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Advice for new satellite set-up


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I am needing some advice on a new satellite system. I had Dish about 5 years ago but cancelled it. We have been fortunate enough the last few years that we could get cable in the parks we stayed in but not the case any longer. I would like a basic, easy set-up, with 2 tvs, possibly 3. No DVR is needed.

Thanks!

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If you will be using the service full time then either service is an excellent choice. If you want service 6 months a year or less then you should go with Dish and their Pay as you Go service. 6 months or more then either service will allow you to suspend your service up to 6 months per year and you can sign a contract and get your equipment free.

Will you still have a home base or are you full timing?

How often do you plan to move?

Do you want a roof mounted antenna or something portable to set on the ground (cheaper and good if you like to camp in the trees)?

Do you want to point the antenna yourself or would you want one that would point itself automatically at each new location?

Do you want HD service?

Bill Adams
Full timer since 1997

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So, if you want a portable automatic antenna then you need to make one more decision. Do you want/need HD service as well? If so, you must go with Dish Network as the DirecTV HD service will not work with the dome type antennas. However, if you only move 2-3 times per year, who cares if it takes 30-60 minutes to setup and you could buy a standard size antenna, put it on a tripod and have all the features you would have at home from either service. At that point I would recommend DirecTV over Dish but it's really a coin toss. You would need to review pricing and services to see what makes the most sense for you and then buy the appropriate setup.

Bill Adams
Full timer since 1997

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We were very happy with Dish while we were sitting still. However, when we move and change locals it is a NIGHTMARES! 90% of the time I have to call back because they didn't change my locals. Sometimes they change my billing address by mistake. I even give the the "special" phrase "please manually change my local tags" and it's still screwed up.

 

Even if by accident it is done correctly, or after my second or third phone all, then the recording schedule is messed up. I even changed to Dish Pass so that it would automaticLly look for a program on any channel rather than on a specific channel since I thought this would eliminate the problem. Wrong! It won't reset until 3AM the next day. And when I try to manually set up recording I keep getting a message that I've exceeded my number of recordings since it looks for the program on all channels. Many times a local is shown on two or three channels so the DVR schedules it to record on ALL the stations. Luckily once it starts to record it only records one copy but since 2 or 3 are on the schedule your number of available recording spots is significantly decreased.

 

Having an East coast or West coast option would eliminate these issues since the locals would always remain the same just like your

HBO or TNT. However Dish no longer offers this and the 3rd party company they used went out of business. The FCC has decreed that they CAN offer this but they don't. If I had know this I would have gotten a Directv satelite.

 

Since we do move quite often during the late spring, summer and fall I am seriously considering spending the money to go with Directv. The money I save from wine consumption after talking to Dish to change my locals will pay for the new dish.

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This was covered recently and you seem to be in the minority on having problem with changing Service Addrees. No need to rehash, go read the thread.

 

We don't have the problem with the situation that DNS would solve, changing channel numbers. We have a Dish Hopper which records the four broadcast channels, no matter where they are, automatically. There are many benefits to having a Hopper.

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We have Tailgator with Dish. It does provide HD, but it only works with 1 TV at a time, and DVR capabilities are extra.

That being said, ours crapped out today,

so WIll I buy another, probably, but time to read some other threads first.

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I used a Wineguard Carryout with Dish for a couple of years but it recently died. I opted to get a manual 1000.2 dish and am still learning it. Once I get the satellites, though, I'm quite happy with the service. I'm able to watch one/record another or record two different shows at once again - something I couldn't do with the Carryout.

 

I can tell you that I've never had any problem changing locals with Dish. I wrote a short text file that contains all the needed information. I just edit that file to update the local address and do a copy/paste into a text chat session with their tech support. In a few minutes my locals are updated. I generally have to reboot the receiver to get the schedule to update and I'm in business.

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I would like a basic, easy set-up, with 2 tvs, possibly 3. No DVR is needed.

 

I suggest the Winegard Pathway X2.

 

While it doesn't have all the capabilities of a rooftop Winegard Travler or an open-faced portable dish, the Pathway X2 is an automatic dish (i.e., it aims itself) that allows you to connect 2 receivers (211, 211k, 211z, or 411) + the X2 is able to acquire both the Western Arc sats (110, 119, 129) and the Eastern Arc sats (61.5, 72.7, 77).

 

The ability to get both the Western & Eastern Arc sats increases your chances of receiving DISH programming. Note that the Tailgater only connects to a single receiver and can only acquire the Western Arc sats.

 

 

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Zulu, I've used both outputs on the carryout since I bought it in 2009. What has changed?? You still have to be on the same sat in order to use a second TV

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This was covered recently and you seem to be in the minority on having problem with changing Service Addrees. No need to rehash, go read the thread.

 

We don't have the problem with the situation that DNS would solve, changing channel numbers. We have a Dish Hopper which records the four broadcast channels, no matter where they are, automatically. There are many benefits to having a Hopper.

Hopper? Which Dish told me they won't install in an a RV?

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If you read this Forum, you will find several RVs with Hoppers. Not that I want to say that the typical Dish CSR may not know everything, but it does happen from time to time.

 

Since I had one of the very early Hoppers, I got mine through a local Dish retailer. Doesn't cost anymore and you get your Hopper.

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  • 6 months later...

There is works and then there is works well.

 

Any dome dish has only a single LNBF (white button on the arm). As such you are limited to receiving programing from one satellite at a time. This is highly restrictive to the use of a DVR receiver where often to want to watch one satellite and record from another.

 

At least with Dish TV, the KING dome can be programmed to see all three Dish satellites (assuming a recent firmware level) with SD and HD programming. With DirecTV, you would be limited to just one satellite which will have almost all of DirecTV SD programming and no HD programming.

 

If you are using a single tuner receiver, the KING domes works.

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Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
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Hopper? Which Dish told me they won't install in an a RV?

 

We have a Dish Hopper, a Joey, and a 211K on board, using a tripod mounted 1000.4 dish that I configure for the eastern or western arc as needed. All of our Dish equipment is purchased, not leased, and is activated on our Flex pay as you go account instead of being tied into a two-year contract. We went that route when three Dish dealers declined to do an RV installation.

 

I use a pre-written text file to change the locals using the customer service chat system, and it's rare that they don't get it right the first time. The EPG typically updates in about ten minutes, and usually quicker than that. I've changed locals as often as daily using that system.

Dutch
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the Pathway X2 has two coax connections but each TV must be tuned to a station on the same sat and you will need two receivers. the Pathway X2 I have been told can only use a 211z or 211k receiver and cannot use the hopper. If you get the 211k you can run a coax from the receiver to another TV without the need for a second (or third) receiver but the additional TV will only be able to receive the same station the the 211k is tuned to since it isn't slave connection. Either the z or the k can hook up to a external hard drive DVR via a usb connection. If you must have the hopper you must use another dish other than the Pathway X2. My son who is a installer for Cox Cable told me that the vibrations going down the road can ruin the internal hard drive of a hopper so you should take precautions for this.

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The Hopper doesn't work with King domes. King uses an obsolete antenna switch emulator that the Hopper doesn't support. Single tuner receivers, some which can be turned into DVRs are the the most practical solution for Kingdomes.

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the Pathway X2 has two coax connections but each TV must be tuned to a station on the same sat and you will need two receivers. the Pathway X2 I have been told can only use a 211z or 211k receiver and cannot use the hopper. If you get the 211k you can run a coax from the receiver to another TV without the need for a second (or third) receiver but the additional TV will only be able to receive the same station the the 211k is tuned to since it isn't slave connection. Either the z or the k can hook up to a external hard drive DVR via a usb connection. If you must have the hopper you must use another dish other than the Pathway X2. My son who is a installer for Cox Cable told me that the vibrations going down the road can ruin the internal hard drive of a hopper so you should take precautions for this.

 

I'm getting ready to full time. Waiting for the Stick and bricks sale to close. So if I'm reading you right. I was looking at buying the Pathway x2 http://www.winegard.com/pathway/pathway-x2/ And going with a dish hopper DRV. But you are saying that it will not work and that there hopper is fragile that it would break just from driving down the road. I just wanted to make sure that I got that right as I would have to spend hundreds just to see that it would not work and just be wasted.

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But you are saying that it will not work and that there hopper is fragile that it would break just from driving down the road.

We have been on the road 9 years and have had a DVR the entire time. We have had a Hopper since it was released in 2012. We have yet to have a disk problem with the Hopper or the desktop PC. We use a PC in the truck mounted to the engine cover, no special springs.

 

I keep hearing about this "problem" of disk drives in RVs and have yet to see an example.

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Joey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel Supreme
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I was looking at buying the Pathway x2 http://www.winegard....way/pathway-x2/ And going with a dish hopper DRV

 

Having put up a ground tripod dish for TV and Internet for 6-1/2 years nightly. Yes just even for a one night stop. I recommend in getting a good ground tripod setup. A tripod from TV4RV.com. A good meter: Ex: Accutrac 22 Pro, Accutrac III, First Strike FS1. An Align-A-Site.

 

With either a DPP1000.2 or a DPP 1000.4 dish, LNBF heads for either the WA (119, 110, 129) or the EA (72.7, 61.5).

 

With good tools, setup time is minutes.

 

The whole thing will cost less than a ground dome and you will have a full functioning triple-headed dish that will allow the Hopper to do its jobs well by accessing all satellites at once.

 

Buy and carry good RG6 cable. Look for 3GHz sweep solid copper core wire. Most cable out there is copper clad iron. Use Dual RG6 instead of single wire. The dish can be farther from the RV when in heavy trees. I have gone 200'.

 

2-1/2 years ago we bought a Winegard Trav'ler and got spoiled with driving in and turning on the automatic dish. But we still put up the ground tripod 2-3 times a years because of trees or other obstructions.

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Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
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Good information. I have an old Direct TV box that is mine, from the old days when you could still own your own box. Question will these boxes still work today? I read somewhere that I may need to order a new card for the box. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

 

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Buy and carry good RG6 cable. Look for 3GHz sweep solid copper core wire. Most cable out there is copper clad iron. Use Dual RG6 instead of single wire.

 

I think I used Skyline Dual RG6 -- I know 500' seems like a lot, but it goes fast.

 

Note that you'll have to attach your own connectors. I use Belden Snap-N-Seal. Just make sure you get the right kind. For example, for Quad-shielded cable, get Quad Shield Connectors. Otherwise, you may have problems getting the connectors on.

SKP #79313 / Full-Timing / 2001 National RV Sea View / 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
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When you but compression connectors (the only kind to buy) get a bulk pack of 25 or more. Just like the cable and satellite installers, when in doubt, replace the connectors. I carry two colors so I can tag the ends of the dual RJ6. It was inportant for satellite internet, not so much for satelloye TV.

 

Replacing the connectors also exposes a new conductor surface, even copper does get surface aging.

 

Get a RJ6 stripper and the Compression tool for the connectors too. Small cost for tools that make life a whole lot easier.

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Mark & Dale
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Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
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www.dmbruss.com

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