Satellite Tv Advice Needed Options

[MelindaK]

I am thinking of breaking down and getting satellite tv for the TT. Which has the better pay as you go Dish or Direct TV? Any preference on satellite dishes? My brother mentioned the cube since it is automatic. Not sure I want to pay that much, but I don't want to spend an hour setting up tv reception either.

[jim crowl]

I had DirecTv the first year on the road, but discontinued it. I found the digital RV antenna pulled in channels that I enjoyed more than those on the dish. I admit I'm not a huge television viewer, so I was okay with the channel selection varying as I traveled. However between free digital tv, parks with cable, and the ability to watch most programs I couldn't receive on tv from the Internet I used the dish less and less.

I struggled the first couple months setting up the dish. Some times it only took a few minutes, and other times it seemed like forever. I found some things that made it fairly easy thereafter:
1) Use a small level to make sure the dish is very level. Otherwise the settings will not be accurate.
2) Sometimes it was easy- sometimes not. I found out another reason. I was sometimes getting the suggested settings off my receiver, and other times off of one of two websites. In all cases the zip code was correctly entered, but I found all three options gave differing suggested settings. I struggled the most when using the DirecTV suggested setting off the receiver, as it was much less accurate that the others. At least this was the case with my receiver.
3) My inexpensive meter sometimes gave false readings, so I put it away, opened a window, and turned up the volume and used the sound from the meter on the receiver.
4) One of the easiest ways to set it up was to find another DTV dish in the campground and look at the settings.
5) I was moving quite a bit over a number of states, so had to change settings but logging the actual settings used made it a snap if I returned to the same area later on.

If money isn't a big issue, get the cube, and you'll have TV without bother.

[RLM]

2) Sometimes it was easy- sometimes not. I found out another reason. I was sometimes getting the suggested settings off my receiver, and other times off of one of two websites. In all cases the zip code was correctly entered....

Zip code use is not always going to be accurate because there may only be one for a huge geographical area. The zip is for the post office and it may be lots of miles from the location of the RV. There are smart phone apps out that can locate a satellite more accurately based on one's physical location.