Geting a new Dish

[GoRvin]

I have an old winegard 1 lnb auto crank dish on a motorhome and looking at upgrading to a new one. I am looking at a dome instead of an auto crankup. Is a dome better than the cank up?

Presently we do not have a HD tv but will upgrade to one in the near future.

Curious to what your recommendations would be from those who have been there and got the T shirt.

Thanks in advance,

LG, Life is Good in an RV

Ken

[FlyingDiver]

Originally Posted by GoRvin

I have an old winegard 1 lnb auto crank dish on a motorhome and looking at upgrading to a new one. I am looking at a dome instead of an auto crankup. Is a dome better than the cank up?

Presently we do not have a HD tv but will upgrade to one in the near future.

Curious to what your recommendations would be from those who have been there and got the T shirt.

Thanks in advance,

LG, Life is Good in an RV

Ken

Who do you use? DirecTV or Dish Network?

If you want HDTV and you're going to use a dome, you have to be on Dish. There are no domes that will work with DirecTV's HD signals from their Ka band satellites at 99 and 103.

joe

[Bill Adams]

Originally Posted by GoRvin

I have an old winegard 1 lnb auto crank dish on a motorhome and looking at upgrading to a new one. I am looking at a dome instead of an auto crankup. Is a dome better than the cank up?

Presently we do not have a HD tv but will upgrade to one in the near future.

Curious to what your recommendations would be from those who have been there and got the T shirt.

Thanks in advance,

LG, Life is Good in an RV

Ken

While a dome antenna will provide a major convenience upgrade, it will also provide a major service downgrade. Due to the small dish inside as well as the signal loss caused by moisture on the dome you will have many, many times where your open-face dish would have allowed you to watch TV but you will not be able to get a signal due to the dome.
Since both providers are now using multiple satellites for both SD and HD programming my personal choice would be to replace the crank-up with an open face automatic dish capable of receiving all the satellites your provider uses. As is mentioned above, if you want the DirecTV HD programming you CANNOT use a dome for this.
The dome antennas are required if you want to watch TV while in-motion but otherwise you should take a look at benefits and drawbacks of all of the systems.

[ronharp]

I would suggest taking a look at the Winegard Carryout 1518. At $800 for a dome that you basically throw on the ground and turn it on it is hard to beat for an auto dome setup. While there are a few detractors, most, if not all have not used it.
It is good for the Dish HD and all the DirecTV non HD programming.
Ron

[wa8yxm]

Originally Posted by GoRvin

I have an old winegard 1 lnb auto crank dish on a motorhome and looking at upgrading to a new one. I am looking at a dome instead of an auto crankup. Is a dome better than the cank up?

Presently we do not have a HD tv but will upgrade to one in the near future.

Curious to what your recommendations would be from those who have been there and got the T shirt.

Thanks in advance,

LG, Life is Good in an RV

Ken

Is a dome better than a dish: NO!, it's not, A dish type antenna has several advantages over a dome.. I will list them.. However there is an exception to this statement and I will list that last.

Domes can see ONE SATELLITE at a time, they are smaller, and usually contain 1/2 of a dish, this means they suffer from much higher rain fade if the weather is bad, and lower signal strength all the time, when compared to a PROPERLY AIMED dish antenna

Now: If you are using a SINGLE dish receiver then SOME domes can re-point from 110 to 119 to what is it 127 I think, fast enough that the receiver will be happy, but if you use a DVR (Dual receiver in a DVR) or more than one receiver (Set top box) then you must all watch the same bird.. So If I want BBCA (119) and wife Haulmark (110) we are SOL with a dome.. and I should know. I have one.

Plus as others have said NO DOME works with DirecHDTV at this time

Now when parked you can get fully automatic dish type antennas, (In fact I will tell you where Motosat: Advanced Mobile Satellite Systems that will work with any service (you pick the dish to match the service)

Now, I won't bore you with the bit about the signal eating tree, you know that already.

The advantage to a DOME:

If you are planing on recording while driving. (My lady's soaps for example) for later viewing.. Then you MUST have a dome