Bought a New Winegard Carryout - Montana Owners Club

sfretts · 06-29-2009, 06:53 AM

Made the mistake of going to CW Saturday on the way home from a family thing. I told my wife if we stopped, I was coming home with a Carryout and when she didnot reply, felt either she was ok with this or didnt hear me. Both work for me once I am there.

Got it home and only had to add a 12 volt power outlet to our rig. I noticed a hole in the upper front side of the drivers side propane storage area. It is open at the bottom and eay to plug in. The Winegard requires either a 12 volt supply or you can buy for about $30.00, a AC adapter.

Got the plug wired and fused and wanted to try it out. We have Direct tv, so they say to make sure the filter is off the back of the receiver. Did so, set up in the trailer and then went outside and sat the dome up by the trailer, plugged it into the 12 volt plug. After about 5 seconds, it started to make weird noises, then spin and then start to go back and forth, making shorter hops until after about 45 seconds, it stopped. I walked to the door, looked in and the receiver was receiving satellite info already. Good solid picture and good signal. Even though, I paid a lot for this, I was more than impressed with the ease of setup and how it worked. We are going to camping this weekend and intend to give it a real try.

Question is:

Do other Winegard owners have the ladder mount for the unit? If so, did you permanently wire it into the trailer? I did'nt see the box, but the guy at CW told me the ladder kit comes with a permanent cable hookup and you can leave it hooked to the ladder mount even when on the road. Only have to unhook if you need to readjust for trees etc. With the security issue and convenience, I am considering this addition, but want to justify the cost. I also think I could build one a lot cheaper...

Jolu · 06-29-2009, 02:21 PM

Hi Steve,
I recently installed a Winegard Traveler SK3005. This is the DTV 5 LNB version. I guess I am a little confused about the 12 volt hookup you mention. Mine plugs into 110 volts. It came with the AC adapter and all I did was run the coax and the power cable down to my tv cabinet. Mine was an easy install since all I had to do was go through the roof with the cable to the tv cabinet.

I am not sure how you would mount this unit on a ladder rack. We must be talking about a different type of Winegard Traveler. What is the model number of your unit?

The one button on and one button off is great. It does a great job locating then satellites also.

Delaine and Lindy · 06-29-2009, 04:43 PM

Jolu glad to hear Traveler SK3005 is doing the job. After much research and reading other post. We order the Traveler SK 3005 on our 2010 (SOB) I like the one button on and off. GBY....

sfretts · 06-30-2009, 08:17 AM

Dah,

I looked at the Traveler, but brought home the carry out or what ever the portable dome is...I blame the wife...

Jolu · 06-30-2009, 11:34 AM

Steve,
That dome looks like it will do the trick for DTV standard programming. I looked up the ladder mount you mentioned. That ladder mount they have for it looks interesting. The dish weighs only 13 lbs. so that should not be a problem. They mention the mount is a quick connect system. Enjoy your new dish there are a lot of options when setting it up.

dsprik · 06-30-2009, 12:46 PM

Just read the info on the Carryout. The deal killer is the problem of only being able to lock onto one sat at a time. In other words, if you have two TVs and a dual Dishnet DVR receiver as we have, both TVs have to watch the same sat programs - 119 for instance. If the wife wants to go in the bedroom and watch something coming off another sat it won't work unless I want to change in the LR. It WILL lock on to all sats - just one at a time...

That's if I understood the reviewer below the item listed.

sfretts · 07-08-2009, 07:49 AM

We went camping last weekend and it was time to put the new toy to it's test.

I was excited to get the new Winegard carry out set up and grabbed it and soon figured out where south was. I set it up and within minutes, the tv was on and Two and a Half Men were on. Life was now good, Lori was cooking dinner and I could relax and watch TV. A few moments later 'Pop' and we lost all 120 volt power. I had the air conditioner on and forgot to turn it off to use the microwave. We were on a 30 amp box, which should be fine for most appliances, but you have to be careful with the microwave.

I reset it and soon everything was coming back up. What's this, no satellite signal, out to check and reset, I could hear it, but whats wrong? I went in and went through the set up again. Crap, what is all this? The menu's were different, you could not find the zip code entry or even the dish type. When it loaded a few minutes earlier, the system did a software update. They made major changes to the setup menus and added several new options. I did'nt care...my show was nearing the end and I had no TV. Panic was setting in as I struggled to keep a clean mouth (kids next door) but with the cost of this new contraption...no, it was not going to beat me, I would win or else...(side note, average time to erect old dish, find north, set and tune in was about ten minutes...we are nearing 45 minutes now and this piece of &^#)* still wont work. I had 18 or so combination's for the receiver to work through due to their timely software download. The instructions (which I left home as it was so easy to set up) told me to choose a two lnb oval dish for the carry out and it would work fine. With the new set up, I didn't have that choice. I had a few 3 lnb choices but none seemed to work. You were also given the option of a single switch or multi. After several combination's, I tried a 3 lnb multi switch 72.5% option and all of the sudden, data started to download. My new carry out unit designed for quick set up only took 1.5 hours...Damn now its bed time...

On the bright side, I unhooked several times and locked up the dome whenever we left and it was 30 seconds to tv time when we got back. How much hardship is one supposed to endure while 'roughing it'!

Art-n-Marge · 07-08-2009, 07:58 AM

Satellite service per month: $50 to $150
New-fangled technology to watch it: $900
Stories of the old trying to use new things: Priceless

Stick with it Sfretts. It should get better over time.

Waynem · 07-09-2009, 05:57 AM

Ah! Technology! "Ain't" it great?

49merc · 07-09-2009, 09:31 AM

Steve,
That's why they call it "roughing it". LOL
Bob

Trailer Trash 2 · 07-09-2009, 11:01 AM

"Satellite service per month: $50 to $150
New-fangled technology to watch it: $900
Stories of the old trying to use new things: Priceless

Stick with it Sfretts. It should get better over time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Art & Margie Martinez
Murrieta, CA"

Ah yes!!!! this keeps the gray matter in tune, these simple little challenges of this generation, it's also less stress trying to set up the dish, I love it.

I cant take the money with me and I sure am not going to give it to my children, I'm going to spend it and enjoy retirement.

Jolu · 07-15-2009, 04:55 AM

Steve we need more stories like yours on the forum. How true it is. Rving is an adventure. Your story made me chuckle. How many times have I been there. Usually for me it is something dumb or simple on my part. LOL

simonsrf · 08-16-2009, 07:21 AM

Our satellite setup is the most frustrating part of fulltiming. I have yet to find a suitable solution to where it will work easily withing the places we camp.

I hope the technology makes this chore easier. So far, what I have seen is just another pain....will have to keep the old dish until then. Still hopeful.

dsprik · 08-16-2009, 06:10 PM

I agree, Robbie! It's a chore I really don't like. DW's remark of, "Is that satellite up yet???" doesn't help my attitude much...

Exnavydiver · 08-17-2009, 12:51 PM

Gee Dave, I thought she would be remarking " is the frame fixed yet"?... Dave

dsprik · 08-17-2009, 03:10 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Exnavydiver

Gee Dave, I thought she would be remarking " is the frame fixed yet"?... Dave

Now you know why I hesitated posting that.

You know I will hear something at the Rally about that.

Didn't we used to have a topic a while back about the dumb things we do with our Montanas???

Anyway, I am off topic... again...

I have not used my dish for about a year. When I bought our house last August, an installer came and put the dish on the roof. Then when we went to FL, I had an installer set me up for the winter with two dishes set in concrete in our CG. At the Rally I will see how long it takes to get the rust out as I try to set up my tripod again...

Lije Baley · 08-21-2009, 04:15 AM

We just returned from a four-day shakedown trip with our new unit. It has HDTVs in both the living area and bedroom. With very little effort and not too great expense I was able to wire all three TV reception areas (living area, bedroom, and basement) for dual tuner reception of Directv using Direct's single wire technology. I have several posts in a maitenance thread explaining the process, so I won't repeat it here. See: http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/...ad.php?t=35217

The big change is that with one wire from the dish to a splitter in the Montana, two signals can be carried to each viewing location using the wiring built into the trailer, without adding additional wires.

With a good, but expensive ($100) meter, aiming the dish is a snap, if you have a view of the southeastern (in CA) sky. It can be done using the TV display of satellite signal strength, but the process is much more time consuming and frustrating.

Waynem · 01-22-2010, 02:11 PM

As the topic states.... but first.

I have a portable Dish 1000 antenna and I hook it up to the DVR 722 Dish Satellite receiver. Now that is about all I can do with it. As much as I twist, turn, jitter, jab, and just cuss - the best I can do is one satellite. I think once in the past year I have had success getting all there satellites, 110, 119, and 129, just once. That was in NY and a camper had a "Birdog" satellite finder. That sure was neat, but it runs about $800. He got a bargain on ebay for a used one at $500.

Well, after 3 hours of frustration, cussing, more frustrations, more cussing, I said the heck with it and went to Camping World and bought the Winegard Carry Out Automatic Switching Satellite Antenna. Hey! Included in the sale was a portable mount that lists for around $80. I'll let you look up the price of the Carry Out - Birdog would be equal to the output.

First thing I did was SWAG'ed it. (Scientific Wild Hrummmmf Guess) I read the manual. That may be a first. Normally I just WAG it (take out the "Scientific") I also purchased a 110 to 12V converter because I'm to lazy to run 12 volts to the area I want it in, but I did have 110v there. SWAG'ing it I removed the 8 screws to the cover and set the DIP switches for the DISH network. (It works on DISH, DirecTV, and BellVu by setting DIP switches) and added the handle.

Okay! Everything assembled and ready to go. I even have a bubble level that I used to adjust the portable tripod to as near level as level can be. SWAG'ed it again, turned the receiver on and tuned to the antenna pointing mode. Turned on the power to the 12V and waited for 119 to be stable for 30 seconds. Ran "Check-Switch," and low and behold, all three satellites.

Earlene is happy. I'm happy, no more fighting the portable gremlin.

I am concerned with security. One method would be the ladder mount with it's price tag of $225. Kind of pricey if you ask me. There is a lock bolt once the antenna is in the mount and I'm thinking of modifying it with an eye bolt with a nut on the inside to run a cable to the RV.

Tom S. · 01-25-2010, 09:21 AM

Wayne, reading instructions is just not a manly thing to do, but sometimes (when no ones around) we all have to do it! Glad things have worked out, which now makes you the resident expert.

Waynem · 01-25-2010, 12:59 PM

Tom,
I resemble that remark. X is an unknown quantity and spurt is a drop of water under pressure, therefore "ex pert"

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tom S.

Wayne, reading instructions is just not a manly thing to do, but sometimes (when no ones around) we all have to do it! Glad things have worked out, which now makes you the resident expert.

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