Finding birds for Satellite

[RedT]

Before I trash the entire system out of frustration, I would like an answer to the following: After the frustration of the system not acquiring the 129 bird using the Dish Tailgater, plus the system being totally inconsistent on locating the satellites,
I am convinced it is either a receiver (Wally) issue or an antenna issue. So my question is which device has the antenna controller?
For example, with a clear view of the sky, (I use the Winegard app on an iPhone to locate the birds) the antenna would lock on to the 110, other times after rebooting the system it would lock on to 119, but never 129. Removed the cover and observed the antenna movement while searching. It appeared to be normal. I gave up and moved the antenna to gain access to another task, and guess what? It locked on to the 3 satellites!
Watched full screen HD TV for a couple hours, turned off the TV (not the Wally) came back a couple hours later and NO signal! Antenna acquired only the 110 bird.
I have completely rewired the coach, have several times connected directly from antenna to receiver, cussed and kicked, but haven’t found the answer.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[hamm2018]

We used to use a Pathway X2 with the Wally. The same thing would happen to us, and over night the next morning the Wally had to redo the guide down load.
One thing I found is the Wally would go to sleep after a couple or three hours, if it did not make any changes. There was a message that would come on the screen asking "are you still watching" if you did not hit yes the Wally would shut down.

[computerguy]

I found that Dish Outdoors tech support is more knowledgeable than Dish tech support.
Have you called Dish Outdoors tech support?
When I was having anomalies I found that it is best to start out by letting the Wally search for satellites WITHOUT the dish attached. This "resets" the system. Then unplug the Wally and attach the dish and do the search from the start.
This info was provided to me from Dish Outdoors tech support. Regular Dish tech support could not help me after months of calls and many hours of bing on the phone with them.

[taylorbob1]

I once had a Winegard G3 Carryout.
When I couldn’t get Wally to connect (which happened most of the time):
- I called Winegard, they blamed DISH
- I called DISH, they blamed Winegard

I eventually came to realize that it was just about always (90-100% of time…) the Dome Sat dish, rather than the Wally.

In fact Winegard would finally admit that the single sat dome dish is finicky. Sometimes you need to turn off, move 3-5’ either way, then turn back on. Then, it finds the sats. Hmmmmm.

Since my dome dish was roof mounted, it meant I had to move the coach a few degrees right or left.

So I finally gave up and purchased an open faced, roof mount, Hybrid Trav’ler.

Works quickly 1st time, every time.
Now my Wally has two-tuner capability (record one show, watch another at same time or record two shows while watching one on the DVR)

Bottomline, I lost a lot of time (and sleep) fretting over my dome/Wally set-up.
The dome dish is a toy.
Do yourself a favor and upgrade to a Trav’ler or Mogul open-faced dish. You won’t regret it.

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by RedT

I am convinced it is either a receiver (Wally) issue or an antenna issue. So my question is which device has the antenna controller?

The controller for locating the satellites is in the antenna, not the Wally. The antenna can find and lock onto the satellites without the Wally connected. It's best to let id to just that before you power up the receiver.

[MSHappyCampers]

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

The controller for locating the satellites is in the antenna, not the Wally. The antenna can find and lock onto the satellites without the Wally connected. It's best to let id to just that before you power up the receiver.

How can the dish work without power to the Wally?

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

How can the dish work without power to the Wally?

You are right Joe for some models. The two carryout domes I've had both had power supplies independent from the receiver. I forgot that some models depend on the receiver for power and in that case it has to be powered up.

[traveldawg]

Originally Posted by computerguy

.....
When I was having anomalies I found that it is best to start out by letting the Wally search for satellites WITHOUT the dish attached. This "resets" the system. Then unplug the Wally and attach the dish and do the search from the start...

I too have found this to be quite helpful....

Originally Posted by taylorbob1

....So I finally gave up and purchased an open faced, roof mount, Hybrid Trav’ler.....

ditto for me... when I had a class A.... am in a 5th wheel now with a Pathfinder so I can move it when under/near tress.

When I experience this lack of signal locking I usually find there actually are some trees or something else obstructing the signal. Also high winds and really heavy cloud cover seem to have an effect )most at norther latitude is seems).

Try using the Sat Finder Pro app. It is really helpful identifying where the satellites and uses the smartphones camera to show what is between the dish and the satellite.

[MSHappyCampers]

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

You are right Joe for some models. The two carryout domes I've had both had power supplies independent from the receiver. I forgot that some models depend on the receiver for power and in that case it has to be powered up.

OK, that makes more sense now! I didn't know that some dishes had a separate power supply. I use the Dish Tailgater which takes its power from the receiver. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

[taylorbob1]

One more benefit of Trav’ler open face vs dome single sat dish while boon-docking. And we boon-dock a lot.

- In order to keep the traditional dome dish fixed on the one sat, you must have 120 volt power 24/7. Otherwise, you’re always turning off and on, sometimes 2-3 times a day
Therefore more time is wasted waiting around to find the sats & re-start Wally

- however; with the Trav’ler, once you lock-onto all three sats…you can then power the unit down so it’s completely off. And the sats are locked-in as long as your coach stays parked
So at night, while boon-docking, I turn off Wally & inverter, then in morning I turn on inverter & Wally.
And since the Trav’ler is still fixed on the sats, the Wally now only takes a couple of minutes to receive the signal & I’m back in business

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

OK, that makes more sense now! I didn't know that some dishes had a separate power supply. I use the Dish Tailgater which takes its power from the receiver. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

I have a Winegard G2. The first one I had actually had a 12v wired connection you plugged into a cigarettes' lighter outlet. The second one I got had a power supply with either 120 or 12v connections. The power was supplied to through the coax. Now if I could just find that coax power inserter I could take my G2 out of the shed and use it again.

A new one from Winegard is $120. Crazy for a little wall wart that plugs into a little box that inserts 12v into the coax.

On my new to me DP I have a King mobile something or other that I have yet to figure out. Does not find any birds with a Direct TV receiver either on or off. I can hear it running though. Fun to listen to it look for 20 minutes.

I'll just wait. Within a year Starlink will be fully operational, including Mexico and I'll just stream like I do now.

[cletesingler]

Here and other places, it's pretty simple with Wally: kill memory first by the old unplug for 30 seconds, then search with antenna coax disconnected. Wally remembers to damn much and will override any new signals.... even works at home with over 70 dB of signals.