Dish RV Question

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beatboy77

beatboy77

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Jul 28, 2005
112
0
Colorado Springs, CO
I was not able to find an aqequate answer to my question, so here it goes. My wife and I just bought a new camper. We would like to have Dish for when we travel. Currently we have 3 VIP622's/Dish1000 at home and the HD package from Dish. My question is this. What is the best and cheapest way to have Dish HD for our camper? Is there a bundle (HD Receiver,Dish, Tripod) I can buy on Ebay? How do I go about doing this?

~Josh
 
You would need a ViP211 as a minimum.... The bigger issue is the DISH.... You will need either a DISH 1000 or DISH1000+ (depending on whether your HD locals are on 118 or not).

I have a DISH1000+ here and I can tell you that aligning it at the house was no joy, I can't imagine doing it everytime I move to a new campground.

We keep it simple in the camper and just have a straight 119 Single LNB dish along with our 508 DVR. It's much easier to aim for a single Satellite than try to find 2, 3 or even 4 with a single DISH. Don't even get me started on clearing trees....

I was able to get a sturdy tripod on Ebay for around $40 incl. shipping.
 
DISH_NC said:
You would need a ViP211 as a minimum.... The bigger issue is the DISH.... You will need either a DISH 1000 or DISH1000+ (depending on whether your HD locals are on 118 or not).

I have a DISH1000+ here and I can tell you that aligning it at the house was no joy, I can't imagine doing it everytime I move to a new campground.

We keep it simple in the camper and just have a straight 119 Single LNB dish along with our 508 DVR. It's much easier to aim for a single Satellite than try to find 2, 3 or even 4 with a single DISH. Don't even get me started on clearing trees....

I was able to get a sturdy tripod on Ebay for around $40 incl. shipping.
Click to expand...

What if I just wanted to have Standard Def tv. What dish and receiver would you reccomend?

~Josh
 
HD tv

Since this is my first post I really don't want to step on anyone's toes but all you need to aim to get Dish Sat service is the 119 sat. With the dish 500 and 1000+, you still need to aim the dish at the 119 sat and the 110 and 129 will come in too. You WILL have to set the skew to the appropriate setting for the zip code you are in. My setup is a simple short tripod, 45' of line directly to the receiver. If you have a receiver at home you can take it with you and it will work just like it does at home with any HD receiver. Any SD receiver if you don't want to fool with the HD stuff. Local stations are generally good to a 200/250 mile radius with few exceptions. It does not matter who you buy your equipment from. Get the best price you can find. :cool:
It's my "understanding" that the 129 sat can be a little tough to get even with the correct skew so you might still have trouble with that portion of your HD. Like DISH_NC said it may not be fun every time you setup. :( I've been doing this for 7 years with a dish 500 setup and not had any trouble. I lucked out on my first setup with the dish 1000 though. I've got my fingers crossed for the next time. :D
 
Last edited:
beatboy77 said:
What if I just wanted to have Standard Def tv. What dish and receiver would you reccomend?

~Josh
Click to expand...

This may help you out. I just called dishnetwork to ask about the same thing and they informed me that all you would need is to purchase a dish 500 which cost $59.95, and a 311 receiver, not sure what that would cost, now you will be charged a $5.00 activation fee for the other reciever but the good thing is it can be deactivated when ever you want, say like when your camping trip is over. They also said that when you get to where you are going you would have to align the dish by way of the zip code of the area you are in to know where to point it and that is all to it. ;)
 
More

I might add that the easiest way is to take one of your 622s with you in the camper. You might not want to call Dish. All customer services reps are not the same. Some will tell you that you have to purchase a 2nd service just for the camper. This is baloney but is hard to overcome some times with CS folks. The only thing you will miss is your local stations if you get out of range. Other than that all your programming will be the same as at home.
 
Like stated here, the minimum HD receiver is the ViP211. A DISH 500 will not get HD content - you need to receive either the 129 or 61.5 Satellite for HD content.

You do not need to call DISH if you are taking a receiver from the house on the road with you BUT if you are taking a 622 that's plugged into the phone line at home, you will get NAGGED constantly while it's unplugged from the phone line unless you pay the $5/month Phone Line fee for the Dual-Tuner DVRs (622, 522, etc)....

We just take one of our Standard Def. receivers with us (DVR508) and a DISH300 for the 119W Satellite. We may end up taking a DISH500 from now on since we can still pull in just the 119 if trees block the 110 and get both if trees are not an issue. But the DISH300 is earlier to aim/sight than the 500.

Unfortunately, the DISH500+ (1000+) is too bulky to carry with us to get our HD Locals (which are NOT spotbeamed) but are on the 118 Satellite which has a different polarization than the other satellites and I haven't been able to locate an LNB that can receive the 118.
 
Actually, why can't he just point a Dish500 at 129 or 61.5? He'd only get the HD channels, but he can always reaim at 119.
 
navychop said:
Actually, why can't he just point a Dish500 at 129 or 61.5? He'd only get the HD channels, but he can always reaim at 119.
Click to expand...

Very true... I actually carry a second dish (and Tripod) since invariably, trees always seem to get in the way. I have a SW21 (and legacy LNBs) so I have the most flexibility. Might just have to get a DP34 switch (dirt cheap on Ebay) and upgrade the LNBs to DP...
 
We are full-time RVers and we use a VIP622. For fast setup, we have an automatic roof dish that can access 110 and 119. There are a couple of HDTV channels on 119. We pay the $5 for the lack of a phone line.

For most flexibility, we have a Dish 1000 on a tripod. It takes a little effort to setup but then we have 129 as well as 119 and 110 and we do not have to deal with moving single LNB of the roof dish.

The Dish 1000 is a bit trickier to set up that the Dish 500. We disconnect the 129 LNB from the switch and cover the 110 KNB with aluminum foil. We set up the skew and then aim on 119. The biggest challenge is getting 119 and not 110 or 129. Once 119 is in, we take off the aluminum foil and connect the 129 LNB and we are ready to go.

We have meters to display the signal but we found the best tool was a set of wireless earphones and listening to the TV signal.
 
I alread do this, I have 2 HDTV's for the RV, so I use a dish 500 and hit 119 and 129 with it since 119 has most channels I watch and 129 has the HD. I have a camping world tripod and just grab a couple of 211's from the house and take with me. That way, no extra expense and you can get a dual lnb dish 500 off ebay pretty cheap or the at Dishstore.net 119 has about 4 or so HD's on it too, plus I hook up the receiver to my RVwinegaurd antenna to usually grab some HD locals.
 
Another RV related question

I use my second Dish receiver for use in my RV. I filled out the form for authorization to use it in this way and in case I wanted to get a change of address to receive the local channels on it. Changing the address and getting the receiver reprogrammed to get local channels in the area that you are in would be a great option for most, however I found it did not work out for me as I have a college age son that stays at home and the reprogramming also affects the home receiver. A bummer in my opinion.

The question I have here is as follows; I contacted D* and was told that they could furnish the locals much easier than this and also they have an RV package that they are offering at present that contains the travel tripod. I mentioned this to the E* CSR and was told that they couldn't do anymore than they could. He said that neither provider can offer the networks on a DNS basis. Does anyone know if that is true?

The D* people said that they offer the locals by just putting in the zip code of the area that you are in when you arrive. I cannot find anyone that can confirm how this works, or if it actually does. Any comments from the professionals out there?
 
No phone

Brusssam

You might check with ceo@echostar.com or get the number for the RV customer service folks and give them a call re your no phone. Dish does not bill for no phone if you live in your RV full time.

Ron :cool:
 
Sabal said:
I use my second Dish receiver for use in my RV.

The question I have here is as follows; I contacted D* and was told that they could furnish the locals much easier than this and also they have an RV package that they are offering at present that contains the travel tripod. I mentioned this to the E* CSR and was told that they couldn't do anymore than they could. He said that neither provider can offer the networks on a DNS basis. Does anyone know if that is true?
Click to expand...

D* can still deliver DNS with an RV exemption, E* cannot. RV exemptions must re-filed every two years.

If you travel around the country and want local channels in the area you are in, you must get them authorized by D*, you can't simply enter a zip code on your receiver.
 
All you should have to do is call and update your service address with them, then get the locals. The people moving do this so you should be able to do this in RV. My BIL stays in Texas for the winter and just calls when he gets there and they make the change, then he calls when he gets back. Those locals contain network feeds.
 
Sabal said:
The question I have here is as follows; I contacted D* and was told that they could furnish the locals much easier than this and also they have an RV package that they are offering at present that contains the travel tripod. I mentioned this to the E* CSR and was told that they couldn't do anymore than they could. He said that neither provider can offer the networks on a DNS basis. Does anyone know if that is true?
Click to expand...
E* can no longer directly offer the DNS Networks (nationally) but a 3rd party, All American Direct, will sell you the East and West coast Networks (available on the 119W satellite), for $11/month. The only channel that appears to have fallen through the cracks is PBS. You need to complete the RV Waiver on https://www.mydistantnetworks.com

D* still is authorized to provide the Distant networks but they only do so to a specific receiver that is granted it's own 'Mobile Package'.

Also, rumor has it that All American Direct may be providing HD Networks in the near future as well.
 
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