Direct TV

Can a boat anchored on a lake or river be held steady enough for decent reception of Direct TV without any high dollar gear?

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Tony B wrote:
Can a boat anchored on a lake or river be held steady enough for decent reception of Direct TV without any high dollar gear?

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*I'd say yeah pretty well... I don't know the specific of the tolerances ....

But generally, from what I understand, the window tolerance in degrees shift for TV reception is pretty wide...*

I"ve mounted several directv dishes on mobile platforms using a cheap 'satellite finder' gadget, and is very stable..

The DirectWay or whatever they call it now,, the 2-way satellite ISP is very very sensitive, so no way.., but* TV should be copecetic (is that right word? my dad said that to me other day,, I was like what? but sounds right after I've used it...)

Thanks WH. It works fine on my floating dock but was not sure about being on a rocking boat.

Tony B wrote:
Thanks WH. It works fine on my floating dock but was not sure about being on a rocking boat.

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*Ehh, I was just throwing out my experience, until the experts show up...

but I really think it should be ok, in severe (lake, river) conditions the worst I'd expect is a momentary freeze up...

Tony B wrote:
Can a boat anchored on a lake or river be held steady enough for decent reception of Direct TV without any high dollar gear?

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*Give it a try and post your results.

In bigger water tides and currents would probably make it impossible.*

I've tried it on a sailboat, problem is swinging on anchor and having to constantly readjust the dish. The parameters are fairly narrow, doesn't take much of a swing to cause reception loss. Works fine when tied to the dock.

>>Can a boat anchored on a lake or river be held steady enough for decent reception of >>Direct TV without any high dollar gear?<<

I have not been successful in using DirecTV at anchor without an automatic adjusting system.* Even in the no wind, no current situation the boat will swing a foot or more in each direction and I would lose reception. One DirecTV disappointment was that my DVR (before Track It) would not work at anchor because it couldn't lock on a Satellite.

John

Fet-Esch

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Thanks folks.

I initially figured that it wouldnt work that is why i asked. I know it dont take much swing or movement to throw it off. At the dock, it works just fine. I never have to adjust mine even though it is a floating dock and moves some. I guess if I want TV on the water I will have to buy that $4K antenna which will not be in my budget for a long while. Too many other priorities.

Tony B wrote:
Thanks folks.

I initially figured that it wouldnt work that is why i asked. I know it dont take much swing or movement to throw it off. At the dock, it works just fine. I never have to adjust mine even though it is a floating dock and moves some. I guess if I want TV on the water I will have to buy that $4K antenna which will not be in my budget for a long while. Too many other priorities.

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*I'd give it a go anyway,, I spent 6 days camping with buddy on a lake on a 30' pontoon, and we were watching/listening to TV all day while we were fishing.

Had solid anchors on both ends, so no swing, and it was pretty windy for 2 days with little waves. guess YMMV...

I wouldn't buy a tracker, when it's that bad out read/or radio...

When on the water just enjoy the off the grid and out of contact (I turn off my cell phone when I step on the boat) life.

*Or buy a dvd player and watch movies.

SD

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"Follow me TV" antenna drive system, works fine, is not cheap but much more reasonable than some of the Antenna systems. It'll work with Dish or Direct TV, but is not overly good underway, but will work! Not too good way north (like SE Alaska), dish is a little too small! The follow me Drive unit just holds the antenna azimuth, elevation must be adjusted as you change latitudes.

You can get an in-motion KVH satellite system for about $1K. It is the RV version, but works fine on the boat. This is the one we installed six years ago and it works perfectly at anchor and underway.

http://goo.gl/Q0A8E

One note, though. This dish can only see two satellites, so will not do HD on DirecTV. However, it will do HD if you have Dish Network

-- Edited by ktischler on Tuesday 26th of July 2011 07:54:20 PM


-- Edited by ktischler on Tuesday 26th of July 2011 08:01:11 PM

Well, blow me down, I had no idea they had come down in price so much.*Thanks Ken,*That's a great tip.

Larry B,

Well, blow me down, I had no idea they had come down in price so much.

With competition in this economy EVERYTHING is coming down.

My bride bought a 4MB memory stick for $5.95 at Staples!

I can tell you my experience...take it how you will. We have DTV on all of our Gulf of Mexico offshore platforms. The platforms are stationary, but when a helicopter lands and departs, there is a brief interruption in reception. Not because the aircraft physically blocks the signal, but because the tollterences are so tight that the wind and vibration is enough to throw the dish out of allignment briefly. We're talking about mere seconds of interruption, but I would imagine that any rocking or swinging to even the slightest degree would interrupt the signal. Unless you are rocking about the signal's axis. I think it also depends on where you are geographically as to how wide that signal beam is. Most of our GOM support vessels have dishes mounted, but I don't think that they have much luck with a reliable signal all the time.

ktischler wrote:One note, though. This dish can only see two satellites, so will not do HD on DirecTV.

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*Then to me... There's no point in having it. :-D

ktischler wrote:
You can get an in-motion KVH satellite system for about $1K. It is the RV version, but works fine on the boat. This is the one we installed six years ago and it works perfectly at anchor and underway.

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*Best tracker, in my opinion, is this:

~$10 bucks at amazon,, works great.

That's not going to do you a bit of good on a boat at anchor!

ktischler wrote:
That's not going to do you a bit of good on a boat at anchor!

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Ummm, Ok.. if you check to post was about anchor on LAKE / RIVER* ....

And, maybe it won't work for you ,,, but has proven worth at anchor (on a LAKE, fore and aft)* for me... YMMV!

there is a signal window tolerance for unit,, I don't know off hand what bottom threshhold is (75% ???),, but if you are _good_ (guy I was with happened to install them) you can lock on max SNR (which gives you most tolerance for movement,, being in the center of reception square)...


-- Edited by waterhawk on Wednesday 27th of July 2011 07:01:35 PM