Satellite

[intyme13]

Looking into satellite tv antenna to mount on the roof of a Flying Cloud Does anyone have any experience with the Winegard Dish Traveler or any other roof mounted satellite?

[n2916s]

Well, I am going to try and talk you out of a fixed mount. With a fixed antenna, if there is an inconvenient tree in your way, you are out of luck. With my Kingquest 4100 and 50' of cable, I can wander about my campsite until I get a clear view of the satellite (I have a handy APP on my phone that guides me).

Just my 2 cents

[Al and Missy]

If you decide to go with a portable and want HDTV you will have to go with Dish. AFAIK there is no portable that will do HDTV on DirecTV. While SD is available now on DirecTV there are persistent rumors that they will cease broadcasting SD in the near future although some rumored deadlines have passed.


I have a Winegard Trav'ler for DirecTV. I really like it when I can park with a clear shot to the satellites. As a backup I carry a standard Slimline dish and a tripod. I read multiple places that it is hard to manually align an antenna with a SWM (single wire multi-switch) LNB (all the new DirecTV receivers require antennas with a SWM) and that the standard inexpensive pointing meters don't work with them. I think the part about the meters is true, but the part about manual alignment is not. I just get the Az, El, and Tilt numbers for the nearest zip code from my receiver, set the dish for Elevation and Tilt, turn on the receiver, go to the signal meters page set for the 101 satellite. I use a compass or an iPhone app to find the approximate location of the 101 satellite and point the dish, moving it a few degrees at a time. Once I find the 101, I change the meters to the 99 satellite and peak it up. It's not as easy as the Trav'ler but it works when the Trav'ler won't.

Unless you have satellite at home, you have another choice to make - DirecTV or Dish Network. I have had satellite at home for years with DirecTV so that's what I use on the trailer. If I didn't I'd probably go with Dish since they have an RV plan that you can turn on and off on a monthly basis. DirecTV only lets you turn off once a year (or maybe it's 6 months, I don't recall). As an added benefit the Dish Network antennas for HDTV are about half the price, or less, than the Trav'ler for DirecTV. I understand that with Dish Network there is a master receiver that controls which satellite the antenna points to. The other receiver(s) can only watch programming that is on that satellite.


If you decide to go with the Trav'ler, get the steel mounting plate. It can be securely mounted to the roof and provides a sturdy foundation for the Trav'ler.



Al

[neck101]

Putting aside the whole theft idea, which I admit is definitely a significant consideration, why not just get the Trav'ler and place it on the ground with a clear view of the satellites? Then it doesn't matter where you park your trailer.


You could secure it with a cable just as with any other portable dish antenna. Of course, as with anything valuable (like a generator), a determined thief can always find a way to bypass your security measures. And, unfortunately, that might be an expensive lesson to learn.

[Melchior]

Well I just had a not so pleasant experience with the Winegard company out of Burlington Iowa. My wife purchased a portable satellite antenna and Wally receiver and stand for Christmas. After I opened the box a couple days later I tried to fit it into our storage area in our Class B+ and it just didn't work like I would like so we decided to exchange or return it. I called the company and a very nice young lady helped me but told me it was beyond the 30 day exchange/return(Christmas present-dah)and got her manager involved who refused to allow a return. I also live in Iowa and offered to drive it back to their office to have the manager look at it before accepting the return. He declined. Not a very good customer relationship building experience for me at least so although I complemented the initial young lady, her manager really believes in the penny wise/pound foolish approach IMO so I will be less kind to his company. Be careful buying from Winegard--they appear not to have your back when the product leave the store. Their prerogative to not allow the return and my prerogative to discuss my experience.

[turk123]

We've owned a Dish Playmaker (surprisingly the best prices sometimes is at camper world) now for 3 years. I've had a lot of experience with the unit.

First of all, do not put it on your roof unless you always point your trailer North when you camp. The units have a handle that needs to point North. That is step one.

Secondly, the satellite includes 50 feet of coax. I've used all fifty feet sometimes trying to get out from under the trees or to find a hole in the trees to see the sky. That makes finding the satellites easier.

The Apple store (and Android) has a free app called SatFinder Lite. You hold it up to the sky and it shows the satellites. There are 3 satellites you need, 110,119 and 129. If you buy the duel dish (can be used with 2 receivers) you also can use 65. (read my thread about this elsewhere). If you buy SatFinder, it has some really nice features that make it a breeze to use (isolates only the satellites you are looking for).

Pro tip: Buy the black carry bag for the dish itself. It will also fit the tripod stand. Also, buy the stand! Most times the dish will work well on the level ground, but not as well as being elevated 3 feet (and not because it is closer to the satellites!). Has something to do with ground effects.

The stand is a PITA to pull out the legs. I just throw the legs extended in the back of the truck bed extended and ready to go.

Thirdly, use the SAT connector on the side of the Airstream to make the connection. Plug the SAT cable inside into the Wally. When setting the receiver up initially, CALL DISH! You cannot do this yourself. They have to activate your account. If you have Dish at home, it only costs $7.00/month for Wally's service. That is a great deal. During your initial setup, run the cable from the Dish through the door on your Airstream and to the receiver. Dish will ask if it is connected directly. Just do as they say, you can change this later once it is working. Sometimes the initial setup will not run and they will blame the connection outside.

You can get local channels wherever you go. If you have Dish at home, you cannot get the locals by using the Dish app. They say you can, but it does not work. A quick call to Dish, give them a zip code and you're done. Dish has very good service and will stay on the line for as long as it takes to correct a problem.

I've said enough.