Category Archives: Satellite Internet

Mobile Satellite Internet – Use Case

There are some mobile satellite applications like the “Tailgaiter” available from Dish.  However, one of our customers wrote us about his positive experience on a do it yourself basis…

Bruce writes,

“My wife and I shoot competitive trap during the summer.  We travel with our fifth wheel trailer to Ohio, Illinois, New York, West Virginia and throughout Pennsylvania.  We take our Dish Network receiver and our extra satellite dish to these shoots.  Once we have the trailer set up I take my tripod and make sure it is plumb and level and secured to the ground.  In the set up mode we can then determine the elevation and skew for the satellite dish.  I place the satellite dish on the tripod and slowly move it while it is pointing toward the south west.  If I don’t get any signal say at 26 degrees of elevation I will move it to 27 degrees and sweep the south west again.  Some times the information from may be off a degree or two but it doesn’t take long to find a signal.  At our Pennsylvania State Championships I have become known as the “satellite guy” if some one has trouble getting signal.  In fact I have a funny story about setting up a fellow shooters satellite.  He came to me and asked if I could move his tripod from one spot to another at his camp site.  We moved his tripod and with my 6 inch magnetic level we leveled and plumbed his tripod.  I picked up the satellite dish which he had already set for the correct elevation and skew and placed it on his tripod.  I then joked and told him he should have full signal.  We turned the TV on and the joke was on me because his signal strength was at 95%.  I then tightened the bolts and became an instant hero in his eyes.”

As you can see, a little mechanical aptitude and a minimal investment can provide you mobile satellite service that works…DIY Style.