used by Directv. You can keep it as a spare (SD only) receiver or sell it.

No home user should have DNS service as that is prohibited by law (regulation?) so it is unlikely that this would be the situation in his case.

[chucknewman]

It would not be prohibited with the appropriate local station wavier, if he chose to pursue it. If his house is not in a grade B contour, it is moot.

That said, he would be required to have an additional account for the RV receiver, which he may not want to bear the extra cost. But the option is available.