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Satellite TV From a Moving Car
An anonymous reader sent us an article about an in-car digital satellite television system. that can stay trained on the satellite even while moving. Of course, Most amusing is all the comments about how TV in cars is for passengers, because as we know, the drivers are too busy talking on their cell phones.
These are pretty common on RV's these days. I full time in a 1987 Bluebird Wanderlodge bus (both mobile office and home).
We installed a Tracstar SV360 9 months ago, one of the low-profile ones. This is supposed to be one of the better units.
They work ok... yes, signal skips under bridges.
I5 in southern Oregon is pretty much useless with mountain and tall trees next to the highway.
DirecTV requires you to point "toward Texas" for the bird, so northern states are much worse. And these dishes tend to be smaller, so clounds can hurt you too. Seattle is not a good place for this... steep angle to aim and clouds consipire against you.
I use the in-motion dish for "instant on" more than watching while cruising. It is nice to pull over at a rest area and be able to turn on the news for a few minutes.... since the in-motion always has signal lock, no need to wait to align like the lesser dishes.
When camping in wooded areas, you pretty much decide what your priority is. Nice woodeed spot or clear TV reception? Low tech is often better for camping. 100' of coax and a regular dish on a tripod is much better for camping... as you can always carry the dish out into a clear area. So having a fancy expensive in-motion system isn't always the best... it depends on your needs.