Any good portable sats.

bishgeo

Active Member
Looking to get a portable sat but all I do is read horror stories about them. Probably read 40 posts of dish owners complaining about service and not getting and help calling in. 😡😳
 

JWalker

Northeast Region Director-Retired
Looking to get a portable sat but all I do is read horror stories about them. Probably read 40 posts of dish owners complaining about service and not getting and help calling in. 😡😳

Love our King portable unit and have had NO issues with Dish. Just made the call to cancel for the winter. Will call in April to reactivate.

Good luck with your search.
 

bishgeo

Active Member
Satalite connection

Any one using one of the portable sats that use dish can you connect it thru your sat connection on camper or does it have to be ran in the window or something to receiver.
 

esscobra

Well-known member
with my first trailer- used wineguard carryout for 7 years- had the ladder mount on back of trailer- after initial set up- no issues -year 4 added a pathway to roof for bedroom tv - tired of not being able to watch different sat from living room- only 2x did I have to take off mount and use on ground for signal - so couldn't wait to get a roof mounted travlr unit- I ordered before I even got my bighorn and will never go back - I sold carryout with trailer- kept the pathway and and have not used it in 2 years with my bighorn - stay often in state parks in south texas and no issues with signal blocked from trees --
 

travelin2

Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
Re: Satalite connection

Any one using one of the portable sats that use dish can you connect it thru your sat connection on camper or does it have to be ran in the window or something to receiver.

We use all the onboard cabling for satellite, cable and OTA viewing
Had issues with connectivity on satellite and same plus clarity on cable/OTA but once I replaced the cheapy cable connectors and splitters have had satisfactory viewing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

bishgeo

Active Member
Re: Satalite connection

Qdid you replace the booster connection. Seems like all the cables run thru it. New camper can't even get cable to go thru the entire camper yet. All cable connections were loose haven't replaced any splitters or cable yet. Time for winter.
 

jayc

Legendary Member
We've been using Dish Network for most of the 10 years that we've been full timing. Most of that time was using a Winegard Carryout antenna and we had great service from both. We bought a new Landmark last year and had a Winegard Traveler installed on the roof and we sold the Carryout to a good friend. He has been using it with good service.

Good luck with your choice.
 

travelin2

Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
Qdid you replace the booster connection. Seems like all the cables run thru it. New camper can't even get cable to go thru the entire camper yet. All cable connections were loose haven't replaced any splitters or cable yet. Time for winter.

Short answer-No, just replaced the cable connectors
OTA/Cable viewing improved after I eliminated 2 unnecessary splitters and replaced the others

When you get back researching this, if you know the cg cable is good, run a cable directly from the cg pedestal to the back of each TV. If the picture is clear and all the channels scan in on both TVs, the connection issues are within the rig’s cabling. Good luck!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
Tailgator and Dish and I have never had a problem with Dish. It is even better now that you can use their app on your phone to reestablish connection. Many time it is several months between trips so my receiver is "forgotten" by the system and I have to have Dish send a wake up. Now I use the app on my Iphone and am up and running is minutes.
 

Gary521

Well-known member
I now have the Winegard Pathway X2. Prior to that, I had the King Tailgater. These both worked on Dish. The Pathway is a much better setup than Tailgater. The dish is much larger on the Pathway and does a better job of picking up the satellites in different parts of the country. It also works on what is called Eastern and Western arc satellites. So if you have a tree blocking the western arc satellites, you can switch to the eastern arc or vice versa. I can make you a heck of a deal on the fairly new Tailgater.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
Tailgator and Dish and I have never had a problem with Dish. It is even better now that you can use their app on your phone to reestablish connection. Many time it is several months between trips so my receiver is "forgotten" by the system and I have to have Dish send a wake up. Now I use the app on my Iphone and am up and running is minutes.


I have been using the same set up for six plus years with very few problems (approximately 55, 000 RV miles) all over the country. Another great feature of the app which is also available on Android is the capability to change your local stations (this used to take anywhere from five to twenty minutes depending on who you got for a tech support rep). If you don't have it at home and don't travel all the time, you can shut it down when you don't need it (whole months only).
 

GDubb

Member
I've been a dish network user for several years now and have never had any major issues with them or my Tailgater portable dish. I have a bigger RV now so might be looking to do a permanently mounted system.

Gdubb
 

orion7144

Well-known member
I too have had to replace many of my connectors. Most of the were crimp on and either not crimped or just spun around the cable. I used compression connectors.


Short answer-No, just replaced the cable connectors
OTA/Cable viewing improved after I eliminated 2 unnecessary splitters and replaced the others

When you get back researching this, if you know the cg cable is good, run a cable directly from the cg pedestal to the back of each TV. If the picture is clear and all the channels scan in on both TVs, the connection issues are within the rig’s cabling. Good luck!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

carl.swoyer

Well-known member
Looking to get a portable sat but all I do is read horror stories about them. Probably read 40 posts of dish owners complaining about service and not getting and help calling in.
I've used direct TV and simply take the box from the house.
I was using the carry out but recently sold it to a friend of mine $200.00. Before he took it I called dish and gave them the model number to be sure it was compatible. They said yes!
Update
Jim said it wouldn't communicate with the new dish satilite's so ( and I thought that would be the case) I'm going to buy it back.
Currently I'm using a Wingard in motion satilite and it works great. I retreived it from the dumpster and fixed the power connection. Working flawlessly.
You don't have to have any rv contract for the service.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

CoveredWagon

Well-known member
Question for anyone with a Pathway X2 dish. Where do you store it during travel. Any trick storage devices. My basement is pretty full right now.
Tanks 😉
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Any of them are only as good as your visibility of the southern sky satellite arc. If you're camping in a cow pasture, probably any one will work. In the northern woods, good luck. The further north, the lower the arc is to the horizon. Put some tall trees in there and a fly on a leaf will block the signal. We had DISH for a couple of seasons, but dropped it and put the gear in storage after some of the oak trees to the south of our summer site (off the CG property) grew taller and leafier.

Since there were only a couple of summer programs we watched, I just stream them the next day via our MiFi through my laptop to the TV. Any others are recorded on DVR to watch when we get home. Other than the PBS channels, the other OTA channels pixelate to frustration.

And when shopping for satellite service, don't be overwhelmed by the number of channels they offer. "250 channels" means most of it is reruns, kiddy shows, music channels, foreign language, or holy-roller proselytizing. And the major network channels, HBO, Cinemax, etc., may come at a premium, if at all.

We don't miss it.
 

EOneal59

Active Member
Been using Directv dish setup on tripod since 2001 with my Fleetwood G31 TT, till we upgrade to our 2015 Bighorn 3570RS in 2014. Upgraded to Directv HD dish on same tripod, everything works great with the satillite cables in the rig. The cable that ran from the antenna had stop working and found that the slice had seperated in the under belly at the slide, after reattaching and checking all the cable connections havn't had any more trouble. Do plan on one day getting the trav'ler dish to put on the rig :rolleyes:


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LBR

Well-known member
We park with Southern exposure considered for the portable Dish antenna, but sometimes stuff just get in the way. When I have cell service, I use my Android app called "Satellite AR".

Once app is open click on "Echostar"

Hold phone to southern sky standing where I wish to place the antenna, and then I locate the Echostar belt of satellites....specifically:

Echostar 110...(10&11)
Echostar 119...(07&14)
Echostar 129...(Ciel2)

These will work for those of us in West US...East US and possibly Canada will use different satellites...a bit of Googling will give you the results needed for your areas.

Don't forget to play with this app...it is cool to locate all of the sky satellites at night and see the unique "Milky Way belt" that they make! The unseen satellites are truly beautiful.
 
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