King Quest Satellite

[Stuart W]

Ok make it 3 contacts with Winegard and 3 different answers, this one said “we have heard rumors from customers, but have no knowledge of anything changing with DTV service” BTW this was the “technical” department [emoji51]

[tnedator]

The big thing is anyone considering a purchase today should understand that if you buy an SD capable Direct dome, there is a very good chance it will become a boat anchor in a short time.

It's possible they will launch new sats for HD and put them in those two slots, but it could be Spanish language channels. Could be anything. Unless Direct relocates their satellite spectrum to make sure RVs (possibly planes) can receive in HD the channels they now get in SD, then it's either going to be nothing or some unknown subset of their total channels.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Ok make it 3 contacts with Winegard and 3 different answers, this one said “we have heard rumors from customers, but have no knowledge of anything changing with DTV service” BTW this was the “technical” department [emoji51]

Translation. We don't want to kill our sales by saying if SD is discontinued our product won't work.

[Stuart W]

Agreed that it’s a mess! I for one will just get a high definition dish as my back up, that way I’m covered, and it will take up less room

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Agreed that it’s a mess! I for one will just get a high definition dish as my back up, that way I’m covered, and it will take up less room

There are currently no portable high def dishes for DirecTV. The only option is the Winegard open face roof dish, and then another company that makes a similar open face roof dish.

I've not found any companies making a portable HD dish, unfortunately.

[tnedator]

For clarity (was on mobile phone) it's not that it's impossible to put a 5 LNB slimline HD dish on a tripod, but it's just that it has to be securely anchored so it doesn't move. It's a larger dish with more wind load, and far less tolerant because it's picking up something like 5 satellites rather than two like these domes.

Typically, people use $500 signal finders purpose made to tune in the sats, although there is a poor mans way of doing it with a regular signal meter, but it's far more complicated than an SD tripod setup, and you need to insure that the dish will not move at all, which is why for roof/wall mounts they have two support arms to keep the post from moving.

[Stuart W]

Originally Posted by tnedator

For clarity (was on mobile phone) it's not that it's impossible to put a 5 LNB slimline HD dish on a tripod, but it's just that it has to be securely anchored so it doesn't move. It's a larger dish with more wind load, and far less tolerant because it's picking up something like 5 satellites rather than two like these domes.

Typically, people use $500 signal finders purpose made to tune in the sats, although there is a poor mans way of doing it with a regular signal meter, but it's far more complicated than an SD tripod setup, and you need to insure that the dish will not move at all, which is why for roof/wall mounts they have two support arms to keep the post from moving.

Ok good to know, I used to do it with my old SD dish all of the time. And I have seen Tripod hi def kits for sale but have not used one

[Stuart W]

Ok here is the email response from Winegard, looks like we have some consistency now,
Stuart,

The answer provided via email is correct. Until DirecTV provides us with specific information on what they are doing next year we do not know if our systems will impacted. At this time we are only aware that they will no longer be support SD receivers. They have not advised us that SD broadcasting will go away all together.


Thank you,
Winegard Customer Support
800-288-8094/800-788-4417

[Stuart W]

Bottom line, don’t buy a satellite dome for DTV until this is sorted out!

[Bob_C]

What if all your programming comes from the 101 sat?

[Stuart W]

True but what if it doesn’t ?

[Stuart W]

At this point the worlds largest company of portable/mobile RV satellite systems, has to know what’s going on, and as tnedator said, they are choosing to not know because they want to continue to sell their dishes. I bet they have scaled back production.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Ok good to know, I used to do it with my old SD dish all of the time. And I have seen Tripod hi def kits for sale but have not used one

I've seen those kits as well. All I'll say is that it's not as quick or simple a process as SD, because the dish has to pick up mutiple satellites. You have to get it in the general direction, and then there are fine tuning bolts on the back that allow you to move the dish in micro increments.

The easiest way, but still reasonably complicated, is to use an expensive ($300-600) meter to tune in dish. Like this: https://www.solidsignal.com/pview.as...source=inhouse

I've also read, but haven't tried, a poor mans way of using the signal meter on the receiver itself. You do something like tune 101 to the best signal possible, then move it x number of clicks in one direction, x number in the other, compare some numbers and then do something else and that gets you reasonably close.

Whichever method you use, if that dish isn't securely attached to the ground, the first gust of wind will require you do do it all over again. It's no where near as forgiving to wind movement as the SD dish.

Bottom line, after seeing all of this and DTVs plans, I opted for the expensive open faced HD dish on my Ventana I just ordered (it was a last minute change just before the order was finished). Prior to that, I had just planned on using one of these Kings through an external Sat hookup.

Now I just have to hope for reasonably tree free RV spots.

[taratiffin]

Thanks for all the answers. I am the original poster and have decided to just wait and see what happens in the future. I might miss a football game or too this fall. Again thanks, Bill