Dumb noobie questions about Wally/dish setup....

River Rat · December 13, 2019

Hello everyone! Now that you know I'm new and don't have a clue, let's proceed, and I'll try to be brief. I recently had Dish send me a Wally to connect to a 1000.4 EA antenna that I have attached to a tripod. I intended to use this set up for my fishing camp and hopefully an RV when we retire soon. There is absolutely nothing blocking the signals at the camp, as it has a completely clear view of the entire southeastern sky. I installed the Wally following the on-screen instructions, and after very little effort, was able to secure signal from satellite 72.7 and watch the channels coming from it. I continued to try and tweak the dish to capture watchable signal from satellites 61.5 and 77 to no avail. So here is the dumb part: I show when I switch the Wally between satellites (in the diagnostics menu) that I have signal from 61.5 and 77, usually around 50-55, just like 72.7. Yet 72.7 is the only one that will "lock on" to the signal. The other two show red "x" in the switch boxes and refuse to do anything. I was told I did not need a separate switch to route the cable through by both Dish and the folks I bought the 1000.4 from. Is this correct? Am I just not getting enough signal? Did I do something wrong in setup of the Wally or dish? Is it just antenna aim and I don't know what I'm doing? Told you I didn't have a clue, I could use some help! Thanks in advance!

chindog · December 13, 2019

I don't know if this will help or not since I have different hardware, but on my Winegard Pathway X2 satellite dish, it has two outputs. (It is a single satellite at a time dish). If I hook up cables to both outputs, and connect one receiver to cable A and another receiver to cable B, and go through the setup for 2 receivers, it only looks at 72.7. If I do the setup for only 1 receiver, it will pull in all 3 satellites.

Perhaps there is something in your setup that is similar that is causing your receivers to ignore the other 2 satellites.

Dutch_12078 · December 14, 2019

Have you run a "Test switch" with the 1000.4 connected?

River Rat · December 16, 2019

On 12/13/2019 at 6:33 PM, Dutch_12078 said:

Have you run a "Test switch" with the 1000.4 connected?

Multiple times. Went through this with the Dish people over and over and never got any results.

Solo18 · December 24, 2019

I bought a new Wally this past summer. Then I discovered that my 7-year-old satellite would not work well with it, so I spent $250 on a new Dish Playmaker for $249. You may need to do the same. Installation added to my cost, but that is because I wanted mine installed on my roof because I live full-time in my motorhome. If you are only going to be traveling for 7 months out of the year, you could consider this same satellite but on a tripod. You can take it to your home with you when you are not traveling and sit it on a tripod there or install it temporarily on your roof with a special mount. The Wally is easy to remove, and it can become your home satellite receiver for part of the year.

In other words, with the new Dish equipment, you can go from home to RV to anywhere you can get power and use the same equipment. You could also just leave the Wally and Playmaker in your RV and turn it off for the time you are not using it since Dish does not require a contract.

And there is also an app you can use to set the local channels to wherever you are. Or just call the DISH technicians who will do it for you. They never complain even if I call them every day for a week while I am headed somewhere.

masterdrago · February 5, 2020

I had similar issues when I set up my Dish 1000.2 w/DPP and a pair of Wally receivers in my 5r on my home account. I finally discovered that setting the markers for the Skew and Altitude were not where I thought they were. The precision with which it has to be pointed is extremely touchy. I even went to the trouble to modify my tripod. A good compass helps but the phone app Dish Pointer works well if you are away from metal that can interfere. It was a huge battle getting over the learning curve. The Dish tech guys were very patient and helpful.

I thought the elevation pointer was the center of the bolt, but it is not.

The skew pointer was a little V-cut so was more obvious.

Another thing that helps is to reboot the receiver after you think the dish is pointed correctly. In my case with two receivers, I had to use dual messenger coax from the DPP to the two inputs in my convenience center to feed the two receivers.

Greg0711 · May 20, 2022

I am about to install new Wally equipment in my RV. Can I connect two Wally receivers to one satellite? I have a Dish signal separator that was on my old system. There is only one coax that goes to the main TV, but another coax that goes to TV #2.

durangodon · May 20, 2022

55 minutes ago, Greg0711 said:

I am about to install new Wally equipment in my RV. Can I connect two Wally receivers to one satellite? I have a Dish signal separator that was on my old system. There is only one coax that goes to the main TV, but another coax that goes to TV #2.

There are millions of receivers (including Wallys) connected to each satellite. Two more won't hurt anything.

Dutch_12078 · May 21, 2022

6 hours ago, Greg0711 said:

I am about to install new Wally equipment in my RV. Can I connect two Wally receivers to one satellite? I have a Dish signal separator that was on my old system. There is only one coax that goes to the main TV, but another coax that goes to TV #2.

Which dish are you using?