Dish Tailgater - how do you secure?
We're finally heading out for our first camp of the season over Memorial Day week-end. Been sleeping in the camper a lot already in the driveway and have had ample opportunity to become VERY familiar ...
Forum Discussion
Now that I've had several camp-outs since I first asked this question, I give a follow-up of my experiences.
The first time we used the tailgater (away from home), I had perfect skies and no obstructions, but the signal would not come in. It turned out if I wired direct from the Tailgater to the Receiver it worked. Eventually, I was able to figure out the right combination of cables to attach from Tailgater to trailer Satellite hook-up, to the inside of the trailer to the receiver and it's working every time now. (wire DOES make a difference).
However, that first time out, I found out it does not like being on top of my camper. Don't know why, maybe there's too much movement inside the camper and it shake too much and can't hold the signal, since the Tailgater is swaying and moving with the trailer, loosing the signal. So, top of camper does not work.
Under the camper did not work either (thinking I could chain it to the jacks or something.) I think the metal in the camper affected finding the correct satellite or something. Not understanding how they work, I'm assuming they use magnetic North to establish a position. If they do, the metal in the trailer could have affected this. I don't know, I'm just guessing.
So, I ended up leaving it just sit there and hoped it would still be on the ground (about 15 feet from the end of the camper) in the morning. It was. Trip one! Done!
Next trip, I lassoed the thing with a bicycle cable and padlock around the picnic table leg. Next trip, around a tree. Next trip ... actually... around the trailer tongue jack. Signal came in, I was soooooo surprised! Next trip, it stood all by itself in the middle of a grassy area, and it did not walk away.
The couple times I was not able to lasso the Tailgater with the bicycle cable, I did bring it back inside the camper when we were away from the campsite. So, actually, except for painting the thing, I think I've tried just about everything I can think of now. I think I do need to get a longer cable, that would give me more options.
And by the way, I haven't used the dog stake yet. The important thing is, I still have my Tailgater! It's not walked away! So evidently all my goofy attempts to secure it were either a waste of time as no one would have ever bothered it in the first place, or else it did detour someone and I just don't know about it. Either way, I still love that Tailgater! Set-up is so nice ... especially now since I've got the right combination of coax cables working!
The first time we used the tailgater (away from home), I had perfect skies and no obstructions, but the signal would not come in. It turned out if I wired direct from the Tailgater to the Receiver it worked. Eventually, I was able to figure out the right combination of cables to attach from Tailgater to trailer Satellite hook-up, to the inside of the trailer to the receiver and it's working every time now. (wire DOES make a difference).
However, that first time out, I found out it does not like being on top of my camper. Don't know why, maybe there's too much movement inside the camper and it shake too much and can't hold the signal, since the Tailgater is swaying and moving with the trailer, loosing the signal. So, top of camper does not work.
Under the camper did not work either (thinking I could chain it to the jacks or something.) I think the metal in the camper affected finding the correct satellite or something. Not understanding how they work, I'm assuming they use magnetic North to establish a position. If they do, the metal in the trailer could have affected this. I don't know, I'm just guessing.
So, I ended up leaving it just sit there and hoped it would still be on the ground (about 15 feet from the end of the camper) in the morning. It was. Trip one! Done!
Next trip, I lassoed the thing with a bicycle cable and padlock around the picnic table leg. Next trip, around a tree. Next trip ... actually... around the trailer tongue jack. Signal came in, I was soooooo surprised! Next trip, it stood all by itself in the middle of a grassy area, and it did not walk away.
The couple times I was not able to lasso the Tailgater with the bicycle cable, I did bring it back inside the camper when we were away from the campsite. So, actually, except for painting the thing, I think I've tried just about everything I can think of now. I think I do need to get a longer cable, that would give me more options.
And by the way, I haven't used the dog stake yet. The important thing is, I still have my Tailgater! It's not walked away! So evidently all my goofy attempts to secure it were either a waste of time as no one would have ever bothered it in the first place, or else it did detour someone and I just don't know about it. Either way, I still love that Tailgater! Set-up is so nice ... especially now since I've got the right combination of coax cables working!
