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Old 11-16-2017, 11:55 AM   #15
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I re-set my compass on phone by doing a figure 8 motion.....takes a second
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Old 11-16-2017, 08:07 PM   #16
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Our rig is satellite ready but since we always camp in areas with lots of trees, know that it wouldn't work most of the time. I went ahead and bought a dish and tripod. Routed the coax from the AV cabinet, down into and under the windshield molding, then through the floor into the wheel well. Everything hidden and easily accessible. Takes around 10 minutes to set up (5 minutes of that is receiver warming up) when tree cover is light. Some places we go have a lot of trees so it takes a bit longer to find that one little hole for the signal to come through.

Note that ours is just a single satellite dish, no HD. I aim it at 101 which gives us 90% of the channels we watch. I have a feeling it would take a bit of practice before i got the hang of aiming a three satellite SWM dish.
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Old 11-16-2017, 08:26 PM   #17
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Dish Tailgater does it all for you automatically. Set it on the ground pointing south using a hand held compass , go in rig click three times on dish set up screen and ten minutes later 500 channels, HD, and movies on pay per view, Separate hard drive for recording. Five years full time and it always works.
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Old 11-17-2017, 05:36 AM   #18
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I have the Hopper3 and am feeding it with a 1000.2 dish with a Hybrid EA LNB and mounted on a surveyor's tripod using a TV4RV adapter. We are full timers and have done the setup MANY times the past 7 years. It normally takes me 10-15 minutes but for some unknown reason sometimes (rarely) can take a few minutes longer. Using this equipment I have set it up as far away as 150' with no problems.
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Old 11-17-2017, 07:49 AM   #19
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When manually setting up the Dish system. Its absolutely mandatory for the mast (tripod) to be level. The Skew and Elevation setting rely on a level mast...

ALSO - when pointing, By blocking the two outer LNBs, This guarantees that only the center LNB will see a satellite, and on the Dish system, this should be Sat 119 (western arc) . If the dish see's 119 in the center LNB, and the SKEW is adjusted correctly, The two outer LNBs will be pointing at 110 and 129 when the covers are removed.

If you could see the satellites, When your on the west coast, 110, 119, and 129 would be almost beside each other (low SKEW angle)

On the west cost its easier to get lined up on the wrong satellite. By turning the receiver on its "AIMING" page, most Dish recievers will tell you what satellite it sees.

However, when you get to the east coast, the satellites are almost above each other (High skew angle)

Finding 119 is real easy on the east cost, because if the SKEW and Elevation are adjusted properly, the center LNB can't see any other satellites except 119.
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Old 11-17-2017, 03:19 PM   #20
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You can skimp on a lot of things, but this is not one I would even consider. Spend the money, and every time you just push one button and walk away to watch TV, you will be thankful.
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Old 11-17-2017, 03:36 PM   #21
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20 minutes to an hour... depends on how my luck is going..

smart phone app is nice... a boy scout compass.... and directTV angles...
as I use all 3....

and its still comes down to SOME luck... as you are looking for a small DOT in a massive sky

also .. HD and genie is even more difficult...
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Old 11-17-2017, 06:00 PM   #22
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Buy a Dish Pathway X2 and you have auto set up. Of course I do like watching others fussing with their manual antennas. I also like to hang out at boat ramps for more laughs.
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Old 11-17-2017, 06:35 PM   #23
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I'm jumping in here because I'm looking at getting a manual dish. We do have a Pathways X2, and plan to sell it. It works great, but our next step is to get a Hopper3. The H3 requires a three LMB antenna. The X2 will not work with a Hopper, so it's going. We have recently installed a roof mounted RF Mogul, which really works great.

We need the manual dish to get signals whenever trees prevent the roof unit from working. (That's seldom, but we do want the backup).

Anyway, I'm following this to learn about the setup for the manual dish.

Tom
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Old 11-18-2017, 12:48 PM   #24
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I've never used satellite when RVing, but one week I was parked next to a guy that did. He was set up on the banks of a river with a clear onubstructed southern sky. He spent at least 2 hours per day for 4 days messing with the aim of his dish. He even had some friends he was with try to aim it. Made me decide if I ever need a satellite TV hookup it's gonna be automatic for sure.

Glenn
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Old 11-18-2017, 03:41 PM   #25
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THe first time or 5 you set it up it can take a while to aim

once you get used to it 5 minutes should be more than enough.
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Old 11-18-2017, 06:42 PM   #26
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I set up our Dish HD antenna about 34 times a year. Takes about 8 minutes to get the tripod set up and the dish sighted in. Add about 2 minutes if there is a Skew change. The Traveler will not work with the Hopper 3 without some modifications. Should have purchased the Traveler, but we have changed RVs to many times to justify the cost each time.
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Old 11-18-2017, 07:50 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PJStough View Post
Physically setting up the tripod and dish and connecting it to the motorhome is always about the same, about 10 minutes. The time variable is the tuning in the signal. Sometimes that took as little as a minute or two up to 15 minutes.


Perfectly stated
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Old 11-18-2017, 08:10 PM   #28
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I have the traveler and a manual dish (international sats.). The manual dish is mounted on a quality tripod and the dish settings are adjusted with thumb screws. Much of my gear came from here: https://www.tv4rv.com/sunshop/index.php?cc=1. The tripod may be the cheapest surveyors transit but it's the best satellite dish tripod ever made. I have my setup done in about 10 minutes from start to end. The actual aiming takes about a minute. My meter is a Ez-Sat finder (~$50) and it confirms by name that I'm pointed at the right bird instead of leaving me guessing. If my Travel'r dies I think I'd just adapt to the manual setup to do all the birds because I seem to park under the trees greater than 50% of the time.
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