I have had a dish tailgater for a while now. Sometimes I can be sitting in the same location and it may take only 1 time to find all the satellites and sometimes it will take 5 or 6 times of re scanning to find all of the satellite's and some times it doesn't find all of them. When I turn it of at night I have to start all over again scanning the next AM. I took the top off and verified the dish rotates and elevates. Sometimes when I change channels it will say no satellite's found but if I keep going back and forth to that channel it will usually come in. It either works great or it's a real pain.Just curious how many are having issues like this. My luck i'm the only one. I've done a search here but haven't found a solution. Any input is appreciated. Thanks

We have the same problem at times. The farther north you go the more difficulity we find in hooking up to the feed. Even when we have a connection there is a lag when changing between the sats feeds, it will say no sat connection and then it gives us the channel. It's just the way it is.

I don't have a tailgater - I have a Winegard Pathway X2, but they work the same. These receiver dishes are automatic, but they need to have a clear view of the satellites to start with. They also get their operating power through the cable. If you completely kill power to the inside receiver box (unplug it) or disconnect the cable, then it will have to go through the entire satellite acquisition process again.How do you decide where to set the Tailgater ? They need to have a mostly unobstructed view. I use the DISHFORMYRV app for Iphones. $10. Works great.

GoPackGo wrote:I don't have a tailgater - I have a Winegard Pathway X2, but they work the same. These receiver dishes are automatic, but they need to have a clear view of the satellites to start with. They also get their operating power through the cable. If you completely kill power to the inside receiver box (unplug it) or disconnect the cable, then it will have to go through the entire satellite acquisition process again.How do you decide where to set the Tailgater ? They need to have a mostly unobstructed view. I use the DISHFORMYRV app for Iphones. $10. Works great.I use the same app to find the satellite's. It looses the satellites overnight when I turn off the box and tv. I don't unplug anything. Thx

We have the pathway and it doesn't happen with that. Once it couldn't find three satellites so I took the cover off to watch it. It says to aim the handle to the north and it was close but not close enough. It will turn all the way around to the stop, not 360. Turn the handle to the north and it works fine.

K Charles wrote:We have the pathway and it doesn't happen with that. Once it couldn't find three satellites so I took the cover off to watch it. It says to aim the handle to the north and it was close but not close enough. It will turn all the way around to the stop, not 360. Turn the handle to the north and it works fine.I do have the handle to the north and also took the top off to watch it. It's just strange that my motorhome has been parked in my driveway over a month with the tailgater hooked up and sometimes it finds the satellites quickly and sometimes it takes forever and I have to re scan everyday.

Dish Tailgater | Good Sam Community

hawkpat
Explorer
Sep 06, 2016
I have found that sometimes if it is having trouble finding satellites if I connect it directly to the receiver it works much better. Going through the satellite in connection on the RV seems to diminish the signal. Yesterday there were several stations I could not get or not get in HD but when I changed the connection direct to receiver they were all perfect.
azjeffh
Explorer
Sep 06, 2016
We have ViP 211z receivers and never had an issue like you're experiencing. Turning off the receiver should have no effect, however cutting the power to the receiver will cause it to rescan.
wd
Explorer
Sep 07, 2016
Thanks for the replies. I am going to see if I can find a heavier duty coax cable and see if that is the issue. Thx
GoPackGo
Explorer
Sep 07, 2016
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.
wd
Explorer
Sep 09, 2016
GoPackGo wrote:
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

I ran a cable from my storage bay to the receiver and hook into the connection box. I tried hooking directly into the receiver with no luck
I'm going to get a new quad shield cable and try that. Thanks
greenrvgreen
Explorer
Sep 09, 2016
As Pack said, the most important thing is to have no connections, junctions or interuptions. Better-shielded cable ought to help, but I didn't see anything wrong with the 50-ft OEM cable that came with the Tailgater.
azjeffh
Explorer
Sep 09, 2016
I had no issue with my OEM cable as well when connected directly to the receiver. While I hope it solves the issue, I'm also hoping you're not spending $$ needlessly.
GoPackGo
Explorer
Sep 09, 2016
wd wrote:
GoPackGo wrote:
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

I ran a cable from my storage bay to the receiver and hook into the connection box. I tried hooking directly into the receiver with no luck
I'm going to get a new quad shield cable and try that. Thanks

Not quite sure what you said. Did you run a cable from the Tailgater through a window and then DIRECTLY to the receiver box ? This is the test.

Do not hook to anything in your storage bay, etc. Run one cable - from your Tailgater and then plug directly into the receiver box. Then see if things improve.
wd
Explorer
Sep 09, 2016
GoPackGo wrote:
wd wrote:
GoPackGo wrote:
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

I ran a cable from my storage bay to the receiver and hook into the connection box. I tried hooking directly into the receiver with no luck
I'm going to get a new quad shield cable and try that. Thanks

yes,originally I ran a permanent coax from the receiver to a connection box in the compartment then ran a coax from the box to the tailgater and it worked but at times had a hard time locating all 3 satellite's. to experiment, I ran the coax from the tailgater through the window to the receiver still have problems finding all 3 at times. I am getting a new coax cable and try it again. thanks
Not quite sure what you said. Did you run a cable from the Tailgater through a window and then DIRECTLY to the receiver box ? This is the test.

Do not hook to anything in your storage bay, etc. Run one cable - from your Tailgater and then plug directly into the receiver box. Then see if things improve.
wd
Explorer
Sep 11, 2016
I ran a new cable from the tailgater to the receiver and still didn't find all of the satellites. Hooked it up in the storage bay connection that goes to the receiver, called Dish tech center. They had me manually change the satellite to 119 and the transponder to 19 and so far it's working great. They couldn't tell me why I had the issues to start with. It seems like it's a different solution now and then. Hope it stays working. Thanks for the replies, it gives me more options to troubleshoot if I run into it again.....Thx

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