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Originally Posted by Dsravenoaks
Hi, I follow this forum often and need some advice about which way to go with satellite TV and Internet access. We have a 36 ft 5 th wheel with a bat wing tv antenna now. I have been looking at TV dishes, both roof mounts and tripod setups. I have explored both the DISH and DIRECT TV system a bit. I have also look at DIRECaccess for satellite internet access. I use the internet alot and as we are soon to go full time, I am interested in purchasing the RIGHT system the first time. I obviously am not interested in on the fly access as with a motor home. Could someone give me their humble opinion or answers about some of these questions:
1.Which system is best, DISH OR DIRECT TV?
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That depends on your taste in TV stations. Your best bet is to look at the channel line up and see which you prefer. I do have to tell you that if you try to use a dish for both TV and satelite you will have to stay with Directv regular (non HDTV) as the chanels are all on one bird (satelite). If you go with Dish your antenna will have to track 2 birds and will break the internet connection.
[qoute]2.Do either offer internet access?[/quote]
Neither offer internet access as that requires a different type of equipment.
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3.Can I run my old Winegard and a roof mount sat dish on the same wire to the reciever or do you have to run a seperate wire?
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Internet satelite requires 2 wires. One to receive and one to transmit. The satelites are not the same as those used for TV either. If you do go with a TV arm on your internet dish it will require a seperate arm and receiver head for the TV reception. This means the dish will have to receive 2 signals, one of which will be off to the side of the center of the dish. You will end up fine tuning one signal over the other.
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4. If you do have to run a seperate wire, how do you run it to a slide section where the reciever is?
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That depends on your rig. You can run it down the same area as your current TV coax, open a new hole in the roof for it, drape the coax down the side or ladder and into the rig or any number of ways to get the coax where you need it. Not knowing the design of your rig, it's impossible to give you a specific answer.
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5. Is there any advantages to a tripod dish mount over a roof mount to offset the room taken up for storage?
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Absolutely. The tripod system enables you to get a signal when your rig is blocked by trees or other obstructions. With 50' to 100' of coax cable you can set up the dish and get a clear path to the satelite. I am doing that right now for both TV and internet on my system as the rig is covered by trees in it's parking spot. I have a small opening at the side and rear of my trailer that is open to the southern sky in just the right spot. My roof mount TV dish is totally blocked. I use a secondary dish on a small tripod for TV when the roof is blocked.
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6. Is there a system where I could get TV and Internet access thru sat on the same dish? If there is, are these roof mounts or tripod types?
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The answer is a qualified yes. On a Direcway system you can get what is called a "bird on a wire". That is a second receiver head on a second arm that is held off to the side of the main head mount to get the secondary (TV) signal from a different satelite. Frankly I do not install those as I view it as a decent but not really good solution. The arm is set on a fixed distance to get the reflected signal from the dish. As you angle the dish for the internet transmission purposes the skew (angle) changes the relationship on the angle of the tv arm. It will not be optimized as you travel since the skew changes with East to West travel. It's far easier to explain or show you with a drawing or in person, sigh.
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7. Is there a big difference between adjusting a TV dish and an internet access dish to the sat?
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Yes and no.
On a Diretv system the dish does not have to be rotated left or right to adjust the skew. It remains in a vertical alignment. You will still have to turn the dish left or right to find the signal and adjust it vertically but do not have to tilt (rotate) the dish to fine tune it. On a Dish TV system the dish does rotate for the signal. The dish on an internet system also rotates. Easiest way to explain this is to do this. Hold you hand out in front of you palm forward. to find the signal you pivot your body left and right and raise or lower your palm using your arm. Once the signal is found you must then rotate the palm left or right at the wrist holding your arm and body still to fine tune the signal or enable the transmitter to line up with the satelite on the internet system. This is the skew I was talking about. It's also been my experiance that the TV signal is not as sensitive to find and lock in as the internet signal is.
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8. Should I spring for a double system TV and Internet now if it is available or is it too early to try to embrace both in one system?
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In my opinion it is best to have 2 systems. One dedicated to TV and the other dedicated to internet. This means you can change TV satelites on Dish Network and not lose the internet and traveling does not marginalize the TV signal due to increasing or decreasing skew on the internet dish. The TV systems are rather inexpensive especially if you already have a winegard antenna on the rig. You can set up the TV system all by yourself buying the receiver equipment for Directv at Best Buy, or an entire package including the antenna as well. For internet you will need an installer to commission the system at the very least. [/quote]
9. How hard is it to put in a roof mount? I am somewhat handy? I have built a 3 car garage and rewired my own house?[/quote]
For TV it is not hard. I installed a roof mount wineguard auto seek system on my earlier rig. The big problem is having a coax lead in the roof already or deciding how you want the coax to get into the inside of the rig. It's far easier to wire a RV while it is being built than after. If you already have a batwing you may also be able to remove it, then mount the satelite antenna in the same spot using a single coax. It depends on where that batwing is on the roof. The satelite dish should be in a position to be level when you're parked. The batwing doesn't really care about level and is sometimes mounted to the side of the roof too far for a satelite location. You could put a signal splitter in the line going to the batwing on the roof then set the dish and tie into the batwing coax that way. It all depends onj how your rig is already set up and if it is was wired for satelite already. If you use an auto seek you will need 12 volt power at the antena as well. Frankly it may just be simpler to use a ground mount antena depending our your RV.
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10. If you wanted to "low ball" it price wise for TV sat only, Internet Access only, or a combo system, at is the best way to go?
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The least expensive internet satelite system is Direcway. You have multiple options for TV and I really don't know rates for them as it depends on what you want for chanels etc. in the packages. Keep in mind that you will need a subscription to each service so the monthly costs will have to be combined.
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11. What books or links would give me good advice? Everytime I contact a vendor, all they want to do is...sell, sell, sell.\
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You can try looking at the escapees forums (
www.escapees.com). There are several forums there that have discussed and cussed each topic.
As to the TV, visit the main web sites for Directv and Dish Network. Look them over and see which chanel line up you like. Keep in mind that Dish does use more than one bird and the antena must be able to move between them as you change chanels.
Look at all 3 main choices for satelite internet as well. Cost and some equipment are really the only differences between them other than a manual point vs an auto seek. All get you to the same internet and all are good systems. Like everything else in the RV world there are coompromises, look and see whch best fits what you want to do. FWIW the RV satelite internet is really only cost effective if you are a full timer IMO. There are cheaper options for a "stick house" unless there is no service where your fixed home is located.
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Any help would be appreciated and I can be contacted directly at
Dsravenoaks@aol.com THANKS IN ADVANCE
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I was not aware there is no edit function on this area of the bbs. 
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