Dish Satellite TV Systems, Questions

[pmclemore]

I've been a happy Dish customer for some years, with the VIP211z receiver and the PathwayX2 dish. (Note that it is not likely that your home receiver will work with portable dishes, as someone was trying earlier).

With the recent merger of Whoever and whomever, one of the whoevers owns both HBO and Directv. They are using this as leverage to freeze out Dish and HBO is no longer available on Dish. I talked with Dish support and it was indicated to me that there will not be a solution to this.

So, if HBO is important to you, you must find another way to receive it. You can get it by signing up for HBO NOW, but you need broadband - which is not that commonly available at a reasonable price on the road.

So, be cautious about your choice.

Pat

[Gene]

Jack, thanks for the information. I got a Tailgater almost two years ago and I think it can get HD and was around $300 (I think). It is a Wally receiver without recording. When the weather screws with the HD signal, I go to "guide" and can switch to SD that way since otherwise it takes forever to find it otherwise. But it seems the "HD" signal is somewhat downgraded compared to my home receiver. It seems I can get the HD signal on Dish, but it isn't quite that good. I have Samsung TV's in the trailer and they usually have really good picture quality (however, when I had another Samsung TV go bad immediately, Samsung did everything it could to avoid honoring the warranty—I gave up because the bad TV was cheap; I won't buy Samsung again).

I hate the remote for the Wally. My home receiver is pretty old and quite simple to use (it has HD on one side and SD on the other—with many splitters I can get TV in many rooms for free). My old remotes are much easier to use.

Thanks for the info on finding the satellites via an iPhone. Our antenna picks up the satellites pretty well even with some trees close by. I had the antenna mounted on the roof, but wish I hadn't because it cost too much to have it done. It is convenient, but if you have it on the ground, you can move it away from trees. I did not think this through very well.

If you call Dish and complaint a lot, they will reduce your bill for a while and give you things. I am getting Showtime for free, but it is a pale imitation of HBO. Dish is probably losing even more customers because of AT&T's refusal to deal fairly with Dish over HBO. People claimed that when AT&T bought Direct TV, HBO and other services would be denied to competitors. That is exactly what happened. Dish claims AT&T is requiring them to guarantee 2.5 million subscribers (I think) and Dish claims it cannot sell that much HBO. I used to get HBO for free because I asked for it when I complained and I suspect Dish is not telling the whole story because they probably had to guarantee subscribers before, but not so many, or they just refused this time. Satellite TV is a dying industry and Dish is going into streaming and satellite internet to make up for that (they bought Hughesnet years ago). Where we are, there is no cable and broadband is poor. America is way behind many countries in broadband and I don't see that changing soon. We have little choice and Dish seems better than Direct. We've had Dish for 19 years and that seems to get me better deals. I also don't want to learn new channel numbers.

I didn't know when you switch the locals when you travel, it changes at home too. I never gave bothered. Maybe I could tell them I am in Denver and get those channels. Local TV in Grand Junction is awful—the news people change all the time and seem to be college interns though the local stations claim otherwise. How do you find the area the beam covers? I think my Wally is new enough it could get all the eastern satellites too, but I've never been east of Colorado since I bought it.

Generally the Tailgater works pretty well except for the lousy remote. When I had it mounted, the dealer did not provide enough room around it and make it higher, so the AC and other roof stuff obstructed it. The dealer was adamant that was the best they could do. I took it to another shop. I made little "legs" out of 2" PVC and end caps for about $12 and had the other shop use them as shims, raising the antenna. Worked great.

[stevejones]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

Yes, your missing something! There is lots of information in this thread, if you go back to beginning, including other threads. Just did this myself. Your satellite connection to your Wally receiver (dish box), is located under your BlueRay disc player. you take the screws out of the deck the disk player sits in first. Use a credit card or something that size to slip under the Blue Ray player Velcro, and take the Blue Ray player out, slide the deck to the left or lift out, and underneath there is the satellite coax connection, marked as such. I simply disconnected the HDMI from the Blue Ray and connected it to the Wally...everything worked after I set up the tailgater and called Dish to help me set up...took about 20 min first time...no issues. If you want to use both Blue Ray and Wally receiver, you will need to get a "splitter" which is what I was asking about earlier...it will also need power to that splitter switch. Not rocket science...just takes a little thinking...

The satellite coax is supposed to be under the cabinet holding the BlueRay disk player. In our case it was not. After unscrewing and moving the cabinet to the side, I spent close to half an hour sorting through the rat's next of wires beneath this cabinet and could not find the coax wire. Surely it must be here I thought as I looked and looked. Finally I had to remove the screws to the triangular (sort of) panel giving access to the area behind the speaker. It took a flash light and a mirror and a lot of poking around to finally find the coax wire buried at the bottom of the other rat's next of wires that is back there. By the way, someone here said the coax is white. Mine was black. So if you can't find your satellite coax wire try looking in this area.

Steve

[Gene]

It is even more fun when somewhere in the wall the coax fails. For a year or two sometimes the signal was poor for a while at a CG, then it would be ok, and finally it quit. That pretty much told me the coax had broken in a wall, perhaps not well protected from being cut by something it was threaded through.

The choices are to remove panels until you find the break and repair it or run coax under or inside of things so it cannot be seen or scream and kick things. I do not recommend kicking, though screaming can help. I found I could run coax from the coax connector under the dinette table and under the seat cushions to the TV—this avoided the broken coax between those places. I was lucky. This was the coax receptacle with the jumper that was to be removed if a satellite receiver was used. It was an easy fix, but if I had a satellite receiver then, I'm not sure what I would have done.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by stevejones

The satellite coax is supposed to be under the cabinet holding the BlueRay disk player. In our case it was not. After unscrewing and moving the cabinet to the side, I spent close to half an hour sorting through the rat's next of wires beneath this cabinet and could not find the coax wire. Surely it must be here I thought as I looked and looked. Finally I had to remove the screws to the triangular (sort of) panel giving access to the area behind the speaker. It took a flash light and a mirror and a lot of poking around to finally find the coax wire buried at the bottom of the other rat's next of wires that is back there. By the way, someone here said the coax is white. Mine was black. So if you can't find your satellite coax wire try looking in this area.

Steve

Now that you mention it, my friend said he had to fish around behind the Clarion to find his HDMI connection; mine was right behind my Blueray.

[turk123]

We have had Dish for 3 years now. It has worked flawlessly. One note if it hasn't already been said here, calling for locals is a must if you have Dish also in your home. The Dish app and website will not work to change the locals. Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes.

We also did not have a SAT wire in the electronic cabinet when we looked for it. We have a 2019 classic 30. To find the wire you have to take the right side of the TV cabinet out and you will find it there. Too short to reach the electronic cabinet. Why too short? They ran the SAT through a harness under the dinette seat in the wrong direction and had to double back when going up the wall. It then becomes too short. You will need to add a three-foot extension to the wire and route up to the cabinet. This has happened to more Classics than just mine.

We have heard that Dish has improved upon their satellite antenna. If anyone has more details or can ploint to an article about it, I would appreciate it.

[Flathead1984]

I am new to this. I purchased the Winegard Traveler 4 antenna, and the Dish Wally and system (VERY expensive). So far, a non working system. Airsteam Tampa did the install, but I cannot see how to go between Satelight, Over the Air antenna, and Cable. No support, and the system is a mystery. We are on our first trip. Really love the Airstream, but the I find the support less than ideal. What should I expect for $90,000?
an unhappy camper.


Does anyone know a competent dealer or specialist that can fix this and make it easy to operate - ie go between systems? I am on my way back to PA. My closest dealer is Colonial, but there must be some independent services. All I need is a simple switch or change system. I just spent 2 hours in a campground in NC trying to figure out how to get it to recognize the cable. I know I am really technically challenged with this stuff, but I should not have to be a professional cable tech to operate.

[DoubleR]

Flathead1984 how are you connecting your dish to the Airstream? Normally you have to change the Source on your television to one of the HDMI sources. You might also have to switch the HDMI splitter. It’s hard to help without knowing your specific setup. Pictures might help. Once you know the steps, it’s pretty simple.

[Flathead1984]

I am new to this. I like to watch BIG 10 college football and golf tournaments. I will be traveling west for much of the summer. I spent big bucks to have the Winegard Traveler system installed with Dish Wally and DVR options. $$$$. I also have the standard OTA Airstream antenna, ATT CONNECT and cable for when I am in a camp that has cable. I am on my first trip in our FC 25.

The satelight does not connect, I cannot seem to be able to change to cable, the over the air has no reception, and limited ATT Connect. Boy, and I am frustrated.

I had DISH Support on the phone a few weeks ago, and after an hour, I had the satelight system working. But then it sat for 3 weeks. When I hit the road, it would not connect. Even when I had a clear view of the SW sky.

If I was to do this again, I would skip the sate light system and live with the stock system. Maybe buy extra magazine subscriptions.

Since I am in deep with the TV system, I want to figure this out. I am searching for a independent outfit that can help me make this work. Something like a switch system so I can (easily) go between sources. Not a box full of remotes and confusing instructions (FAQ), or rewiring the box everything I need to change. If anyone knows a good Airstream dealer in NY/NY/PA, I will give them a try. Or a private tech who can modify (fix) my system. My dealer in Tampa is did not give me much instruction. It may be my fault, but with what I paid, they should come to my house and make dinner while giving me instructions. They assume I should know this stuff. I do not, obviously.

I hate to sound so negative, since I do love our Airstream, but I expected service that matched the price.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by Flathead1984

I am new to this. I purchased the Winegard Traveler 4 antenna, and the Dish Wally and system (VERY expensive). So far, a non working system. Airsteam Tampa did the install, but I cannot see how to go between Satelight, Over the Air antenna, and Cable. No support, and the system is a mystery. We are on our first trip. Really love the Airstream, but the I find the support less than ideal. What should I expect for $90,000?
an unhappy camper.


Does anyone know a competent dealer or specialist that can fix this and make it easy to operate - ie go between systems? I am on my way back to PA. My closest dealer is Colonial, but there must be some independent services. All I need is a simple switch or change system. I just spent 2 hours in a campground in NC trying to figure out how to get it to recognize the cable. I know I am really technically challenged with this stuff, but I should not have to be a professional cable tech to operate.

Did you switch the button switch? Mine is under the table...it switches between antenna/cable, and satellite. Can be frustrating if you don't remember to push that button.

[Gene]

I agree the setup can be confusing. You can't be sure the dealer did it right, but if it worked once, it can work again (hopefully). When you find someone who understands it, make sure they walk you through it so you can fix it if you have to. The Wally is hardly the best receiver and remote I have used, but it will work eventually.

When you get frustrated, unplug yourself for 30 seconds to adjust your attitude.