Fixed dish or portable?

[Davdeb1]

I keep reading how dish on top of coach get lousy reception in parks, I was just wondering, overall, which dish is better portable or fixed?

[texnet]

You almost have the info correct, but satellite antennas on top of the coach do not equal lousy reception in parks.

We have a in-motion dish and love it. If I have trees in the path of the satellite then we may or may not receive a signal but that only happens about once in 15-20 times. Yes, if we had a larger dish to sit on the ground and go under the trees we might get a better signal that 1 time out of 15-20, but to us it is not worth the time and trouble to setup the ground mounted dish.

Logic.... the antenna in the dome is a MUCH smaller antenna than a house type antenna. The smaller the antenna the less can be in the way of it and the satellite.

[powerboatr]

we use a carry out and hook it up tripod.......at times its a pita. I have wlked into it at night
but then with a site with lots of trees i can carry it several hundred feet and get signal

my folks have a built in on their bounder.......seems to me it takes longer to set up and get going....but again if its nasty out.....its taken care of

if you rig has it i would use it
if it doesn't..i would not waste the $$ imo

[Davdeb1]

Well thank you. I was hoping that was the answer because I really don't want to set up an antenna outside every time I park. I want the in motion one.

[texnet]

Additional info... We have had 1 TT, and 3 coaches. With the TT I had a portable dish that I would setup when we parked. Normally took me 10-15 minutes but sometimes would take 30 minutes or more.

When we got our first coach I installed the Winegard in-motion within a couple of weeks after we bought the coach. The only area that we couldn't get a signal was after we were a few hundred miles north of the US/Canadian border.

The other coaches already had the in-motion installed. There are a few times that we could not receive a signal but we made do with the cable in the RV Park we were at, we are just spoiled and like our DirecTV!

As for the length of time to setup the in-motion... NONE as we keep it on all the time thus it is ready when we park. I have learned to turn on a TV just before I shut the engine down in case we don't have a signal I can move the coach a few feet forward or backwards and get a signal. That has only happened 1 or 2 times a year.

[Davdeb1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by texnet Additional info... We have had 1 TT, and 3 coaches. With the TT I had a portable dish that I would setup when we parked. Normally took me 10-15 minutes but sometimes would take 30 minutes or more. When we got our first coach I installed the Winegard in-motion within a couple of weeks after we bought the coach. The only area that we couldn't get a signal was after we were a few hundred miles north of the US/Canadian border. The other coaches already had the in-motion installed. There are a few times that we could not receive a signal but we made do with the cable in the RV Park we were at, we are just spoiled and like our DirecTV! As for the length of time to setup the in-motion... NONE as we keep it on all the time thus it is ready when we park. I have learned to turn on a TV just before I shut the engine down in case we don't have a signal I can move the coach a few feet forward or backwards and get a signal. That has only happened 1 or 2 times a year.

I am not going to get anything until we full time. We now will just take the coach out once a month. Usually it is only just overnight, so I can live with the ota antenna, or cable if in a pro.
Once we full-time, 1st thing hitch for toad, 2nd thing, in motion satellite dish with direct tv. Right now we have cable at home with EVERY channel, so we are spoiled and will have to have the sat tv.

[jimbo16720]

And I told a number of people for less than $500 you can buy a VuQube that mounts to the roof. Alot cheaper than $1500 for a Winegard. And it works with both Dish and Direct.

[173dave]

Both

[UFO Pilot]

I have had 2 domes, neither were in motion. I now have the Winegard Travler and wouldn't have anything else.

[paz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davdeb1 I keep reading how dish on top of coach get lousy reception in parks, I was just wondering, overall, which dish is better portable or fixed?

Rooftop dishes can be either manual or automatic, dome or open. In general, open dishes are affected less by adverse conditions such as clouds, rain, snow and dew than domes; and it makes no difference if the open dish is on a roof or on a tripod. The downside to rooftop dishes is they can sometimes be blocked by trees or other obstructions, so it is wise to carry a spare dish on a tripod if you go the rooftop route.

[TechWriter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 173dave Both

Ditto

[TechWriter]

Even though I don't think there's much diff between Dish & Direct TV, Dish does have the Tailgater which is the best of both worlds -- an automatic mobile dish.

However, I still like my rooftop Travler + a portable.

[RustyJC]

If money is no object ( ), get a roof-mounted dish and carry a VuQube portable for the times when the roof-mounted dish is blocked by trees, etc. My VuQube is MUCH easier to set up than my old tripod and dish.

Rusty

[Hikerdogs]

We use both. We have a dish on the roof that's used 90% of the time. In some campgrounds however the trees are so thick it can't get a signal. At first we would try to manever the coach to a position where we could get reception. After a few times of moving around for 1/2 an hour we gave up. For those times we now have a portable dish and tripod. It takes a little longer to setup but you can always find a break in the trees big enogh to get a signal.