U.S. Climate Data and Dish Pointer Websites
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:13 pmI thought I would share with you two online resources I use heavily when I am looking for a campground.
The first is one that has saved me from some overly cold or hot places: U.S. Climate Data at http://www.usclimatedata.com/. You click on a state and then select a city near where you might want to stay. For example, not too long ago, I was planning next winter and thought it would be nice to go back to Santa Fe, NM. That is before I discovered that even in March, the average high is only 56 and the nights go down to 26. Better to visit there later in the spring or early in the fall instead.
The second site is Dish Pointer at http://www.dishpointer.com/. It works for all satellites, and what you do is type in the address of a campground or the name of a nearby city. Then you select your individual satellite. This may require looking it up on the booklet that came with it. Mine is a Mini Traveler, and I know from research that it is coded to "Dish 1000.2" and uses satellites 110W, 119W, and 129W, so I find that from the list and click on it. A round bubble with a long "tail" appears, which you need to move to the area of the campground you are considering. With my setup, and in this part of the country, the line points just a tad to the east of south. I move it around the map until I find a campsite where the line does not hit any trees or other obstructions. I am now camped literally in a forest of big trees, but I found a space that had a fairly clear south view, and I have satellite now!
The first is one that has saved me from some overly cold or hot places: U.S. Climate Data at http://www.usclimatedata.com/. You click on a state and then select a city near where you might want to stay. For example, not too long ago, I was planning next winter and thought it would be nice to go back to Santa Fe, NM. That is before I discovered that even in March, the average high is only 56 and the nights go down to 26. Better to visit there later in the spring or early in the fall instead.
The second site is Dish Pointer at http://www.dishpointer.com/. It works for all satellites, and what you do is type in the address of a campground or the name of a nearby city. Then you select your individual satellite. This may require looking it up on the booklet that came with it. Mine is a Mini Traveler, and I know from research that it is coded to "Dish 1000.2" and uses satellites 110W, 119W, and 129W, so I find that from the list and click on it. A round bubble with a long "tail" appears, which you need to move to the area of the campground you are considering. With my setup, and in this part of the country, the line points just a tad to the east of south. I move it around the map until I find a campsite where the line does not hit any trees or other obstructions. I am now camped literally in a forest of big trees, but I found a space that had a fairly clear south view, and I have satellite now!