Community Forums

Eldonp · 04-25-2023, 02:26 PM

I purchased an RV with a Winegard traveller Shaw dish on it and I want to change it to Bell. How do I go about changing it over? Winegard told me I have to change over the whole thing. Is there a way to just change the dish itself and the LNB? If I have to replace the whole thing it’s a couple thousand dollars, which seems crazy if I already have a dish on the RV.

Tia

Skip426 · 04-26-2023, 09:34 PM

Many of the systems are single server only ; since the newer dishes and satellites went to high definition.

Six years ago a friend had the dish on his coach changed over to Shaw ($2000+) for use in the southern USA , two years later it needed an $800 upgrade to continue operating .

Like your computer and laptop these systems are quick to go obsolete .

I had Bell and the dome system on my coach ; when I bought it ;would switch over from Direct and worked for two seasons when I was south ( 2012/2013) then there was a big issue with both Shaw and Bell allowing their customers to obtain signal in the USA .
The issue centered around Direct TV and Dish Network being able to market their systems in Canada . Shaw and Bell argued against that ; claiming " lack of Canadian content" . The CRTC got involved and blocked the US companies ; BUT ; that ended Shaw and Bell aiming signals that could be picked up in the USA .
Some snowbirds still have older equipment to pick up signal from the old , standard definition satellite , but few channels are broadcast from that bird.

Eldonp · 04-27-2023, 03:55 PM

I did read that Wingard had an expensive upgrade needed because Shaw reconfigured their satellites, not Winegard’s fault but $800 is a lot of money to spend after someone has already spent 2 or 3 thousand for a satellite system.

I only plan on operating in Canada so the border issue shouldn’t be a problem. I am however on contract to Bell so I thought that I would try to change my Winegard System to Bell. I was hoping there was a reasonable priced way to do that. Winegard’s option is to replace the complete dish on the roof, I would like to get away with just changing the dish plate and the LNB. I was hoping someone on here could tell me if that is possible.

Isaac-1 · 04-27-2023, 05:35 PM

Have you considered switching to Starlink and streaming your TV shows?

Bob Walton · 04-27-2023, 10:32 PM

For those of you with the Winegard SK-7003 Shaw Trav’ler system and and it won’t lock on to the satellite you need to have your software updated and if you are in the Red Deer, AB area please PM or e-mail @ r_dwalton@telus.net me and I can arrange to update it for you.

1wolfsden · 05-19-2023, 09:18 PM

I have successfully converted a shaw direct sk-7003 traveller to Bell Expressview the software is already programmed in the box and all you have to do is grab an old Bell dish off the house and mount the LMB and the reflector on the existing wineguard traveller. The spring loaded LMB arm is also used from the shaw dish so it can fold up. It was real easy to do. I did this conversion for zero dollars and when I phoned wineguard they told me that there is no possible way to convert my SK-7003 to Bell they totally lied to me I was so disappointed with their answer I had to set out and prove them wrong.

Eldonp · 05-20-2023, 10:23 PM

Thanks 1wolfsden.

I kind of thought (hoped) it would be that easy to convert from Shaw to Bell but Winegard told me it couldn’t be done…(although I couldn’t see why not).

Now all I need to do is track down a Bell (or Dish Net) reflector and dual LNB and I should be off to the races.

Bob Walton · 05-23-2023, 01:01 PM

How did you reprogram the controller to search for the bell satellites, I am thinking about when I am in the US and want to use Dish.

Eldonp · 05-27-2023, 08:24 AM

I haven’t done it yet however go to YouTube and search for how to program a Winegard Traveller controller, I remember watching a clip on there about it.

1wolfsden · 05-30-2023, 08:20 AM

Her is some information to help you switch over. You need a bell dish and lmb off your house then you will have all the parts needed to switch over. You will need to disassemble the shaw dish and remove the spring loaded arm and transfer it to the bell arm. I have pics of how to do this but don’t know how to post them. You need to make sure the arm ends up the same length and angle to the reflector. Just drill out the spot welds on the bell arm and you stick the spring loaded pice that was bolted to the shaw dish where you drilled out the welds and line it up and drill through the old holes with a 13/64 drill bit and tap the holes out to 1/4 20 and put four stainless bolts that are real short to fasten the arm spring on the dish then instal in the other end the tube cut to the correct length to the other side. Then you Remove the bracket from the reflector, and mount to the traveller arm using the original holes 4 and there is a extra fifth hole on the traveller arm that you will align up with the Center hole on your bell dish bracket. So use one of the spacer plates for a template to drill your four holes. Then bolt it all on place the two extra spacer plates on behind the bracket with the original Allan bolts. And you are done. The arm should fold up nicely between the dish and the roof allot lower than the shaw dish when stowed. Not program your box. I’m not sure why but Winegard does not provide any online help to switch providers. Perhaps their view is that people in RVs only ever travel in one country.

The annoying part is that if you initiate the power on sequence, the Winegard will go into search mode and it will find the Dish satellites (119, 110, 129) but, if your satellite type has been configured as LG ExpressVu, then all that will happen is a lot of searching before the unit gives up and stows your antenna.

You have to configure the Winegard to select the antenna type and service provider. In my case, that was LG Dish 1000. I’m still not quite sure what the difference is between “LG” and “SM” but I think the “LG” stands for Low Ground and “SM” for Surface Mount. The latter probably referring to the dome style satellites.

The sequence is a bit odd and may require different steps. I had to try it a few times before I got it to work. Make sure that you start with the Winegard antenna powered off.

The Winegard interface box has three buttons on the front panel labelled “POWER”, “SELECT” and “ENTER”.

I started by pressing and holding the “POWER” button for a few seconds, until the interface displayed “POWER ON”. And then I pressed and held “ENTER” for a few seconds.

The interface will display a prompt: “Enter User Menu?” and below that prompt will be two options: “Yes No”. I pressed the “SELECT” button until the asterisk was beside Yes and then I pressed the “ENTER” button.

There will be four choices at this point: Search Mode, Diagnostics, Installation and Exit. We need the Installation option. Press “SELECT” until the asterisk is next to “Installation” and press “ENTER”.

For whatever reason, the Winegard interface will then prompt for a password. The default is 0000. Press “ENTER” four times to accept the default password of 0000.

The “Select Antenna” option should come up. Again, ensure that the asterisk is beside the “Select Antenna” and then press “ENTER”.

I then had an option to choose between LG Mount and SM Mount. For my antenna, I choose LG Mount. Again, press the “SELECT” button until the asterisk is beside the “LG Mount” option and press “ENTER”.

Another password prompt will come up. And it is here that you might get stuck. The user documentation shows “0022” as the password. Does not work on my system. I had found another password somewhere on the web, “2112”, and that one works fine.

Use the “SELECT” button to set the number and, once entered, press “ENTER”.

At that point you should see options for the service type. In my case, I could choose between four options. The one I needed was “LG Dish 1000”. Press “SELECT” until the asterisk is next to “LG Dish 1000” and press “ENTER”. A confirmation might come up next. Press “SELECT” to put the asterisk beside “Yes” and press “ENTER”.

At this point the interface should display “in progress” and “Success”.

What then?

I had no idea. I basically powered the unit off. Turned it back on. It spent about twenty minutes searching the sky for satellites and then it came back with “LG Dish 1000 *110 *119 *129” on the display.

Success.

By far the hardest part of the process as there is nothing in the manual or on the web that I could find to make this change happen. A little bit of trial and error. I was happy to see the satellites locked in and ready to go.

Bob Walton · 05-31-2023, 11:08 AM

Did you try just replacing the LNB?

1wolfsden · 06-01-2023, 07:04 AM

Yes I definitely did try that route I got it to work somewhat. It would pick up one satellite but had a hard time picking up the other one. I don’t recommend it after seeing how easy it was to put the smaller dish on it now it stores away so nice and neat I can hardly see it up there.