Community Forums

wonderer1 · 08-19-2012, 01:59 PM

i bought a 1992 mh and need to up date to satellite. need help from all you great people. which to chose, roof mounted automatic dish or portable automatic dish. haven't had mh satellite, concerned about blocking reception, trees etc. i like to go out in the sticks and haven't been in any rv camp grounds to see how their spaces are set up. any and all pros and cons would be helpful. also am thinking about winegard dish antenna or are there better and or better priced ones. thanks jim

footdoc · 08-19-2012, 02:09 PM

If you go out in the sticks with trees, etc I HIGHLY recommend you get a portable dish set up and about 150 feet of cable to find a hole in the trees...

buck454 · 08-19-2012, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footdoc

If you go out in the sticks with trees, etc I HIGHLY recommend you get a portable dish set up and about 150 feet of cable to find a hole in the trees...

Guess I would agree with footdoc if you are going to be in heavy tree area, however I have to admit that we are extremely pleased with our WG Travel'er 1000. No notice of tree interfearance yet.

Dog Folks · 08-19-2012, 02:28 PM

We use a portable exclsively. Our theory is: if we have to stow it and carry it , why not use it all the time, rether than have a mounted dish for some of th time? Why have two?

We carry 200' of cable and althoughwe have had some funny looking set ups, in 6 years of full time we have only been unable to get a signal 3 times.

firedoc · 08-19-2012, 02:51 PM

We rarely ever boondoc so we sprang for the Travler 1000 automatic roof mount. Worked wonderfully most of the time. However we started volunteering and while we have been in some wonderful locations with full hook up we have not been able to get our satellite feed. So we purchased a Tailgater automatic antenna and it has worked fine also. Was worried about length of cable run as Tailgater gets power through the cable, but works fine at 150ft. Best of both worlds.

vsheetz · 08-19-2012, 05:10 PM

Portable Tailgater antenna and 211k reciever here - works great. About $500 invested.

bbeane · 08-19-2012, 06:46 PM

I just use a house dish and a folding stand, works great cost about $50.00, takes about 15 min to set up. Just can't spring 15-$1800.00 only to end up under a tree. But that just me.

bdpreece · 08-19-2012, 07:34 PM

One of the main things to think about is how long do you plan on keeping your coach? We installed a WG Traveler and love it but, I expect this to probably be our last coach. The roof installations are rather spendy and I doubt that you would recover the cost when selling the coach. Second we still carry a portable dish as there are times when trees will block the roof dish. If I were in your position I would probably purchase one of those Winegard Carryout antennas.

WheelingIt · 08-19-2012, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footdoc

If you go out in the sticks with trees, etc I HIGHLY recommend you get a portable dish set up and about 150 feet of cable to find a hole in the trees...

Agree x3. One of the newbie mistakes I feel we made with our rig was getting a rooftop satellite dish. We camp a lot in public parks and only get direct access ~50% of the time. Spent the whole of Aug without a signal. Looking to buy a portable dish soon.

Chief · 08-19-2012, 08:00 PM

We exclusively use a portable dish. Been RVing since '95' and have been to many campsites where rooftop antenna would be worthless. I like being able to get HD programming (especially during football season). Don't know for sure but don't think those little carryout things will receive HD. I believe your best bet is to start with a portable setup first and if your camping style dictates a roof mounted unit would better suit your needs, go for it..

hamguy · 08-20-2012, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footdoc

If you go out in the sticks with trees, etc I HIGHLY recommend you get a portable dish set up and about 150 feet of cable to find a hole in the trees...

What footdoc said. We have camped with our dome dish for 9 years. We have found that west of the Mississippi, campgrounds are either in the open or have open areas. We ask for a site with clear skies and rarely have been shut out. BUT, I also carry a portable dish for those occasions when we are. As to cable, few RV parks will let you string out more than 50' of cable, (again sites back east are smaller).

As to east of the Mississippi, the story is different. Eastern camping is more OFTEN tree bound and more crowded. Also sites are OFTEN very small and unlevel.

We have camped in 49/50 states and 7 Canadian provinces.

corjaguar · 08-20-2012, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dog Folks

We use a portable exclsively. Our theory is: if we have to stow it and carry it , why not use it all the time, rether than have a mounted dish for some of th time? Why have two?

We carry 200' of cable and althoughwe have had some funny looking set ups, in 6 years of full time we have only been unable to get a signal 3 times.

I feel the same way.......if we got a good signal, life was good.....when we couldn't, we used our winegard carryout. believe it or not, it was easier to hook up and lock onto a signal than our roof satellite dome. Thus far, after two years, the portable is much easier as far as I'm concerned.

JimM68 · 08-20-2012, 10:45 AM

our rig came with a rooftop automatic (not on the road - tracking) dome, so we use it. Fairly often, it see's nothing because of the trees.

Oddly, we are setup in what will be a permanent site, and ///i'm getting sat 119 right through the trees (very low signal strength, but I got to watch both races this weekend!!)

we're going to pickup a dish 1000.4 for a permanent mount in this campsite, and I'll probably get a tripod portble for when we are on the road and under trees.

It is WAY NICE on those times (1 out of 4 tries maybe?) when you can just powerup the dome and reciever, and in 3-5 minutessee the magic words "downloading program guide"

wonderer1 · 08-20-2012, 04:33 PM

lots of good advice. this is a way cool site with a lot of helpful people. probable going to go with roof mount as in the begining am going to put on a lot of miles. stoping at at night (walmart, truck stop, etc.)gone in the morning. then in the future picking up a portable unit for when i can't get a signal (cause i found a way cool lake or ?) and am going to hang for a while. great to be retired. thanks to all of you. if i can be of any help just ask. jim