I live in Pa. I recently went to Maryland with a Dish and tripod. The setup went well. I had 96% and above during the setup. On the program guide I had my local channels listed but I could not select it to watch it. The screen was black. I called DirecTv and was told that I could only get the local channels of the area that I was in. They had to re-program my receiver to the zipcode I was in. I was 200 miles from home. They said I was too far away for my receiver to get my locals. Anyone else have this happen or is there a way around it?
Thank you.
Mike
2004 Dodge Durango w/Hemi
2007 Jayco Jay Feather R30
Valley WDH and SC
we have that happen all the time, but I dont worry about it , I did not want to reprogram the box and then have to do it again when we get back home . there used to be a waiver you could sign and get the east or west cost networks stations , someone else may know more about that and if they still do that, still not your locals but at least you would nbc,cbs,fox,abc east or west coast feeds. We dont watch that much tv but like the weather some sports and cnn or hln.
Locals are spot beamed, move out of the beam and no locals. You can always "move" to Ny or CA and get locals on conus but the news will be from that area not your local one. Since we don't care about local news with the interent usually what we do is we "move" to our summer home up in NY area when we are out of FL for a bit and move back when we return. Just pick a camp ground, apartment house, throw a #1118 at the end of it so addresses don't match up and use auto bill / paperless. Let them know everything is setup and working fine so no tech visits and move back when you are home.
DNS / waivers are a total cluster now unless you have a specific rv account. Even then you get the NY or LA locals so might as well just do it yourself and "move" when you need to and avoid the red tape.
You can get abc cbs nbs and fox just fine doing the above.
That's DirecTV for you - no, you can't get local channels. DirecTV will tell you that you can, but you can't. Unless you get a special set-up, and then you have to pay $15 a month extra, and it usually won't work then either because the DTV number you call knows nothing about it. Been THERE, done that.
DTV will say it all day, and you give the zip, and they'll tell you - OKAY, you need to wait an hour for it to recyle ... it will never recycle. And, you can change your zip ONLY if you move, and only once every six months.
We have the DirectTV-RV package and change our local stations setup to where we are and there is no charge or it is only $5. We live near St. Louis and keep our local channels all the way to Jackson, MS. Normally we use the rooftop antenna and toggle back and forth for the local channels.
Ok, Thank you for the information. That was the first time I took the dish with me that far from home. I wanted to make sure I was given the right information from DirecTv.
Have a great 4th...
Mike
I have found my local spot beam to be elongated to the north. I can go east and west of my home about 120 miles, south only 70 miles, and 240 miles to the north. I just use the antenna for local channels and do that even if I am getting my Directv locals. I'm more interested in the local information for the area I'm in if I'm 100 miles from home. Randu
2004 GMC 2500HD 8.1 Big Block gas
2008 Mobile Suites 36TK3
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