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Kathleenh · 10-16-2010, 09:57 AM

What is the story with having a satellite setup for the Airstream? Or for any RV, for that matter. One thing we miss on road trips is being able to watch the news at night and at breakfast. My DH is convinced that the monthly costs to outfit our Bambi would be exorbitant. How does this work?

adonh · 10-16-2010, 10:19 AM

If you have Direct TV or Dish at home you can take a receiver with you and then set up a portable dish on a stand. There is no additional monthly cost to do this. The portable dish and stand are fairly inexpensive and are available at RV supply stores like camping world. You just have to be able to aim the dish at the right satalite. Here is a link that shows various options from the portable dish to roof mount models.

RV Satellite RV Antenna

With both Dish and Direct TV you can pick up your subscribed to channels including local channels up to around 100 miles or so from home. Traveling past the 100 mile or so distance then you can not pick up your local channels but get all of the others. You can subscribe to a national east coast or west coast feed of network channels but there are some requirements and additional cost of around $20 per month to do this.

You can also get full HD if you have that at home but the dish and receiver requirements are different.

Good luck.

Don

1976 31' Sovereign
Winegard Traveler roof mount automatic satellite full HD

RLS · 10-16-2010, 10:20 AM

We use Dish satellite. If you already use Dish at home OR

know someone who does, you can get the receiver and card for $5.00 a month

The dish and tripod stand starts at around $60.00 and goes up from there.

deauxrite · 10-16-2010, 10:20 AM

There are a lot of ways to accomplish this. My way is that I carry my receiver and a small dish (single LMB) and simply set it up next to my rig. I then go through the setup on my receiver and watch satellite TV. I have been doing this for many years. In fact I just pulled into a campground yesterday and repeated the setup in about 15 minutes. Life is good with satellite TV! I happen to use DirecTV, but I see several others around with Dish, so no matter what you currently subscribe to..it is pretty simple.

wahoonc · 10-16-2010, 12:21 PM

I use a second dish that I bought from Direct TV as part of their Emergency Set

I use the receiver from my spare bedroom.

I would not use the roof mounted dish for a couple of reasons, primary is the odds of it being blocked by trees and having to keep moving the trailer to get a clear signal. The other being that the dish has high profile (even folded) and will catch wind and move and flex a bit causing leaks to open up in the skin in the immediate area, mine did.

Aaron

Jim Foster · 10-16-2010, 12:31 PM

We have used Dish Network for several years. We bring the "DVR" box from home. As for the dish, a few years ago a neighbor was giving up Dish Network, and they told him to keep the double LNB dish. He gave it to me and I made it so that it folds and breaks down for easy storage.
As for networks when we are away, which is much of the time, we subscribe to "All America Direct". We pay $149 per year, and it gives us New York and San Francisco network programming any place we go, even when we are at home. We live in the Pacific time zone, so it is nice to get network programming three hours earlier.

adonh · 10-16-2010, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wahoonc

I would not use the roof mounted dish for a couple of reasons, primary is the odds of it being blocked by trees and having to keep moving the trailer to get a clear signal. The other being that the dish has high profile (even folded) and will catch wind and move and flex a bit causing leaks to open up in the skin in the immediate area, mine did.
Aaron

I have had a roof mount automatic satalite systems for about 10 years on my 1976 Sovereign. I have never had a situation where I was blocked by trees and could not receive the signal. That does not mean I park in only open spaces either. I have parked under and around trees hundreds of times. My Winegard Traveler satalite folds in a low profile position on the trailer and does not catch wind and flex. I have never had any leaks where it is attached to the trailer skin. Consider this, there are a 100 times more Motorhomes on the road today than Airstreams and all of them have a roof top satellite enjoying the benefits of satellite not only while they are driving down the highway but also while parked in a campsite as well.

The choice of what type of satellite system should be one that fits your needs and budget. But if you want a roof mount go for it, you should not have any problems if installed properly. With my Winegard Traveler I simplylly push one button and then go on about my business sitting up the trailer. In a few minutes it raises and searches for the satellites in the southern sky. It identifies the 3 Dish satellites and locks on. It then does an automatic skew to refine the signal and all I need to do then is turn on my HD TV and settle in to my recliner and enjoy camping.

Works for me.

Don

tslanier · 10-16-2010, 02:29 PM

I have a heavy schedule so when I am Airstreaming I like the "easy button". I have a MotoSat with auto finder on my roof which folds down when traveling. I have 2 extra receivers for my Airstream added to my home account, so the additional cost is $10 monthly after investing in the MotoSat. I have several Airstream friends who have the same system and lo it. Just depends on your priorities and the amount of time you have and what the convenience meter is worth to you.

RLS · 10-16-2010, 02:40 PM

Quote:

I have never had a situation where I was blocked by trees and could not receive the signal.

WOW, Wish I had your luck

I would have to say with my luck, there is about a 50% chance that the roof one will find it. If not, time for the portable tripod to set up

tslanier · 10-16-2010, 02:55 PM

Rarely had that happen with the MotoSat. When it does, it's a nice evening for a book.

Zigidachs · 10-16-2010, 05:58 PM

We have a Wiengard Traveler 3005 -Direct TV-on our fiver ( we are looking at an AS) and we love the automatic feature. I am happy to learn that the dish can be roof mounted on the AS. The folded profile is only 6" above roofline. Ours is lower that the AC unit in profile. The dome type of dishes are reported to lose about 10% of the signal because of the plastic dome which has to be periodically treated with a a waxing agent to repel water which would further cloud the reception. We also use a separate HD receiver at a cost of $5 per month over our Direct TV bill at home.

tslanier · 10-16-2010, 07:35 PM

We had the Winegard Roadtrip Dome on our previous Airstream and there is no comparison.

geirws · 10-23-2010, 04:08 PM

I take the dish and receiver from home and I have two small bar clamps. I clamp the dish to picnic tables, posts. I also have a 18 inch square piece of three quarter inch plywood I screw the dish to and put something heave on It like a rock. I get all the channels I get at home. I even have tv on wall mart parking lots. The only thing is not to have trees or any obstruction between your dish and the satalite.

Aage · 10-23-2010, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLS

OR

know someone who does, you can get the receiver and card for $5.00 a month

That action amounts to theft of services. I would suggest that it's not a good idea to promote that way of getting a TV signal...

Zigidachs · 10-24-2010, 05:33 AM

We pay an extra $5/mo for our Direct TV receiver which calls our RV home. Many take their receiver from home and use it in the RV, a service for which they are paying whether at home or on the road.

We have the roof mounted Trav'ler 3005 and really have not had any problem accessing a signal.
I have read that the Vu-Cube is compatible with the Dish HD signal but not the Direct HD signal because it does not lock on to both the Ku and Ka bands.

The same with the King Dome. Also I have read that the domes lose about 10% of signal strength b/c of the cover, does not receive Direct Ku/Ka bands, and requires periodic treatment with cleansers to prevent rain from adhering and diminishing the signal.

ZoominC6 · 10-24-2010, 05:51 AM

One option for you that may be worth looking in to www.motosat.com we love our setup even though, at times, trees block the reception. Even with that we don't miss having to do the outdoor setup thing, especially in bad weather. So many options are available it's sometimes difficult to choose. Good luck in finding one that suits your situation and budget.

Denis4x4 · 10-24-2010, 05:51 AM

I've had a King Dome for four years and have had no problems in rain diminishing the signal. I'm using a Dish Network box that is usually mounted in my shop when I'm on the road.

tslanier · 10-24-2010, 05:55 PM

Agree! I pay $5 for the receiver in my AS which is on my DirecTV account. If I was trying to bypass paying for the service, I wouldn't recommend it to others.

Zigidachs · 10-24-2010, 07:17 PM

Motostat has a slimline dish compatible with Direct TV HD which weighs only 39.5#!!!!! The Trav'ler weighs 54!!!! That might represent a significant difference on the roof of an AS. Thank you for the tip! This site is terrific: great experience and advice.

Kathleenh · 10-30-2010, 04:57 PM

Wow, a wealth of information to consider. Many thanks.

Camping World has a promotion going for the Winegard Dome which gets rave reviews. It costs $800. Yikes. Isn't there a cheaper way to do this?