satellite tv antennae on boat?

[Duetto]

hi all,

we have used our dishtv dish antennae mounted on a dock piling for 10 years. we have changed marinas and can no longer mount the dish on dock/piling. we used tv over wifi this winter and i'm not totally satisfied.

my question: has anyone used a "normal" dish on the boat at the dock? if so, how did you mount? did you lose signal a lot?

 

[caltexflanc]

https://www.track-it-tv.com/how-it-works

Very good customer service. We know many happy users; I couldn't find a mounting place I liked, and they were very gracious and helpful.

 

[Duetto]

yes, i've known about track for years. i'd rather not permamntly mount and it's on pricey side.

i've looked at winegard pathway but it won't automatically reacquire signal if it loses it.

 

[caltexflanc]

I disagree. It's extremely cheap for what it enables you to do. There are some other portable solutions, but they are designed to be placed on solid ground.

Perhaps you should just get an over-the-air antenna for locals and use internet for the rest. That's the cheapest option.

 

[Woodland Hills]

There is no cheap answer to this problem. Even buying a used satellite system is only a short term solution since the providers are changing their bands and systems making older dishes obsolete. If you want satellite TV at anchor you have to buy a decent dish. Or a Track-it system for in the slip. You could try an RV portable unit sitting on your dock box if allowed, just lock it up....

 

[Codger2]

Perhaps you should just get an over-the-air antenna for locals and use internet for the rest. That's the cheapest option.

That's exactly what I did! I had Direct TV but it was costing me $86/month and about all I watched was Gunsmoke & football. I bought a Glomex OTA (Over the Air) antenna and mounted it just to the side of the Direct TV Dome, disconnected the cable from the Dome and reconnected it to the Glomex. Bought two smart TVs (salon & stateroom) that connected to the old Direct TV cable and am ecstatic at the quality of the picture! Since the salon TV is smart, I ran a cable from its "HDMI in port" to the "Raymarine eS 128's HDMI out port" on the fly bridge and I can now view anything that's on my 2 MFDs in the salon! I also can surf the Internet and watch movies by using the hotspot on my phone. Total Cost? 2 smart TVs $475 plus the Glomex $140 plus installation (Running wires and cable) $200 =$815. Cancelled the Direct TV ($86/Mo) so it took me 9.7 months to pay for the new TV system. Here's the best part, I have no monthly bills except for my iPhone which I would have anyway! Note: To get good performance from an OTA antenna you should be within 40 miles from broadcasters and no hills or mountains blocking their signal. More & more people in my marina are going this route. The monthly charges for an ISP and Direct TV will kill you!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I have been seeing more and more of these antennas. They now have one that "tracks" like the big KVH.

A new KVH HD-7 is around $12K

https://www.campingworld.com/dish-tailgater--satellite-antenna-115863.html

 

[tiltrider1]

I have not seen a tailgate model that tracks. Not saying it doesn’t exist. I don’t see why these wouldn’t work on a boat tied to the dock. Won’t work at anchor. They are self aligning which makes them easy to use. The are very reasonable in price. I did not notice if they are HD or not.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I have not seen a tailgate model that tracks. Not saying it doesn’t exist. I don’t see why these wouldn’t work on a boat tied to the dock. Won’t work at anchor. They are self aligning which makes them easy to use. The are very reasonable in price. I did not notice if they are HD or not.

Try this:

https://www.campingworld.com/winega...tellite-antennas/installed-satellite-antennas

 

[Woodland Hills]

I have been seeing more and more of these antennas. They now have one that "tracks" like the big KVH.

A new KVH HD-7 is around $12K

https://www.campingworld.com/dish-tailgater--satellite-antenna-115863.html

KVH TV3 is $3000 and a TV5 is $5000 from Amazon, the HD line is their older stuff.

 

[tiltrider1]

Ok, HD and tracking price is about half of Intellian. See no reason why you couldn’t make it work. They don’t list dish size which may or may not be important depending on your location. They also don’t show the control boxes which means they might be extra. There is an antenna aiming controller, a vip22, and a mipps. All or none of these might be included. I just couldn’t determine that from the link. If none of them are included it might add another $750 to the price. Now my only worry is ability to survive in a marine environment. Still, I suspect in the next 5 years all these TV satellite receivers will be obsolete.

Currently I stream my tv in port and turn my dish account on only for 3 months of the year. Satellite TV is probably the worst return of any money spent on the boat.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

KVH TV3 is $3000 and a TV5 is $5000 from Amazon, the HD line is their older stuff.

So they changed the marketing. mmmm They still carry a UHD7 according to their web page. Lots and lots of boat $$$$$

 

[Woodland Hills]

Ok, HD and tracking price is about half of Intellian. See no reason why you couldn’t make it work. They don’t list dish size which may or may not be important depending on your location. They also don’t show the control boxes which means they might be extra. There is an antenna aiming controller, a vip22, and a mipps. All or none of these might be included. I just couldn’t determine that from the link. If none of them are included it might add another $750 to the price. Now my only worry is ability to survive in a marine environment. Still, I suspect in the next 5 years all these TV satellite receivers will be obsolete.

Currently I stream my tv in port and turn my dish account on only for 3 months of the year. Satellite TV is probably the worst return of any money spent on the boat.

Until you spend months in the Bahamas with no OTA and an Internet connection too slow to stream......

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Until you spend months in the Bahamas with no OTA and an Internet connection too slow to stream......

There are places in Alaska no VHF radio (little unsettling if you are trying to reach the USCG), no NPR and no OTA. But Sat TV we can get.

 

[tiltrider1]

Until you spend months in the Bahamas with no OTA and an Internet connection too slow to stream......

That’s why I have the Sat dish, for trips beyond the cell towers. The sat dish and the water maker are the least necessary tools on the boat but yes, they are damn nice once or twice a year.

 

[Codger2]

Currently I stream my tv in port and turn my dish account on only for 3 months of the year. Satellite TV is probably the worst return of any money spent on the boat.

WOW! I thought I was the only one who believes that!

 

[Eddie W]

Smart TV x 2, two Apple TV devices, AT&T TV (formerly Direct TV now) and 1 OTA antenna. I watch very little TV but want to have it available for college football and when the weather is really bad we can either watch a movie or stream youtube etc. Cost- have a very old ATT plan with unlimited data, so no additional cost there, Smart TV’s , Samsung, 32 inch are cheap, less than 150 each, apple devices, cheaper alternatives available but we like the apple platform 179 x 2, AT&T TV - 80 bucks a month, not worth it but I use it a lot during college football season, netflix and amazon prime, one is basically free and the other is what 12 bucks a month. The OTA antenna can be purchased for under 20 bucks and for us, at our current marina, we get 30 plus channels

So you have about 750 in hardware and another 100 month in subscription costs if you don’t count your phone and data plan.

No dish, no expensive hardware, I can watch just about anything I want, when I want to, as long as I have cell service I can have all of the above and there haven’t been very many times where I didn’t have service. That may change as we venture further away, but by then, I am hoping to jump on the Starlink bandwagon and have internet access wherever whenever.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well I would comment but wait!!! Fox News is on......LOL

 

[T210DRVR]

If you have a home system with Directv you may remove it and instal it on your boat. If you want to get a second receiver you can add service on an “RV” for an extra $5.00/mo. That’s how I’m set up, but I’m not sure if it is still available. I can use a my Tailgater resting on my dock. The tides don’t move enough to change the elevation and shouldn’t move directionally enough to lose signal. Since I don’t know your dock set up I can’t say for certain.

If you are at anchor you are out of luck. There is just too much movement to keep a signal. One of the Trac models might work in that application but as you mentioned they are quite expensive.

 

[Simi 60]

Until you spend months in the Bahamas with no OTA and an Internet connection too slow to stream......

That's what they make hard drives for.

When you do have good data get into a downloading frenzy, back up the interwebs and you'll never need to worry about signal or connections again.

 

[catalinajack]

Over the air is indeed free. Can't get cheaper than that. But it doesn't work everywhere even in places where one would think is close enough to the broadcast towers. Case in point is our marina. Remember, the TV signal is line of sight, same as a VHF radio. If your boat is sitting in a location, as ours is, with poor line of sight to the towers, then, no dice. We are witin 40 miles of both Baltimore and Washington, DC but can get virtually nothing from either market. Yet, we did, when we had a good antenna, get a station from way across the Chesapeake (Dover, Delaware). I spent a lot of money on fancy OTA antennae, all a waste. We tried the streaming servives. They are good for what they are but none offer the complete range of stations wnhich, to some folks, is important. As with just about anything boating, it's always a compromise.

One poster mentioned satellite services going away in the future. That would be Direct TV. Dish TV is still viable for the foreseeable future. The equipment obsolescence that is mentioned is older KVH equipment. Intellian is unaffected.

I disagree. It's extremely cheap for what it enables you to do. There are some other portable solutions, but they are designed to be placed on solid ground.

Perhaps you should just get an over-the-air antenna for locals and use internet for the rest. That's the cheapest option.

 

[Woodland Hills]

That's what they make hard drives for.

When you do have good data get into a downloading frenzy, back up the interwebs and you'll never need to worry about signal or connections again.

That’s when you learn that there is a maximum limit on how much you can download from Prime and that Netflix does not really have that much there, especially if you have been using it for a few years. Also Prime and Netflix really limit you when you leave the US so you need to set up a VPN which can be problematic. Early darkness in winter means a lot of hours to fill......

 

[Codger2]

Over the air is indeed free. Can't get cheaper than that. But it doesn't work everywhere even in places where one would think is close enough to the broadcast towers.

Close enough is not the main concern for buying an OTA antenna & expecting excellent reception. 1) A smart tv is mandatory 2) No unobstructed signal from broadcasters is a very close second. That means no hills, mountains, etc in a straight line between you & the tv broadcasters. Im my case, my boat is in a marina on San Diego Bay, directly across the bay from the heart of the city. No obstructions of any kind. 30+ channels including all the main locals. (NBC, CBS,ABC, Fox.) If I go to Catalina Island, again, 26 miles from LA, no obstructions, etc,. all water! Result, oodles of new channels received! Catalina Jack is correct when he writes that boat location being close does not guarantee great OTA reception but in cruising the SOCAL coast I am never out of range for good reception with my OTA antenna. Note: If I ever find myself not able to get good reception, I will use my phone's hotspot and surf the web for a program I want to watch. (News, movies, game shows, etc.)

I had Direct TV for years and since I got rid of it I haven't missed it for one second!

 

[catalinajack]

And because my slip and marina is surrounded by tall trees and a large shed building getting an over-the-air signal is impossible. Satellite TV is our only option. Same with hundreds of miles of the Illinois River and Tombigbee although OTA reception may be had spottily. OTA works for some.

Close enough is not the main concern for buying an OTA antenna & expecting excellent reception. 1) A smart tv is mandatory 2) No unobstructed signal from broadcasters is a very close second. That means no hills, mountains, etc in a straight line between you & the tv broadcasters. Im my case, my boat is in a marina on San Diego Bay, directly across the bay from the heart of the city. No obstructions of any kind. 30+ channels including all the main locals. (NBC, CBS,ABC, Fox.) If I go to Catalina Island, again, 26 miles from LA, no obstructions, etc,. all water! Result, oodles of new channels received! Catalina Jack is correct when he writes that boat location being close does not guarantee great OTA reception but in cruising the SOCAL coast I am never out of range for good reception with my OTA antenna. Note: If I ever find myself not able to get good reception, I will use my phone's hotspot and surf the web for a program I want to watch. (News, movies, game shows, etc.)

I had Direct TV for years and since I got rid of it I haven't missed it for one second!

 

[ranger58sb]

1) A smart tv is mandatory

Can't say I've found "Smart TVs" to be all that extra useful, certainly not necessary in our life. We have 3-4 of 'em I think, and I suspect I can count the times I've used a TV app on two thumbs.

That said, on the boat, we're seldom in places where WiFi is sufficient for streaming, so Netflix and similar apps don't ring our chimes. Streaming from cellular to TV sometimes works, and our FiOS system actually let's use do that from wifey's Verizon cell phone for free... but that's easily enough done with a mini-HDMI cable from phone to TV, no "smart" required.

It does help to have multiple HDMI, audio/video, optical, etc. connection points... and it's OK to have Dolby if there's also a counterpart surround-sound system there too...

But otherwise our "Smart TVs" are no more useful than the dumb ones.



-Chris

 

[Codger2]

Can't say I've found "Smart TVs" to be all that extra useful, certainly not necessary in our life........But otherwise our "Smart TVs" are no more useful than the dumb ones.

Dumb TVs are exactly that...dumb. Their tuners don't pick up the lower frequency signals that smart tvs do. The difference is in the tuner and the reception is amazing! A fellow doc mate was on my boat, inquiring why his tv's reception didn't look like mine. After all, he said, I have an HD tv! That seems to be a common belief that an HD tv is a smart tv. It isn't. We have another guy on the dock that has smart tv but no OTA antenna. My experience is that you need both! Surfing the Internet with a dumb tv vs. a smart tv...no contest. With my hot spot I can surf the internet, order off of Amazon, watch movies, etc.

 

[ranger58sb]

Dumb TVs are exactly that...dumb. Their tuners don't pick up the lower frequency signals that smart tvs do.

Nah. A tuner is a tuner.

Some "Smart TVs" may be newer and therefore have newer (better) tuners than some dumb TVs.

And then different brands can approach the design/build of a tuner differently... so some could be better than others (usually in cases like this, a given model may excel at one thing whereas a different model may excel at something else).

But in general... A tuner is a tuner is a tuner.

Combined with a good antenna, all good. Good tuner, bad antenna, crap. Good antenna, bad tuner, crap. Nothing to do with smart (internet capable).

-Chris

 

[HiDHo]

I thought “ smart tv “ was because you can link it to your wifi and stream NetFlix, etc.
I have a old Cube tailgate satellite antenna from our rving days. The problem I see with the antenna is it cannot receive HD tv channels, gradually there less regular channels.
Over the air tv is definitely the way to go especially if your near a big city. Even anchoring in the boondocks I usually pull in 8 channels.

 

[HiDHo]

My fancy tv antenna is on the starboard aft side of the boat deck mounted to the top of my scrub brush handle. The test location was a trial, I found that raising the antenna to the top of our anchor light mast worked better. I have chosen not to hard mount the antenna as it only takes minutes to deploy it.

 

[ranger58sb]

I thought “ smart tv “ was because you can link it to your wifi and stream NetFlix, etc.

Yep, pretty much. Often a few other things; Samsung, for example, includes it's own suite of approved apps, so you can do a bit more than just stream (and stream a bit more than just from NetFlix). Web browsing from the TV app can be a pain in the neck unless you also hook up a mouse and keyboard, though...

-Chris