Winegard crank up satellite dish

[tyoung]

Would like to hear from people that have the crank up dish with digital magic. Are they good ? bad?

[tyoung]

Would like to hear from people that have the crank up dish with digital magic. Are they good ? bad?

[doc]

Is Digital Magic the digital read out thing on the ceiling giving the elevation?

If so, we have it. Can't say whether or not it is a good thing because I have yet to be able to get the Dish500 reciever hooked up to get a signal. Have tried 3 or 4 times with probably 6-7 hours effort and still have had no luck.


Let me know how you make out.

[Ron2]

We have the system on our 1996 Vectra and finally found instructions on the Digital Elevation Sensor (if that is the same as Digital Magic?) but haven't had any luck with our Dish 500 system. I have switched to Direct TV and hope to have a better chance at picking up signals next time we are out. With the instructions the system looks simple......we'll see.

[Mike Casella]

I installed that system on our Class C about 4 years ago. It was very easy to install, took a few hours to do, and the instructions were easy to follow. We loved it. The only problem we had with it's performance was the 4 bolts that hold the dish to the bracket loosened up and two of them fell out. I replaced them with regular hardware store bolts and everything was fine. Our new MH came with an in-motion dome so no more cranking and searching for a satellite signal anymore, just push a button.

[Garbageman]

I have found that the digital readout only gets me close. I have to play with it to get it to lock onto the signal, but it does get me close.

I use my Dish 500 from the house when we travel. I found that I can only lock onto one of the satellites, 110 or 119. The first thing you have to do is go into the dish receiver setup and set it up for only one signal, 110 or 119, which ever you perfer. I set it up for 119 so I can receive the channels I perfer. It took me several hours the first time I hooked up my receiver before figuring this out. Just remember when (if) you take the receiver back into your house you have to do the setup again, another couple of hours of scratching my head.

Paul

[Mike Casella]

The part about finding the satellite is a big drawback. Sometimes I can hit it within a few minutes, other times I'm not so lucky. It can be frustrating and very anoying listening to the beep beep beep for any length of time.

[Clay L]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by tyoung:
Would like to hear from people that have the crank up dish with digital magic. Are they good ? bad? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
As long as my motor home is leveled first I can find the satellite in a minute or less - if there is nothing blocking it.
Once in a while there will be trees in the way and I have to get out the tripod and dish I carry in a storage bay.

When using the roof dish I rarely have to reset the elevation after setting it to the number called out by the menu for my location. I just turn the dish slightly around the required azimuth and get the satellite very easily.

[E Z Livin]

For the money difference, I like mine. It takes me one or two minutes most of the time to get a signal.
Doc, follow Garbageman's suggestions and if this does not work, try setting the dish the best you can. Press your receiver power button and hold it for 10 seconds and it will reset. I have had a problem with the bars showing on mine, did the reset and guess what, I was right on.

[RVDriver]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Would like to hear from people that have the crank up dish with digital magic. Are they good ? bad? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, if its the digital read out, I love it, but I only have the "older" Dish 300, as far as I know you can't mount a "Dish 500" on the rooftop of a Motor Home. My Dish 300 works great unless I am in the middle of a "Forest", and even then the people with "Trypods can't get a signal"

First I level the Motor Home, go to set up get elevation, set it, and spin the antenna until I get signal, fine tune, lock the antenna. I don't worry abou direction, ti takes longer to find "North" set the dial to "North", then locate 210 degrees etc, than it does to "Spin/lock on". Works for me!

Bruce

[DSouthw524]

We had the crank out manual with the meter on our old MH. It worked well for one sat. at a time as previously mentioned. However it does take fine tuning to find the satelitte and caan be very frustrating. On this MH I went with the Weingard dome and am very glad as I can switch from one satelitte to the other as I change channels automatically

[NYMoose "Lenny"]

I am down in Myrtle Beach, and had the first chance to try out the crank up sat&gt; It worked fine, I was very surprised how easy it was. I would still like to have a self tracking one, but have to wait for more money!

[Greenthumb]

We have the digital readout with the manual handle crank and use it with DirecTV. When I first used it, it took me two hours to find that blasted signal. Now, I usually can find it between 30 seconds and a couple of minutes.

This may sound obvious, but make sure you have a good compass to determine where north is, and take the reading outside the coach. The metals inside the coach can significantly throw off your readings. I take two giant steps away from the front door (about 6 feet) at a right angle to the coach to ensure that I get no magnetic interference.

After getting the azimuth and compass readings from the set-up screen, I found it was easier to first set the compass reading, lock it down and then crank the azimuth to the correct reading. You should then be close to the signal. Now unlock the unit and rotate it in small increments (3 to 5 degrees) until you find the signal. If you don't find it after rotating 20 degrees, go back to the starting compass reading and rotate in the other direction. It is very important that you wait a few seconds after rotating each small increment to give the unit a chance to hook onto the signal. If you rotate without stopping, you can easily move right through the sweetspot without ever getting a response. Once you find the signal, lock it down and then maximize it by touching up the azimuth with the crank.

As I said, I have DirecTV and all my channels are on one satellite. I have watched those with DishNet work for hours trying to pull in their signal. Apparently, the sweetspot is much more sensitive when working with two satellites.

[Flintstones Adventurer]

Perfect Greenthumb....I've used my crankup dish with DirecTV for many years. From Florida to the UP in Michigan to Yellowstone WY. No problems at all.