Tailgating help for a newbie

[thecore112]

Any advice would be appreciated.

I live in Norman Oklahoma and need to get a new system set up for tailgating. I have cable so the system would just be for those fall saturdays. I have an old dish that only has one of the round things on it (told you I was a newbie). What do I need to get to be able to get locals, espn, espn 2, the normal football channels? Also, I would like to make this as cheap as possible. Thanks for any help I can get.

 

[osu1991]

Guess I can help a Sooner fan!

Sounds like you have a Dish 300 dish that is used to look at only 1 sat.

You will need a Dish 500 that looks at 2 sats and a standard def 311 receiver to get them in SD as the SD ESPN channels are on the 119 sat and the SD locals for OKC are on the 110 sat.

You could also use and 211 HD receiver with the Dish 500 aimed at 110 and 119 to get the ESPN channels in HD and the locals in SD or use an antenna with this setup and get the locals in HD too.

 

[Bobby]

And, you are going to have to subscribe to DishNetwork to receive any programming at all. It is not free....

 

[osu1991]

FSN would be on 119 too. Versus and CBSC on 110. If you would want HD then you would need to add sat 129 to the mix with sat 110.

 

[GoalieEd]

As an alternative why not get a slingbox (or equivalent) and a laptop or mobile phone that connects to a tv? A slingbox takes your existing output from your cable box and puts it in the Internet, then you can pick up the signal any way you can get to the Internet. If there is wifi or 3G available it could be an easy and cheap way to do it. Channel changes are done via an on screen remote control in the software. Best part is no additional fees to cable/sat company.

 

[Brussam]

Best part is no additional fees to cable/sat company.

What extra fees?

As a full-time RVer, I can attest that relying on Wi-Fi for TV is a fools mission. It is doubtful that you will find enough Wi-Fi bandwidth to support TV display in the tailgating area. You seldom find it in an RV Park that is designed for good Wi-Fi support.

Using you cellphone or air-card for TV is a fast way to consume your data allocation and again, the speed of 3G/4G bandwidth has been shown to reduce in higher populated areas where there is more contention for the signal. Tailgating tends to be in populated areas.

Setting up a dish and taking a home receiver is a easy process. Tailgating, you usually can rely on level ground which means a lower investment in tripod or other ground mount.

 

[osu1991]

90,000 people in the stadium at Owens Field plus the crowds of people outside milling around would make 3g pretty hit or miss. Whether you could find a wifi hotspot regularly on game weekends I don't know.

If it is a late game in Stillwater then we usually go early and I take a 37in lcd with a Dish 1000 on a tripod and my 211.

 

[GoWulfpack919]

I started taking my spare dish to tailgates a few years ago and now there's nothing to it.

 

[thecore112]

Thanks for the help OSU. And to answer one of the questions, yes, I am going to pay for dish service. I am waiting on a local rep to call me back. Do they allow you to pay for service for a few months? I would like to turn it off after football season.
Just to clarify some of the responses, if I purchase a dish 500 with the HD capable receiver then I should be good to go(after purchasing programming)?

Thanks again for all the help guys.

 

[BebopHorn]

Have been a long-time tailgater using Dish 500. Setup has been a breeze as we have been doing it for so long we locate satellite and connect immediately. Upgraded to a 46" LED last year and was told to just accept some HD with the 500 as any upgrade would be too difficult.

However, I have made the decision to switch to Direct TV and I want to get all the HD channels and not just some. What is my best setup alternative?