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Old 11-21-2011, 06:05 PM   #1
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Direct TV & Internet question

We close next week on the house and hit the road. I have scheduled Direct TV to install some gear in the fiver this week before we leave. Also included is their Internet service thru Verizon. Simple question: Am I missing something for taking this set-up on the road? I know this is not a setup for in motion service. I was up front with the salesperson and explained the RV situation. Unfortunately, this person did not speak English too well (discussion for another time). She asked if the RV will be "moving" and I said "not when I'm watching sat tv, but, I do plan on relocating my camper and using the service in another part of the country". It was like a "whose on first, what's on second" routine.
Any thoughts or opinions (I have a day or two to cancel).
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Old 11-21-2011, 06:38 PM   #2
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Do you have an automatic dish of some sort, or will you be aiming a regular dish manually? Or is your RV going to remain in the same place for a long time, and DirecTv is going to set up and aim your dish?
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Old 11-21-2011, 06:49 PM   #3
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Do you have an automatic dish of some sort, or will you be aiming a regular dish manually? Or is your RV going to remain in the same place for a long time, and DirecTv is going to set up and aim your dish?
I have a dish that came with my rig; it is not automatic. I was hoping to get the equipment from Direct (free offer) and have them install it at first. Then I would invest in a signal finder when we move. I have never had satellite tv before, but, I understand the basics (e.g. Locate dish away from obstructions).
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Old 11-21-2011, 07:10 PM   #4
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Setting up a satellite dish is something that anyone can do, if they'll study a bit and understand what they're doing.

If you plan to set up an 18" round dish and receive SD signals, you probably can do it with a compass and using the display on the TV to adjust your dish (if you have some help to holler out the readings). Also, there are fairly cheap squawker devices that can help you get it adjusted.

My dish is capable of receiving HD signals, and I found I had to have a real signal meter to adjust it. Meters that allow reading HD signals start at about $250. HD signals are somewhat more difficult to align your dish to, but it is do-able. Some people report success adjusting for HD with the "look at the screen display and holler" approach, but I found I had to have a meter.

I'm assuming your internet offering requires a telephone land line, so of course that could work only where there is a land line available.

A big issue with any satellite service is having a line of sight to the satellite. Usually a line of sight is available, but in heavly wooded areas it may be hard to find or not there at all. Also, unless you have an RV account and get approved for national networks (ABC CBS NBC FOX), your networks will disappear as you move out of the specific satellite footprint that your local networks use.
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Old 11-21-2011, 07:41 PM   #5
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You touched upon my Abbott & Costello routine - I asked about the need for a phone line and was told "no" it is bundled thru the Directv service. So, is a phone line required? I'm too tired to call them tonight and ask again.
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Old 11-21-2011, 08:24 PM   #6
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Hmmm...

Here's how I know you can connect to the internet:

1) DSL or dial up on a landline
2) Cell phone/modem connection (cellphone could be bundled with DirecTV, but surely not for free)
3) Satellite (not the kind used for DirecTV)
4) Cable TV (likely not offered by DirecTV)
5) WiFi offered near where you are

So I suspect they are talking about DSL on a landline
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Old 11-21-2011, 09:11 PM   #7
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Old 11-21-2011, 09:15 PM   #8
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If we sell our house this summer we will be dropping Dish Network and changing to Direct. I have set up Dish on our river lot and it wasn't fun. The guy helping/showing me how to do it kept saying Direct is sooo much easier to get a satelite lock. I guess two or three eyes are harder to sight in than one. He said with Direct you just have to get close and with Dish you have to be almost perfect.
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Old 11-21-2011, 10:43 PM   #9
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Verizon MIFI works great for us.... I can get WIFI Hot Spot anywhere we get Verizon Cell Phone Service. The MIFI is a standalone device and does not need to be directly connected to a computer. It transmits a WIFI HOT SPOT signal about 50-60 feet around the MIFI unit. Then you can log into the WIFI Hot Spot if your devices is WIFI ready.

Our MIFI unit allows up to five users at the same time. This covers our two computers as well as the tablets... Have used it alot even driveing down the road. It is also great for sitting out on the beachs with the mifi unit in my shirt pocket which will operate for about four hours on internal battery.. Everyone in our party has full WIFI Hot Spot coverage...

I got my unit before Verizon changed plans and I have the 3GB Data Plan for $27 a mon. Now I think they have the 5GB data plan for $50 a month.

Works great for us.

Dont forget about using your crank-up OTA BatWing Antenna for picking up the NATL BROADCAST (CBS-ABC-NBC-FOX-PBS) local HDTV Digital signals. We get from 6-36 High Def digital TV just about anywhere we go here on the Eastern part of the US using our 22-inch VIZIO HDTV LCD TV.... This is free and is full screen High Def signals. I used to use DIRECTV whichs drops the local TV signals when you got outside your zipcode. I eventually dropped Directv all together. The local HDTV covers just about everything we want to see anyway. We sometimes watch TV over the internet for special things. Just log into the TV NETWORKS and you can watch the cable tv station for just about all the shows you would see on cable or SAT TV. They may be a day late but who's counting days... The downside to this is it does eat up your MIFI dataplan so you have to watch that pretty close.
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Old 11-21-2011, 11:14 PM   #10
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Standard Digital DIrect TV

You can "activate" the unit on the phone or on the web. Its a one time thing. I strongly recomend that you do the activation ( a one time thing) and first setup and confirmation with a Direct TV Tech. I did mine in the front yard to verify that everyting would dial in. Had a clear line of site to the 101 Sattelite. Since then its been touch and go with the ground mouted antenna. Finding a clear line of site is not as easy with the dish mouted on the ground as I thought at first.

Next time its going to be a automated roof mouted unit Less pesky trees.

I found a web site that gives visual clues as to the azmuth which helps a lot. I look up my camp sites positon and get the actual think i shoud be pointing towards ( easier than compas) . Your shooting for less than 2 degrees from what i can see. The signal meter gets me right on. Then my wife can surf the dish and i can fish in peace.

http://www.dishpointer.com/ For DIrect TV i belive it the 101W
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Old 11-22-2011, 05:53 AM   #11
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I vote for DiskPointer as well, but the Pro version for my smart phone. It allows you to find those holes in the trees so you know exactly where to put your dish. A roof mounted automatic dish unit will still have to be positioned where it has a hole to see through. Without correct positioning under the hole and automatic unit will never lock on.
I also strongly suggest you use your exact lat/lon when "looking" for the sat. I used DirecTV's receiver system to get the correct azmuth/elevation/skew using the zip code one time and it turned out it was a few degrees off from the correct numbers from when I used lat/lon. DiskPointerPro will give you your lat/lon as well.
One final suggestion, make sure your dish mount is absolutely vertical. There is where I spend most of my set up time - get that sucker vertical and finding the sat is easy.
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Old 11-22-2011, 06:36 AM   #12
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Quote:
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The guy helping/showing me how to do it kept saying Direct is sooo much easier to get a satelite lock. I guess two or three eyes are harder to sight in than one. He said with Direct you just have to get close and with Dish you have to be almost perfect.
DirecTV uses a KU band signal for SD signals; these are on a satellite at 101W. The KU band signals are wider, and slightly easier to get a signal from. The HD signals are on satellites at 99W or 103W and use a KA band; the KA band signals are more narrow than KU band and thus somewhat harder to aim at.

Regardless of KA band or KU band, I can tell you that whoever said that you "just have to get close" with DirecTV is incorrect.
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Old 11-22-2011, 12:22 PM   #13
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I have a tripod from www.tv4rv.com and a DirecTV Slimline dish with a SWM LNB for not only HD but DirecTV's Whole Home system. The SWM LNB gives me a single coax coming into my 5'er and I can split it between two DVR's.

I use DishPointerPro on my smart phone to select the spot for the dish. With this tripod I have set up my dish and had a 95% signal first try. At most I am off about 2 degrees and an easy tweak.

All you have to do is set the elevation and skew properly on the dish and then aim to Sat 101. I have never had any problem since if you have the tilt and skew set correct Sat 99 and 103 are already received.

I can set my dish up and aim it in less time than it takes to get it out of the basement.
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Old 12-13-2011, 08:01 AM   #14
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I use http://www.visionplus.us/satcalc.html to get me close. It's a free download. U can use zip code or coordinates to find azimuth/elevation settings. I start with compass to get me into ballpark then switch to meter. I use my cell phone for internet.
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Old 12-13-2011, 08:49 AM   #15
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Wow! I never had a difficult time setting up dish when we were RVing full time. Used a compass. All the settings came up on the TV screen. We used a head set for communications. The same headset we used when we backed the rig. Made minor adjustments and all was fine. I have used the signal strength meters. They work well also.

I had heard that Direct TV required a telephone line. Dish does not. We don't have a land line in our home. Cell phone only. Land lines cost way too much in very rural areas like Wyoming.

I recently looked at satellite antennas for our new TT. Thinking about a standard mount 500 Dish and making my own portable stand.
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Old 12-13-2011, 09:25 AM   #16
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Direct TV don't require phone line, I don't have a phone line to mine. I believe phone line is only needed to order movies. Never had problems setting mine up. Gets easier the more u do it.
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Old 12-13-2011, 02:03 PM   #17
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Direct TV

Regarding dish aiming with Direct TV, save time and frustration and go on E Bay and buy a " Bird Dog Meter" I bought mine for about two hundred dollars, I know alot of money, but if you move alot, or have a 3 LNB Dish for HD TV set up can be a real pain,and the meter makes it simple. I have gotten a signal in trees, with just the smallest opening using the meter. of course nothing beats the auto dish, like TracVision.

Happy Full Timing!!
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Old 01-05-2012, 12:02 AM   #18
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One correction re Direct TV

It seems if your receiver has not ben on in a long ( TBD) how long you need to reactivate it over the phone. No problem doing it on a cell phone except getting the 800 number. They have litterly hundreds of 800 numbers but the support one took a few tries to get.
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Old 01-05-2012, 06:44 AM   #19
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Direct TV don't require phone line, I don't have a phone line to mine. I believe phone line is only needed to order movies. Never had problems setting mine up. Gets easier the more u do it.
It's been a while since I had DISH or Direct but I believe you're correct. The phone line was required if you wanted to order movies via the menus. However, that did not preclude you from calling their 1-800 # to order movies sans the phone line.
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Old 01-05-2012, 08:01 AM   #20
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It's been a while since I had DISH or Direct but I believe you're correct. The phone line was required if you wanted to order movies via the menus. However, that did not preclude you from calling their 1-800 # to order movies sans the phone line.
You are correct there. Phone line only needed to order thru on screen menu. You can also order movies useing smart phone.
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