Community Forums

arneinfloria · 05-23-2015, 05:55 AM

I just converted my Winegard Trav'ler roof antenna from Directv to Dish 1000. Setup went well, and the Interface Box indicates that the antenna is seeing satellites 119, 110 and 129 (in this order).

Unfortunately my ViP211k receiver only sees the 110 satellite.

Do I need a different receiver, or did I do something wrong?

Any help would be appreciated.

HoboBob · 05-23-2015, 08:46 AM

Did you run a check switch test? Menu-6-1-1-test.

HoboBob
2007 DS 4304

brobox · 05-23-2015, 11:08 AM

I am also watching this post as I am going to be installing my 211k on a new Traveler this week. If you find the answer please post back.

arneinfloria · 05-23-2015, 11:16 AM

Yes. Only 110 was found.

The Wineguard Interface Box is programmed for LG-1000 and multi-satelite is selected.

Larrikin · 05-23-2015, 12:22 PM

Problem may be at the Winegard box. When I replaced KingDome with the Travler, the installer ran a new coax direct to the Dish receiver,, bypassing the Winegard box. The receiver is connected by HDMI cable to the TV. I retained the old Winegard box to connect the broadcast TV antenna to the TVs. Once you sort out your issue you will love DISH.

arneinfloria · 05-23-2015, 01:42 PM

Started from scratch. Told the box again that I had a Lg-1000 antenna, and that I wanted the Multi-Satellite mode. The ViP211k now sees 110 and 129, but not 119.

This is strange as the Winegard interface box says it found all three satellites.

Tried to configure to box manually to use 119 only. No satellite was found by theViP211k although the Interface box says that the dish found it..

Maybe I am too far east (Florida) to see 119W?

Larrikin · 05-24-2015, 08:16 AM

Try isolating a box at a time.

If you are at home and have a DISH receiver at home, swap it out for the receiver in your MH and see if that cures the problem. If so, you need a new 211k.

If problem remains, put the original 211k back in place and go to and buy a coax long enough to connect direct from your antenna output to the back input on the 211k. If this connection cures the problem the failure is in the Winegard box. A short term fix for that would be to remove the antenna input to the Winegard box, and connect it, or jump it, direct to the 211k input using your original wire.

If you are on the road you could start with the latter of the above.

TechWriter · 05-24-2015, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

No satellite was found by the ViP211k although the Interface box says that the dish found it.

That happens. The signal from the sat could be weak, but it sounds like there are other issues. Have you called Winegard?

smiller · 05-26-2015, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

No satellite was found by theViP211k although the Interface box says that the dish found it.

Yes, as noted above that can happen since the Trav'ler peaks on a carrier signal from the satellite but that does not necessarily mean that the signal is sufficient for whatever receiver is connected.

From the symptoms described this sounds like a receiver issue to me. If you have properly run the check switches routine and that didn't resolve the issue then I would try running the check switches routine again, but with the receiver disconnected from the antenna. The process will fail of course which will take a while, and then after it completes then run the check switch routine again with a properly-aligned antenna. I had a similar stubborn issue once with a 211z and Dish Tech Support recommenced the above reset procedure, which fixed the problem.

arneinfloria · 05-27-2015, 07:19 AM

The ViP211k works well when connected to my Tailgater antenna, so it is not a receiver problem.

The Wineguard tech thinks is is a connection problem. The Directv dish that my installer removed uses a "signal combiner" that the Dish system does not. His suggestion is that the installer forgot to remove it. As soon as the weather improves I'ill climb up and see.

Interestingly, the Tailgater gets 110 with a signal strength of 34, while the traveler gets it with a strength of 69.

TechWriter · 05-27-2015, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

The Wineguard tech thinks is is a connection problem. The Directv dish that my installer removed uses a "signal combiner" that the Dish system does not. His suggestion is that the installer forgot to remove it. As soon as the weather improves I'ill climb up and see.

If you're feeling ambitious, run RG6 cables from the "A", "B", and "C" connectors on your Travler into your wiring cabinet. My guess is that only "A" is connected.

Note -- you only need one line in for a DISH VIP receiver (211, 622, 722), but Hoppers use 2 or 3.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

Interestingly, the Tailgater gets 110 with a signal strength of 34, while the traveler gets it with a strength of 69.

The Tailgater could be on a different sat transponder than the Travler.

smiller · 05-27-2015, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

The ViP211k works well when connected to my Tailgater antenna, so it is not a receiver problem.

Just FWIW, the set switches routine sets which LNA is used for which channel so unless the feedhorn configuration is the same (which it isn't for the Tailgater and Trav'ler) then you cannot make an assumption that working with the Tailgater means that the switch configuration is necessarily proper for the Trav'ler.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

Interestingly, the Tailgater gets 110 with a signal strength of 34, while the traveler gets it with a strength of 69.

The Trav'ler dish has a higher gain figure so it's not surprising it would show a stronger signal indication than the Tailgater.

TVforMyRV · 05-28-2015, 09:58 AM

First a couple questions to help sort this out.
Did the Travler work correctly (see 99, 101, 103) with DirecTV? Or did you not have a way to test that first.
The reason I ask is, I recently helped diagnose a Travler that randomly would not get all the satellites at the same time. What I found was that something had happened to the ring bearings inside the turret, and as the turret rotated to search, the turret was actually moving back and forth in a line, rather than rotating around. Very hard to describe this in words. So, the alignment was not repeatable when the antenna searched. Not being able to see all the satellites (randomly) is typically either blockage of signal(trees), bent LNB arm or bent reflector (or both), or mechanical failure of the turret ring.

arneinfloria · 05-31-2015, 10:53 AM

We have finally left rain and tornado country,so I have been able to spend time on the roof of my rig.

As suggested, I strung cables from the A, B, and C ports on the antenna base and connected them one by one directly to my ViP211k. All ports work well. Switch DPP 1K.2 is recognized in all cases, and the ViP211k sees all satellites.

I believe that the problem is that Directv uses a splitter to distribute signals but Dish does not. The instructions that came with the conversion kit said to remove this splitter. Unfortunately the splitter is nowhere to be found. Any suggestions?