Satellite tv dishes

[Chopper Scott]

I have no doubt that this is the best place to ask. I would like to know the pros and cons of a system that tracks while moving and if it is really necessary anyways. Pretty expensive. That and what some of you have for stationary set ups. My house has cable so I'm basically very ignorant when it comes to dishes... I'm just looking for the voice of experience once again. Thanks in advance. Later

[Dreamscape]

We just installed an in-motion KVH system, haven't tried it motoring down the highway yet, but then again don't know why we would anyway. We'd miss, or I should say, the wife would miss out on the scenery. I bought it because I'm lazy and it locks on automatically to the bird. Besides I got a great deal from a fellow bus nut! That was the determining factor. If I was to buy new, I wouldn't bother.

HTH,

~Paul~

[PP]

Ours doesn't track while in motion, but it sure beats getting out and setting up a dish when you're only stopping for lunch and want to catch up on a little news or whatever. And if you're anything like me, it takes almost an hour in the evening to get that darn dish set just right. Not so with the dome on the roof. Just flip it on and it automatically locks on the satellite  We find it's a good thing. FWIW
Will & Wife

[Blacksheep]

I got a re-furbished king dome from King that was actually a new unit for about a 3rd the cost of a new unit. It only works while stationary but has been flawless in the many times we have used it. Takes about 3-5 minutes depending on where we are to lock onto a Satellite. We thought about a motion type but, we would never use it while driving other than maybe weather alerts and I couldn't see spending the extra $$$ just for that feature!
If I recall I think I paid 5 something which was about 4-5 years ago. Have to hooked to Direct TV and they recently told me that I had to do nothing at all when everyone switches over since we receive local channels via satellite. No extra charge for our bus boxes either. As far as they are concerned, they are in extra spare room in the house!

Ace

[Chopper Scott]

That sounds like what I would be interested in Ace. You still have to bear with me as I am "dish ignorant" however as I have cable at the house. I still would need a receiver I take it and with that a subscription to Dish and such if I am guessing correct. But if I had my house set up on Dish then I could have another receiver with the bus under the same subscription as the house. Like I stated. I be dish stupid. I just don't want a dish sitting out in front of the bus with cables running to it and  would like something permanant on the bus such as you suggested. Thanks.  Later

[Melbo]

I like my tv news

I'm not a good barometer but here is my take

I have an in motion King dome and it works well ( most of  the time )

King dome does not work as well with dish ( dish network uses two sats ) because it has to switch between the sats.

I have Dish at my cabins in the mountains and my home but pay the extra $ for direct TV in the bus

( you can turn it off and on twice a year if you own the equipment )

I have discovered a few hiccups installing the king dome ( don't bend the cables too tight )

but I like my in motion dome -- a one time cost and then you can use it for no extra expense with what ever service you choose.

YMMV

HTH

Melbo

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Scott,

Having installed many KVH dome units I can tell you that my customers are always satisfied with the in-motion units because

of the ease of finding the right bird in the sky by it's self. The newer R6DX units have a built in GPS unit that makes it very simple.

Just turn it on and within 1 min, you have tv. The stationary units don't have this feature and you could spend as much as a half

an hour finding the right bird because there are way too many sats up there now to scroll through.  I personnaly have the 5" high

KVH A-7 unit that I think is the best one out there for Direct TV. The R6DX is the best in motion unit for Dish Net because Dish worked

very close with KVH to design the antenna for their HD channels.

Good Luck
Nick-

[oldmansax]

We have a Datastorm dish with a second LNB (BOW) for directTV. There are some limitations but we get internet & tv on the same dish & it finds the bird by itself. You can learn more on this forum:

http://www.datastormusers.com/

TOM

[NJT 5573]

They only thing I am not happy about is the power consumption when boondocked. It is significant every time I change channels. If I were boondocked for any time I would prefer a stationary unit that draws no power.

As digital comes up the picture quality on free local broadcast HD is hard to beat in many areas. It comes in real well with a set of rabbit ears.

I think it junks up my roofline too, probably won't buy another one.

[scanzel]

I would say that you need to look at the whole picture. Do you have a dish service at home, if you have local cable then you need to subscribe to a dish service just for the bus unless you are changing home service too. Are you full timeing or just an occasional boondock. Also if you are in an area with a lot of trees you may not get a line of site on the satellite. Most rv parks provide basic cable which is fine for me.

[JackConrad]

  As was already mentioned, you will need a subscription to either DishNetwork or DirecTV. We started with Dish, but changed to DirecTV because there Sat's are higher in the sky (easier to clear a stand of trees close to our coach). If you keep your cable at home, the subscription will be in addition to your cable bill. I guess it depends on how much you use your coach and your viewing habits. We still watch the news on local channels using our "batwing" (including local HD channels). Dish & DirecTV both provide a variety of programming packages depending on your viewing interest. 
    We use a roof mounted crank-up Winegard Sat antenna that has a digital elevation readout inside the coach. Usually takes about 2-5 minutes to find the Sat. We also carry a portable dish and long cable for when we are parked under trees.  Just our way, YMMV.  Jack

[Joebus]

We have a TracStar "in motion". bought 18 months ago. Works great. Has a remote controller that changes from DN to BV (Canadian system) in seconds, only one wire goes through the roof, installed it myself in less than 1/2 hour, and have never lost reception. There has been times that I thought trees would bother us, be it has allways got around them. Cost less than $2000.

[WEC4104]

  changed to DirecTV because there Sat's are higher in the sky (easier to clear a stand of trees close to our coach).

Just to clarify, the apparent elevation of each satellite will vary based on where you are geographically.  All the sats for DISH and DirectTV are in stationary orbit over the equator and at the same height above the earth.  Each satellite is in a fixed location above a particular longitude.  DISH has sats at the west longitudes of 61.5, 72.5, 77, 110, 119, 119, and 129 degrees.  DirectTV has birds at 72.5, 95, 99.2, 101, 107, 110, 119 degrees.   Not every sat carries every channel, but there is a lot of duplications between birds.

The more closely the satellite's longitude matches that of your location, the higher the satellite will appear in the sky. A sat at 72.5 is going to be highest for the folks in Connecticut, while the sat at 110 is higher for Arizona.  Also, the closer to the equator you are (southern US, Mexico) the higher the sats will appear in the sky.

From my location outside Philadelphia, I can "see" sats a far east as 61.5 and as far west as 129.

[Fredward]

As long as we're talking Satellites, has anyone tried the VuQube? For $650.00 it looks pretty interesting. Obviously not for in motion use at that price. But it locates and locks on to the satellite automatically.
http://www.kingcontrols.com/rv.asp
Fred

[oldmansax]

Fred,

There is a discussion about the cubes on www.datastormusers.com in the directTV forum. they had a lot of negative comments..... but so do buses!

TOM