Portable satellites

[Beverly]

Greetings,
I have a portable satellite dish system called a Pathway II by Winegard. It may be on the blink so I will probably be replacing it soon with SOB. Do you all have any recommendations for particular brands that you have been happy with? I don't want to trash anyone's product in this public forum but I would sure like to know which portable dishes have been working well. We are on Dish and we have personal relationships with most of the help-desk personnel there (since we have to call them everyday almost!).
If you feel the need to trash someones product (like I do), PM me and I will do the same.
Thanks and safe travels,
Bev

[Theunz]

I wouldn't be to quick about trashing your receiver, as most problem are due to the internal wiring in the Montanas. Many previous discussions on this subject available by doing a search.

[DQDick]

Six years of full timing with two Winegard G2+ s and love them. The G2+ has it's own power supply and so you don't have to worry about getting enough power down the line from the Wally. I've been having issues that Dish admits are theirs and they are probably going to replace my Wally's with older model receivers that every Dish tech I've ever talked to say cause few problems compared to the Wallys. Any tailgater style reciever gets it's power from the receiver and so every connector and every length of cable will cause issues. That's why the fine print tells you you can only use a 25' cable and it must be a direct connection. With a antenna that produces it's own power you don't have those issues.

[AZ Traveler]

If I was to buy a new Dish compatible antenna it would be a Winegard X2.

Easy way to check it is not your trailer wiring is to run a cable through the door or window directly to your receiver. If it works then, my recommendation is to run a direct cable. There are options to run it through a slide.

[riflegunbuilder]

I just replaced my coax with a better grade than what came with my antenna from DISH. Made a big difference.

[timandsusan]

When I installed our Sat system in our Monty, I skipped all the internal wiring. I installed outside connectors and used the best RG cable--even bought crimp tools to make my own cables including connections to the antenna--Pathways X2. Everything works really well. I recommend the same approach by others.

[WeBeFulltime]

For 9 years full-timing I have used a Dish Network manual 1000.2 dish mounted to a surveyor's tripod using the mast kit from tv4rv.com. This is feeding a Hopper3 receiver and only takes about 10 minutes to set up again when we move. Why would I need an automatic dish?

[mlh]

I have 2 Dish Tailgaters that run off the Camper coax wire. One is mounted to the top of the camper the other is portable. On the portable one I use a 50 foot coax cable with no problem. It uses the camper cable that runs from near the back to the front of the camper. I tried to run a 100 coax cable but that was too long. If I run the 100 foot coax cable directly to my 211 box that isn’t too long and it works.
Lynwood

[waynemoore]

I went with the Dish portable systems. One in the Roof and one portable just in case I got in a spot under trees.

After the incident with the bridge I had a Dish Traveler installed and now more problems. Yes very pricey but I just had to have it.

[summer home]

We have a Pathways x2 antenna and 2 211 receivers... the Wallys would not work, so we returned them and bought the older 211's.....
We also ran a direct sat cable outlet thru the bedroom wall to connect that input to, because the Montana wiring did not work..
The connection for the living room cable is original and works...
we are pleased with the tv reception that we get from DISH

[barryn]

Originally Posted by Beverly

Greetings,
I have a portable satellite dish system called a Pathway II by Winegard. It may be on the blink so I will probably be replacing it soon with SOB. Do you all have any recommendations for particular brands that you have been happy with? I don't want to trash anyone's product in this public forum but I would sure like to know which portable dishes have been working well. We are on Dish and we have personal relationships with most of the help-desk personnel there (since we have to call them everyday almost!).
If you feel the need to trash someones product (like I do), PM me and I will do the same.
Thanks and safe travels,
Bev

you might want to try this

[Fish]

Originally Posted by WeBeFulltime

For 9 years full-timing I have used a Dish Network manual 1000.2 dish mounted to a surveyor's tripod using the mast kit from tv4rv.com. This is feeding a Hopper3 receiver and only takes about 10 minutes to set up again when we move. Why would I need an automatic dish?

I still have my winegard pathwayx2 but it's at home sitting in my shop in a box. Even though it has 2 coax hookups I found it useless to use on 2 tv's. The receivers seemed to fight each other over which satellite to go to.

Went back to the dish 1000.2 mounted on a tripod and now have no problems with 211z in living room, 211z in bedroom, and a wally for my outside tv in the basement storage.

[Mel B.]

Originally Posted by Fish

I still have my winegard pathwayx2 but it's at home sitting in my shop in a box. Even though it has 2 coax hookups I found it useless to use on 2 tv's. The receivers seemed to fight each other over which satellite to go to.

Went back to the dish 1000.2 mounted on a tripod and now have no problems with 211z in living room, 211z in bedroom, and a wally for my outside tv in the basement storage.

I have the Pathway X2 also, I really like it. But I'm thinking of making the change also for the same reason as you. Does the head on your 1000.2 have 3 cable hook ups?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Mel B.

I have the Pathway X2 also, I really like it. But I'm thinking of making the change also for the same reason as you. Does the head on your 1000.2 have 3 cable hook ups?

Yes , 3.

[rickbecker]

I was using a Winegard satellite dish Model GM-1518 with 2 Dish Wallys up until last Feb and they were working fine. Put the rig away for a couple of months - when I went to use it in May, the Wallys would not hold sat lock. After many hours on the phone, finally got elevated to a tech that knew more than most who explained that Dish had "updated" the software on Wally and rendered them useless for portable dish use without additional software upgrade that - wait for it - the Wally will not complete on a portable dish. Gotcha! The tech told me to take the Wallys to Camping World where they could do the update for you. Well if you have a CW close, OK they will do it for minimum bench charge of $74 for 30 minutes. As I am not handy to CW, the tech agreed to send me 2 z211 units at no charge. They both work fine, but are older technology (ie larger, not so friendly interface, generate a ton of heat and will not work with a hard drive that is powered from the USB port).


So, it may not be your dish or cabling if you are using a Wally, but rather the Dish gotcha. If you want more info on what I did, see my post under the "Let Us Entertain You" thread.p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

[AZ Traveler]

Originally Posted by rickbecker

I was using a Winegard satellite dish Model GM-1518 with 2 Dish Wallys up until last Feb and they were working fine. Put the rig away for a couple of months - when I went to use it in May, the Wallys would not hold sat lock. After many hours on the phone, finally got elevated to a tech that knew more than most who explained that Dish had "updated" the software on Wally and rendered them useless for portable dish use without additional software upgrade that - wait for it - the Wally will not complete on a portable dish. Gotcha! The tech told me to take the Wallys to Camping World where they could do the update for you. Well if you have a CW close, OK they will do it for minimum bench charge of $74 for 30 minutes. As I am not handy to CW, the tech agreed to send me 2 z211 units at no charge. They both work fine, but are older technology (ie larger, not so friendly interface, generate a ton of heat and will not work with a hard drive that is powered from the USB port).


So, it may not be your dish or cabling if you are using a Wally, but rather the Dish gotcha. If you want more info on what I did, see my post under the "Let Us Entertain You" thread.p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

I would always take a 211 receiver over a Wally - they are more reliable.

[twindman]

I am pretty sure the z211 will use a USB connected disk for a DVR

[richfaa]

Like DQ Dick we have the winegard G2+. We picked it up at a CW near Winslow, AZ for a very good close out price 3 or 4 years ago. Very easy setup and works great.

[DebNJim B]

Had Direct TV at home so went with that till the antenna died. Went with dish as they were more "RV Friendly". Two Wally's and a King Tailgater. That turned out to me more hassle than it was worth with all the splitters in the Monty. If I have to run a cable out the window every time, why bother. Now we just stream Netflix and Prime and have cut the cable at home also. Most of the parks we now use have gone to third party Internet providers that provide plenty of band width and cost less than the monthly Dish charges.

[barryn]

I'm tired of Direct TV AT$T. Even though I have my dish on a dolly, the monthly payments are like congress... they lie! I want Free stuff, over 220 a month, I'm stupid for paying these people. Yeah, it's my fault. Just don't let my wife know!