HELP - Need help with TV Coverage in truck

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
We have never had TV in any of our trucks and I did not know how to answer the question or even have thoughts on what works best in the truck.

What works well for team drivers when going down the road?

How expensive is TV in the truck?

Do antenas work anymore?

What are your thoughts on how best to set up a TV in the truck to be used for regular channels not just for DVD's?
 

witchywoman07

Seasoned Expediter
We have Direct TV stationary in all our trucks. We tried the "In Motion" but with all the thumping and bumping of a tractor they don't last too long. King Dome and Winegard make "In motion" domes for RVs that can be mounted on trucks. We just bought a Winegard for our straight truck and it was super easy to install. We have VuQube on all the tractors. Both DISH and Direct TV provide service. We have a "mobile" account for the truck with the premium package and then we just add receivers onto our account for the house and all the trucks at $10 per month +tax per receiver. This way all the trucks and the house have the premium package as well. The packages start around $49 +tax per month up to the premium package that we have is $159 per month with the east coast major network channels as well as all the movie channels. Antennas don't work going down the road very well. We have DVR receivers in the trucks so that the drivers can record programs while they are sleeping to watch going down the road. Hope this helps.
 

MaidMarion

Active Expediter
Our setup is similar to witchywoman's. We are using a stationary (only for use when sitting still) automatic (it finds the signal on its own--no aiming necessary) portable (not permanently mounted) antenna with a window mount. ($450.00) We have an HD Dish account for the house, and we added the receiver ($110.00) for the truck at $10 extra per month. Because the antenna is portable it must be stored when not in use. When it is in use, we use a cable lock to secure it to the truck.

We don't always feel like taking the time to set up the antenna if we're only going to be someplace overnight. (It only takes about 6 minutes, including climbing in the box to retrieve it, but sometimes we've just too tired, or it's pouring rain, or we have a super-early pick-up, etc.) In that case we try to find stations using our digital antenna, which is a dipole (long wire with center connection point) attached to the windshield. We find stations more often than we thought we would. Part of the trick of being successful with the dipole, we've found, is to park with the front of the truck aimed in the general direction of the nearest large town/city, preferably with no other trucks in front of us.

Our receiver is not a recorder. We have a fairly extensive BluRay library with us in the truck for those time when there's no reception, we don't feel like setting up the dish, or we're rolling. If you have unlimited internet in the truck, you could use a NetFlix or similar account to watch movies or shows.

The only other thing I'll mention is that we had to add a sound system to our tv to get good sound effects, especially for movies. We used a 5 speaker system designed for computers ($70.00).
 
Top