RE: Wisconsin
An often overlooked resource for WI camping is the many county parks available. These are often not listed in the major campground directory listings. The best way to find them is a web search for the specific county. The county campgrounds offer the same services as the state parks but are not in such heavy demand and have far more electric sites available. Most charge $20/night for an electric site and a discount for a stay of five days or more. Like the state parks most do not have on-site sewer and water. The more popular state parks have reservable sites which might require booking a year in advance. Some county parks will take reservations, the others work on a first-come, first-served basis, drive in, occupy a site, and it's yours until you decide to leave. The overall quality of the county parks is excellent.
RE: Aligning a dish with a compass??
DirecTV will give magnetic compass bearings. A lensatic compass is a huge help in getting an accurate bearing. These are not expensive, about the $5-10 range. Switching to one of these saves me lots of setup time.
RE: How does the PD9260 stack up to Parallax 7345?
You can add my name to the list of those who have had a $160 deep cycle battery cooked by a Parallax 7345. I have switched to a WFCO 3-stage, I can't afford to cook another battery at these prices.
RE: Running a satellite dish with a honda generator
For what it's worth, I can run my TV but not the DirecTV receiver with a MSW inverter. The inverter results in too much noise in the satellite signal. I haven't yet tried a PSW inverter. The Honda generator works just fine.
