Satellite TV

[Bill]

I found this to be interesting. I don't know if anyone else will care.

My wife and I don’t watch much TV in the TM, but once in a while a satellite TV hookup would be nice. We have a Dish Network account at home, so we can just carry the receiver wherever we go. But what about that intimidating parabolic dish antenna? Even the cheapest of the automatic aiming ones can cost hundreds. Manual ones are available for next to nothing, but can an untrained novice aim one of them? The good news is YES! It is surprisingly easy.

Several years ago, someone gave me a small Dish antenna. I stashed it in a back corner of the garage and forgot about it. But one of our recent trips called for a setup, so I pulled it out to try it. The antenna is called a Dish 300. It is only 18 inches in diameter - easy to manage. Since it is obsolete, you can buy one on ebay for less than $30, and sometimes you can buy one at Good Will for $10 or so. I also bought a Winegard TR2000 tripod on ebay for about $30 (again, check Good Will), and a device called a Satellite Finder for about $5. That’s all!

This simple antenna receives just about all the programming that is included in your Dish Network subscription including HD channels. After I had done it once, setup took me about 5 minutes. I won’t go through the procedure here, but I’d be glad to work with anyone who wants to try it. My real purpose here is to dispel the mystique of aiming a satellite dish. You don’t need a multi-thousand dollar automatic unit.

By the way, this same setup should work with Direct TV as well.

Bill

[B_and_D]

Actually that's pretty cool to know about. We don't usually camp for long periods of time, but at some point maybe we will be able to and it would be nice to stay in touch with the rest of the world. Seems like a pretty low cost alternative.

[Larryjb]

This may be a dumb question, because I know very little about satellite technology, but could that dish be used to receive satellite internet connectivity?

[Kidkraz]

I don't know about Dish, but I've used the Directv versions two different times. The last a few years back, and you'd need a different type of antenna and equipment. I wasn't impressed with the last attempt with the speed of down and upload times.

[ThePair]

Originally Posted by Larryjb

This may be a dumb question, because I know very little about satellite technology, but could that dish be used to receive satellite internet connectivity?

No to my knowledge. Not only is the equipment different, but the aiming needs to be far, far more precise. Unless the tech has changed, I've been told that TV = yes for you to aim, Internet = needs special training and equipment. At least, that was the information.

[Padgett]

Back in 2008 I was in a situation where I needed to be able to mount/aim my own dish. It was not hard but if by yourself then a "Satellite Finder Kit" which includes a signal strength meter, a compass, and an angle measurement device makes it easy.

Keep in mind that a Dish Network antenna (actually the center piece) will not work with Direct and verse the vice.

OK depending on the provider there are web sites that you can give your location (zip code or lat/long) and it will give you the needed direction and angles from where you are. That gets you close than you adjust the antenna for maximum signal strength (the inline meter).

I understand there are some RV devices that do everything automagically now but do not have one. Manual aiming is cheap and simple.

ps issue with Internet is that it needs two way communications & satellite TV does not provide that.

pps there are free channels also but that is a whole different story.

[Bill]

Larry, Kidkraz, ThePair, Padgett -

Though I am not knowledgeable about satellite Internet, I believe it is correct to conclude that "you can't do it". Padgett has hit the nail - Internet requires an uplink, meaning your equipment has to transmit back up to the satellite. And the cheap equipment does not include a transmitter. Beyond that, the satellites are close together, so if you were to mis-aim your antenna a bit, you could hit the adjacent satellite and interfere with it. The satellite owners don't care for that, so I imagine that they make it necessary to aim very precisely.

As for the Direct-TV vs Dish Network issue, I can't imagine why they would be different. All satellite TV signals come down from their satellites in the same frequency band, so that is not the issue. The two companies use different satellites, so if you want Direct TV, you have to aim your antenna at a Direct TV satellite instead of a Dish satellite. But that is no big deal.

The answer probably lies in the fact that the companies use multiple (two) satellites for their super-duper bells-and-whistles service. But as it turns out, I don't need to look at both satellites. Dish puts 98% of their channels on just one of their satellites. I bet that Direct TV is the same. The other satellite carries stuff that I don't care about anyway. So if I can do without Telemundo, and the local channels in Pocatello, I need to see only one. My simple setup does exactly that. And it doesn't care if it is looking at a Direct TV satellite or a Dish Network satellite. No difference.

Anyway, I'm in line with B&D. We don't want it often, but if we are going to be out for a long trip, it would be nice to have it on occasion. And if we are stuck inside by several days of bad weather, it would be nice to have the option of pulling up a movie or a sports event or whatever.

I guess my real point is that I was surprised by how easy it is to do. I expected much more difficulty.

Bill

[TrailManorMan]

I have DirecTV and take my receiver and a portable DirecTV dish, biggest problem I have is we like shaded sites and the trees interfere with the reception
We do use it occasionaly and at night set up gets easier as the summer goes by, then i have to relearn in the spring!

[Bill]

TMM -

You probably know this ... There is a free app for your camera-equipped phone. You select the satellite(s) you want from a list, then aim your phone at the sky. The camera shows you the sky, and the app puts a little symbol for the satellite, at its actual location, right on the screen. If the symbol is in a tree, or behind a hill or other obstruction, you know that you can't set up your antenna at that spot. Love it - it saves me the frustration of going through the setup and then finding that I am in a shadowed spot.

I use SatFinderAndroid, but there are others.
https://arachnoid.com/android/SatFinderAndroid/

Bill

[TrailManorMan]

Wasn't aware Bill, I'll try iit soon, thanks

Just downloaded, walked outside and I think I will like it! Learn something today!!!!

Thanks again