This is all new to me so I have a lot of questions. We have Dish at home. The main receiver says Hopper Sling and has a plastic card (data card?) that says G4. We also have Joeys in the house.We recently bought a 2008 Winnebago that had a Dish Tailgater and a satellite dish hard mounted on the roof of the RV. There were 2 dish receivers, 1 for each satellite dish. We don't generally watch much TV and I decided to sell the tailgater and that receiver. We just didn't have the extra room in our small RV to haul it around with us. I know it would provide better reception than the crank up roof model, but that isn't what I need to know. Our next campsite has great line of sight of the southern sky so I am trying to figure out what I need to hook this stuff up.I am thinking of leaving behind the receiver that was in the RV as I'd have to call and get it added to our system. Using logic only, I assume that I'd have to unhook and bring my main Hopper receiver as I think the Joeys need to be connected to the main receiver to work, right? If I am wrong, can I just bring a Joey and use that as my receiver? What will I be giving up? If I need to bring the main Hopper receiver will it be a problem if I unhook it from my home system and then re-install it when I return? I apologize in advance for the "see spot run" type of questions but I hope someone will help me out and explain how this all works together. I do have the instruction manuals that came with the RV and I plan to read them when we arrive at our site. I assume those will tell me how to find the satellite and what cables I need to hook where. I just want to be sure I bring the right stuff with me and get this right the first time. Thanks!

ol' yeller wrote:This is all new to me so I have a lot of questions. We have Dish at home. The main receiver says Hopper Sling and has a plastic card (data card?) that says G4. We also have Joeys in the house.We recently bought a 2008 Winnebago that had a Dish Tailgater and a satellite dish hard mounted on the roof of the RV. There were 2 dish receivers, 1 for each satellite dish. We don't generally watch much TV and I decided to sell the tailgater and that receiver. We just didn't have the extra room in our small RV to haul it around with us. I know it would provide better reception than the crank up roof model, but that isn't what I need to know. Our next campsite has great line of sight of the southern sky so I am trying to figure out what I need to hook this stuff up.I am thinking of leaving behind the receiver that was in the RV as I'd have to call and get it added to our system. Using logic only, I assume that I'd have to unhook and bring my main Hopper receiver as I think the Joeys need to be connected to the main receiver to work, right? If I am wrong, can I just bring a Joey and use that as my receiver? What will I be giving up? If I need to bring the main Hopper receiver will it be a problem if I unhook it from my home system and then re-install it when I return? I apologize in advance for the "see spot run" type of questions but I hope someone will help me out and explain how this all works together. I do have the instruction manuals that came with the RV and I plan to read them when we arrive at our site. I assume those will tell me how to find the satellite and what cables I need to hook where. I just want to be sure I bring the right stuff with me and get this right the first time. Thanks!Not that easy. You would have to take the hopper and what they call the Node for it to work. Not sure where your Node is, but mine is by the dish on the house. supposedly the closer to the dish the better is. Also depends on what type of dish you have. It it a manual dish or automatic. More info would be needed.try hooking up before your trip would be my recommendation.

Figured it wasn't that easy. As the RV has a Dish dish already installed shouldn't that have a node attached to it? Is the node specific to the receiver? I can't hook it up at home as I don't have that line of sight from the RV roof. I've been reading here and elsewhere. It appears that the Joeys are not stand alone devices as I suspected. The RV does have a non DVR Dish receiver in it. I may just bite the bullet and have that one activated if it isn't too expensive. The RV is at the storage lot so I can't be more specific right now. I plan to bring it home tomorrow to pack for our trip so I can check out what is there better then. This isn't hugely important as it is only a 5 day trip and usually we just watch DVDs at night. I just thought that it would be a good opportunity to get it set up. Thanks!

Your Hopper/Joey will only work correctly with an open-faced portable dish or a rooftop Winegard Travler.You can't really use your Tailgater to hook up your Hopper.Since you probably already have a VIP211 receiver for your Tailgater, it would be much more easier to just reactivate your 211 receiver & then use the Tailgater.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I sold the tailgater. All I have now is the Dish on the roof of the RV and the receiver for it. I called Dish today and guess I'll activate the old 211 receiver for $7 a month and forgo the DVR player. I'll attempt the 211 hook-up next week when we are at the beach and have good line of sight.

ol' yeller wrote:Sorry if I wasn't clear, I sold the tailgater. All I have now is the Dish on the roof of the RV and the receiver for it. I called Dish today and guess I'll activate the old 211 receiver for $7 a month and forgo the DVR player. I'll attempt the 211 hook-up next week when we are at the beach and have good line of sight.You can add an external USB hard drive (up to 2TB) to the VIP211 and get the DVR functions for a one-time $40 fee.

Dish For Dummies | Good Sam Community

ol__yeller
Explorer II
Jun 05, 2015
Ok coach is home now. It is a Winegard. The manual doesn't give a model # but here are the specs

LNB Compatible with Directv, Dish network & ExpressVU
Antenna height 20.9"
antenna width 19.2"
F/D 0.59
Offset angle 24 degrees
Frequency range 10.95-12.75 GHz
Gain:
11.2GHz 33.22 dBi
12.1GHz 33.89 dBi
12.6GHz 34.23
Aperture efficiency 73%
Cross polarization (on axis) -21dB
Beamwidth at -3dB 3.5 degrees
Beamwidth at -10dB 7.0 degrees

The only other designation I can find is in the expired warrenty info which refers to an Antenna/Lift/LNBF/LB-1000

I hope this helps identify what I have
TechWriter
Explorer
Jun 06, 2015
ol' yeller wrote:
Ok coach is home now. It is a Winegard. The manual doesn't give a model # but here are the specs . . .

Is it this dish?
ol__yeller
Explorer II
Jun 06, 2015
Yes!
TechWriter
Explorer
Jun 06, 2015
ol' yeller wrote:
Yes!

Hopefully, there's someone out there who know how to aim this guy with a 211 receiver.

I suspect you should do as much practice aiming in your driveway before camping.

You're really going to regret selling that Tailgater.
AllegroD
Nomad
Jun 06, 2015
Satellite Pointer

Have fun. I, too, believe the Tailgater would have served you well. Manual pointing direction and elevation is gonna keep you busy.
ol__yeller
Explorer II
Jun 06, 2015
Hey thanks for the info! I'm not gonna lose any sleep over selling the Tailgater. There just wasn't room to haul it in our little 26' RV and as I stated earlier, TV isn't that critical when we are camping. The RV came with this setup and I thought I could figure out how to use what I have. If it is too hard to use I guess we will go back to Bob Newhart and Leave it to Beaver on DVDs at night. I guess the original owner spent money on a system that is too difficult to use. I knew that having a rooftop dish would complicate setup because you are somewhat restricted in how you can locate the RV it is sitting on. That is why I can't practice at home in my driveway, because of trees I don't have line of sight.

On this trip, I will have great line of sight. I will use the pointing info provided and see if I can get a signal from Dish. It will only cost me $7 to find out. If it is too difficult, it is no big deal and I can cancel the $7 going forward. Again, I really appreciate the knowledge shared here.
ol__yeller
Explorer II
Jun 08, 2015
OK, got it all set up & working today. It wasn't that difficult once I figured out the wrong coax was plugged into my receiver. Dish was no help but they referred me to Winegard tech support and he walked me thru the setup menus. He was very helpful. I can live with this.

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