Dish Tailgater
I am seriously considering the purchase of a dish tailgater for our Voltage 3200. We already have Dish at home so the monthly cost is minimal. A couple of questions to those that have one of these ...
Forum Discussion
You probably already know this but just in case you don't- The "Tailgater" will only work with a couple models. The VIP211K, and I think maybe 2 other models that end with the 11 number i.e. 311/611 maybe?
The "Tailgater" is super simple to use- totally automated. It comes with about 50 feet of RG6 coax cable to run from the antenna to the box. I'm guessing with your newer model Voltage is that you have 2 coax jacks somewhere around your utility cabinet (water/dump tanks etc.) Hopefully they are labeled correctly. One for satellite and 1 for cable.
Next the inside hook up- On my fuzion and hopefully on your Voltage at the main TV you will have 2 more coax jacks. Mine weren't labeled so it was a process of trial & error, but they correspond to the previously mentioned outside Satellite & cable jacks. Hook your 211 via RG6 coax to the Sat jack. Then use a HDMI cable to your main TV.
I hear many Satellite receivers no longer have a coax output to TV. Fortunately my 211K has both the HDMI output & Coax out. As I said you run the HDMI to the Primary TV and now you can backfeed the coax into the cable jack & it will go to any other TV's that are hooked into your cable coax wiring.
The Tailgater/211 is only capable of one channel watching at a time. What ever channel you put your receiver on is what you will have to watch on all the TV's.
A little more technical data that I have dug up for your reading pleasure- The Tailgater locks on the Dish Network's western arc satellites only- 110, 119 & 129. if you are in the Northeast U.S. you may have difficulty getting signals if you are near trees, especially the 129 sat as they are lower on the horizon, and the 129 the lowest. There are eastern arc sat's at like 61.5, 70 & something else which are higher on the horizon in the Northeast/east, I know the dish installer at my home set our antenna up for those, as the trees were blocking the western arc birds.
It probably doesn't matter to you, as I see you are in Texas and the Tailgater will probably serve you very well, but there is an alternative-. The VuQube antenna looks identical to the tailgater and I believe was the predecessor. It has a dual tuner (can be hooked to a second receiver for alternate channel viewing) and I believe can work on both eastern or western arc satellites. It apparently is compatible with Dish or Direct TV as well. It also costs more maybe as much as $200 more. I didn't know about it when I was buying my satellite system, and I can't say that I could have justified the extra expense even if I did.
*One last note* You mentioned a splitter causing problems. The only thing I can think of is the over the air antenna booster. That little jack that has a 12 volt power supply and a little black button that turns the booster on/off. If that is turned on I hear it messes with cable signal on the cable line as it shares the same coax. This shouldn't mess with your satellite signal on it's dedicated line, however if your are backfeeding your signal to other TV's using the cable coax you would want to make sure that the booster is turned off.
The "Tailgater" is super simple to use- totally automated. It comes with about 50 feet of RG6 coax cable to run from the antenna to the box. I'm guessing with your newer model Voltage is that you have 2 coax jacks somewhere around your utility cabinet (water/dump tanks etc.) Hopefully they are labeled correctly. One for satellite and 1 for cable.
Next the inside hook up- On my fuzion and hopefully on your Voltage at the main TV you will have 2 more coax jacks. Mine weren't labeled so it was a process of trial & error, but they correspond to the previously mentioned outside Satellite & cable jacks. Hook your 211 via RG6 coax to the Sat jack. Then use a HDMI cable to your main TV.
I hear many Satellite receivers no longer have a coax output to TV. Fortunately my 211K has both the HDMI output & Coax out. As I said you run the HDMI to the Primary TV and now you can backfeed the coax into the cable jack & it will go to any other TV's that are hooked into your cable coax wiring.
The Tailgater/211 is only capable of one channel watching at a time. What ever channel you put your receiver on is what you will have to watch on all the TV's.
A little more technical data that I have dug up for your reading pleasure- The Tailgater locks on the Dish Network's western arc satellites only- 110, 119 & 129. if you are in the Northeast U.S. you may have difficulty getting signals if you are near trees, especially the 129 sat as they are lower on the horizon, and the 129 the lowest. There are eastern arc sat's at like 61.5, 70 & something else which are higher on the horizon in the Northeast/east, I know the dish installer at my home set our antenna up for those, as the trees were blocking the western arc birds.
It probably doesn't matter to you, as I see you are in Texas and the Tailgater will probably serve you very well, but there is an alternative-. The VuQube antenna looks identical to the tailgater and I believe was the predecessor. It has a dual tuner (can be hooked to a second receiver for alternate channel viewing) and I believe can work on both eastern or western arc satellites. It apparently is compatible with Dish or Direct TV as well. It also costs more maybe as much as $200 more. I didn't know about it when I was buying my satellite system, and I can't say that I could have justified the extra expense even if I did.
*One last note* You mentioned a splitter causing problems. The only thing I can think of is the over the air antenna booster. That little jack that has a 12 volt power supply and a little black button that turns the booster on/off. If that is turned on I hear it messes with cable signal on the cable line as it shares the same coax. This shouldn't mess with your satellite signal on it's dedicated line, however if your are backfeeding your signal to other TV's using the cable coax you would want to make sure that the booster is turned off.
