07.28.13 Satellite dish upgrade, frost possible tonight, new neighbors and blueberries!

RV life brings with it some issues that have to be researched by each RVer based on their lifestyle and their desires and needs.  When you live in a sticks and bricks house you buy a TV and get the local cable guy to hook you up and it works, end of story.  If you live out in the country maybe you have to get satellite because cable isn’t available so they install a satellite dish and it works, end of story.  In a moving home there are more things to take into consideration so the decision isn’t as cut and dry like it is in a sticks and bricks home.

When we bought our RV it came with a stationary satellite dish even though the dealership told us we had in-motion.  Because we were told that in-motion was the way to go Roy upgraded to a Winegard Road King Mission in-motion black dome satellite dish.  The reason they said in-motion was better was that you could watch TV going down the road. Before traveling that sounded great, but after doing some traveling we found that watching TV going down the road had a very low priority and trees on the side of the interstate would interfere with it so we didn’t get good reception while traveling.

We kept losing service on a regular basis when we were sitting in our driveway we always thought that it was the trees that would knock us out from having service so we cut a lot of limbs off the trees and then we discovered that a little bit of rain would knock it out also.  We thought we just needed to get to a clear place where we wouldn’t have these problems but once we got here in Minnesota and had clear vision to the skies the reception still went away every time it rained. 

Other problems with the old satellite was that it tracked only one satellite at a time and would toggle between satellites when you’d change stations.  We also have a DVR and the satellite couldn’t record programs that were coming from different satellites at the same time. When Roy found out that he couldn’t record Deadliest Catch at the same time he wanted to record Pawn Stars we know we had to look for a different way of viewing TV! 

Roy did some research and found the Winegard SK-1000 Traveler.  It’s now our new satellite dish and it tracks all three satellites at the same time.  It is more like a home satellite dish you’d have on a house.  He found it on eBay at a good price and bought it.  Since he installed it we have had several rainy days and we’ve not lost reception once!!!!!!!!  It’s subject to lose satellite during severe weather just like you would at home, it won’t be affected by the light rains we typically have.

We can still watch TV on the road if we need to by watching a show previously recorded by the DVR or just pop in a movie. 

The old one is now listed on eBay at a price close to what he paid for the new one.  Now we have the best available satellite dish on the market and Roy can tape things on different satellites to his heart’s content!

For someone else the in-motion might be just what they need but for us it was trial and error until we figured out what worked best for our needs.  I hope this will help some newbie RVers who are facing the same decision.  Roy would be glad to share even more knowledge about this if anyone has the need.  Give him a holler at roy@rchauvin.com! 

The resort hired a new couple to work with us for the months of August and September.  They will be our next door neighbors and we are really glad to get the additional help! Their names are Glen and Hazel and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about them in coming weeks!

Just got a weather bulletin to expect FROST tonight between 2 am and 7 am.  The lows over night will be in the 30s!  Yes it’s July 28th and we’re having frost!

Roy and I went wild blueberry picking today down the road from here.  We found that they grow around rocky places and were able to pick a cup full which is a lot considering how small the wild ones are.  We’ll cook them down in some sugar and eat them over our vanilla ice cream, yummy yum!  The next community blueberry pancake is next Sunday – can’t wait for that delicious meal!

Ya’ll come back now ya’ hear!