Dish Network

[rsl]

LONG POST WARNING...........

So we have had Directv at the house for TV and Comcast for internet, when we started off it was much cheaper to separate then keep all with Comcast. Well with the kids and the week long trips that always seemed to be rained out 3/4 of the days I researched and got someone's old dish (the big oval SWIM one)and a RV 4 TV tripod for it, added a receiver to the account, mounted it in the RV, and now I have the same DIRECTV in the RV as the house. But every time we setup it was the same thing, put it all together, get the compass out, do a rough elevation and skew set, hook it up and spend 15 minutes with the wife yelling higher or lower as I tweaked the fine tuning to try to get all 3 satellites peaked.

Well we are looking at switching from Directv to Comcast at the house because they are going to up the internet speed, have more channels and even with the taxes and fees we are going to save a LOT of money over using Comcast and Directv.
I told the wife what I wanted to do and she said what about the RV. My response was what about it we don't need satellite in it. Well she won.......We are used to having it for rainy days and for the kids to watch their channels in the morning before we get out of bed is the reason I (she) wants to have it in the RV also.

So I started looking at the dish pay as you go, even with having that the months we camp Comcast TV/Internet for house and Dish Pay for RV will still be less expensive then Comcast internet and Directv TV. So it is a no brainer. Then when I started looking at all the dish network dish options I thought this is really nice, they are small and all automatic! no more spending lots of time putting together and tweaking. I decided on the King Dish tailgater Pro and was going to do the quick release roof mount for it (for normal use) and a Tripod (for when we had a nice shady site). I was getting ready to click buy when I found an Article about the DISH eastern and western arc satellites. Well it looks like I would need to use the Eastern ARC. The only one I found that does the Eastern ARC is the Winegard x2 I called a couple of the dish RV authorized resellers, one said I needed the Eastern ARC and the other said I was fine using the Western. I asked about local channels on the West Arc sats and they said they would be there just like on the East...
So which one as correct and if I need East are there any other options besides the Winegard Pathway X2?

I really liked the thought of it being on the roof so when I got to camp and Power plugged in it would do its thing without any intervention from me. (but still able to remove if there were trees over the RV)


We live in Maryland and do most of our camping in the MD, DE, VA, PA, WV areas.

[larry337]

We have Dish Network and use a Winegard Pathway x2 and a 211 receiver. We camp mostly in Ohio and surrounding areas. I use the western arc first but if there are obstructions, trees etc, then I try the eastern arc. With no obstructions I get all my channels on either one. Sometimes trees will block a particular satellite and I only get some of my channels. Overall I like it. When I get too far from my home area I only get national channels and not my locals. I think I can call and get my locals changed too where I am but I'm usually not there long enough to bother so I never tried that. We're just weekend/ vacation campers. Its easy to set up as long as your aren't buried in trees and you get HD.

[Badbart56]

We went with Direct Now streaming tv. I think it cost us around $40 a month for the standard programing plus you need to buy a Firestick for $40. I don't watch a lot of tv but we were paying well over $100 when we had the Direct TV at the house. Mine is through AT&T which is my cell provider and they give you a hotspot when you sign up. You have to get the unlimited plan but we already had that since we have 6 phones on the plan. The best thing is weather (thunder storms) doesn't affect it. Of course you have to be able to get a signal, but where I go AT&T has great coverage.

[laidback]

I have the dish and use the pathway x-2 that gets both eastern and western arc sats. When I first got it I tried the tail gater. It wouldn't lock on to western arc when in Tn. Got the x-2 and use the eastern arc much higher in the sky. Never had a problem. I use a pole adapter and put on the ladder when parked. one set screw and lift off to travel.

[bill-e]

I camp basically in New England, have a Tailgater which gets the western arc. When unobstructed I can get all three satellites and my channels. I usually get at least two sats. We also get our local channels. Works fine for $7/month.

[rsl]

Ok so I went ahead and got the Pathway X2 and Walley bundle. With my Directv setup when I peaked my tuning al my satellites would be in the upper 80s to low 90s for signal strength. When I hooked up the wally and the tailgater, in a clear open field with no tree or other obstructions I can only get 51, 52 and 68 for the signal strength. Is this the normal for DISH or is there an equipment problem? I even bypassed all of the camper wiring (which for the record was factory installed straight run with no splices RG-6/U cable) and ran straight from the dish to the receiver using the 25 foot cable that came with it.

[bill-e]

First off, Dish and Direct TV have different satellites. I will check later but I believe my Hopper 3 gets satellites in the 50-60 range...lower than my older system and even different sattelites but the installer said that was normal for the Hopper. I don't have an X2 but I just read that the dish is 18" in rgw X2. My Dish Tailgater is 9", your roof Directtv dish is likely larger than 18". In any event I don't think those signal strengths are out of line for Dish, at least not in the New England area and probably east coast.

[bill-e]

By the way, I never even looked at the signal strength on my Tailgater since there's nothing you can do about it. If I can pick up the satellite I get my channels.

[RoscoeV]

Ok so I went ahead and got the Pathway X2 and Walley bundle. With my Directv setup when I peaked my tuning al my satellites would be in the upper 80s to low 90s for signal strength. When I hooked up the wally and the tailgater, in a clear open field with no tree or other obstructions I can only get 51, 52 and 68 for the signal strength. Is this the normal for DISH or is there an equipment problem? I even bypassed all of the camper wiring (which for the record was factory installed straight run with no splices RG-6/U cable) and ran straight from the dish to the receiver using the 25 foot cable that came with it.

You will get a higher signal with the Pathway X2 vs the Tailgater because the actual dish is bigger on the X2 and can gather more of the signal. The Tailgater will work fine with the signal in the 50's and maybe down in the lower 40s.

[Jacketsbum]

Quick question. With Dish can you still get your local channels anywhere in the country? I'm from Ohio and when I leave the state I am SOL with the locals with DIRECTV. I'm camping now in New York and can't get my home stations. I wanted to watch the Browns game yesterday and thought I could since the NFL Sunday ticket was free yesterday. But no they blacked it out because they said I could watch the game on my local CBS affiliate which I can't get! What genius thought of that rule? I was thinking of subscribing to Sunday ticket because we travel so much, but not now if they're going to black out the local games! Anyway if Dish let's me get my locals anywhere I'll move to them!

[chuckster57]

Back some years ago the satellite providers got sued by whoever saying there was a loss of commercial revenue. In 2009 on our X country trip we found out the hard way. I was told that I could pay an additional $7.00/Mo for “Direct Way” that allows me to get the West feed on the east and the other way around. I chose not to do it as it was a one time trip. Might still be that way, you should be able to get the network channels using the OTA antenna, but they will be local the the area your parked.

[cavediver]

They tied, but you probably know that. Instead of losing in the second half, they came back. Last year they lost in the second half, so it looks better.

[wiredgeorge]

DirecTV apparently went through some recent changes and folks on another site were having issues changing their location to get the local channels from home with DirecTV. I would call Dish customer service to confirm the ability to get local channels set up when out of the area. There is just a lot of conflicting info on the subject and the provider might be the best source of info. The less expensive Dish sat dishes like the Playmaker I just bought may not be able to get both the east coast and west coast birds; not clear on that either. Doesn't matter to me much as we seldom leave the state for vacations or camping trips.

[RoscoeV]

With Dish you can not get your home locals when you travel to different locations. Reason being locals channels are on Spot Beams directed at your home location. Once you travel outside that spot beam coverage area you will not be able to receive that signal.

There is another option. If you have Dish at home and have a DVR you can stream your local channels using DishAnywhere providing you have access to a cell signal or WIFI at the campground. I use a FireTV stick and downloaded the DishAnywhere app. I can then use my cell phone as a WIFI hot spot or the campground WIFI and the DishAnywhere app to watch recordings on my Hopper or my live channels. It works great providing you have cell coverage or WIFI.

[Jacketsbum]

With Dish you can not get your home locals when you travel to different locations. Reason being locals channels are on Spot Beams directed at your home location. Once you travel outside that spot beam coverage area you will not be able to receive that signal.

There is another option. If you have Dish at home and have a DVR you can stream your local channels using DishAnywhere providing you have access to a cell signal or WIFI at the campground. I use a FireTV stick and downloaded the DishAnywhere app. I can then use my cell phone as a WIFI hot spot or the campground WIFI and the DishAnywhere app to watch recordings on my Hopper or my live channels. It works great providing you have cell coverage or WIFI.

Thx, wonder if Dtv has that, have to check it out

[rsl]

Yes DirecTV does spot beam also

[mfifield01]

You can change your service address to get local channels. Just keep the same billing address.

[Mikendebbie]

I have a tailgater with VIP211z black box. When I travel ~150 miles or less away from home base in Austin - I can still get local Austin channels.
In San Antonio (120 miles) they still come in as HD...but in Dallas (180 miles) they come in as SD and sometimes marginal reception.

Generally - I wait and see how the Austin channels look before I decide to call Dish and request local channels. Whenever you request a change to local channels - it also changes the channels I get at home, and that tends to mess up our set program recordings. DW likes to record a couple of soaps (Days and Young and Restless) - but when we change to an alternate local channel sometimes the broadcast times for those shows is different or the channel number is different and DVR will not record the shows. When we get back home I have to call Dish and ask for the local Austin channels to be re-set. I wish they would let you do all of this with their app - they want to hear and feel you thru the phone before they make the changes.