Community Forums

cliffj · 05-22-2022, 08:37 PM

Winegard satellite system, new to me and I forgot to put it down.
2020 MA on my maiden voyage whacked a tree limb. I bent it back but it appears everything mechanical still works when I power it up or down. Needless to say it can’t find a signal. Do we think I can just buy a replacement dish and everything should be good..? It sure looks like the dish is really just a generic part with nothing specific to my particular system. Can I just replace the dish…the tin disk part? Thank you!

Newmar2856 · 05-22-2022, 09:57 PM

You can try contacting Winegard to see if you can order the reflector from them directly or try eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14225856529...YAAOSwtRBed1Jk

Clemson · 05-23-2022, 05:52 AM

You can buy a replacement dish on the Winguardcweb site

YC1 · 05-23-2022, 06:55 AM

Replaced mine some time back. Tried to re-tweak the old one with limited success.

Dutch Star Don · 05-23-2022, 03:28 PM

Over the past 15 years of having a Winegard open dish, I've bent the arm on two occasions, striking a tree while it was searching. I doubt that the dish damage is your issue, it's typically the arm that gets knocked out of whack.

I have straightened an arm, but it takes a little work. First you must do some measurements on the roof to see if it's straight to the mount. Second you have to bring up the screen on your TV that tells you the percentage of reception. I adjusted mine while my wife watched until I got it dialed in.

If you have a good rapport with your dealer, they typically will have a stockpile of DirectTV arms. When people order a new coach and want DISH, Newmar often sends the coach out with DirecTV and the dealer changes the arm to the DISH arm.

Lastly, you can just buy the parts from Winegard and install them. I actually carry a spare arm that I got from someone.

Steve1000 · 05-23-2022, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliffj

Winegard satellite system, new to me and I forgot to put it down.
2020 MA on my maiden voyage whacked a tree limb. I bent it back but it appears everything mechanical still works when I power it up or down. Needless to say it can’t find a signal. Do we think I can just buy a replacement dish and everything should be good..? It sure looks like the dish is really just a generic part with nothing specific to my particular system. Can I just replace the dish…the tin disk part? Thank you!

Whether you straighten the old dish or get a new one and replace any bent arms you will still have to re-calibrate it since it's not going to find the satellites in the same places anymore. Usually it's as simple as just resetting the receiver and starting from scratch and having it find all the satellites again.

cliffj · 05-24-2022, 06:20 AM

so this dish is a Winegard Traveler and looks to be a pretty sophisticated dish with all sorts of auto alignment features...looks to be $2500.00 new if you started from scratch. (it came on the RV) Won't all of the alignment functions find the satellite signal when you put it in that mode?

Dutch Star Don · 05-24-2022, 10:46 AM

Yes, once everything is corrected, it knows where to look for the sats. Removing and replacing the dish and arm is about a 20 minute procedure. You just need a few wrenches to replace both pieces. You're probably looking at about $300.00 in parts.