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how to get 'local' TV while traveling


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Don't have DirectTV but as others who have Dish have said you can call them and change your local service address to the zip code where you are and get all the local stations as well as all the national cable channels. Never had any restrictions from Dish as to how many times I can change my locals. Just don't change your billing address. As far as local channels from my old residential location,( I am now full time), I just go online on the internet and get updated news from my old local stations.

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We like to watch the locals to see the local news and weather wherever we are. Plus our favorite network shows of course.

We get the networks on satellite anyway. Get weather on phones. Just don't understand why the need. We at first called Dish with new address every move and saw no benefit in it. I understand people are different. That remark was unwarranted. I really see no benefit

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I'm not sure what remark you feel was unwarranted. I simply stated why we like to watch the locals where we are at the time in reply to your query. How are you getting the major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, etc) on Dish when you're not within the spot beam for your service address?

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My home stations are from the Wash. D.C. area, and surprisingly I get them on my traveler sat. dish with Directv from the northern part of Maine, over 600mi. from home, to where we are now in Myrtle Beach, SC which is over 400mi south. Not sure yet how far south I can carry them, but I'll be finding out next month, or in dec.

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I have a thought. When you shine a flashlight on the floor at an angle, the lit area is eliptical. Perhaps Maine and Myrtle Beach are in the extended areas of the spot beam to DC. If my off hand theory is correct, you would lose the coverage much sooner traveling West or Northwest from DC.

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Or, you could just look on a spot beam map.

 

Here is the spot beam for Standard Definition stations for Washington DC, which is on the western arc http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dnall⊂=true&sort=&order=&beamMap=E10_SB4.jpg

 

Here is the spot beam for High Definition stations for Washington DC, which is on the eastern arc http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dnall⊂=true&sort=&order=&beamMap=E16_SB52.jpg

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Or, you could just look on a spot beam map.

 

Here is the spot beam for Standard Definition stations for Washington DC, which is on the western arc http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dnall⊂=true&sort=&order=&beamMap=E10_SB4.jpg

 

Here is the spot beam for High Definition stations for Washington DC, which is on the eastern arc http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dnall⊂=true&sort=&order=&beamMap=E16_SB52.jpg

 

"Mariner" has DirecTV, not Dish. I imagine there are maps of the DTV spot beams somewhere, but I've never looked for them.

Dutch
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I don't undestand why anyone wants locals to the area you are traveling. We never would watch them

 

With Dish, we don't have much choice since they don't offer DNS. If we want to watch network programming, we either have to watch over-the-air programming or change our service address with Dish so that we get the networks via satellite. We boondock in areas most of the time where receiving over-the-air programming isn't an option, so we get locals through Dish.

 

If Dish offered DNS, I'd be more than happy just to watch programming out of NYC...which we did for years until Dish (and the subsequent third-party provider) stopped offering it.

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If Dish offered DNS, I'd be more than happy just to watch programming out of NYC...which we did for years until Dish (and the subsequent third-party provider) stopped offering it.

When it was available, we used DNS and AAD. But since they went away, and Dish is handling changing of Service Addresses better, we prefer that now our Locals are in HD which was not the case with DNS/AAD.

 

Only problem with HD is when we are in an EA area. Either we accept SD off the WA or put up the tripod for EA satellites.

 

We don't care about local information, weather comes from the Internet. When we arrive at a new location, we just check to see if we are still in the spot beam we were in. If so, we leave it that way. That is usually two or three days of travel.

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"Mariner" has DirecTV, not Dish. I imagine there are maps of the DTV spot beams somewhere, but I've never looked for them.

 

Good catch. My bad.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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We also love to watch the "local" news just to hear whats going on in the area and at times we have gotten information about local events that are going on that we would never have known about had we not been watching. One case in particular was the coverage of a local music festival at one of the small towns not far from where we were staying. We decided to go (it was free) and had an incredible time and have been back several times just to go to this small local event. I also love local sporting events and they are usually covered by the local channels as well.




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We thought getting local weather would be nice, the local stations have really good coverage of tornadoes, hail and such but we found that every time we really needed to keep up with what was happening we got signal loss and no picture. Back to watching off-air TV off the batwing until the storms passed.

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We use the Direct TV Off Air tuner http://www.amazon.com/DIRECTV-AM21N-TV-Tuner/dp/B006DQ0QG8 to watch local stations wherever we are and it integrates with the Direct TV channel guide. For some reason it appears that Direct TV doesn't want any one to know about it even though it is their product. Looking at their website does not show it.

 

This site has a good write up on it. http://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2014/03/how-to-get-hdtv-local-channels-off-air-with-directv/

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Thanks, folks --

This is what I sort of expected. I mis-led y'all by referencing 'local' news. What I was looking for was access to primary networks like we had at home. I guess the best thing is to change the 'service' address, when we can.

Now, on to the situation of changing out the portable dish for an automatic setup.

Thanks again --

Jim

Jim,

 

Like some others have said, in almost every case (unless you are WAY out in the sticks) you can use your HD TV Antenna to pull in local channels - like the others, we routinely can get ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/GRIT/METV/PBS/CW from our antenna.

 

At the Forest River Rally in Goshen this year, we saw a demo of the new Wineguard Rayzar HD antenna (http://www.winegard.com/rayzarauto) WOW is this antenna impressive. The signal booster & amplifier is really good and will pull in some really weak signals Best of all, it is automatic. No cranking up the antenna (or forgetting to crank it down when you leave camp! :wacko: ) and it auto-aims so there is no need to figure out which way to point the antenna. All this technology comes at a cost though: $350.00 is about the best price you can find (MSRP is $399.00) But, it does what it advertises and does it very well!

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We thought getting local weather would be nice, the local stations have really good coverage of tornadoes, hail and such but we found that every time we really needed to keep up with what was happening we got signal loss and no picture. Back to watching off-air TV off the batwing until the storms passed.

 

That was certainly happening here in Myrtle Beach. The sat. signal was continually dropping out due to the heavy rain we were having. Supposed to finally get some sun this afternoon. Hard to remember what it looks like.

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Jim,

 

Like some others have said, in almost every case (unless you are WAY out in the sticks) you can use your HD TV Antenna to pull in local channels - like the others, we routinely can get ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/GRIT/METV/PBS/CW from our antenna.

 

 

 

This has not been my experience at all. After several years of full time RV'ing, most of the places I stay do not have all the networks available OTA. In fact, I spend eight months per year in locations which get only one major network station via antenna.

 

I guess if you stay near large cities you can always get the major networks.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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We were living in our RV while we were having the house finished for two months and got our cable stations as the Fiver is cable equipped from the factory, Worked great.

 

We had issues with our cable provider over the content of the TV and told them to take their TV, and their new digital box, and leave us only Internet. Cut our bill in half to $50.00. Y'all were talking about the OTA DVR from Direct TV. The Channel Master DVR+ does the same and requires no subscription. You simply tune the local channels, then DVR all you want. It even has an onscreen TV Guide. I have been using ours for about two weeks now and it is really something else! I have a 500GB external drive hooked up to it. See it here: http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-DVR-Bundle-subscription/dp/B00JGZQ17Q

 

We get great HD local OTA with the Batwing in the rig, and as well with the Winegard indoor flat antenna with Amplifier. But still occasionally get a bad signal when we walk in front of it. I also bought the outside antenna for the house and just need to erect the mast. http://www.walmart.com/ip/CHANNEL-MASTER-4221HD-OUTDOOR-HDTV-ANTENNA-65M/40081977?sourceid=csent02d6dfc53f08f14c3c861e3fb7ae542c21&wmlspartner=nextagcom2&affcmpid=1199964211&tmode=0000&veh=cse&nextagid=-8646192185178049052 I will get it up and report back later but the batwing was terrific. No pixilation from the same location. We did have to move the "aim until we found the sweet spot with the "old" RV Batwing that has no HDTV add on attachment. Just the 2003 Winegard..

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Derek, I don't know where your house is located, but if you have any of the several hundred local stations broadcasting on VHF channels in your area, that Channel Master UHF antenna may not receive them unless they're really close.

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

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Dutch,

Thanks but the VHF channels here are not programming that we would watch. http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d8e03018ade55bc I got them and deleted them. Some radio, but mostly religious and Spanish. Great if one is into that on TV.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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