Television

[JudyJB]

I guess this is a technical issue, so I will put it here. I am getting closer to serious motorhome shopping. Some of you will remember that I am going to live in it full-time for at least a couple of years. Right now I am looking at a Class C around 30 feet or so.

I have also decided I am more of a state and national park camper, moving every few days or week, than I "resort" campgound person. I like the idea of being in a more natural area with birds and animals to look at and places to ride my bike.

This may seem like a really dumb question, but how do I get television if I am in a state or national park? (Actually, I have thought about going cold-turkey on TV, but I am not sure I could really do it.) Is the answer that you don't get TV without a satellite dish?

And, are there different types of satellite dishes? Are some satellite dishes for TV only and some for TV/internet? How much do satellite dishes cost? I have the idea that they are terribly expensive. (I have always had cable, so I don't know anything about satellite tv.)

I am going to need reliable internet more than TV because I will be working online every day for a couple of hours, but was planning on a mobile wireless plug-in system.

What do all of you do while boondocking or staying at campgrounds without cable TV??

Thanks

[Bethers]

You can actually watch some tv online - but that depends on how many megs of internet you have available.

Depending on the location, sometimes you can pick up local stations. In Huntsville I think I get 5 or 6. Some places more, some lucky to get one. I can go months without checking, then I get a need for "junk" tv, and get what I can. If you really need tv, you'll need to get a dish - and then you select the package you want, which determines the stations you'll get.

There are various types of dishes - some that you install permanently, some you have to set-up each time - and many different prices. Then you have the monthly cost (just like in a house).

Some with the various satellite dishes might chime in and give you more info here.

Like you, I have to have internet - have learned I don't need tv at all. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy it when I do have it - but isn't enough of a priority for me to spend the bucks on it.

[Acadianmom]

I have a Kingdome satellite dish on my motorhome and also a portable dish called a VuQube. We have DirecTv at home so I just take a receiver with me on trips. If you are planning on doing more state parks you would probably do better with a dish that you can set out away from the trees. What ever you do get a dish that automatically finds a signal or you might lose your religion trying to find a signal. lol One of the automatic portable dishes runs about $600 to $700. You would have to sign up for one of the satellite services and the cost depends on which package you choose. The domes that are mounted on an RV are more expensive, probably in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. I don't know anything about getting internet with the satellite service but I think it costs more.

If you are close to a large city you might get TV over the air. With the new digital channels it's either all or nothing. If you can't get a good signal you get nothing. With the newer TV's you have to scan for the channels every time you move. If you buy a motorhome wih one of the older type TV's you will need a converter box.

Martha

[mitch5252]

l or you might lose your religion trying to find a signal. lol

Amen to that, sister!!

I travel with a portable DirecTV dish (free) mounted on a homemade PVC stand and just throw a receiver from the house into the trailer. I haven't traveled near as much as most of the other ladies, but I, too, prefer state and national parks. For setting up a dish, the trees are a bear to work around, sometimes impossible to get through to achieve a signal.

DirecTV has a way for you to get broadcast channels differently as a full-timer (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX). You have to tell them you're living in your RV and no matter where you park, you'll have feeds from either New York or Los Angeles for these channels. If you don't get the RV "package", you would be stuck to about 200 miles from your home base to receive your local channels. The "cable" channels (like Fox News, CNN, Animal Planet, etc.) are available all over the country through your satellite, no matter where you're parked. It's all confusing, coming from cable, until you get used to it.

I have no experience with Dish Network.

I have poor luck with OTA reception, but I just bought a new antenna for the trailer. I'll report on how it works later on.

..

[retiredhappy]

I have Dish satellite at home and a Winegard satellite system on my RV with an autoseek. I take my receivers from home. When I arrive at my destination I turn the satellite system on and let it find the signal. I pay $81.20 a month to Dish but that is for four receivers. The satellite system on the RV cost me around $900 installed.

I'm currently selling my 30' Gulfstream RV ($16,500) and it comes with the satellite already there. I think its still listed in the For Sale thread with pictures.

[JudyJB]

So it sounds as if I need a satellite dish that automatically finds a signal. I admit to not having as much patience as I used to, so that makes sense.

It makes sense to have a portable one you can set where you want it, but is that a bother and do they get stolen? $600-700 doesn't sound too bad considering I would be using it full-time. That montly fee is less than I am paying for HD TV right now.

Is anyone also using a satellite dish for internet?? I might have to double-up on the internet--through a dish and also through a mobile device I plug into my laptop. I have to be online at least 3 hours every day or two. The rule is I have to answer student emails within 48 hours, but I also will have to spend considerable time uploading and downloading papers, as well as grading some things that require me to be online--maybe 15-20 hours a week. I figured if I had to, I could find a library or Panera or something a couple of times a week as a fill-in. Some weeks are pretty light on airtime, and others very heavy, but I can predict and maybe find a commercial park those times.

[Birdie]

There are some National Parks that are so remote that you won't get any cell, internet or TV service unless you have satellite. There are some State Parks that are that way too. Just so you don't get surprised...look at your location (the one you plan on going to) if there aren't many towns around fairly close....you are in a no reception area, probably. Not always, but many times.

Where Liz and I are now, very sparse in towns around here. I normally get ATnT Data fairly well here, but Verizon, (my new data provider) sucks. My ATnT cell is near and full bars. I am using a booster for the Verizon. The Park has WiFi at the entrance gate but it only works there. TV here - Can receive a San Antonio TV station well, a couple of somewhere stations well, about 4 spanish speak stations well. Since I don't do TV that is okay with me, but then no TV is okay with me too. That is all on an antenna. With the new rig the antenna is always up and you can turn it and there is an amplifier to use for the signal. I haven't seen the antenna so it isn't like what they used to be.

You have lots of shopping and researching to do and now is a good time to do that.

[Acadianmom]

I worried about my portable dish getting stolen but so far so good. The campground where I use it most at a lake the owner is a retired deputy sheriff. In 15 years we have never had so much as a fishing pole go missing. In other places if I'm going off for the day I just set it inside. All I have to do to find a signal again is push a switch. The thing I don't like about it is that I have to run the wires through a window which takes up part of the 50' cord. I ask if they made a longer one and they don't. The manual dishes you could put a longer wire if you needed to. Some campgrounds have too many trees to find a clear area. You would have to check them out to see if there was a site you could use.

Martha

[JudyJB]

I wonder if it would be more likely to be stolen in a state or national park????

I did do some checking on Grand Canyon National Park, actually. While the South Rim is really isolated, because it is so big and there are so many people, they do have a community library I could use. No library in the North Rim, but I will try to schedule that during the brief between-semester week or two. Because I am using internet for teaching, I could try the ranger station or visitor center in a pinch. Sometimes people are helpful to teachers. (Probably not as friendly though as the "castle" B&B owner/occupier in a very, very remote island in Scotland who offered me the use of their office computer because the stone walls did not permit wireless!! LOVE traveling in the UK and especially Scotland where you get those kinds of offers all the time. One museum docent once called the police to see if my handicap permit was valid and the police entered me into their system so I could park anywhere I wanted in the whole of Aberdeenshire--a very large area. They took my license plate number, but no one even looked at my handicap permit. I just told them I had it.)

I'm planning for next summer, fall, and even winter based on work load and when I will really need interent more heavily. I know you have to make NPS reservations early, so I stuck in a week, for example, in Page, Arizona, in between weeks at the North Rim and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

For other remote parks, I will just have to occasionally leave and drive to a town or hope my satellite system works??

[Bethers]

The only reservations I make are for holiday weekends in places likely to be full. I refuse otherwise - and never have trouble. Have never had any problems in AZ anywhere!

As to things missing - haven't had a problem there either. And I spend much more time in national/state, etc places. Not saying nothing ever goes missing - but think of all the tent campers - they'd have everything gone - and I've seen tenters with tv's many times now.

As to internet - I have to run my business - did it for a couple years using wifi I could get when I could get it. Then I tethered my AT&T phone to my computer - in 2009 I switched to Verizon - never been as happy with them - so having to decide if I'll upgrade and stay with Verizon or go back to AT&T - but when I don't have service, I make sure I get someplace with it often enough to do what I have to do. In Mexico I was going to their internet cafes every couple days - and managed ... I had all intentions of getting satellite for internet, but it's never happened, and now I'm glad - as it's obviously an expense I still don't need. And whether satellite or one of the cell providers - you have to pay for what you use (in other words, if you go over your limit, they'll be charging you more). Although, with some satellite, and now some cell providers, they don't charge extra but slow you down.

[Echo]

I wonder if it would be more likely to be stolen in a state or national park????

I did do some checking on Grand Canyon National Park, actually. While the South Rim is really isolated, because it is so big and there are so many people, they do have a community library I could use. No library in the North Rim, but I will try to schedule that during the brief between-semester week or two. Because I am using internet for teaching, I could try the ranger station or visitor center in a pinch. Sometimes people are helpful to teachers. (Probably not as friendly though as the "castle" B&B owner/occupier in a very, very remote island in Scotland who offered me the use of their office computer because the stone walls did not permit wireless!! LOVE traveling in the UK and especially Scotland where you get those kinds of offers all the time. One museum docent once called the police to see if my handicap permit was valid and the police entered me into their system so I could park anywhere I wanted in the whole of Aberdeenshire--a very large area. They took my license plate number, but no one even looked at my handicap permit. I just told them I had it.)

I'm planning for next summer, fall, and even winter based on work load and when I will really need interent more heavily. I know you have to make NPS reservations early, so I stuck in a week, for example, in Page, Arizona, in between weeks at the North Rim and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

For other remote parks, I will just have to occasionally leave and drive to a town or hope my satellite system works??

If you use the campground at the North Rim of the Canyon you will have internet available. Not sure if it covers all of the campground but they sure do have it in the general store at the campground. But what ever you do?? Make sure you have reservations for the campground at the North Rim. It's a real bear trying to get in there!!!

There is also a campground nextdoor to the Lodge where I and Kelly worked. Bare Minimum, no hook ups at all and only pit toilets. The Lodge building it'self does have internet but it gets slower than a snail as they pay for only 6gs of internet per month. That's why I was off line for the six months we were up there!

[JudyJB]

Thanks, Echo. Nice to hear they do have internet access. Hate to have to drive 40 miles to check my online class! After all, that job will be paing for my motorhome.

Actually, I checked on the North Rim campground last night, and if I get a rig over 30 feet, which I am most likely to do, there are only 8 sites available!! No wonder they fill up fast. The rest have a limit of 27 feet. I have a spreadsheet of where I want to be when next September, and I have the date the reservations open on my calendar!!

I did make reservations at the South Rim last night at Trailer Village. They only wanted a one night deposit and they are easy on cancellations. I wanted to be there the last week in August and over Labor Day, so I figured I better get moving. Also made reservations in Page at Wahweap for the week in between the norht and south rim, which is expensive, but beautiful view and I know they DO have WiF!

It's a pain to do all this checking, so I really appreciate your suggestions.

[txyellowrose]

Is anyone also using a satellite dish for internet??

Judy,

Just my two cents' worth, but when we hit the road in 2010, we had a HughesNet satellite setup for Internet. I was very pleased with it until . . . we were places where, due to topography, I simply could not get a solid fix on a signal. The same would for where we are now, which is in a valley with lots of trees in the area. It was also a concern having that big dish out there in windy weather, although it never did topple. We currently use a Verizon MiFi and it is okay, but can be slow. For a while we had an AT&T air card and it was super-duper fast.

As for television, we have one of these http://winegard.com/wingman/ on our rig's roof antenna and it works very well for picking up local stations, PBS, etc. We choose not to have satellite TV but have lots of DVDs, music, books and games (including a Wii) instead.

Cheers,

[JoySpice]

Hey everyone.. Here's my 2 cents..
I, like others, can do without TV. My hubs is another matter. As for internet, I have a suggestion... We use US Cellular for our cell service. They have one of those tablets that gets internet. It can also be used as a WIFI hotspot for up to 5 computers. I checked into because hubs wants one. We can't afford it right now, but it is something to think about later on.

[pymmint]

I too am looking into “mobile satellite internet” I currently have MIFI with Verizon but with 6gb shared with my iphone I am concerned about going over; I have called Huges net and they are to call me back tomorrow, so I’ll let you know what they say. Huges net are the only ones I have heard that have satellite internet and since I am already paying for the MIFI, if the cost is not more and I get more Gb, it might be worth it.

Regarding tv, I currently have DISH after 12 years with DirecTV, when I called DISH about an RV set up they subcontracted it out and no one ever showed up, DirecTV did at least have someone who THEY would send out; when I got the RV last year I had them install a satellite dish, but it is currently set to DirecTV, so I will need ‘someone’ to direct it to DISH if I even decide to stay with them.

For the few weekends I had off this year, I have just relied on the dvd player, I love WWII and old movies, so I have quite a few, some I have never gotten around to seeing, so until we leave in early 2014 I can use the dvd; however I also have Netflix, so this last trip I decided to connect the wii, but with the tv being stationary and NO room behind to get to things, I thought putting the wii and dvd player on an A/B switch would keep me from muscle cramps and torn up hands switching the red/yellow/white cords back and forth. The dvd player worked fine, but the wii had a picture but NO sound; I am going to try to connect either the wii to the dvd player if it has an extra video out ? ? connection or connect the A/B switch to the back of the dvd player and see if the dvd player still works & if the wii will now work. Hopefully I can try it this weekend.