Roof Mount Satellite Dish - Montana Owners Club

Montana_3150 · 08-01-2005, 11:01 AM

Where is a good place/position on roof to mount my satellite dish. I have a 2003 3255 Montana. I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Charlie · 08-01-2005, 02:06 PM

Unless you have a real need to mount the dish on the roof I would not consider it for more reasons than one. First it will create more places on the roof that can create possible leaks and second with the roof mount you are not always in position to have a clear line of sight to the satellite where as you can reposition one on a stand to get around the trees.....just my opinion.

8.1al · 08-01-2005, 02:15 PM

Our last 5th wheel had the dish on the roof and I really miss it. If you spend most of your camping time in areas with trees you may not be happy with it on the roof.

ken · 08-01-2005, 02:34 PM

You need to find the flatest place on the roof. alignment is critical on satellites with the orientation and inclination angles. We had a crankup satellite antenna on our 2003 Montana and it came with a digital inclination angle meter so no one had to go up on the roof. No, it never leaked. and yes, sometimes there were trees in the way. But watching where you park takes care of the problem. On our new 2005 we had an automatic antenna mounted on the roof and it is only 4 inches higher than the A/C. So far I haven't had any problems with it. There are no holes in the roof. And All of the wires were routed through the cap and then resealed. We do look like a pregnant guppy coming down the road. We used to carry an extra antenna around with us in case we were under trees, but never used it. So we sold it. Both antennas were purchased and installed at Camping World.
Ken and Velda Taylor
Dahlgren VA
2005 3475 Montana
2005 2400HD GMC Crew Cab short bed Duramax with a 45 gal tank and a Edge Power Juice module.

lightningjack11 · 08-01-2005, 03:12 PM

I put the crank up model on my roof on the most level portion. Only takes a few minutes to set up. I have the digital elevation option which is really necessary.

Works great.

Treecounter · 08-02-2005, 08:24 AM

We found that it is best to mount your antenna where you can see the TV while looking for the satellite. A good flat spot is nice,but you can get a donut that is tapered so that you can rotate it and get a level mount. We have had crank ups on three different rigs and all self installed. Trees can be a problem but not often. We also have Internet Sat. and it is on a tripod so if trees are a problem we carry a separate TV dish that bolts on a leg of the tripod.

rames14 · 08-02-2005, 06:23 PM

PapaJim121 -

We have the roof mounted unit with the digital elevation. It is right over the bedroom area on the flat part. The tradeoffs between the roof mount and the ground mount are personal preference. Yes, when in the trees, you can have interference. However, when traveling and getting in late in inclement weather, it is extemely convenient. Just turn on the TV and Satellite, set the longitude and latitude - get the azimuth and elevation. Turn the volume up so you can here and then adjust it till you hear the signal tone. I can usually be receiving signal within 5 minutes of tunring on the TV. If you have DirecTV it is great. If you have Dish Network, not so. The less expensive (under $1000) are single LNBF. For local channels and satellite channels, you have two different satellites. With the ground mount and more expensive roof mounted dishes there is a method to adjust a third setting - skew. Best of luck. We like ours on the roof. Again, just personal opinion.

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