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Old 09-29-2020, 11:41 AM   #1
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Winegard Playmaker with Wally - initial setup issues (with resolution)

This is more of a heads up than a current issue, as we finally after 5 hours have it resolved.

We purchased the Playmaker and Wally last weekend and took it home to set up. No matter how hard we tried, couldn't get it past the test installation screen, and continuously got a "reception error" message. We also noticed the playmaker never made a sound.

After 5 attempts at calling in to Dish and Dish Outdoors tech support (who all told us the dish was bad and to call Winegard) we got someone knowledgeable.

Turns out, two things were messed up from the receiver end:

1) It needed two firmware updates before it could communicate with the dish. We took it inside the house and did the updates via coax and our home dish. After that, the dish started working just fine.

2) The receiver would not find a tuner automatically so it wouldn't find satellites. He showed us how to switch it to Tuner 1 and the satellites immediately locked on. He did mention that Dish is having an issue with this and their engineering team is working on a solution, but for the meantime if we had this issue we had the workaround to fix it.

It was extremely frustrating at first, but now it all works well. Hope these little tidbits of info might help someone else that may be experiencing issues.
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Old 10-01-2020, 08:10 PM   #2
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Thanks for the explanation. I know just enough to know I don't know much about this type installation.
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Old 10-02-2020, 06:36 PM   #3
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I've been looking at the same satellite antenna. My coach is wired for a ground satellite antenna and I would like to how one for the times we can not get a signal with the rooftop antenna.



You mention "2) The receiver would not find a tuner automatically so it wouldn't find satellites. He showed us how to switch it to Tuner 1 and the satellites immediately locked on. He did mention that Dish is having an issue with this and their engineering team is working on a solution, but for the meantime if we had this issue we had the workaround to fix it."

I don't know what a tuner is, can you explain please?
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Old 10-04-2020, 10:08 PM   #4
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Plz explain the “switch it to Tuner 1”

Also, for those newby’s...0when in doubt, take the Wally into the house and use your 3-LNB rooftop dish to set-up , get updates, and re-program.

My short experience with DISH in my RV with Wally via a dome Winegard:
- it can be frustrating at times
- works perfectly in the driveway, then 400 miles from home it won’t connect even with a clear southern sky
- and most of the time there’s little that DISH 1-800 can do to assist.

It is 2020, and yet the technology reacts very slowly, like it’s the 1960’s
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Old 10-05-2020, 07:57 PM   #5
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Sorry all.... we’re camping this week so not checking this much. I agree with taking the WAlly into the house for initial setup.

As for the tuner.... if you hit the home key 3 times it takes you into the diagnostics screen. Scroll down to dish option. When it brings up the signal strength option it will say tuner, satellite, and transponder. If the tuner says “0”, click that and change it to “1”. That allows it to lock onto a satellite.
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Old 10-05-2020, 08:00 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by taylorbob1 View Post
Plz explain the “switch it to Tuner 1”

Also, for those newby’s...0when in doubt, take the Wally into the house and use your 3-LNB rooftop dish to set-up , get updates, and re-program.

My short experience with DISH in my RV with Wally via a dome Winegard:
- it can be frustrating at times
- works perfectly in the driveway, then 400 miles from home it won’t connect even with a clear southern sky
- and most of the time there’s little that DISH 1-800 can do to assist.

It is 2020, and yet the technology reacts very slowly, like it’s the 1960’s
The only issue we’ve found is at about 2pm every day it loses the signal lock and begins searching. I presume because the satellites have changed position just enough to confuse it. I run through the setup again and within 5 minutes we have tv again. It’s slightly annoying but manageable considering we have satellite tv away from home.

This particular campground is super nice but cable is junk and the OTA only picks up 3 channels so the Winegard has been a lifesaver for football games.
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Old 10-07-2020, 02:20 PM   #7
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Found another “issue” after our first week of using this at the campground. We have to place the dish behind the rig to get a clear view of the southern sky. About 3pm every day we lose signal when we change channels and spend roughly an hr to get it working and then it gets spotty. The dish is constantly searching. We were ready to ship it back when we get home on Saturday.

As I was drinking coffee this morning I started looking the rig over and realized this. I have it connected via a 50’ coax from the dish to the wet bay. Then the internal coax runs from the wet bay to the rear of my rig to the satellite outlet. That’s a total of 80’+.

I disconnected and hooked it up using a 20’ coax directly to my outdoor kitchen tv and it has worked flawlessly all day long. I believe the issue was the dish not getting enough power to operate the motors properly due to the long run of coax.

I am going to install a coax port underneath the outdoor kitchen slide that will give me a second sat hookup on the rear of the rig direct to the living room and shorten the run to less than 30’ total length. Then if the sat needs to sit at the nose we can use the one in the wet bay.

My coax port for the living room is directly behind my outdoor kitchen. I believe that will solve my problem and may be an issue that others may be having.
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