I'm a lurker who's been following along, but always about 2 months behind. You guys are great! Anyway, it seems you have trouble finding spots with southern exposures for your roof mounted satellite dish. Is there a reason you haven't bought a tripod mounted dish that you could move around the campsite and cable up as a backup? Theft concerns, budget perhaps? Just curious. Thanks.
Matt
Judy said
10:54 AM Mar 18, 2008
One of the problems is storage for one of the big dishes when fulltiming. southwestjudy
Tylersamma said
06:54 PM Mar 18, 2008
We have both, but have only used the portable one at one site. We have only been in the western states so far, so we might have more problems when we get into the eastern states. It does take up space, but we will keep it awhile longer.
dream reachers said
08:31 PM Mar 18, 2008
I was considering a portable unit but need to figure storage space when traveling. Can you tell me the outside diameter of the dish and any other dimensions I might need to figure on.
Guiler85 said
06:05 AM Mar 19, 2008
We have a tripod internet satellite systems from HughesNet. Our vendor is Maxwell Satellite (www.maxwellsatellite.com) and they are so user friendly. We highly recommend you talk with them about your needs.
We are in a 36' 5th wheel and traveling with a portable system has not been an issue. When we are traveling, the dish sits on the kitchen floor with the tripod going in the box in the bed of the truck.
We really like this system and have had good luck and great access with it. Once you are used to the set up, it takes about 15 minutes to be up and running.
Hope this helps.
Tim & Robyn said
10:37 AM Mar 19, 2008
Sticking my neck out here, and I certainly don't want to speak for Howard, but it seems to me I've seen elsewhere in the forum that Howard and Linda have only twice been unable to get a satellite connection in the whole time they have been on the road.
mcphelps7 said
05:07 AM Mar 20, 2008
Yes, they have been able to get connected, but it seems to limit their site selection at times. Does anyone have concerns about security? Do tripod mounted dishes get stolen very often?
bjoyce said
05:53 AM Mar 20, 2008
I know of zero internet satellite thefts. The question comes up every once and a while and no one, including dealers and old timers, has heard of a single theft.
Tylersamma said
07:11 PM Mar 20, 2008
Zinks myself with my last post. We are now at Lake Tawakoni, TX (Thousand Trails park), no rooftop connection. Worse yet, we can't remember exactly how to set up the portable!!!!!
Howard said
10:44 PM Mar 20, 2008
Both!! If you can afford it and have the room.
Yes, with our rooftop automatic dish, we have to be picky about our campsites in certain areas. But we have only been in a three campsites out of 93 stops in 2 1/2 years where we did not get connected due to obstructions.
That's a pretty darn good ratio, so we haven't been able to justify the expense, storage, and extra hassle for a tripod. It would be nice to have as a backup though.
In fact, when we go to Alaska, we will probably get a tripod since we will not be taking our rig and our Datastorm. Then we'll have to determine whether to keep it or sell it when we get back.
If it makes any difference, our Datastorm is probably the number 1 decision we have made regarding our lifestyle - by quite a margin.
Lou & Carol said
01:30 PM Dec 4, 2012
Very old post, but fits right in for the information I need. We have the old style roof top doom dish which no longer receives HD signals. What do I need? 3 or 5 LNB? I would still like to be able to use both the roof top and the tripod dish. But of course not at the same time. What to I need for that? And would I buy the single wire type, what ever that is? I have no clue. And if I may, if you reply, please keep it as simple as you can. Thanks.
I'm a lurker who's been following along, but always about 2 months behind. You guys are great! Anyway, it seems you have trouble finding spots with southern exposures for your roof mounted satellite dish. Is there a reason you haven't bought a tripod mounted dish that you could move around the campsite and cable up as a backup? Theft concerns, budget perhaps? Just curious. Thanks.
Matt
southwestjudy
We are in a 36' 5th wheel and traveling with a portable system has not been an issue. When we are traveling, the dish sits on the kitchen floor with the tripod going in the box in the bed of the truck.
We really like this system and have had good luck and great access with it. Once you are used to the set up, it takes about 15 minutes to be up and running.
Hope this helps.
Both!! If you can afford it and have the room.
Yes, with our rooftop automatic dish, we have to be picky about our campsites in certain areas. But we have only been in a three campsites out of 93 stops in 2 1/2 years where we did not get connected due to obstructions.
That's a pretty darn good ratio, so we haven't been able to justify the expense, storage, and extra hassle for a tripod. It would be nice to have as a backup though.
In fact, when we go to Alaska, we will probably get a tripod since we will not be taking our rig and our Datastorm. Then we'll have to determine whether to keep it or sell it when we get back.
If it makes any difference, our Datastorm is probably the number 1 decision we have made regarding our lifestyle - by quite a margin.