Wednesday, June 22, 2011

RV stargazing

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
We bought all the hardware for satellite TV, and all the promises a young salesclerk lavished on us on how easy it is to be connected anywhere. I think my husband spends more time aiming our dish than watching TV. He has pointers and compasses like you would find on a NASA rocket but often no reception. Luckily we are on a month to month, no contract basis with the service provider. I want to trash the whole mess and start finding our entertainment some other way. My husband is addicted to Nightly News and does not want to give up the dish. He is afraid he might miss some disaster around the world. I think we can do without blow by blow coverage of the latest disasters. Your opinion would be welcome, as he reads your column every week.
--Receptive to Ideas in Idaho

Dear Receptive:
Traveling in a modern RV means you do not have to give up things you enjoy. As the tech revolution rapidly evolves, things change everyday in equipment and service. Dish services are not foolproof but if you look around the campground you will find many people willing to put up with a little frustration to connect to their favorite channels. You might consider watching the news on a computer. A good strong cell connection is necessary. As companies build out their fourth generation networks over the next few years, that choice is going to gain a lot of momentum. All reasonably priced systems have glitches at this time. You have to decide whether you have the patience for them or not. I am not sure what you mean by, “Start finding our entertainment some other way.” That could be a whole other column. I would say, let your husband enjoy his news. Satellite aiming may turn him into a stargazer - both movie and planetary.
--Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

we use dishnetwork and change settings as we change zip codes.
it is really quite easy and we enjoy local channels wherever we are travelling.

Anonymous said...

You might consider what company you are getting your TV service from. I have used both Dish and Direct and have found that if you are happy with regular TV(not HD) you might be better using Direct. It is easier to aim and most of their regular programs are on one satellite.

Anonymous said...

I think the main issue here is the amount of time the husband spends on trying to aim the dish to get the signal. A simple (but expensive) answer to this is to have a auto dish mounted on top of their rv. We use the Winegard Traveler and at a push of a button and a couple of minutes waiting patiently, we have the signal locked on and will be watching our favorite show.

Anonymous said...

We use Bell Expressvue with a Kingdome up here in canada and find it quite easy to operate, with one exception, when it rains we experience signal loss. Wifey then insists on "the dish" coming out of storage.We do not do HD, so we only use satelite 91.

Anonymous said...

They sell automatic dishes, they are up and running in 5min with a flip of a switch.

Donna & Ted said...

Satellite radio is another good option. It's cheap, easy to install and gets great reception wherever you go.

Anonymous said...

Just something to think about when buying dish service. Did you hear what DIRECTV did to the folks in Joplin MIssouri after the tornado? Some folks wanted to cancel their service, Directv said send us the receiver and remote or pay a $500.00 service charge. Most of these folks (LOST EVERY THING)!!!!! Think about this when considering providers.

Richard said...

Winegard has an automatic carryout that works great. I was once like this individual but now in less that 5 minutes I am up and watching satellite tv. Just point the carryout south and you have it. Can catch them on sale for less than $700.00 at times. Works great.

nancy said...

Just thought I would point out that the deal about Directv making the tornado victims in Joplin pay if they didn't turn in their receiver is not true. I live 40 miles from Joplin and that was proved to be just a misunderstanding and not correct.