We're getting ready to sign up for Direct TV to go along with the sat dish and receiver that New Horizons is installing in our new rig. I've looked through the forums and gotten a bit of info and also reviewed Bill Napier's TV on the Road he gave at the rally in TN last year…but still have a couple of questions.

1. Is there any advantage to using our old S&B address in VA to sign up for service or is using our SD residency address fine. I don't see any reason it wouldn't be but you never know.

2. Do I have to switch satellites as we roam around the country from east to west and if so is it just a matter of switching or do we need to contact Direct TV and have them switch our service to the new satellite. Given what i know of geosynchronous satellite beam patterns I'm guessing that one satellite doesn't cover the whole country.

3. Obviously Direct TV has to correlate our receiver to our account; is this done via giving the serial number of the receiver to Direct TV or through giving the receiver our account number?

4. Bill's slides from the rally talk about having to fill out the form to tell Direct TV that we're installing the receiver in an RV; will the folks on the phone at Direct TV know what I'm talking about when I ask for this or are they usually pretty familiar with it?

5. Am I correct in that I have to get Distant Network Service (DNS) to get Fox/CBS/ABC/CNN/NBC…or is that only necessary if one wants to have the NY/LA stations and that otherwise one will just get the local affiliate for wherever we happen to  be? I'm thinking that one needs DNS.

6. Bill's slides talk about having a secondary portable dish for use when trees block the view of the dish on the roof…I'm assuming that hookup for this is typically done to the cable connection in the RV utility center and then switch the inside end from the campground cable connection on the TV to the input of the sat receiver;is this correct or does the campground cable input normally get routed through the sat receiver anyway. 

7. Any other pointers I should bear in mind before I call them to set up the account other than picking which package we want to get the channels we want to see?

Got parked – see if some of this helps.  Hope so.

Bill

We're getting ready to sign up for Direct TV to go along with the sat dish and receiver that New Horizons is installing in our new rig. I've looked through the forums and gotten a bit of info and also reviewed Bill Napier's TV on the Road he gave at the rally in TN last year…but still have a couple of questions.

1. Is there any advantage to using our old S&B address in VA to sign up for service or is using our SD residency address fine. I don't see any reason it wouldn't be but you never know.  Doesn’t matter – whatever is easier for you.  You just need a billing address of some type that is valid.  Some use a credit card some don’t.  That’s up to you.

2. Do I have to switch satellites as we roam around the country from east to west and if so is it just a matter of switching or do we need to contact Direct TV and have them switch our service to the new satellite. Given what i know of geosynchronous satellite beam patterns I'm guessing that one satellite doesn't cover the whole country.  You don’t have to switch any satellites.  The satellites cover the 48 US states.

3. Obviously Direct TV has to correlate our receiver to our account; is this done via giving the serial number of the receiver to Direct TV or through giving the receiver our account number? Giving Direct TV the serial number of the receiver as well as the access card number – Both these can be read from the Info screen on the TV.  Access via Menu – Setup – CSR will help you find it.  No problem.

4. Bill's slides from the rally talk about having to fill out the form to tell Direct TV that we're installing the receiver in an RV; will the folks on the phone at Direct TV know what I'm talking about when I ask for this or are they usually pretty familiar with it?  This form is for DNS as you note below.  Not for the receivers as such. – Just a government form that says that the receivers you are using for DNS are in a mobile (RV) vehicle and not a home.

5. Am I correct in that I have to get Distant Network Service (DNS) to get Fox/CBS/ABC/CNN/NBC…or is that only necessary if one wants to have the NY/LA stations and that otherwise one will just get the local affiliate for wherever we happen to  be? I'm thinking that one needs DNS.  DNS is easier and I would pick the NY stations so you can DVR the programs earlier in the evening.  Now, you can call Direct TV and try and get them to change your local feeds to the new local area when you move.  While this can save some money it can be a problem if you move far very often.  Some do it and it works.  However, if you have programs set up in Series Manager they won’t work after you move and get different locals. You have to reprogram if you move and ask for new “locals.”  This isn’t a problem with DNS because the DNS feeds have 48 state coverage.

6. Bill's slides talk about having a secondary portable dish for use when trees block the view of the dish on the roof…I'm assuming that hookup for this is typically done to the cable connection in the RV utility center and then switch the inside end from the campground cable connection on the TV to the input of the sat receiver; is this correct, YES.   The cable from the dish must go direct to the satellite receiver and not through any other equipment.When you do this it may be necessary to tell the receiver you are now using a single cable, 18” dish (SD only) and not, for example, a roof mounted 5 satellite HD / SD antenna.  See PM if you want more info on this.  Once you learn how it isn’t difficult.  But you do have to tell the receiver what kind of antenna you are using so it can know what to expect.

7. Any other pointers I should bear in mind before I call them to set up the account other than picking which package we want to get the channels we want to see?  IMO you should ask to speak with a CSR that deals with mobile (RV's) if you start getting strange answers.  Some know, some don’t and you can always ask to speak with a supervisor.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the info Bill; and also the PM. I figured I would be able to figure things out once I had the rig and receiver but always like to make sure I'm not missing any of the important details. We had actually planned on getting DNS anyway but it wasn't clear whether you really had to have it or not from your slides at the rally…so that part was really more of an info thing for me.

The folks at NH say our rig is almost done; back from the paint subcontractor and finishing up the interior stuff now. We're getting the house on the market next Thursday and I can tell you that both Connie and I are more than ready to be done with this transition and gone. It's been quite a slog of preps, ordering, cleaning, donating, RV picking, insurance evaluation, etc, etc, etc ever since we quit work in August. Add in that Connie started working part time on a virtual basis for the local community college and we've been busier than we were when we had income producing jobs.

I wish we could make it to the rally this month but it didn't work out; we're at least thinking about the fall one in Oregon but with our departure from VA in July and we already have some plans in upstate NY in August and September it will likely be next spring before we can get to the rally and meet up with everybody in the rv-dreams family again.