Community Forums

Jeff426 · 05-03-2019, 08:02 AM

Good Morning Everyone,

Wanted some input on Portable Satellite Antennas? We’ve been considering Satellite TV for a little while. Dish seems to work the best to us as their setup for fulltimers and RVers in general. King / Winegard?
What about the setup? Some other Fulltiming friends said that if they had to do it over again, a portable dish would have been the way to go?
Thank you in Advance

Jeff and Lynn

reubenray · 05-03-2019, 08:17 AM

https://www.tv4rv.com/sunshop/

Look for the combo tripod and then the dish setup, unless you want the automatic models.

kvm1970 · 05-03-2019, 09:36 AM

Been using Dish portable satellite since 04. Really works well for us.just get a 100ft line and you can set it up almost anywhere

450Donn · 05-03-2019, 09:43 AM

With Dish any of the portable automatic domes is jusy fine. The advantage is you have very little setup. Personally, I would avoid anything from Winegard. I have had too many bad experiences with the Winegard Travler, which is not a portable dome. But with a bad taste in my mouth Winegard is not on my go to list.

bobbelcher · 05-03-2019, 09:44 AM

Back when I had dish, I just used dish anywhere which was an app you could download to your phone and or firestick and stream your content from there. not needing a dish to haul around and set up. but that also required having a good internet signal as well. I also do not know if that requires you to have a dish set up somewhere permanently or if you can just pay to have dish anywhere but that was the setup i liked most when i had dish. Now I don't have any sat and just stream tv using the firestick and save myself a ton of money a month.

TechWriter · 05-03-2019, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff426

Some other Fulltiming friends said that if they had to do it over again, a portable dish would have been the way to go?

There are two kinds of portables: manual & automatic.

Manuals are an open-faced dish on a tripod that have to be manually aimed which can be a PITA. However, any DISH receiver can be used with one of these multi-LNB dishes.

Automatics include the Tailgater, Pathway X1 & X2, etc. Only single-tuner DISH receivers (Wally, 211) should be used with automatics.

I use a rooftop automatic Winegard Travler which supports any DISH receiver, including the Hopper 3. I carry a tripod & open-faced dish for those tmes I'm under trees, but I would never want to solely rely on just a tripod system. Too much hassle.

Jeff426 · 05-03-2019, 09:49 AM

Awesome responses and thank you so much! It seems Dish has made the commitment to the Rvers so that will be our go to provider. I’m leaning towards the King and away from Winegard for now!

SteveNSue · 05-03-2019, 09:50 AM

We have the Dish portable and are currently using it while we are away from home. We have Dish at home and for $7 extra we get the Dish satellite service. We have the small dish hooked up at home as an extra service and move it to the RV when traveling.

Also found out that you can get local channels when traveling by calling Dish customer service and have your "home" address set to the area you are in. We just hooked the receiver into the TV and placed the antenna on the roof of the RV with the cable strung through the driver's side door so we don't forget to take it down before moving. If you are in a campground with no clear sky views you will diffidently need a long cable.

Jeff426 · 05-03-2019, 09:51 AM

One other setup question? I’m assuming that the Satellite antenna plugs into to jack in the electrical power space? Is that correct?
Thanks very much

Jeff and Lynn

BillJinOR · 05-03-2019, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff426

One other setup question? I’m assuming that the Satellite antenna plugs into to jack in the electrical power space? Is that correct?
Thanks very much

Jeff and Lynn

If the jack goes directly to the wally/211 tuner yes. But in most cases the "cable in" located in the bay wont work as it goes through the power inserter switching for the roof ota. The cable MUST be a direct feed.
I would also consider a couple of the newer portable models that also can recieve the eastern satellites. It gives you options in the east if you travel there
If you have room a Pathway x2 has a large (largest) dish for great reception and does the EA sat's if needed I notice King DTP 4900 pro .... , and others now do this

Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43' · 05-03-2019, 10:04 AM

I have a Tailgater for Dish. It is automatic. I have different lengths of RF cable from 10’ to 100’.
I could not use the power bay receptacle as the cabling did not work. I had a receptacle added in the bay below the control cabinet. Many run the cable thru the slide rubber or the window directly to the receiver.
My RV is a 2006 and wiring in the power bay may have changed.

F4Gary · 05-03-2019, 12:32 PM

I have a Wineguard X2 and use a Dish 211 reciever. Works great and I can use my power bay receptacle. I guess that cable goes straight to my BOMB with no splitters in between.

I bought a nice Dish dish and tripod from TV4RV and have never used it. It sits in my attic. Just too much hassle for what I need.

I don't get the hate for Wineguard. They are being very proactive with the Wally update problem in the other thread.

Ludmilla · 05-03-2019, 12:34 PM

We have had the Pathway X2 for a number of years and it is working really well for us. When the roof one stopped working, we decided to just go with an external one because we often have tree issues even though we are out west. We have up to 100 feet of cable and at one site, we needed to use all 100 feet. We have always been able to get a signal but I wish I could find a tripod I could put it on so it easily clears obstacles.

Setting it up has not been a big deal.

We have Dish.

F4Gary · 05-03-2019, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ludmilla

We have had the Pathway X2 for a number of years and it is working really well for us. When the roof one stopped working, we decided to just go with an external one because we often have tree issues even though we are out west. We have up to 100 feet of cable and at one site, we needed to use all 100 feet. We have always been able to get a signal but I wish I could find a tripod I could put it on so it easily clears obstacles.

Setting it up has not been a big deal.

We have Dish.

Here you go...

https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-TR-1.../dp/B002DPTQX2