Satellite

[PaChLewis]

Originally Posted by DQDick

When we had the Winegard G2+ we had it installed on a ladder mount. Now both our rigs have Winegard Travelers and we've had no roof issues.

We recently purchased a 2017 3720rl and have not been able to hook our pathway x2 through the unit's system. Were you able to do this or did you need to hook up direct?

[AZ Traveler]

Paulette,

Hook it up direct.

[BiggarView]

Originally Posted by AZ Traveler

Brian,

The west has a lot of forests, BLM and great open spaces without cell or WIFI. You run out of DVDs fairly quick.

We have over 400 movies and tv shows on our portable hard drive and enough DVDs to last for months in binge mode. I doubt we'll ever be bored enough to go through them all. Too much other stuff to see and do that loss of internet connectivity will ever be an issue for us. YMMV.

We can meet up sometime and swap DVDs... just for some variety. LOL

[AZ Traveler]

Brian,

Maybe Couer d'Alene this summer or Quartzsite next winter?

[BiggarView]

We'll be east this year and hopefully Canada if the borders open. Haven't made any plans beyond that.

[AZ Traveler]

Brian,

Canada had very little cell on my last trip to AK.

[DadsHemi]

Originally Posted by PaChLewis

We recently purchased a 2017 3720rl and have not been able to hook our pathway x2 through the unit's system. Were you able to do this or did you need to hook up direct?

You can change out all the splinters to a higher Mz rating, thats what we did and that solved my issues, and I get to watch tv on all 3 TVs. It is a pain to find them all though.

[Montana Man]

Originally Posted by PaChLewis

We recently purchased a 2017 3720rl and have not been able to hook our pathway x2 through the unit's system. Were you able to do this or did you need to hook up direct?

Although these trailers have a satellite connection, they are not satellite friendly. Poor cabling, cheap splitters, excessive cable lengths, all degrade signals to the point of not functioning. The Pathway has a limit of about 50' and using the trailer's cabling eats up about 35' or so leaving a short run outside. That X2 will work just fine if you wire directly to the box. Installing a coax wall fitting through the side of your trailer works just fine.

[Cindy and Ray's Grand Tour]

We are on our third season of using a mobile satellite dish by hooking it up directly to our Wally through a window. It has never worked well through the satellite hookup in the convenience center. I prefer being able to move the dish to where ever I need to in order to get clear sky. I have a 50ft and a 100ft cable. Once I had to use all 150ft to get a hole in the trees and it still worked fine with the direct connection. After 3 years I do not see any downside in just running the cable through the window as it squeezes nicely into the rubber seal so bugs don't come in. It only takes me about 5 minutes to hook up unless I have to move it several times to find open sky (which is why I like it moveable).

[Hblick48]

Originally Posted by Soon 2B snowbird

We are on our third season of using a mobile satellite dish by hooking it up directly to our Wally through a window. It has never worked well through the satellite hookup in the convenience center. I prefer being able to move the dish to where ever I need to in order to get clear sky. I have a 50ft and a 100ft cable. Once I had to use all 150ft to get a hole in the trees and it still worked fine with the direct connection. After 3 years I do not see any downside in just running the cable through the window as it squeezes nicely into the rubber seal so bugs don't come in. It only takes me about 5 minutes to hook up unless I have to move it several times to find open sky (which is why I like it moveable).

Get the Winegard Satellite app for your phone. Using virtual reality, you can see the satellites in the sky. Makes placing the Dish easy.

[mlh]

Originally Posted by Hblick48

Get the Winegard Satellite app for your phone. Using virtual reality, you can see the satellites in the sky. Makes placing the Dish easy.

There are several of these available, most free. We use SkyView Lite. Look them up try several and see which one you like then dump all you don’t like.
Lynwood

[Camp CA]

Originally Posted by Billyj571

Not sure which way to go wanted a roof mount but keystone said it could void warranty on the roof so do I go portable and mount to ladder or get a tripod unsure which way to go any suggestions or pics would be extremely appreciated also do’s and don’ts

I have had roof-mounted direct tv antenna installed by the dealer on 2 trailers, 2004 Everest and 2020 Montana. No issues. Very happy with them.

[Sokcap48]

We have a Dish-automatic on the roof. Love it- push’s button and we are done.

[CaptainDave225]

I know it would be difficult to run cable if you are thinking about a Winegard Trav'ler system, as the KeyTV system only runs one coax cable from roof to KeyTV junction box. The Trav'ler system needs coax cable running from sat on roof to each TV, up to 3 TVs,.
If you go with a simple Tailgater or carry out system and mount to roof it should be fine.

My next concern would be why would mounting a rooftop sat void the warranty, if Keystone pre-wires coax cable from convenience center, wet bay, to the roof from the factory for the reason to mount a day system??
I went with the winegard system and bypassed the KeyTV for sat system only, all other media runs through KeyTV.

[mudrockatc]

My two cents!! Had the winegard traveler on two previous RVs, both roof mounted, and the "Cadillac" of sat antennas, push one button on control box, maybe do a switch test if the box has not been used for awhile, and within a couple of minutes you are watching HD(Dish) perfect TV, just like sitting at home on your sofa! HOWEVER, about 30% of the time we would end up in a site with the southwest sky blocked by a tree! I have actually, at times, unhooked all utilities, raised the jacks, and tried to move forward or backward as far as site would permit trying to "peek" through the trees and receive a signal. This time on our latest Monty I decided to go with a carry out, and ended up with a Winegard Pathway X2, and couldn't be happier. Takes a tiny bit more work, but have NEVER not been able to find a sat since I got it. I DID run a quality coax from convenient center hookup to the hookup behind TV in living room, run small piece of coax from there to Dish box(one of the 211 models, have several), and HDMI to TV. Little antenna spins and finds sat really fast, I also bought the tripod to set it on, have used as much as 100ft of coax to move to clear spots with no problems, it is powered by the same coax. Once in a while I will see the picture kind of fade from HD to SD and back depending on the weather. Hope you find the answer you are looking for!

[lightsout]

We have roof mounted dish on our Class A problem was as mentioned by other was you are limited on placement and 70% of the time we have trees blocking the signal. So we also bought a portable so we always had both it go to the point I only would set op the portable. Now with the Montana we only have the portable and it works 80% of the time (sometimes there are just too many trees. For those that say just stream that is fine however here in the PNW it is rare that you have a streamable signal that is even less reliable than a roof top. There are a lot of tress in the PNW

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by CaptainDave225

...I know it would be difficult to run cable if you are thinking about a Winegard Trav'ler system, as the KeyTV system only runs one coax cable from roof to KeyTV junction box. The Trav'ler system needs coax cable running from sat on roof to each TV, up to 3 TVs,...

If your Trav'ler (or RF Mogul, my personal preference) is SWM enabled for DTV (or the equivalent multiplexing for Dish), there is only one cable from the antenna to wherever (either KeyTV, a receiver, or a splitter feeding multiple TVs).

[Carl n Susan]

I just saw this on another site. There is now a portable, tripod mounted antenna system that uses the full sized reflector and it is Self Aligning. You plop down the tripod anywhere with a clear view, add the brains, and the antenna and it uses it's GPS to figure out where you are and the correct azimuth, elevation, and skew for the satellites. It then uses those values to align the antenna for you. No pain, no agony.

It appears to be new on the market. The current offer is for DirecTV, but Dish is coming. At a price of $999, it is more expensive than the portable domes, but it offers a much better signal overall, support for all three satellites at once, and multiple TVs watching different stations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM3D_fKQNyQ

[PNW Fireguy]

No dog in this fight but I am now a fan of RF Mogul for roof mounted automatic units. No more LNB cable replacements or unbolt and ship back to Iowa.

[laverdur]

I have Dish network. I started with a portable dish on a tripod. I worried every night about it disappearing in the night. I bought a ladder mount bracket and that worked pretty well but it was tricky to climb the ladder while holding the dish ant not falling off the ladder when putting the dish on the bracket at every stop. Some folks just left the dish on the bracket but Winegard advised against it so I didn't do that. After the warranty on my Monty expired I got a Winegard Trav'ler and installed the on the roof. The controller is installed on a shelf in the bedroom wardrobe where there is a 120 volt outlet. Power from the controller to the dish runs down to the pass-through storage and across to the convenience center and then out through the roof to the dish. Two coax runs from the dish go down into the convenience center where they connect to the coach coax for the entertainment center and bedroom. Cable runs will vary from model to model so that must be taken into consideration. The hardest part of the installation was making aluminum wedges to fit under the sides of the dish mounting plate so that there was a flat surface to bolt the dish to. Due to the curved roof on the Monty, failure to use wedges would result in damage to the dish and the roof.