Advice on Satellite TV

[threeriversmari]

Originally Posted by motion30

Keith thanks you

You are most welcome, I hope I helped.

Keith

[djmarchand]

I have a KVH model M2, which is no longer made but you might take a chance on one from EBay. It comes with a 12V DirecTV box and satellite controller. It will not receive HD or most local stations, but a friend that I gave it to just activated it on DirecTV so they still support it and it works. Couple it to a 12V TV and it is a total 12V system.

If you get one, call DirecTV and tell them that you are temporarily at a NYC or LA address on a boat. Most DTV customer service people don't know how to do that, but be patient and talk to a supervisor and they will change your location for you. That way you will get the national feeds anywhere in the US.

Currently KVH sells the M3 which may handle HD and local channels.

The DTV coverage map extends to most of the Bahamas but no the Carribean. Go to the KVH website for more info.

David

[motion30]

before I buy So i am trying to understand.. will the standard def antenna still recieve stations for a time or will a high def antenna be required? Sorry if this a dumb question I am not a techie

[djmarchand]

Motion:

There is no way of knowing as only DTV knows and they aren't talking. It is telling that KVH discontinued their non HD Model M2.

David

[bella]

Marine Satellite TV Tracking

You still have to subscribe to one of the satellite services. I tried both, DirectTV seemed, to me, the better of the two..

IF I recall correctly... there are websites out there, that give you the exact degree to point the dish at what lattitude.. LB

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by bella

Marine Satellite TV Tracking

You still have to subscribe to one of the satellite services. I tried both, DirectTV seemed, to me, the better of the two..

IF I recall correctly... there are websites out there, that give you the exact degree to point the dish at what lattitude.. LB

You don't need a website, the receiver helps you point the dish and zero in for the strongest signal. Dish has some lower priced programming packages. Chuck

[Free Agent]

We have the KVH in motion system with two 12 V receivers.
They really suck the AMPs off the batteries so heads up, keep an eye on the meter.

The second receiver, fed through a splitter has been a nightmare.
Dealing with KVH an even bigger nightmare.
A sorry excuse for a company. We've been told their first contact customer service reps are girls in the Rhode Island Prison Work Behind Bars program.
Evidently it's true. All I've talked to are split tongue Vipers.

I love TV sports, Documentaries, Movies, News,, ya need no excuses,, I love it all.
The TV adds a nice character to the boat. Especially when you are aboard a lot.

The latest doc on the Sony Channel. Censored on You Tube, but not on TV, a real train wreck in motion:

Trailer: The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

[TickMan]

Hey there
Is it any other choice after 6 years ( since it was so quiet in this post)
I want to use some type of sat dish in Bahamas's area on this spring ( when we will cruising). For RV travel we have had used Direct TV ( no any reason ) and now we use Dish network with King tailgater. My month bill is $99, Top 250 HD, two Willy receivers and Dish movie package. When we travel, we just took one receiver with us and use it with King tailgater. You don't need to call, activate or reactivate, simple disconnect your receiver and plug inside RV. Auto settings will finish process in 10 minutes. But sailboat is a little bit different, I sure we will not have any problems to get signal in Bahamas, but sailboat is moving, doesn't matter, when you mooring or anchoring, it's still moving. In this case tailgater will move always ? Or even lost signal all time ? Any other idea, or use it only when you are at docking ?

[J Clark H356]

Haven't been to the Bahamas with Dish but live in Tennessee and our boat is primarily on Kentucky Lake. We have KVH antenna since 2003 with Dish service. Our boat antenna now is a T3 since last March. In cruising to SW Florida in 2013 and 2014 with our older T4 KVH (new in 2003) we got full coverage everywhere we went. For local channels once you get out of your local area, we just called with our new location address and updated to the new local channels. Locals while cruising are the major networks and other independents within the local market. Our home area is Nashville, so while moving, we used Columbus., MS, Mobile, AL, Panama City, FL, Tampa, FL, Ft. Myers, FL. You will need a KVH tracking antenna and you will need to look at the KVH website to see where the various coverage areas are for the difference models because not all of them will get a signal in the Bahamas. There are specific receivers that you need to get to work with Dish and KVH. A Hopper will not work with the KVH. Ours is a 211k. We added a hard drive so now we can have limited DVR. We have to watch what we are recording, but if we are docked and going out and something we regularly watch is coming on, we record it and watch it later.

Our old model worked in 4 to 6 foot seas without any problem. We changed locals 75 mikes offshore going across the Gulf using our sat phone. I think the newer T3 is just as good if not better but it is 14 inches versus my old T4 (now a T5) which had an 18 inch dome.

Here is a link to the coverage areas for the various antennas.

http://www.kvh.com/Pages/Satellite-C...US-Marine.aspx

Since we have Dish, we just added a receiver to our plan and our cost is about $7 or $8 per month - just the cost of adding another TV.

We spend about 75 days a year on our boat and never miss a ball game or other tv event we want to watch.

[smac999]

Originally Posted by motion30

Is there such a thing as a 12v reciever?

the dish / direct tv receivers will be 120v. you'll need an inverter. the sat dome will be 12v

[toddster8]

Waaay before satellite TV, I used to sail with a guy who showed me The Spot. Near the Straight of Juan de Fuca, on Saturday, with an ordinary UHF antenna, you could switch from city to city and watch "Star Trek" All. Day. Long.

[TickMan]

Originally Posted by J Clark H356

Our boat antenna now is a T3 since last March. In cruising to SW Florida in 2013 and 2014 with our older T4 KVH (new in 2003) .

Thank you very much, I can't find T3 or T4 antennas, do you mean TV3 ?

[motion30]

Originally Posted by smac999

the dish / direct tv receivers will be 120v. you'll need an inverter. the sat dome will be 12v

My direct tv. Kvh reciever is 12 volts

[motion30]

I have the small kvh m1 system with direct tv. Coverage in US only....well i received satellite TVas far east as Nassau. After that nothing

[J Clark H356]

Yes - it is a TV3, Not T3. The old - 2003 model was a T4 that has been replaced with a TV5.

Although the KVH antenna is a 12 volt system, I had trouble with low voltage wiping the programming off the internal card of my first KVH antenna in 2003. We went through several cards until we figured out it was low voltage that was causing the problem. I then put in a 120V to 12V transformer that kept the antenna power at a constant 12 volts and had no further problems with that. They may have solved that issue in these latest antennas, but to have consistent voltage ask your KVH installed about this since you have to have 120V power for the Dish receiver.