What about TV

After living and learning on a 36ft Grand banks for a week.
I liked it but I missed my 1 -2 hours of nightly TV, sports
Fox news, local news, Last man standing etc.

What do most of you experienced liveaboards do for TV?

Thank for any info

If you're within 50 miles of a TV broadcast antenna, you can buy an HD TV antenna, which will pick up most of the regular broadcast channels (CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX) as we'll as many other non-cable channels. You can find them at Amazon (where else?), or even Wal-Mart.
Jim

ctbarbarian said:

What do most of you experienced liveaboards do for TV?

Click to expand...

I'm no live aboard but I do have satellite (Direct TV) on board and love it! Underway, in the slip or on a mooring, it's the best! Not cheap but the quality is excellent.

How do you keep the DirecTV antenna pointed at the satellite?

Codger, is the system the same as for houses or is it some kind of maritime version. I would imagine you would have to adjust your dish (if it is a dish) each time you move. Also is it able to keep the signal if the boat is moving at anchor, mooring or at a slip.

HeadedToTexas said:

How do you keep the DirecTV antenna pointed at the satellite?

Click to expand...

That's the expensive part

HeadedToTexas said:

How do you keep the DirecTV antenna pointed at the satellite?

Click to expand...

We have a trained monkey that turns the dish with bicycle handles mounted in the salon. When he gets a strong signal, he is rewarded with 5 peanuts. (I'm really sorry but I just couldn't resist saying that.) The whole process with aiming the dish at the satellite is automatic. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to capture the signal but it always does. (Again, I know your question was serious and i should not have answered in that fashion!)

P.S. Once it captures the signal, it never loses it...even in bumpy seas or changing course! It's really fantastic!

NewbieFromNJ said:

Codger, is the system the same as for houses or is it some kind of maritime version. I would imagine you would have to adjust your dish (if it is a dish) each time you move. Also is it able to keep the signal if the boat is moving at anchor, mooring or at a slip.

Click to expand...

With a satellite house system, the house never moves so there's no need to constantly re aim the dish. On a boat, the boat constantly moves (even in the slip) so the dish must be constantly re aimed at the satellite and this happens automatically. Even when running in bumpy seas!

I can actually picture that. Appreciate the response and humor.

Greetings,
In our 35+ years of "big" boating, the majority of those with a TV on board we have very seldom watched any TV. I can't remember when the last time our TV has even been plugged in. During the day and evening when docked our time is taken up with "stuff". Working (always something to do), cooking, eating, shopping (for more food), napping and reading. After a days cruising and supper is over, nothing better to sit on the aft deck and just be.
I expect if the world ended I wouldn't find out about it on the news...
Mr. C. Does that monkey do dishes? I mean the non media kind...

Which dish do you have. I've seen a couple but haven't talked to anyone that actually has one. I have a tailgater brand that I use on my 18 wheeler and its great but it only finds the signal once we are stopped. If we move we have to re-search for a signal

RT Firefly said:

Mr. C. Does that monkey do dishes? I mean the non media kind...

Click to expand...

I do have a response for that but my wife does read these posts from time to time so I'll abstain for now.

Codger2 said:

We have a trained monkey that turns the dish with bicycle handles mounted in the salon. When he gets a strong signal, he is rewarded with 5 peanuts. (I'm really sorry but I just couldn't resist saying that.) The whole process with aiming the dish at the satellite is automatic. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to capture the signal but it always does. (Again, I know your question was serious and i should not have answered in that fashion!)

P.S. Once it captures the signal, it never loses it...even in bumpy seas or changing course! It's really fantastic!

Click to expand...

I'd say the Monkey is better than dragging all that cable out to sea..salt water breaks it down over time and you get a blank screen showing a shark bit into the wire..

Semi-Retired said:

Which dish do you have. l

Click to expand...

Google KVH Antennas. I have the KVH 3 that came with the boat.

Over the air HD with an amplified antenna

Time in the boat is quality time without TV.

Greetings,
Mr. mp. FULLY agree! Re: post #12. Thank you Mr. C2. A genteel soul, to be sure...

We are away from port for ~3 months a year with no TV. We don't miss it.

I've been living with over the air HD at home for several years. Figure I'll be fine on the boat with it some day too.

We have a KVH TV1 and it works really well. We are usually within 90 miles of a major metro area. I think we are under 2,200 for the set. Nothing like watching College Football while fishing.

Watching the Westminster Dog Show right now on our TV hooked to an Intellian I-4 and the Dish Network. Couldn't live aboard without it.

when recently boat shopping my wife and I always got a chuckle when the television was a featured item on the brokers listing Not high on our list of desirable equipment

Newbie here and used to be a communication engineer....if you have phone service you will have dtv.....att and dtv are in bed now and you can port in sat tv via 4g....almost everywhere on icw....if you want to know more please ask and i can help.....(just d/l dtv app and connect via mini to hd cable)

you use data but vzw (verizon wireless) now has unlimited data available cheap.

I've been 100 miles offshore fishing and watching college football at the same time - it's pretty fun but you need some cash for the antenna - the kvh above is a great choice for most. If you have direct tv at home just get a receiver for an extra room and take it on the boat. A good antenna will work if you are close enough to the signal but noting worse then it breaking apart during the middle or end of your show! I have an OTA antenna at home and love free HD tv but on the go in the boat it's not the same.

Apologies, someone had to do it.

Greetings,
Mr. nc. Welcome aboard.

Anybody using a FTA (free to air) in motion system? Would be interested to get some input.

I wish we could get a KVH TV system like Walts to work here in Alaska.

What we do is to download whatever movies or TV shows we want via our boats network. We have an Apple TV and also have an extensive (and growing) movie library on the laptop that we bring to the boat.

When out of cellular range we just watch movies and TV that we have stored. We could download a movie over the satelite but it would be prohibitivally expensive.

We don't watch network news on the boat, prefering to get our current events via the internet on our Ipads, or laptop.

I do not think any vessel currently are using FTA with a motion system i.e. KVH which are preprogramed to cover 101,119 for DTV and 110,119 for DISHTV and 91 for BELL.

KVH use a small antenna compared to FTA antennas that needs to a quite larger antenna.

https://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Canada.html

Satellite Antenna Dish Size required or recommended

Also KVH does not connect to OTA (local stations) to satellite 99

North American Coverage


You have the choice to use KVH with either DISH' DTV or BELL subscription and you will not get Local Over the Air (OTA) coverage as you can only have reception with a digital TV antenna... https://youtu.be/EWQhlmJTMzw

TV is crap, precisely why we boat. Why take the worst part with you? I'm with you, RT!