Anybody got satelite TV in their truck?

[lowrange]

I'm thinking about college football in the fall, and the Florida Outpouring everynight on Directv channel 365. The point being, I'm thinking about doing whatever I can to watch what I want, when I want, all the while I'm making my vast fortune as a trucking O/O.

Anyone got satelite? Care to break it down for me?

Special equipment?
Are the satelite companies cool with this?
Siting in the satelite?
Setup time?
Anything else?

TIA

[tweety bird]

There are a lot of drivers with satellite tv- you can see the dishes hooked up when they're parked at most any truck stop. A lot have the King Dome-type dish that either finds the sat signal automatically or is in-motion (meaning it tracks the signal while moving). There are several manufacturers of that type of dish.

Getting local channels can be tricky- we had satellite but couldn't ever get them to add on the local channels. We had friends who had no problem with that- I think it all depends on who happens to answer the phone when you call. If you ask for the local channels when you sign up, you're more likely to get them than if you try to add them after you already have the service.

Because you can't hook to a phone line, you'll get a monthly service charge- it's like $5.

[lowrange]

There are a lot of drivers with satellite tv- you can see the dishes hooked up when they're parked at most any truck stop. A lot have the King Dome-type dish that either finds the sat signal automatically or is in-motion (meaning it tracks the signal while moving). There are several manufacturers of that type of dish.

Getting local channels can be tricky- we had satellite but couldn't ever get them to add on the local channels. We had friends who had no problem with that- I think it all depends on who happens to answer the phone when you call. If you ask for the local channels when you sign up, you're more likely to get them than if you try to add them after you already have the service.

Because you can't hook to a phone line, you'll get a monthly service charge- it's like $5.

Thanks Tweety. I don't like how those satelite services can be. We called Directv I think it was and got four different answers from four different people. Dish TV...how about 6 trips out to the house for someone to finally change out the box to fix a problem.

Anyway, where do you get the king dome, who sells it. Is there a special receiver...like a 12v model.

[Rev.Vassago]

I know a guy who pulls for Landstar who has a VuQube dish mounted on the back of his sleeper (where a Qualcomm would go). It's a nice portable unit, and it works quite well. He has satellite service at home, and pays an extra $9.99 for a second receiver which he has in his truck. From what he was saying, he had to get a special card from the guy who sold him the dish. As to why, I don't know.

That VuQube seems like a really neat system, though. It is a lot smaller than the KingDome system, and it will automatically find the best signal without you having to enter any information in regarding your location.



Here's a good video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX7D_E-zgww

[flood]

what we did was for x-mass we got new hd tv's for the house so for the super bowl we upgraded our dish network dishes to hd. so we have the left over dish and dvr box,

iowa 80 has a mast that mounts to the handrail on the back of the cab $59.99 i will be installing it all tormorow and will post some picks when it's done. i should have it all done for about $100, but i did have the dish and the dvr.

if you don't want to go thrught all of the work to set it up each time check out vuqube http://shop.makariosrv.com/category.sc?categoryId=286

[lowrange]

I know a guy who pulls for Landstar who has a VuQube dish mounted on the back of his sleeper (where a Qualcomm would go). It's a nice portable unit, and it works quite well. He has satellite service at home, and pays an extra $9.99 for a second receiver which he has in his truck. From what he was saying, he had to get a special card from the guy who sold him the dish. As to why, I don't know.

That VuQube seems like a really neat system, though. It is a lot smaller than the KingDome system, and it will automatically find the best signal without you having to enter any information in regarding your location.

Wow, that's a lot better than paying $40/mo for an additional account for your truck. Maybe I need to find somebody to talk to with Directv. It's too bad those Interstate kiosks in the TA don't sell it, they sell everything else.

Thanks Rev, I'll take a look at that link tonight.

[flood]

BTW lowa 80 does have vuqube
but you will still need a dirct vt or dish network box

[Longsnowsm]

Why not just send your cable tv at home to you on the road? There are a variety of products, but slingbox comes to mind. You might check that out.

Longsnowsm

[Rev.Vassago]

Why not just send your cable tv at home to you on the road? There are a variety of products, but slingbox comes to mind. You might check that out.

Longsnowsm

Several reasons:

1. Most wireless internet providers have monthly bandwidth limits. The ones who don't are becoming fewer and fewer.

2. If you don't have a good connection, you don't have cable TV.

3. The quality won't be as good.

[lowrange]

Why not just send your cable tv at home to you on the road? There are a variety of products, but slingbox comes to mind. You might check that out.

Longsnowsm

Several reasons:

1. Most wireless internet providers have monthly bandwidth limits. The ones who don't are becoming fewer and fewer.

2. If you don't have a good connection, you don't have cable TV.

3. The quality won't be as good.

What's up with that, Rev? I've got Verizon and I webstream a lot, it hasn't become a problem, yet. Just today I started wondering if I could find these games on podcast. If so, that would probably settle everything for me.

[Rev.Vassago]

Verizon has a 5gb per month bandwidth limit. It is at their discretion if they choose to enforce it or not. I've heard of people losing their service for running webcams with Verizon.

[lowrange]

Verizon has a 5gb per month bandwidth limit. It is at their discretion if they choose to enforce it or not. I've heard of people losing their service for running webcams with Verizon.

I wonder how much 5gb is? Anyway, it's good to know there is a limit. So far they haven't said anything to me.

So that VuQube is compatible with either Dish or Direct? Where does it get it's instructions for searching for the satelite? The receiver?

[mike3fan]

Verizon has a 5gb per month bandwidth limit. It is at their discretion if they choose to enforce it or not. I've heard of people losing their service for running webcams with Verizon.

I didn't lose my service,but I did get a $1,400 bill for going over with Verizion....bastards

I now have Sprint and it is truly unlimited,I even asked them about watching live baseball on mlb.tv and they said no problem.

[lowrange]

Verizon has a 5gb per month bandwidth limit. It is at their discretion if they choose to enforce it or not. I've heard of people losing their service for running webcams with Verizon.

I didn't lose my service,but I did get a $1,400 bill for going over with Verizion....bastards

I now have Sprint and it is truly unlimited,I even asked them about watching live baseball on mlb.tv and they said no problem.

:shock: How does that work!? You get your regular bill every month and then suddlenly the bill is $1400!?

My bill is paid right off my card. They'd be taking the money before I knew what hit me! :x

[lowrange]

I just found out, I'm at 7 million kb for the month, which is 7gb, I guess.

Help! Mike3fan, anybody, what do you figure they are going to stick me for!?!?

[klleetrucking]

" It's too bad those Interstate kiosks in the TA don't sell it, they sell everything else."

They may sell stuff, but have -0 tech support! I called the main whse. in Tx. and could get no answers. Avoid at all costs!

Sorry about the rant but I'm still pi$$$$$ed.

[lowrange]

That's alright, rant, I understand!

Great news! I'm grandfathered in with Verizon at unlimited usage!

Mike3fan, you'll be very pleased to hear, she almost apologetically said they've changed their policy when I mentioned that you had $1400 in overage charges. Or, maybe you won't. 8)

[NotSteve]

Where does it get it's instructions for searching for the satelite? The receiver?

These units have a simple microprocessor inside with a GPS receiver which tells them where they are. Just a little interesting note is that it doesn't know which direction it's pointing like East West North or South. It really doesn't have to know but if it did it would immediately go to the right direction and angle in the sky. Given that it knows it's current position it knows that some where in the sky it must point at an angle of lets say 33.0047 degrees.

Now that it knows the angle it makes one turn of up to 360 degrees and locks on once it senses a signal.

Given this new GPS technology and greater accuracy has allowed many new inventions that can track a satellite while moving like a cruise ship or mobile news station. They way they do this without interruption is to grab as much data as they can while they have a good signal and delay what you are seeing for anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds. This allows them to re-sync the receiver when you go under a bridge or hit a bump or take a corner. This is just one more benefit with the advent of faster and faster microprocessors. Back in the old days you better not even breath or we'll loose the signal.

[lowrange]

Where does it get it's instructions for searching for the satelite? The receiver?

These units have a simple microprocessor inside with a GPS receiver which tells them where they are. Just a little interesting note is that it doesn't know which direction it's pointing like East West North or South. It really doesn't have to know but if it did it would immediately go to the right direction and angle in the sky. Given that it knows it's current position it knows that some where in the sky it must point at an angle of lets say 33.0047 degrees.

Now that it knows the angle it makes one turn of up to 360 degrees and locks on once it senses a signal.

Given this new GPS technology and greater accuracy has allowed many new inventions that can track a satellite while moving like a cruise ship or mobile news station. They way they do this without interruption is to grab as much data as they can while they have a good signal and delay what you are seeing for anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds. This allows them to re-sync the receiver when you go under a bridge or hit a bump or take a corner. This is just one more benefit with the advent of faster and faster microprocessors. Back in the old days you better not even breath or we'll loose the signal.

Translation into dummy-speak: it just knows.

I probably need to get back to the sub $600 antenna answers to the original question, though. Even I don't plan to watch TV going down the road. Some guys have what looks like PVC pipe with a dish on top. That might be more up my alley right now.

[tweety bird]

You can check with an RV place for installation- Camping World sells them and does installation. Some locations are big enough for a truck and trailer.

I would suggest the Camping World in Fort Meyers, Florida, off I 75 exit 139. That one is really easy to get in and out of and they do good work (disclaimer- we only went there once, but they did good work on what we asked them to do!).

Check into KVH- they forced the dome manufactuers to drop their prices. Domes used to be about $2,500 but the KVH came out at $2,500 and the dome prices dropped. KVH is a flat "dish." A lot smaller and sleeker and I've heard it holds the signal better.

I would NOT suggest going to the big bunk manufactures in Indiana- last I knew they were still charging top dollar to install a dome. It's worth checking into, though, just in case that's changed.