Switching To DISH

[cooperhawk]

its my understanding that it will require a call to get it turned on .... still debating which portable dome antenna to order .... hope to figure that out and order it next week .... do you have any concerns about using the voice activated remote .. .. I've heard stories that Google monitors the voice commands

Go to the APP store on your smart phone and download Dish My Way and My Dish. With these apps you can turn your receivers on and off whenever you want. Otherwise you can call them or use a Chat on their web site to do it.

We have thought about the remote monitoring us, but we're pretty boring and doubt there's much they'd gain by it.

[cooperhawk]

On the subject of monitoring, the second Monday of each month I travel to our local Cracker Barrel and have breakfast with several retirees I worked with. Yesterday I got in my car, plugged my phone in to charge, and the screen lit up and said "28 minutes to Cracker Barrel with no traffic delays". Now that's getting spooky.

[CT_Shooter]

If your phone is an Android, review and adjust the Location settings. You can always change them back if you need to. Though I don't actually know, the iPhone likely has similar settings.

https://support.google.com/accounts/ans ... 7281?hl=en

On the subject of monitoring, the second Monday of each month I travel to our local Cracker Barrel and have breakfast with several retirees I worked with. Yesterday I got in my car, plugged my phone in to charge, and the screen lit up and said "28 minutes to Cracker Barrel with no traffic delays". Now that's getting spooky.

[JEBar]

heck of a day technology wise for this old country boy .... DISH sent out a fellow who installed our system in the house .... he said he couldn't get up on the roof to attach the dish to our chimney where the one from Direct has been since day 1 .... he has set a temporary dish outside and said someone will be sent out to mount a permanent one on a pole .... all in all, he did a good job .... in addition, UPS delivered the Wally receiver for the camper .... it was hot out there while I removed the Direct equipment and hooked up the Wally .... the connections with our TV weren't anywhere close to being the same so considerable trial and error took place .... the good news is, its connected to the camper's dome dish .... the bad news is, we will have to move the camper away from the treeline to get a signal .... the Wally has been activated and I've been told as soon as we get signal, the system should be fully operational


as if that wasn't enough, a replacement electronic thermostat for our home Heat/Air system arrived ... per instructions I call for assistance with programing it .... took most of an hour .... shortly after getting off it started getting hot and I do mean hot in the house .... bottom line, the heat pump was blowing hot not cool air .... 20 minute wait to speak to another customer rep who proved to be a rookie .... put up with her for most of an hour and finally demanded to speak with a supervisor ... the guy proved to be outstanding .... again, bottom line, the replacement electronic thermostat proved to be defective .... it will not link up with the system's control but he was able to get it to run the AC .... it actually reached 90 in the house, now its down to 77 .... thought for a while that we were going to have to move back into the camper .... thankfully, that won't be necessary ....

[markiver54]

Trials and tribulations...I feel for Ya Jim, but sounds all too familiar...unfortunately.

[JEBar]

we are currently setup at Zooland Campground near Asheboro, NC .... lots of pine trees .... a good bit of open sky ... it took several minutes for our roof mounted Winegard CarryOut 2 to lock onto a signal .... I know almost nothing about the signal strength ratings of DISH .... I do know that our home system show a 7.5 to 8 .... the fellow that installed our home system said that was very good, most of the signals for the ones he has installed in larger towns are around 2.5 .... the signal strength we have right now is 2.8 and we have a good, very clear picture .... so far, it appears things are working ...

[CT_Shooter]

Glad to hear it's working. Unlike the old analog broadcast technology, even a relatively "weak", though consistent, digital A/V signal will provide all of the data necessary to fill the display screen and speakers.

[JEBar]

that certainly appears to be the case

[JEBar]

just finished another equipment activation .... that being an external hard drive for the Wally receiver .... doing so will give us the ability to store up to 100 hours of program recording .... as this is being typed we are recording "A Fist Full of Dollars" .... I'd say that is getting it off to a good start ..

[cooperhawk]

We have two 211s. One in the lounge and one in the bedroom. I have a hard drive on the lounge unit and we record programs when we aren't in the unit. Unfortunately they will not record and let you watch another channel at the same time.

I am setting up a "Chromecast" unit for use when we cannot get a satellite due to trees, ect. What that does is let you use Dish "Sling" to access your programs through cell phone towers using Dish Anywhere. Pretty slick.

Here's the one problem that solves. When traveling on short trips and you request "Locals" for your current location, your Hopper will not record at your home even if it's left on. Using the Chromecast I can access the locals over the cell tower without requesting Dish to change my service address.