Local TV channels

[DavidWW]

Is anyone getting local channels on the road with Dish network? We have Directv and get the cable channels only. David

[JMS]

Originally Posted by DavidWW

Is anyone getting local channels on the road with Dish network? We have Directv and get the cable channels only. David

You can't get local channels on satellite if you're outside of your service area. We use our antenna and a splitter to watch the local broadcast channels from the area we are in at the time then switch back to satellite for other channels

[honda03842]

There is no way to get local channels unless you are in your local area. Local stations are transmitted by Dish or Direct to a limited area of the country. For example our local channels originate in Boston and NH. We can pretty much receive them over our Dish network any where in New England. Once out of the area they are mostly gone.

Since we travel the country, we sign up with All America Direct. AAD provides us with the major networks, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS through the Dish system. The national networks you reveive come from major cities. I believe there are four choices, NY city, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta.

We have chosen San Francisco and NY city. Interestingly when on the west coast we receive our favorite shows 3 hours early. This service costs $169 a year.

Safe Travels

[Alf S.]

Originally Posted by DavidWW

Is anyone getting local channels on the road with Dish network? We have Directv and get the cable channels only. David

Hi: DavidWW...We get local chanels only using the Escape installed Winegard antenna. Problem is that the Toshiba 19" flat scrn. needs to be re-programed for each area. We only do that if staying more than a day or two otherwise we watch DVD's!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[honda03842]

This probably needs clarification. You can not get your local channels when you are out of your service area with the satellite tv but you can get the major networks on both Dish and Direct for an extra charge. I believe Direct sells a package to RVers that provide the national networks. Dish through All America Direct also provides the national networks.

In our case we are not interested in the local channels but are interested in the national networks.

You can get the "where you are" local networks with an antenna.

Interestingly to me some of the local networks from the Boston area, NESN sports network, remains available across the country... go figure.

[David and Nancy]

We use Directv on the road with a Vuqube dish. We have been surprised at how far our local service area will stretch. North and south we have been as far as five hundred miles from home before losing our local channels. East and west will sometimes work out to two hundred miles. Our whole setup works better when we discovered it is best to use a receiver box that is plugged in at home at all times. When we had one dedicated to the trailer only, I hadn't properly set it up to receive the local stations and didn't get the regular updates because it was unplugged most of the time. We didn't know we could the local stations on the road until we brought a receiver that we also use at the house. I have since learned a lot about proper initial setup of Directv. As others have suggested, we also look for local networks on the antenna if we get out of range of our local stations.