MotoSat HD to RF Mogul

[John Laninga]

Our MotoSat HD has worked well for 5 years but I am concerned because I seem to have intermittent situations when I can't seem to find the satellite. And with MotoSat being out of business, I want to find a proactive solution. Now RF Mogul -- the "new" MotoSat -- has a kit to convert the old HD2 controller with a new one.

 

So I was wondering if anyone has bought the conversion kit for their old MotoSat dish? And did it work as expected? Did the RF Mogul controller work better? RF Mogul has GPS and my old MotoSat doesn't. But is it kind of pricey.

 

Thanks much.

 

== John

[Bill & Janet Adams]

Compare buying an expensive controller and connecting it to an old antenna to updating to a Winegard Trav'ler. This antenna has never needed a software update so the same antenna that was installed in 2008 is still working today!

I am also not sure the RF Mogul controller has GPS capabilities all by itself (would not work if in a cabinet). You may need a separate roof mounted GPS like MotoSAT sold separately in the past.

[ganto]

didn't they just go under or merge with another company . I know they ran off of hugesnet. I use a company called ground control it's not cheap but it's worth it while traveling. since they don't throttle you back or cut you off like. the bad side is they charge you more if you go over!! I had a friend that sold hugesnet and from what he was telling me is that they didn't have the bandwith or space to acomadate all of there subscribers so they cramed em all together and that's why people have all of these problems. heck if I really wanted to I could game on ground controls system if I wanted a big bill

[Falcon]

I replaced my dome with a auto seeking dish from RF Mogul. It's comparable with the Traveler. Just another option for you.

[Smitty77_7]

We're ready for our new dish early next year. RF Mogul or Traveler are the two we are looking at.

 

Still have not decided what we'll do between Dish and Direct. We like NFL games, so that leans us more towards Direct. Direct is being acquired by AT&T (if it happens), and not sure if that is good, bad or neutral change.

 

Have a few months to decide...

 

If the RV Mogul conversion kit is less $$ than a full new system, and it performs the same as new one - then why not:)!

 

Best, and please let us know what you end up doing,

Smitty

[Bill & Janet Adams]

There is no RF Mogul conversion kit. If you have an old MotoSAT TV antenna they have an $800 controller that will keep you old antenna working until it breaks but you will still have you old MotoSAT antenna and an $800 investment. Which ever choice you make I think you would be miles ahead spending that $800 toward a new antenna with a new warranty.

[John Laninga]

The problem with MotoSat has been their controller, not the dish. I am not aware of anyone having mechanical problems with the dish itself.

 

So when my MotoSAT Nomad controller went bad I had three choices:

 

$200: A refurbed MotoSAT controller with no guarantees;

$800: A new RF Mogul controller with guarantee and factory support,

$1,500: A new Trav'ler system (plus installation costs)

 

I went with the RF Mogul controller. Easy installation, and great factory support. It is a big improvement, it also has GPS for faster logons. And should the mechanics of the MotoSat dish ever go bad I can buy a new dish unit (only, without the controller, around $700) from RF Mogul so total costs so would still be under $1,500 worst case. And I could use the existing mount and wiring, making installation much simpler than a new Trav'ler.

 

== John

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I don't know about the wiring(RF Mogul lists a 12 wire control cable), but the mounts for a MotoSAT and an RF Mogul are not alike. Is there some sort of an adapter that would allow and RF Mogul antenna to use the MotoSAT mount in some form?

[John Laninga]

They use the same control cable but a different connector. Super easy changeover, completely color coded. Just needs a small screwdriver; took me maybe 10 minutes.

 

The RF Mogul dish uses a revised baseplate from the original MotoSAT. It is smaller, but AFAIK it retrofits to the old base with no problems. Just use the bolts to attach the new dish to the old mount, no drilling or other mods required.

 

From what I see, if you go from a MotoSAT to a Trav'ler you will have to make new penetrations in the roof, or at least remove the old cables and install the new ones. And you also have to remove the old base plate (leaving holes in the roof) and drill new holes.

 

Actually, I liked the Trav'ler when I had it on my old motor home so I have no bones to pick with it. I installed it myself so I am familiar with how it mounts. But my new MH came with a MotoSAT which has worked fine for 5 years, and with the new controller should be OK for many more.

 

== John

[Mike Simpson]

I'm not sure if this discussion regards a MotoSat TV system/antenna, or a MotoSat DATA antenna, like the XF-3 that I can proudly say I NO LONGER OWN!!!! Nothing made me happier than to see that MotoSat XF-3 pile-o-garbage being loaded into the back of a pickup truck destined for the nearest LARGE dumpster.

 

I now have an AVL .98 meter antenna, controller, and mechanism. We were able to re-use the 6 watt BUC, LNB, and X5 modem off the former system. But the horribly UN-reliable MotoSat XF-3 is now in a dumpster somewhere along I-20 near Odessa! Bud Burton and the fine folks at Mobil Satellite Technologies had several appointments here in Texas, and shipped me a re-furbed AVL system, then stopped by the house on the way to West Texas to install it. It took all of about 4 hours! I have nothing but GREAT things to say about Bud and his company!

 

Now I finally have a REAL system that works EVERY time. In the 3 years of owning the MotoSat XF-3, I used it a grand total on 19 days across 11 separate trips. It worked without probems exactly 4 times! Each the other times it had problems, ranging from complete motor/gear/chain/mechanical failure, to a polarity-reversed skew motor, to multiple sensor failures, a failed upper control board, a bad GPS receiver module...and the list just goes on and on and ON!

 

MotoSat going out of business can best be compared to a Samauri falling on his own sword. Good riddance!!!

[Big Greg]

Motosat TV dish with Nomad control discussion. Zero problems in almost 7 years. Greg

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I installed Mikes XF3 and MotoSAT sent the unit out knowing there might be a defective elevation chain installed. It lasted about a day before it came crashing down. MotoSAT was just lucky no one as up there at the time and it did not hit anything else up there. The unit was not repairable, I was no longer in the area and they had to ship in another unit and have someone else install and setup the unit. I don't believe that was done properly either and Mike suffered for many years. Glad to hear he has a working unit these days. It's not like it's important,,,,,,,It's only required for his business to operate!!!!!!

[Mike Simpson]

To be clear, I cast ZERO blame on any of this in Bill's direction. Bill did a very fine installation, it just the stuff he was installing was CRAP! By the way Bill, Bud was able to utilize the same mounting rails for the AVL...although I will cringe each time I see a 13' 6" bridge. The AVL does not stow in the same manner as the XF3 did...so I'm a solid 13' 5" to the highest spot now!!!

 

Oh well, if Willie can rip his antenna off the bus (several times, I'm told) I guess I can too!

 

Lastly, Bill...that part about MotoSat KNOWINGLY shipping the system with a defective elevation chain is new information to me. Just curious, when, how, etc. did that little tidbit come to light?

[Bill & Janet Adams]

They did not know, but they knew they had some bad chains. They told me they "thought" they had caught them all. That simply never tasted very good to me. That's why I said they shipped it knowing it "might" be defective. I just lost confidence with MotoSAT as time went by and stopped selling the big internet dishes and moved to Winegard for TV. The G74 was always a good system but I was glad to be done with that whole market by the time I joined Winegard as a trainer. I just wish I could have foreseen Winegard flushing my career and livelihood down the toilet 2 1/2 years later.

[StarDreamers.us]

Bill what do you have going? Good luck.

 

Safe Travels!

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I just found a new job where I will be able to continue to travel, just not quite as much. We left Tucson on Tuesday and made it 2200 miles to Detroit, MI by Sunday. We are now training to manage a self-storage facility. We will be taking over one here in Detroit and then once we get comfortable with running the facility they will hire our replacement, we will train them and then we will move on. They have 100's of units around the US but most are TX and East plus CA and WA. It's the next re-invention in my like and it appears to be an excellent company to work for based of the number of folks who have been with them 10+ year and the general attitude when you talk to the folks working there. Janet and I will both be working and managing and we park our RV on site. Pretty good gig. Thanks for asking!

[Smitty77_7]

I just found a new job where I will be able to continue to travel, just not quite as much. We left Tucson on Tuesday and made it 2200 miles to Detroit, MI by Sunday. We are now training to manage a self-storage facility. We will be taking over one here in Detroit and then once we get comfortable with running the facility they will hire our replacement, we will train them and then we will move on. They have 100's of units around the US but most are TX and East plus CA and WA. It's the next re-invention in my like and it appears to be an excellent company to work for based of the number of folks who have been with them 10+ year and the general attitude when you talk to the folks working there. Janet and I will both be working and managing and we park our RV on site. Pretty good gig. Thanks for asking!

 

Sounds like a good way to keep on traveling, make some income - and enjoy an early winter:)!

 

Hope it pans out well,

Smitty

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I am pretty sure it will pan out. We just finished day 4 of our 5 day training and the top of my head is blowing off a bit less each day. Today was pretty good, I will train one last day tomorrow at the site we will manage, take the weekend off and then run the site with just the 2 of us on Monday. Should be quite exciting!

[rdickinson]

My rig also has the Motosat anchor on the roof. I have been thru the RF Mogul site but still have some questions.

 

- Mine has a Nomad 3 controller.

What can or cannot be done? Refurbish? Replace?

Will it lock on or do I still have to watch for the signal to peak then stop?

 

Is it correct that some part of the roof mount dish and base can be salvaged? I'd hate to remove it plug some holes then have to make new holes. It's rather like filling thru hulls and making more below the waterline.

 

What have I missed or what are my options?

RF Mogul could provide answers but I thought I'd ask here first.

 

Thanks

Roger

[Bill & Janet Adams]

Your Nomad should still be working unless you are a Shaw Direct customer. That still requires you stop it when the signal is found and there appears to be no fix for that with MotoSAT gone. You could pay $800 for a controller made by RF Mogul but you would have invested $800 but have no warranty or support for the hardware on the roof.

Before I spent $800 on an old antenna I would be looking to replace the entire setup. My choice would be Winegard but RF Mogul is the only other option.

[rdickinson]

Thanks Bill,

Being in Canadia, it was with Shaw. They at that time had the biggest footprint. One of the other Sat providers gave little if any support to the point of shutting you down if they knew it was for an RV.

With RF Mogul, I can get a unit for about 1600 plus installation. Here in Canada it is $2800 plus installation.

I thought one of you indicated the roof mount assembly or part of it could be salvaged. I really dislike more holes in the roof.

Am I correct, if I got a new controller, the setup would work? Would it aim itself? All I need to do is wait for the signal to peak using the bar at the bottom of the screen then stop at that position?

Have I missed any steps?

Thanks

[Bill & Janet Adams]

I have no knowledge but a poster did say somewhere that they were able to mount the RF Mogul unit to the existing MotoSAT base plate. That actually makes good sense from a business stand point since the RF Mogul folks are the former MotoSAT folks.

[John Laninga]

Call RF Mogul and they will answer all your questions. They have one guy on support that understands MotoSat gear better than anyone... he trained their support staff before they went south. They can tell you about mounting but it is my impression the baseplate for the MotoSat can mount the RF Mogul. But ask them.

 

For me, it was simply rewiring a plug on the existing cable and plugging it in. Push the button and it finds the correct satellite, usually in under 4 minutes. Works great and was far cheaper than buying a different system with related mounting issues.

 

John

[rdickinson]

I will e-mail them this am but in the meantime are you suggesting the whole roof array can remain? Just replace a plug on the south end and the controller?

 

Thanks

[Bill & Janet Adams]

No, that's not the case. Only the long alum. base would remain and you would mount the RF Mogul unit to it. I don't get the wiring part since RF lists 12 wire control cable and the MotoSAT was 7 (or 9).