Does anyone have thier service address in Phoenix Az? If so do you know how far away you can get your locals? We are in Yuma and will be in Tucson Phoenix and Quartsite for a couple of mos, and don't want change the address a bunch.
We have DISH, and all we do is give them a call when we change venues that are out of our local stations. In your plans, you could either get Phoenix or Tucson by giving them a call, I would think.
Just call DirecTV and talk to Customer Service for the Travelers section and give then them the address where you are staying. They can make that your local address for a period of time without needing to change your billing address.
The major metropolitan areas usually have a pretty wide spot beam but the further away you get the sketchier the signal gets. I'd leave the service address as Phoenix and then change it if the service becomes unacceptable for your current location. You can always just change it back to the Phoenix address when you get to a new location to see if the signal is any better there. If not change it to your current location and try your Phoenix at the next location. My bet is that all of AZ will be covered by Phoenix stations.
see ya
ken
I get all of my local Los Angeles stations when I go to Phoenix for the race. East about 400 Mi. away. Same when I go to the Sierra's 375 Mi. north. Can't go west, ocean. Can't go south, don't speak the language.
@craneman,
IIRC LA & New York are nationwide markets. Phoenix is not so it's range will depend on how wide the spot beam from the satellite is.
see ya
ken
I'd talked with a guy from Toronto down here, that had his DISH/DIRECT sat configured to just get Toronto local news. Sure would be cool to just punch in a zip code and get local news! ^.^d
Geez, Mike!! Don't give them any "fancy" ideas as that might be too complex and marketable for them to comprehend and implement!!
Yaa, and as I was posting that, I thought, "I already pay more than enough for sat t.v., do I want a "roaming charge", as well? "
I get KTLA and all the other locals at those locations also.
DirecTV won't say much about how big their "spots" are. Phoenix works in Parker, Prescott, Grand Canyon, Tuscon and most in that range. The Twin Cities have a range of almost 200 miles. Don't assume you have to change service address until you know you do.
You lose the Houston channels in Austin, about 160 miles, even less when moving southwest.
Just changed the zip to a Phoenix area code we are getting locals in Yuma 👍🌵
I think each area is different, it depends on what other big markets are nearby. When you don't get what you were getting anymore change. We got Phoenix at the Grand Canyon. Just north of there it went to Salt Lake City. I am sure the spots are smaller in highly populated areas.
My recollection is that we had Tucson locals in Phoenix, Quartzsite, Yuma and of course Tucson. Oops, we have Dish but it may be the same for Direct.
I was an Home and RV sat installer for years.Big dishes, and small ones.Then became a Foretarvel Tech for 3 years after the little dish came out, because it wasn't fun or profitable any more. Now I am a Foretravel owner 36' 97 U295. Anyway. We have an in-motion sat with Directv and 2 receivers. Switching zips is a hassle with Directv. We registered our receivers to our motorhome 8 years ago. Then we would turn on the LA nets for an additional $18.00 for 3 months. Last year we spend 1.5 hours on the phone the 1st time, after 1/2 hr of live chat, Finally to give up. After spending another 1 1/2 hours the next day, only to get intro an argument with the guy. He said we never did that before, I said look at your computer, we have done this for 8 years.I told him I was going down and buy a dish system, because we are not in contract, which didn't seem to bother him even though we had been with Directv for 15 years. After talking to a supervisor, it took another 1/2 hour, but we finally got them turned on. He told us, unless you leave them on year round, you have to go through the whole process all over. Takes 2 weeks, and you can't email the info.You just have to go through the loops, sending them a form with a copy of your registration.We pay the extra $18.00, and get both Spokane (within 300 miles of home), and LA always. My wife loves football, so now we get 2 different extra games. Cheaper then the NFL ticket. It ticks me off, but the enjoyment for my wife isn't worth fighting with them over.They have you by the short hairs anyway.The LA nets broadcast on the same sat (101) as all the other crappy programming you pay a fortune for, but they come in anywhere in the USA. Cheers
We have a Directv Mobile account. The cust service number I use is 800-769-4635. I always let them know this is a mobile account and ask if this is DirecTV for RVs? To switch to a new service address they want a valid street address and zip code. It can be Walmart. This tells them which spot signal to use and they send a signal to the sat and it changes which spot your receiver will see. It usually takes only a few minutes. Your local guide will refresh and the new local channels will be available. I usually keep,them on line until it changes. About one time in ten I have to call back to get them to do it again, the signal did not make it to the sat or they never sent it. They save these addresses so if you are back in Pheonix, for example, and you tell them you are in Phoenix they can use the last address you told them.
If we are moving frequently and want to see local news or something we will just crank up the OTA ant and see what we get.
I do the same Roger and am very happy with DirecTv. I have some friends that either do not know how to do this or accept what they have and live with it and wush it better. However, i have learned that it is important that I have the RV agreement...a few times I was not getting what I needed done until I explained that.
And further, at times I have had to remind them that because of this agreement, i can disconnect up to six months per year, not simply twice. Cuts cost enough to keep us.
We have this only in the RV, not in the house, so if not using the RV, we do not need or want it on.
Thanks for the # Roger. We do a fair amount of dry camping in BLM areas, so OTA Tv is usually not working. I try to keep a zip code for a larger city they seem to work better. Had it in Portland over the summer it worked in Oregon, all of Washington, and western Idaho. Best of all no sales tax.
The LA nets are on the same sat (101) as all the other programming. You will get them anywhere in the US
Thanks Rodger for the DTV 800 number and the info. If we need to call them, I will try that number.I believe you have a mobile account on one receiver which you use when you travel. And another account for your home. At least that is the way it use to work. My understanding is, this program with DTV requires a second full price subscription on the RV receiver.
We travel to race tracks in the summer, so we use our DTV a lot in the RV. I pull the one basic receiver out of the RV when at home, and leave it set on the music channels in my shop 24/7. That way it also doesn't loose authorization.
What we have is, our 3 receivers are registered to our motorhome (we only take 2 with us). We can then purchase the networks separately via the "distant network" program, because our home zip gives us only Spokane nets.
Here is something we have, that many don't know about. We have a Directv AM-21 off air tuner. Some Dishnet receivers have this feature built in.This small box, integrates into our DTV Tivo via USB connection, it also works with most newer DTV receivers. When we get to a location that has local channels via off air, we go into the receiver menus (it integrates into the satellite setup menus ), put in the zip where we are at, then run a scan. It programs any locals in, adds them to the sat receiver guide, just as they are satellite channels. They look exactly like sat channels, you can pause them, record them, even get a season pass for ones you want to record. In the setup menu's, there is even a signal strength meter to peak the locals, similar to the satellite meter.
In many area's there are other off air channels like "this" and "My TV", which have lots of great older programming, which in my humble opinion far exceed's some of DTV's programming.Especially if you are old like me!
I tried to setup an local ant. at our home, so we could receive Spokane Via the box, then switch our zip to LA. That way we wouldn't have to pay the extra $18.00. But we can't get all the locals because we sit in a black hole. But we do get "My TV", and "This TV", which gives us some more really good programming choices.We watch and record many old show's that are not on DTV.
Our in-motion dome does not receive in HD, but we like it anyway because we love listening to the radio channels while traveling. We also listen to the news.My wife can watch her sports games also. But the Off air box displays and records in HD, as long as the channel is broadcast in HD. So we end up watching most locals that way.
Hope this info is helpful to many.As I mentioned before, I installed maybe 200 RV satellites, so it's a passion with me. Because it has become so confusing to many, I quit installing, but still do RV repair during the summer months. My claim to fame was, I installed a 5' Moto-Sat 'C' Band onto Michel Douglas's coach when he was filming "Basic Instinct " in San Francisco. That was a fun time.He is a Lakers fan, so he wanted his Lakers games while filming.
Happy RVing...Chris
If local news is not important or if you have an OTA antenna, one can give Directv a New York City or Los Angeles physical address. These two address are not spot beamed and are visible all across the USA.
Oh, no wonder why I am always baffled when someone can't see their local channels when traveling too far away from home. I'm always able to see local channels, even 1500 miles away from home. I guess it's lucky to have a physical address close to Los Angeles.
Thanks for this info!
Yup, and your dish doesn't have to switch satellites to view them.Some Texas and Florida channels are on 101 also