Stationary Dome in Canada

HMXDave · 02-01-2011, 09:23 AM

Hey gang....I have a new rig coming in the next few weeks and it has a "Satt prep" which I assume means the cables are ran to the roof. I'm going to have the dealer install a dome dish up there and was just wanting a few opinions.

Up in the "Great White North" a larger dish is often needed, the further north of the US border, the weaker the signal....even our Bell Satellites are located in a geostationary orbit waaay south of us, which is why our dishes always seem to be pointed "flat" or near straight up and down, while you people down in Texas have dishes pointing UP. I digress...I notice that most domes are going from a 15" to a 12" height. Do these new low profile domes work as good as the taller domes?

I had a KVH "tall dome" on my 05 Safari and it worked reasonably well. It would struggle a bit in the heavy clouds or rain where I know my tripod mounted 18" dish would work fine...but for the convenience, we lived with it. The issue was that it was not programmed for Bell and I had to manually keep pushing the search button until Bell 91 was found....this sometimes took 15min to 30 min. (annoying)

I'm looking at several dishes:

Kingdome Auto-stationary 15" (9704 series) (on sale 1200 bucks)
Kingdome Air-stationary (low profile) (2200 series) (on sale 1600 bucks)
Winegard Road Trip SD (low profile) (RT1235s) (on sale 1250 bucks)
Motosat Freedom Dome (looks like higher profile) (on sale 1000 bucks)

Any pluses or minuses on any of these dishes? Any experience with 15" vs 12" height? My gut tells me that the taller dish would be better up this far north, but they seem to be getting discontinued. I would look at the KVH dishes as well, but I would need to know that (unlike my last one) it could could be set up to look for Bell.

thanks all.

Harry B · 02-01-2011, 10:31 AM

Taller units work better. In oder to make the domes physically smaller they have to reduce the size of the dish. This is done by removing some of the top and bottom of the dish thus reducing the sensitivity of the antenna. As you already noted, smaller dish = less signal

Clay L · 02-01-2011, 10:53 AM

The Winegard road Trip SD has provisions for Bell and I think I would call Winegard and discuss how well it will work that far up.

If it were me I would go with the TRAV'LER® SK-1000 DISH 1000, Bell TV which is much larger and will have a lot more signal gain. It folds down so it is a low profile unit. As a plus if you ever want HD then you should be set .

I have the DirectTV version and it works great.

wa8yxm · 02-01-2011, 01:14 PM

My Recommendation if you want STATIONARY Television service is forget domes and go with a full size DISH with an automatic mount.. This is NOT a recommendation but a page to see what I'm talking about MotoSAT - Mobile Satellite Internet and Televison You can get a dish that will work 100% with either one or multiple receivers or with DVR's and any of the common Sat Providers including BellVu, StarChoicce (I think that's the other one) DirecTV (HD or SD) and DishNetwork (likewise)

Domes are not all that flexible

Also the Full size DISH has way more gain then the dome (Resistance to effects of weather and such)

So if you are going for STATIONARY,, Go with a DISH, not a Dome.

HMXDave · 02-03-2011, 12:09 PM

Well the dealer where I bought my rig also recommends the Winegard Sk1000....but I am concerned as the parts person I talked to, seemed to know less about the whole deal than what I've learned on this site and using Google.

I asked about the mounting plate....do I need it. I was told it came with it. (I know it does not as I see it for sale on every website)

I asked if it was 110 or 12v...I was told 110. OK...can I get it tuned in then shut it off so I'm not drawing any juice while I watch TV. I was told "no...it has to remain on or it will stow away". I liked my old dome because after it found the sat, I shut it off and of course it stayed where it was and never drew any extra juice.

I never bothered asking how many watts the thing draws after it has found the satellites....any idea? Our new little rig just has an 800w inverter and 2 coach batts, so I want to conserve as much juice as possible while not running the genny.

Being a Newmar dealer, I had hoped the parts people at least had some idea of what the sat-prep was on my new rig. She kept rambling on about drilling holes and running wires and it would take 4 or 5 hours. I was sure I read somewhere that the Newmars have a 1" conduit built in for running the data cable, power, and coax. Seems to me the install should take as long as it takes to squirt a tube of sealant and run 4 or 5 lag screws into the roof....am I off base?

Don/Lou · 02-03-2011, 12:48 PM

Dave
Go to the Wingard site & search for authorized installers in AB There are a few
They will know more than your RV Dealer
FWIW
Don

Clay L · 02-03-2011, 03:44 PM

Regarding the mounting plate - I spoke with Winegard and they said it is only needed on very thin roofs as found in some travel trailers.

I have the Direct TV version (SK-3005) and after a week or so it turns itself off. A friend a few sites down has one and his does the same thing. It is probably drawing some keep alive current but I would be surprised if it is very much.

The drawback of the power off feature as far as I am concerned is that when you turn the power back on, the dish relocates the satellites which takes about 5 minutes or so. Then you can briefly press the power button to stow it. If you wanted to stow it quickly that would slow you down some.
I posted a question about that on the Winegard forum this morning but have not received an answer yet.

On my Winnebago the installer (Bill and Janet Adams) was able to use the existing entry point and chase for the dish. The dish is also mounted where the manual dish was mounted. Their installation is much neater than the Winegard manual dish installed by a Winnebago dealer when I bought the coach back in 2004.

HMXDave · 02-03-2011, 05:31 PM

We have never stayed in one spot a week...ever. LOL. But we boondock almost every weekend. My concern was that the dish might be another draw on the inverter while watching TV with no genny running.

I wish we had a crew like Bill and Janet up here. I really don't want to trust the dealer to do it....scares me to think they might drill a bunch of unnecessary holes in my new roof.

(hey, look at that...I got 100 posts!)

UFO Pilot · 02-03-2011, 05:39 PM

I had the Travler 1000 installed about 3 weeks ago by Bill Adams. The control box is off and the Dish hasn't shut off or stowed itself. I was in Canada 3 years ago and my KingDome low profile dome wouldn't lock on in quite a few locations. People with open faced dishes had no problems.

JCM · 02-07-2011, 08:31 AM

Buy a Motosat and be happy. It can be converted from Bell to Starchoice by changing out the arm and LNB. If you travel south, go with Starchoice since there is no Bell HD south of the border and Starchoice treats you like a customer and not a thief.

HMXDave · 02-07-2011, 04:53 PM

Actually I am leaning towards the Motosat MD500 and installing it myself. It runs off 12v and seems to have all the features of the Travler1000.

JCM · 02-07-2011, 05:26 PM

It is easy to install. Make sure you get the HI Def unit. $2200.00 installed in Quartsite Arizonia.

HMXDave · 03-12-2011, 10:08 PM

Update: the Newmar is home with a Trav'ler SK-1000 installed on the roof. Tested 'er out a couple of times in the parking pad and the reception is awesome....Bell 91 and 82 both coming in perfectly. Kinda fun to watch it do its thing too! hahaha.