Confused Rant!

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
"Legit" rant.

IMO - a business as large as Winegard should have regional locations for repairs (etc).

Use it or lose it?..

Good "advertisement" for portables - bad karma for Winegard and 'mounted' sat antennas!.:(

~

There are regional, State and local locations for repairs. This was not a repair but an update which required a substantial modification to the product originally purchased. There was nothing defective about the product but sometimes as an early adopter of any technology changes need to be made. I don't believe that when the antenna was released at the end of 2007 anyone could have foreseen the need for SWM. They tried to use the same mount for all antennas to save money and then realized that having the 4th port would be useful to end users and re-tooled in early 2008 to provide that option.

"Legit" rant.

IMO - a business as large as Winegard should have regional locations for repairs (etc).

Use it or lose it?..

Good "advertisement" for portables - bad karma for Winegard and 'mounted' sat antennas!.:(

~

It's quite common with stuff that doesn't get used or used very infrequently to malfunction after years of non-use. Often a bit of cycling etc. will cure the problem but if the mechanism is all gummed up then it needs a bit of work.

I'm not a huge fan of WineGard's customer support. They definitely could do some things better but, when someone calls them up and says, "Gee, I haven't used my system in 2.5 years and now when I try to use it it doesn't work" I'm not sure what choice they have. No offense, but I'm not sure how one can expect them to spend the time to troubleshoot your system piecemeal by sending them a few parts to check out. That would suck up huge amounts of technician time trying to duplicate customer problems when they don't have all the components that might be causing the problem. As well, most likely it's a mechanical problem (if there is a problem) not the "solid state" electronics. Circuit boards are quite robust when powered down - even in high moisture and large temp swing environments and don't stop working from just sitting unless they have mechanical parts like relays but usually a bit of cycling will clean off the contacts and they'll work again. After all, they are a business and to properly troubleshoot in a halfway efficient manner something one needs the entire system - not just a part or two.

Lastly, there may be nothing wrong with your system. I've seen it discussed elsewhere and have experienced it myself that when the antenna controller has had a total reset or has no clue as to where it is, it takes considerably longer to set itself up. I mean, normally it takes only a few minutes but on rare occasion, it has taken 30 minutes for me. So perhaps you needed only to make sure you had "a clear view of the southern sky" and given it more time.

Good luck!

I think I will just buy another tripod and manuel dish. This forum has made up my mind. So far I have dropped the auto awning, switched RVs to get rid of the slideouts that stop working in the out position. Electric stab jacks, elect toung jack and anything else that has a button instead of man power. Man what a pile of junk parts, 3 feet high. Now if it stops working its because Im on beer break.

never buy anything mechanical, if you are not going to use it
even setting in an rv shed/carport
two yrs of inactivity,two years of weather condensation , dust, corrosion, affects all mechanical motion and electrical connections

I'm sure you will get lots of comments on your post. FWIW we have used our SK3005 nearly every day for the past 2 years and it is often cycled from stowed to use positions several times a week. Like any electro-mechanical device it can fail; I'm sorry yours did. The good news at least is that they are a lot cheaper to purchase now then they were when you and we bought ours.