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Now confused about Dish and antenna options


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I'm confused about what Dish channels my antenna will receive - I've seen comments about western arc and eastern arc satellites and what antennas can see which sats.

Background: I've been with DirecTV for 20 years and was grandfathered in to the DNS at the house  I'm now full-time and when I disconnected the house, I continued to receive the east and west coast feeds until June 1st, yes I got the email so was expecting it. My current set-up is a Winegard G2+ antenna with an H23 receiver.  I'm a full-time RVer and was thinking that I might as well switch to Dish, since the main reason I was staying with Direct was the east/west coast networks.  I know I would need a Wally receiver (don't care about DVR - I don't watch much TV to begin with and have never bothered with DVRs in the past).

Do I need to replace my Winegard G2+ antenna if I change to Dish Network?  I travel quite a bit so would be changing my local channels a lot, and would need to be able to receive eastern and western channels depending on where I happen to be.  I've gotten the impression reading various threads here that I might need to get an X1 antenna, but since I don't understand half of what I read in the various other threads, I don't know why.

Can someone explain about why I might need an X1 antenna over the G2+?  Also, since I rarely stay in any one place longer than 2 months, can I change the local channels every month or perhaps twice a month?

 

.

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We just switched from Direct to Dish. We had them set up a tripod setup(free-we had tripod) and then had them switch out

the Traveler($, needs a specialist from a local supplier). We ordered these from Amazon for the Traveler

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C5K54YY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T37LAZA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and we needed some switch from the local supplier.

We tried to do this through the Dish 800 number and it was a disaster. Told us we couldn't do what we wanted to do. Went to the local supplier and in 15 minutes we had what we wanted and the tripod was installed the next day. We had to wait for the order from Amazon but once received everything was installed in days.

The range of your ant. for local stations is a 200 mile radius. You need to call up and change your zip if out of that range. I understand it is very easy to do.

 

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You might want to read this article about Direct TV DNS channels. 

Quote

 

But Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesman, tells the TV Answer Man that his company has now secured new agreements with all the networks except for ABC. Due to the change in the law, the company was forced to negotiate new deals with the networks to continue offering its programming to subscribers who previously received the out-of-market signals.

“We negotiated with the major networks and completed deals with all the networks (Fox, NBC, CBS and CW) except for ABC. We are still in talks with ABC but can’t disclose any specifics. Our goal is to continue providing network content to as many homes as possible,” Greer said in an e-mail.

 

 

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To answer your antenna question, your G2 will work ok once the switches are reset for Dish coverage. Note that it will only work with the Wally and older VIP receivers though, not the more feature rich Hopper series. The G2 will only receive the western arc satellites, but nearly all channels are carried on both arcs. The biggest differences relate to the locals, with some eastern arc localities carried in HD and the western arc version in SD. There are a few eastern locals that are only carried on the eastern arc sats, but I haven't checked lately to see which ones. As far as I recall, Roanoke, VA is the only eastern locals that are only carried on the western arc. 

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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Sadly, none of the automatic portable antennas will work with the Hopper receivers.  To use the Hopper you have to use the Winegard Traveler antenna or a conventional ground mounted antenna.

 

Amateur radio operator, 2023 Cougar 22MLS, 2022 F150 Lariat 4x4 Off Road, Sport trim <br />Travel with 1 miniature schnauzer, 1 standard schnauzer and one African Gray parrot

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I had an interesting conversation with Direct this afternoon.  It would have been relatively easy to change my local channel service, I could have done it with one phone call and two people - IF I had had an address to give them.  But if you don’t have a service address, you can’t.  I told them I was boondocking in the national forest and didn’t have an address, and they said that I had to have a full address - they couldn’t change them with just a zip code.  I boondock often, spent the winter in an LTVA area near Quartzsite and other locations in the west.

So I now have 2 questions - 

1.  Does Dish also require an actual address to change your local channels?  If the answer is yes, then what do people who are boondocking where they don’t have an address use - do you use some address that is nearby (like the forest service visitor center or some business in a nearby town)?

2.  Since my G2+ can only see the western arc satellites, can I still get service if I’m in Florida or somewhere else in the east?  I think the Wally will be fine for me, I don’t have a DVR and haven’t wanted one - I don’t watch all that much TV anyway.  A traveler is out of the question - my TT is small and not only wouldn’t support a traveler, there’s no room on the roof because of my solar panels.

Edited by fpmtngal
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42 minutes ago, fpmtngal said:

1.  Does Dish also require an actual address to change your local channels?  If the answer is yes, then what do people who are boondocking where they don’t have an address use - do you use some address that is nearby (like the forest service visitor center or some business in a nearby town)?

 

Yes, they require an address.  I always just looked up an RV Park in the general area online and used their address.  If they had 110 sites, I would use Site #230 to be sure that no one else is using the same address.

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In the early days the limitation of one account to an address was true but for many years now Dish has understood that campgrounds will have multiple users.  I can't remember the last time I had to supply a site number.

Please click for Emails instead of PM
Mark & Dale
Joey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel Supreme
Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
Useful HDT Truck, Trailer, and Full-timing Info at
www.dmbruss.com

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I don't recall the last time I used the site# designation either for a service address, And since the Dish app allows changing locals for "Outdoor" accounts, I don't even need an address. The app uses my phone's GPS and then assigns a nearby address to it as my service address. My current service address was set while we were parked on a friend's farm in Vermont and I haven't bothered to change it after we relocated to our NY cottage since we get the same DMA here. The service address the system assigned though, is actually a neighbor's house on the other side of the highway. The only time that might be an issue would be if I requested a service call.

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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I have NEVER had Dish ask for a site number.  Sometimes all they want is a new zip code.  Sometimes they want the complete address.  Sometimes I call in and other times I do a chat.  With my old home style receivers, I cannot do it myself online.

Ken

Amateur radio operator, 2023 Cougar 22MLS, 2022 F150 Lariat 4x4 Off Road, Sport trim <br />Travel with 1 miniature schnauzer, 1 standard schnauzer and one African Gray parrot

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5 minutes ago, TXiceman said:

I have NEVER had Dish ask for a site number.  Sometimes all they want is a new zip code.  Sometimes they want the complete address.  Sometimes I call in and other times I do a chat.  With my old home style receivers, I cannot do it myself online.

Ken

Dish didn't ask for a site number. It used to be they didn't allow multiple accounts at what their system saw as the same address, and adding the site number was a convenient way to  to make the system see it as a different address. It was similar to using an apartment or unit number for multiple accounts in the same building.

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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29 minutes ago, TXiceman said:

I have NEVER had Dish ask for a site number.  Sometimes all they want is a new zip code.  Sometimes they want the complete address.  Sometimes I call in and other times I do a chat.  With my old home style receivers, I cannot do it myself online.

Ken

I’ve really learned a lot reading through everyone’s responses.  Ken, when you say “old home style receivers” - does that include the current Wally receivers?

4 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I don't recall the last time I used the site# designation either for a service address, And since the Dish app allows changing locals for "Outdoor" accounts, I don't even need an address. The app uses my phone's GPS and then assigns a nearby address to it as my service address. My current service address was set while we were parked on a friend's farm in Vermont and I haven't bothered to change it after we relocated to our NY cottage since we get the same DMA here. The service address the system assigned though, is actually a neighbor's house on the other side of the highway. The only time that might be an issue would be if I requested a service call.

Are you using a Wally receiver or a Hopper?  It would be wonderful if I could use the phone’s GPS for a location and they assign an address - that would be very easy for the times I’m boondocking.  I’m having a harder time coming up with reasons for keeping DTV.

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18 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

I'm confused about what Dish channels my antenna will receive - I've seen comments about western arc and eastern arc satellites and what antennas can see which sats.

Background: I've been with DirecTV for 20 years and was grandfathered in to the DNS at the house  I'm now full-time and when I disconnected the house, I continued to receive the east and west coast feeds until June 1st, yes I got the email so was expecting it. My current set-up is a Winegard G2+ antenna with an H23 receiver.  I'm a full-time RVer and was thinking that I might as well switch to Dish, since the main reason I was staying with Direct was the east/west coast networks.  I know I would need a Wally receiver (don't care about DVR - I don't watch much TV to begin with and have never bothered with DVRs in the past).

Do I need to replace my Winegard G2+ antenna if I change to Dish Network?  I travel quite a bit so would be changing my local channels a lot, and would need to be able to receive eastern and western channels depending on where I happen to be.  I've gotten the impression reading various threads here that I might need to get an X1 antenna, but since I don't understand half of what I read in the various other threads, I don't know why.

Can someone explain about why I might need an X1 antenna over the G2+?  Also, since I rarely stay in any one place longer than 2 months, can I change the local channels every month or perhaps twice a month?

 

.

First if you want a automatic that will do both east and west coast feeds get a Winegard X2 portable, it's just way to easy to set up. You can change locals as many times as you want I've even done it twice in one day buy using chat or the app. We prefer the portable so we can get away from obstructions. As far as addresses we just use one that's in the general area, it's easy to choose one once you get the hang of spot beams, they have no way of knowing where the antenna is they just want a address for billing and local taxes,  we use paperless billing so we don't care what the billing address is. For a example when we are in Yuma for 4 months because we don't like the Yuma locals we use a address that will get the Phoenix locals that are HD not SD, they also work all the way down into Rocky Point Mexico. If you want access to locals all across the country you will want both east and west feeds.

Denny 

Denny & Jami SKP#90175
Most Timing with Mac our Scottie, RIP Jasper our Westie
2013 F350 SC DRW 6.2 V8 4.30 Gears
2003 HH Premier 35FKTG Home Base Nebraska

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8 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

Are you using a Wally receiver or a Hopper?  It would be wonderful if I could use the phone’s GPS for a location and they assign an address - that would be very easy for the times I’m boondocking.  I’m having a harder time coming up with reasons for keeping DTV.

I have two purchased Hopper w/Slings (H2's) on my pay-as-you-go Outdoor account. There's mixed information from Dish about which equipment qualifies for an Outdoor account that can use the locals option in the My Dish app, so I can only say what's working for me. My antenna is a standard Dish 1000.4 full face dish on a tripod with a triple LNB that can swap for either arc reception. The folks at Dish4MyRV are a good source of information about the Outdoor account requirements.

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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Pay-AS-You-Go accounts were never hardware dependant.  It was a subscription plan that could be stopped as started at and because there was no guarantee of a revenue stream, the equipment needed to be purchased.

The believe that is was hardware dependent came from the external from Dish marketing company was pushing Tailgatter dishes with VIP211 receiver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please click for Emails instead of PM
Mark & Dale
Joey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel Supreme
Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
Useful HDT Truck, Trailer, and Full-timing Info at
www.dmbruss.com

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9 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

I’ve really learned a lot reading through everyone’s responses.  Ken, when you say “old home style receivers” - does that include the current Wally receivers?

Are you using a Wally receiver or a Hopper?  It would be wonderful if I could use the phone’s GPS for a location and they assign an address - that would be very easy for the times I’m boondocking.  I’m having a harder time coming up with reasons for keeping DTV.

We are running an old VIP 612, 2 receiver DVR and a VIP 211Z  with a HDD on a Winegard Traveler.  Whe we are under trees, we run the 612 from a Winegard G2.

 

Ken

Amateur radio operator, 2023 Cougar 22MLS, 2022 F150 Lariat 4x4 Off Road, Sport trim <br />Travel with 1 miniature schnauzer, 1 standard schnauzer and one African Gray parrot

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16 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

1.  Does Dish also require an actual address to change your local channels?  If the answer is yes, then what do people who are boondocking where they don’t have an address use - do you use some address that is nearby (like the forest service visitor center or some business in a nearby town)?

We boondock almost exclusively.  When chatting with Dish, I give them an address of an RV park in the spot beam we want to receive.  For example, when we're in Arizona during the winter staying at an LTVA, we use a Tucson address so we can get Tucson locals (we could use a Yuma address, but Yuma locals come only in SD).

LindaH
2014 Winnebago Aspect 27K
2011 Kia Soul

 

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More great information!  And I would never have thought about giving a Tucson address when setting up in one of the LTVAs in order to get the Tucson locals instead of Yuma.  I wasn’t all that impressed with Yuma’s stations so would be tempted to do just that.

It does sound like I will eventually want to upgrade my antenna to the X2, but as long as I’m still in the west I can get by with my G2+.  At the moment I have no plans to go any further east than Missouri and Livingston Texas, so there’s no urgency, at least for the next 4 or 5 months, maybe.

In my second phone call to DTV, I asked what I should do about having no address and was given an email address for the mobile/DNS account people.  I went ahead and applied, if it gets approved I may stay with DTV, if not I will definitely change to Dish.  I may change to Dish anyway, but thought I would give DTV a chance first.

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4 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Pay-AS-You-Go accounts were never hardware dependant.  It was a subscription plan that could be stopped as started at and because there was no guarantee of a revenue stream, the equipment needed to be purchased.

The believe that is was hardware dependent came from the external from Dish marketing company was pushing Tailgatter dishes with VIP211 receiver.

The "Outdoor"accounts are what seem to be hardware dependent. Some have said they couldn't get one with a Hopper, only with a Wally or VIP 211 series receiver, yet I have one with two Hoppers. Go figure...

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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A new question about the Wally receiver, and an update.

Question - I’m wondering about audio out on the Wally and using Bluetooth headphones.  I have a universal Bluetooth wireless audio transmitter that has several different cables for connecting to receivers - digital optical (what I currently use with my H23 receiver), RCA and 3.5.  I’ve been very happy with digital optical and my new headphones, but when I tried it earlier this year with a different audio source (either 3.5 or RCA) on my TV and an older small speaker, there was an audio delay.  I’m not sure if that was caused by the older little speaker or the fact I wasn’t using digital optical.  Does the delay come from how the transmitter is connected to the source (I.e., the Wally) or from the speaker/headphones?  The reason why I ask is that my audio transmitter doesn’t have USB input ability and the Wally only has output for RCA, USB and HDMI.  There’s a separate Bluetooth transmitter that looks to be USB and if the delay is caused by using RCA jacks, I would want to get the Wally one.

Update: I ended up changing my DirecTV account to a mobile account (I hadn’t changed it when I sold the house in September) and got the DNS.  So I now have east/west feed For NBC, CBS and Fox (I never lost Fox when they pulled the plug on the networks June 1st).  It took a couple of calls as the first person I talked to this morning couldn’t get it to refresh.  I’m still thinking about changing to Dish, but will stay with DTV for now, especially with all the effort I put into it.

Edited by fpmtngal
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