Community Forums

Dave Killey · 04-18-2013, 10:57 AM

Looking to upgrade my Motosat and understand the best two options to be Winegard Traveler SK-7003 or the Explorer. Consulting with an expert (Digital Electronics, Langely, BC) who installs & repairs these two brands on a daily bases and his pick is the Explorer ($2499) as opposed to the Winegard ($2000). He has many reasons, but indicated he has repaired a few winegards and very few explorers. Winegard does not allow user upgrades where explorer does as well as several other nice features including the manual mode explorer has to tweak the sat in areas like Mexico. He noted the explorer was programed a a while ago to get the 3rd satellite (G1) once it was launched but the winegard is just comming out with the programming as this satellite was launched April 15th. I really do not know what this means or how important is is to me.

I would love to hear what other have to say on either of these two...the good, bad and the ugly...

Thank you one and all for your thoughts on this, it is appreciated to help me & others make an informed decision.

Scout1947 · 09-13-2013, 04:23 PM

You don't need to scrap Motosat. RF Mogul can assist. They can upgrade some components and instruct you on how to lock on satellite. I asked them if I should scrap the unit they said no. Controller can be replaced or repaired and real people who speak English answer the phone.

I would liken it to a horse with a limp but not lame so don't shoot it.

Re Shaw you will be able to get most of your old channel packages, they have added a lot more but a lot of them are an HD version of news. Even Shaw said it wasn't worth while.

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. To upgrade to the new sat system is about 3k here in Calgary.

Dave Killey · 09-14-2013, 08:59 AM

The upgrade to the Explorer has already been done. The Moto-sat dish is collecting dust in storage. Had a few issues with the explorer at first, but now it is working fine. I like the features on it like being able to manually move to dish and actually see the co-ordinates it is pointing to. This will help out in Mexico where its like finding a needle in a haystack. There is also a semi-auto feature that goes from sat to sat and asks if its the right satellite or not and moves on if its not. I have had signal strengths several times in the 90's which I never had that high before.

Enokie · 10-30-2013, 11:19 PM

Canada Satellite | Explorer SD-75a Shaw Direct RV Satellite Dish + HDDSR 600HD Receiver + Free Shipping!!!

Here is a special Shaw is running right now and info... it even mentions service to Mexico ..

sswilson · 10-30-2013, 11:30 PM

Am I missing something here? Do you guys know that Shaw Direct is no longer providing assistance for their dish south of the border and you will not receive the new programming south of the 49th parallel? If you get shaw direct in the states now, you will still get it from the old satellites but no guarantee for how long and DO NOT call them for any technical assistance. I am hoping you already know that and this is not a surprise. They are now in agreement with the states as Bell is.

Dave Killey · 10-31-2013, 09:02 AM

I understand I will loose some channels, but I am OK with that at this point. The idea is not to call Shaw from a USA phone or they may cut you off as they obligated to do so. But if you tell them your in the USA or Mexico they will not cut you off apparently but that may change. Just had my satellite guy to the mandatory update for the explorer dish controller. He claims that Explorer now has a controller for the old motosat dish. So if you have a motosat dish on your rv, you can get this new controler for around $1200 which is far cheaper than a whole new dish. Using my explorer this summer, I got great reception in USA and Canada and would get signal strengths of 98+ all the time.
Leaving soon for Mexico to give this new system test.
Safe travels