A year ago we signed on with Direct TV in order to have a receiver inside the bus which would log us on with the same services which we have at the house. That is what we were promised when we visited the local Direct TV downtown storefront and purchased their "premium" service.
What a surprise when we traveled outside the broadcast cone of the local area TV networks - no network (ABC, CBS, NBC) reception.
For over a year now, we have attempted to sign on to their Distant Network Services (DNS). Finally, on March 23, 2012, their representative assured us that for $5.00 per month for the next 12 months, we would be receiving their DNS. They were crediting our account $10.00 per month from their regular fee of $15.00 per month for the aggravation over the past year.
Yesterday I received a call from a Direct TV representative who informed me that she was setting up a separate account for the RV and, the charge was to be $15.00 per month. It was an extremely difficult conversation (?) as she spoke less than passable English. I asked for a supervisor and was put on hold. After 23 minutes simply hung up the phone.
This morning I called Direct TV and luckily got the DNS expert. She said they would set up a separate account. The charge would be $15.00 plus $68.99 per month for the bus. She informed me that it is a federal law they (Direct TV) must follow. The frustration is getting to be too much.
We're leaving on a six week vacation May 3rd and, would really like to connect with the TV networks outside our local area. What are our options?
I didn't tell you this -- but it is simple IF you do not want LOCAL networks. If that works for you - simply set up an RV account with east and west coast networks and cancel your home accouint. When home use your bus reciever in the house. Do not connect phone line at any time for any reason.
JimH
Sorry for the minor hijack...I don't know what to tell you about your situation, but busguy01's response caught my eye.
I have a DirecTV subscription at my vacation cabin. I've been wondering if I can just buy an extra receiver (say from an online auction), install it in the coach, and pop in my pre-existing little access card into it, then aim the dish correctly. I don't really care about local networks and all that; it would just be nice to have some "free tv" in the bus. I'm only at the cabin a month or two per year, but I pay a full monthly subscription year-round. Might as well be able to watch some television in the RV every now and then. Anyone tried this? Thanks.
Cheers, John
Garhawk,
We have a TV that is newer (2 years old) that has an ATSC (digital/hdtv) tuner built in. (this is standard with all newer TV's). We get our TV over the air with a standard RF antenna (free). Usually works well enough to get the local channels. Depends on your location and how far away from the broadcasting towers you are. If you have an older TV without an ATSC tuner you can always by a DVD/VCR with an ATSC tuner built in or just a plain ATSC tuner box to hook up to your TV if you don't feel like replacing the entire television.
-Sean
I thought lets say you have 3 receivers in your house.
1 in living room , 1 in bedroom and 1 in garage..
can't you just take the one from garage and put it in RV and then use a mobile Dish when camping or traveling? or will this not work due to zip code being different?
We take the receiver out of the house for the bus. We have gone up and down the west coast and always received our locals. We do not have a separate account for the bus. I don't know if we would loose the locals if we went east or not, but I don't think the satellite knows where you are. You don't need the phone line unless you order pay-per-view.
Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM 4107
Neoplan AN340
With Dish Network, I have to call to change the zip code to get locals. It's a pain in the a** but doable. So when traveling if we want locals we have to call every night with the local zip codes and it takes an hour, sometimes, before they start working. So, coupled with setting the dish up, and dealing with customer service, who may or may not speak recognizable english... DVR. Before going to bed, (at home), I search the program guide far into the night and record "stuff" for future travel. We have over 200 hours to peruse. For staying on top of current events listen to the radio.
Don & Sheila
I had a very interesting conversation with my Direct TV installer about using the receiver from the house in the bus. I told about how if I was out of my home state that the local TV channels didn't work, and that I had heard of years past that you could get an RV account that let you choose which city you wanted your local news from. He told me that because of 9-11 the new government regulations would not allow this option any more. The gov't didn't want you getting news from another area if their was a national emergency. He also said the old RV's who had the optional pick of local news were grandfathered in. Interesting. He also said that tv became digitalized because the government wanted to keep all the analog signals for government use.
Geoff, your Direct TV installer is quite a creative fellow.
Conspiracy theory must be his hobby.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Hoi Folks,
Here's how DTV works.
Your local channels are Pin Beemed to your area [usually a tri state region] and all the standard cable channels are
directed over the entire united states & Canada. When you travel out of your Local area, you will lose your local
channels but not the rest.
This is what I do, keep your home account and either bring recievers from home when you travel or have dedicated
reciever for your coach. Either way, you don't need an account for your coach. What you can do iwhen your out
of your local channel broadcast region, simply install a digital antenna and input it into your main reciever [ANT] in your coach.
This will allow you to recieve local channels in your travels around the country. This can be done on your remote control
by pressing the ANT [antenna or AUX] input to switch from sat to aux or antenna. You will still always have normal Sat
broadcasting at all times.
So, forget about DNS and East or West broadcasting fees and deticated RV monthly service...
Hope this helps!
Nick-
KVH dealer for 5 years!
I have Dish, I just simply tell them i have moved, I am a contractor and i bid short jobs , I have moved into nonexistant addresses...once they told me that address had service already and i told them oh ah yeah sorry i am in unit B....
They don't know...
Thanks to all who forwarded your helpful ideas.
We have a dedicated receiver box in the bus along with a static rooftop King antenna. The problem is that we do not have an 'air' antenna for the local channels when we are away from our home area and, even if we had such an antenna, it is not always that we are close enough to the towers to receive the signal. Also, many small communities do not have the full slate of network broadcasters.
The concern for us is that my wife enjoys several network shows and we like to watch weekend PGA golf which is only on the major networks, along with some other major sporting events. We can certainly live without the network hookup but, why should we? Our coach is already mostly equipped. We just needed to know how to avoid the Direct TV ploy for another $100 per month of our cash!
Thanks Nick - you certainly seem to have the right answer. I'll get started on it right away!
It sounded reasonable to me.
Quote from: buswarrior on April 03, 2012, 02:53:09 PM
Geoff, your Direct TV installer is quite a creative fellow.
Conspiracy theory must be his hobby.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Garhawk,
Just thought you would like to see the digital HD antenna I use on the coach for locals.
http://www.homeantenna.org/antenna-hd600.html (http://www.homeantenna.org/antenna-hd600.html)
Lava
Nick-
Well I cary all 3 (2 black receivers and the DVR) in the bus. If they are not used for 30 days direct shuts them off and all I do is call and they restart. Now if I get close to home(house) I get local channels. Now on the road yes it cost $15.00 for East OR west feeds (6 or 7 channels).
I am living in the bus and my house is where the Direct was installed! But It works.
Before I lived in the bus and we traveled we just took the receivers and left, but if you go to Wall mart and get a $35-$40 outside antenna it works ok for local, BUT you need to search for local channels. OH if near the southern border (Mexico) many US stations still broadcast both analog and digital.
Like stated before you need to learn how to use your remote, to go from local antenna to dish.
As for for aiming I now use a cheap automatic dome! No HD!
I no longer live in the house and have a mail box (Soth Dakota address) Direct does not care, just $$.
When I had the house I had only 1 bill, so just add East feeds or west feeds, not 2 bills. So you pay 15 extra @ mo., but if you only need it a few weeks a year, try the antenna.
If I go 20 feet out of my zip code the locals shut off,damn thing has a built in gps....
Hi Nick,
Select Trailers here locally has a Winegard 'batwing' type antenna in stock for $159. I went by yesterday to examine the unit and to determine if it is an installation worthy of my limited skills. I understand that the price is in the high range but, they are local, nice people and, it is in stock - no shopping cart required and the shipping is already paid.
Thanks for the lead you published on the antenna you use for local network stations. The price is certainly attractive. How would you rate the unit against the Winegard?
Hi Gary,
I'm not sure if the wineguard is an HD antenna or not. It might be..
You would have much better reception with an HD capable antenna.
Also, unidirectional is also a good thing.
Nick-
Quote from: Nick Badame Refrig. Co. on April 05, 2012, 03:12:49 PM
I'm not sure if the wineguard is an HD antenna or not. It might be..
You would have much better reception with an HD capable antenna.
Guys,
All "HD" Off Air (local channels) signals are in the UHF band, so any older antenna that was designed for VHF/UHF will bring in your digitals and so will just a regular UHF antenna.
The "HD ready" is only marketing hype to separate you and your cash.
Cliff
Quote from: FloridaCliff on April 05, 2012, 03:27:24 PM
Guys,
All "HD" Off Air (local channels) signals are in the UHF band, so any older antenna that was designed for VHF/UHF will bring in your digitals and so will just a regular UHF antenna.
The "HD ready" is only marketing hype to separate you and your cash.
Cliff
Small correction - there are still tv stations that use the "high" VHF channels 7 - 13 for digital broadcast. The FCC moved all of the "low" vhf channels 2- 6 into UHF frequencies. So you still need a VHF/UHF antenna (which Cliff stated) to recieve all the channels. You will also need a digital tuner. Most satelitte receivers are capable of that but there are some older receivers out there that are not. A plus side is many stations broadcast extra channels along side the main channel giving more options for off the air tv.
Another good antenna for busses or rvs is the Jack TV antenna.
Mike
We have had DirecTv in our coach full-timing for a little over three years. Have an in motion Tracvision LM that is older than dirt, but it works! Also have DNS, but with our billing zip code (TX), it is for the East Coast feed. I haven't checked or changed our billing address to see if we could get the West Coast. It works out for us because if we want to see anything on the regular networks, we get a three hour head start! ;)
For getting locals while we travel, we deploy our Winegard Sensar with Wingman. Have had it for about three years and have found it to work flawlessly.
Maybe one day we'll upgrade if our current system grenades on us! ;D
Quote from: garhawk on April 05, 2012, 05:36:05 AM
Hi Nick,
Select Trailers here locally has a Winegard 'batwing' type antenna in stock for $159. I went by yesterday to examine the unit and to determine if it is an installation worthy of my limited skills. I understand that the price is in the high range but, they are local, nice people and, it is in stock - no shopping cart required and the shipping is already paid.
Thanks for the lead you published on the antenna you use for local network stations. The price is certainly attractive. How would you rate the unit against the Winegard?
The batwing will work fine. but for that much, talk to them about the automatic batwing. goes up and down by electric. no hole through the ceiling with a crank required. just a small wire to the control box, 12v, you push to turn on, push to raise, push button to turn either direction. much easier than the crank up. i think mine was $259 from solid signal.
we get stations almost every where we've been from Florida to Ohio and even in the mountains of CO. Amplifier is built into it.
We use an extra room directv receiver for the other channels on directv.
Quote from: mikelcan on April 05, 2012, 06:57:27 PM
Quote from: FloridaCliff on April 05, 2012, 03:27:24 PM
Guys,
All "HD" Off Air (local channels) signals are in the UHF band, so any older antenna that was designed for VHF/UHF will bring in your digitals and so will just a regular UHF antenna.
The "HD ready" is only marketing hype to separate you and your cash.
Cliff
Small correction - there are still tv stations that use the "high" VHF channels 7 - 13 for digital broadcast. The FCC moved all of the "low" vhf channels 2- 6 into UHF frequencies. So you still need a VHF/UHF antenna (which Cliff stated) to recieve all the channels. You will also need a digital tuner. Most satelitte receivers are capable of that but there are some older receivers out there that are not. A plus side is many stations broadcast extra channels along side the main channel giving more options for off the air tv.
Another good antenna for busses or rvs is the Jack TV antenna.
Mike
Mike ,
Thanks for pointing out about the CH7-13, I had overlooked that.....
Most new or recently purchased TV's have the digital tuner built in, so you could use the video/audio inputs for your sat receiver and the RF input for your antenna.
Cliff
I have not had Direct in years. Been using Dish for some time. When ever I have a problem I call and play along with the broken English person, ( iI do not get nasty with them, they are just trying to eat) after a bit of dialog to make it look legit, I tell the Service Rep it is becoming too much of a problem, I don't really watch that much TV and I want to cancel my service. I am quickly transferred to a retention expert. This will be a person in the US who speaks perfect English and has the authority and knowledge to get things done! I doubt that Direct is any different. Last time they knocked $15 a month off my bill for a year to compensate me for the problems. HTH JIm
We have direct in the house and bus. We have separate receivers just for the bus. They think they are all for the house. Years ago, we were able to get east coast and west coast feeds for the house, because we were too far away from locals, and could not get them even with an atenna. So, we just put a couple of receivers in the bus, and we were set. I called them about a yr ago, cause I wanted to downgrade our service to a cheaper pkg. I was told if I do, that I will lose our east and west coast feeds because now locals are avail. So, I told them I wanted to keep them because we occasionally, ;D use one in the rv when we travel and want to watch locals. They said I would need to apply for a rv permit to receive east coast only. I asked would I be guaranteed to get it, and they said no. So then she said that they were going to have to disconnect my distant service, because it was not legal for us to have it. I told her, NO, if you do, I will change my service provider. We argued for a while, and she finally said she was wiping her hands clean for now, and we would prob. in the end lose it. Well, that was quiet a while ago, and we still have it. It does suck though that we cant change our pkg we get, or we will lose our dns. Yall know how we work, and i would not like it if we didnt get the networks. So, we will just keep silent, keep what we have for as long as we can.
It is ridiculous that as much as we pay for tv, we cant get what we want. We dont have locals at home, cause if we did, again, we would lose our dns. Geeze!
We have had DTV for 16 years. We have been through all the frustrations mentioned here and some more. It only cost about $10 per month to activate my owned receiver in the coach. I could activate and deactivate as I wished.
Recently, I had another run-in with DTV and had everything disconnected.
I went to Walmart and bought a flexible plastic batwing antenna for $15 and it receives excellent digital TV. I use it exclusively. I went back and bought 2 more. One for the bdrm and one for our camping trailer. Everywhere I have used it, it works perfectly! I suppose if I used in a larger metro area, it would receive even more.
I'm very happy with it and don't care now if I ever use the satellite again. Seems a waste of a new automatic Kingdome, but it's fine until I cool down in a few years and reconsider (or forget) my dealings with Direct TV.
Kudos to you Joe, one of these days I need to do it! JIm
After digesting all the advice, I ordered the power operated Sensar from Winegard. The price was $249 plus shipping. It seemed to me that the $100 difference between the power operated and the manual crank made for an easy choice. Plus, there is only one hole to punch in the roof.
My decision to go with an additional antenna for the locals was not that I objected to Direct's $15 per month charge for the Distant Network Service (well, guess I did object but, would have gone along with the charge). The killer charge was $68.99 plus taxes per month for a seperate account for the bus. I already pay that same amount for the house and an additional $6 per month for the receiver box in the bus.
It is my understanding that some folks only pay the $15 per month for DNS. It seems to me that: 1) Direct TV doesn't have any consistency in training their service personel and/or, 2) there is a certain amount of scam artistry included.
At any rate, the stone has been thrown and the Winegard should be here in a couple days. I'll let you know how it works out.
Congress wrote new legislation in 1999 that affects Satellite TV. DNS was grandfathered for those who already had it, but only until 2004. There is an exemption for RVs with permanently attached satellite dishes only. I am guessing that the Satellite companies could get in trouble with the FCC if they added DNS to an account that is attached to a fixed dwelling.
If your location can get local TV via an antenna you need to get a waiver from the local TV stations in order to get DNS.