Tailgater issue

[DonandBonnie]

A couple months ago we placed our Tailgater on the ground in a location where we didn't pick up all satellites, but we got the channels that we usually watch. While there a rather severe storm passed through and of course we lost satellite reception for the duration. Programming did not resume after the storm passed. We rescanned and were only able to pick up a very few channels, mostly shopping and infomercial types. No matter where we moved the Tailgater, we received the channels. We are now two campgrounds beyond that original location and still have the same problem. Our current location has absolutely nothing blocking the view of the sky in any direction. Anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

[Fire5er]

Have you called Dish to speak with the Tech staff?

[bigskyjimmy]

How far are you away from your original location??,We travel all over the west coast with ours and if we are round 2-300 miles away from our last location you have to call them up and change your Receiver address to get the local stations etc.. and after they do that it takes about a half an hour and MANY resets to get it to "kick in",also one thing I have screwed up on I will press the GUIDE button too many times and it will go to HD only or My channels make sure you have it on ALL channels,Also I have forgot to pay my bill and you will only get those info or Dish info stations,at lastly when you hit the Scan button go out there and listen to the dish and you should hear it rotating ,I have some other idea's if that does not work,I have gotten pretty good figuring out the Tailgater

[BB_TX]

You don't say where you are, but it is my understanding the Tailgater only picks up the western sats and does not do well if you are too far east.

Pull the top cover off, start the scan, and watch to see what the antenna does. With the handle pointed in a northerly direction my dish will rotate counterclockwise about half a turn. Then it will rotate clockwise a full turn. Then it will rotate back to a general southerly direction and begin a series of back and forth and up and down movements until it finds the sats.

For some reason occasionally after scanning the south and apparently not being happy, it will rotate to the east and try. After a few minutes of that it will rotate back to the south and try again. And almost always finds all the sats on the second try to the south.

If yours goes thru all the motions and does not find the sats then you may have s problem in the Tailgater. Storm damage maybe? A call to King Controls may be in order.

[Virginia Young]

We have the King Tailgater and I wish I had saved my money. I only had reception in TN for a couple of days and gave up. Now, in FL, it took three days, but I finally have reception. I'll see how long it lasts this time. King Tailgater customer service told me it was working properly and that it was the receiver. Dish told me the receiver was working properly and that it was the Tailgater. A retailer said it is USUALLY the Tailgater and not the receiver. Couldn't get much help from anybody. Guess I should mention - I've only had mine for about 7 weeks.

[DonandBonnie]

Thanks for all the info. We were near Canton, Ohio when we had the first problems. Now we are near Utica, NY. Not sure about the east coast issues. We used it quite well in southern New Jersey last summer. We will be back at that same NJ campground in about two weeks. We will see what happens then.

[bigskyjimmy]

Also what helps is getting rid of the cheap 50ft cable they give ya and replace it with a 25ft Quality Quad wrap Cable,since the power and signal are all in one cable on the Tailgater 50ft AND all the way thru the coach is a long way for a signal to travel,so switching it to a shorter 25 footer made a nice difference for me once I figured out a few quirks with the Tailgater me and my Wife Love it

[DonandBonnie]

Step one in the process of elimination! We removed the top from the Tailgater as suggested and found a colony of ants had taken up residence inside. We cleaned them out, however a power failure (another story that we will share separately) prevented testing to see if that corrected anything. Today is moving day to the Catskills. Will report later if we have any success.

[BB_TX]

I guess they thought it made a good storm shelter!

[bigskyjimmy]

While you were in there you should have taken some 3in one oil or similar and lube the gear down below and all the pivot points

[RKassl]

We have two Tailgaters the older white cube and the newer King Tailgater, work well no problems.