On 4/14/2019 at 1:20 AM, Arthur Redmond said:

I will be going full time again in a few weeks. I`ve been reading comments on the Forum and now I`m absolutely confused. What ever happened to the tripod and dish pointing. All I seem to get from Dish or Direc is these portable domes that you sit outside and it does everything for you. Is this the way to go these days. I need direction as I am now 79 and a little confused . HELP.

Been a lot of information on what system to use and how easy it is to point a dish but the ones that are giving advice have been doing it for years and are biased to that system and it works great for them. Now because you have never done it before it can be a very long hard learning experience, we started out with a single LNB Direct TV dish and it had a short learning experience and it worked out great but when we went to a two LNB Dish Network dish it became harder but it was still manageable. When we decided to go HD on Dish Network I didn't want to deal with setting up a 3 LNB dish so we went simple and went with a Tailgater and after after 6 years we we changed to a Wingard X2 and never looked back. If you want to be able to setup a dish easley for one nigh stops or all winter stops with no long leaning curve go with a automatic system, I prefer the X2 because of the ability for both east and west sats, also the large reflector on the X2 gives me a stronger signal.

I've helped newbies with setting up a standard dish and it can be very frustrating to them and me at times, most of them have been told how easy it is and they find out that it's not and some just give up and most end up with a automatic. The biggest problem I have found with automatic dishes is the coax in the rigs themselves. 

Denny 

  On 5/19/2019 at 6:16 PM, Al F said:

Sling TV looks like it would work well as long as you have a good cell tower signal and are close enough to broadcast TV towers for a good OTA signal. 

There are important trade offs for Sling TV versus satellite TV.  

--  Local channels:  From an OTA (Over the Air) antenna only.  There are lots of places, especially in the West where you are to far away to get good OTA reception.

--  You must have a decently strong cell service signal to be able to stream data for TV.  

--  Satellite TV:  Anywhere you have an open view of the sky to the south you get very good reception.  Even many miles from a cell tower signal.  Example:  We had excellent satellite TV with our Dish Trav'ler in Alaska and Canada.  In Canada the local channels were limited to the places the spot beam for Juneau or Fairbanks reached into adjacent parts of Canada. 

I noticed that you mentioned you have a Dish Trav`ler, ?? What is the difference with a Tailgater and a Dish Traveler. I know that you can enlighten this thick head of mine.

I wish there weren't so many different portable Antennae. Dish Traveler , Dish Tailgater 1 Tailgater 3 & Tailgater 4.  Al F will probably help me see through this. 

A Tailgater is a dome dish that is limited to certain single-tuner Dish Receivers.  As a dome, it has only one LNBF so only one satellite can be seen at a time.  Sine the Tailgater can only be used with a single-tuner receiver, that is reasonably okay.

A Winegard Trav'ler is a roof mounted automatic dish with three LNBFs so all three satellites are locked in and any satellite can be used at the same time.  This is important for multiple tuner receivers and most importantly for DVRs. 

  On 5/19/2019 at 10:26 PM, D&J said:

Been a lot of information on what system to use and how easy it is to point a dish but the ones that are giving advice have been doing it for years and are biased to that system and it works great for them. Now because you have never done it before it can be a very long hard learning experience, we started out with a single LNB Direct TV dish and it had a short learning experience and it worked out great but when we went to a two LNB Dish Network dish it became harder but it was still manageable. When we decided to go HD on Dish Network I didn't want to deal with setting up a 3 LNB dish so we went simple and went with a Tailgater and after after 6 years we we changed to a Wingard X2 and never looked back. If you want to be able to setup a dish easley for one nigh stops or all winter stops with no long leaning curve go with a automatic system, I prefer the X2 because of the ability for both east and west sats, also the large reflector on the X2 gives me a stronger signal.

I've helped newbies with setting up a standard dish and it can be very frustrating to them and me at times, most of them have been told how easy it is and they find out that it's not and some just give up and most end up with a automatic. The biggest problem I have found with automatic dishes is the coax in the rigs themselves. 

Denny 

Denny, I did set up set up dish antennas for 12 yrs full timing, been off the road for 3 yrs. now. I`m becoming a Nomad again but I now want the easiest way, going on 80 and am lazier now. So I guess automatic is the way for me. By the way why not by-pass the rig`s system and connect directly to the Auto/Dish. I did that in the last rig we had because the coax in the rig was faulty.

Art

  On 5/19/2019 at 11:55 PM, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

A Tailgater is a dome dish that is limited to certain single-tuner Dish Receivers.  As a dome, it has only one LNBF so only one satellite can be seen at a time.  Sine the Tailgater can only be used with a single-tuner receiver, that is reasonably okay.

A Winegard Trav'ler is a roof mounted automatic dish with three LNBFs so all three satellites are locked in and any satellite can be used at the same time.  This is important for multiple tuner receivers and most importantly for DVRs. 

 

I also saw a dome ant. called "Playmaker" what is the difference.

Art

  On 5/19/2019 at 11:48 PM, Art Redmond said:

I noticed that you mentioned you have a Dish Trav`ler, ?? What is the difference with a Tailgater and a Dish Traveler. I know that you can enlighten this thick head of mine.

Mark & Dale covered the differences.

More info/comments:

--  The domes have smaller dishes, so they have lower signal strength.  That means rain fade is more pronounced, and in northern latitudes you will even have less of a signal.  We had good reception all the way up to the Arctic Circle, north of Fairbanks, AK.  Beyond the Arctic Circle we had hills and mountains blocking the view of the satellite.  We talked with an RV'er in Homer, AK who said they couldn't even detect a signal with their dome.  

--  The Trav'ler receives the full spectrum of all the satellite channels from either Direct TV or Dish Network, depending on which version of the Trav'ler you buy and service you subscribe to.  

--  With Dish and I think Direct TV the receivers can record up to 16 channels at the same time.  Some modification has to be done for the Dish Trav'ler to accomplish this.  You also have to have the "Hopper" receiver for Dish to record all those channels at the same time. 

  On 5/20/2019 at 5:02 AM, Al F said:

Mark & Dale covered the differences.

More info/comments:

--  The domes have smaller dishes, so they have lower signal strength.  That means rain fade is more pronounced, and in northern latitudes you will even have less of a signal.  We had good reception all the way up to the Arctic Circle, north of Fairbanks, AK.  Beyond the Arctic Circle we had hills and mountains blocking the view of the satellite.  We talked with an RV'er in Homer, AK who said they couldn't even detect a signal with their dome.  

--  The Trav'ler receives the full spectrum of all the satellite channels from either Direct TV or Dish Network, depending on which version of the Trav'ler you buy and service you subscribe to.  

--  With Dish and I think Direct TV the receivers can record up to 16 channels at the same time.  Some modification has to be done for the Dish Trav'ler to accomplish this.  You also have to have the "Hopper" receiver for Dish to record all those channels at the same time. 

Thank you for the clarification, I`m beginning to see the light.

Art

You'll be able to use any DISH receiver (particularly the Hopper 3) with the following:

• Portable tripod with open-faced dish (~ $300, dish, tripod, cheap sat meter) -- manual setup and aiming. Least expensive.
• Rooftop Winegard Travler ($1300, not installed) -- push button operation. The best unless you're under trees.

You'll only be able to use a single-tuner DISH receiver (Wally, VIP 211, etc) with the following. A single tuner receiver limits what you can/can't watch/record:

• Winegard Pathway X1, X2 -- IMHO the X2 ($450 with a Wally receiver) is your best bet in this category. You can move it around to avoid tree cover and it's pretty much automatic. Plus, it has a large dish under its dome and can acquire all of DISH's sats.
• Tailgater
• Playmaker
• All domes

The Pathway X2 is still the only dome available that can receive the full eastern and western arc satellite sets. That's the model I recommend for anyone wanting the most aiming flexibility with  a portable self aiming dome. As said, like all the domes, it is restricted to certain Dish receiver models.