Problems with Dish TV and Tailgater

ila123 wrote:
We have a Tailgater. The software has been updated and they replaced the box used inside.

Understand you have the Tailgater portable antenna...my question was what Receiver are you using? 211k, 211z or some other?

We have a Tailgater. The software has been updated and they replaced the box used inside.

What DISH receiver are you using?

If you were given the Tailgater you may want to talk to them again.

If you decide to purchase a portable dish look at the Pathway X2 which picks up both the Western and Eastern arcs (satelites).

We may have to breakdown and actually buy an antenna. Hesitate to do that and then find we still have to switch.

Does location in the USA make a difference. We live in southeast Alabama.

At the first campout, we had interference from power lines, same way with second one. The last one it finally found all three satellites but we could only get a few of our channels. We finally gave up and hooked up to cable.

I had DTV for 15 years, both SD and HD slimline and switched to DISH six months ago.

I am using a tripod and iPhone Dishpointer AR sat finder.

I do not see any difference. I actually like DISH better and they have a beep for signal strength.

I have been researching auto seek antennaS as with DISH you can get HD unlike DTV.

I have talked to people with Tailgaters and have it repeated that the newer ones work better than the old ones.

Maybe yours is older?

I have also heard that cable length and cloud cover can cause issues more than a full size dish.

I am going with the Winegard Pathway when I jump. Bigger dish than Tailgater.

In the western states our tailgater works every time. The only time I had a problem was I set the tailgater below our flag pole and the flag would occasionally block the signal so the picture would pixelate. I moved the tailgater and no more problem.


With yours being a given to you unit it may have been dropped or damaged by previous owners. I'm wondering if your tailgater is out of alignment. Or some of the original models the handle had to be pointed north.

Later models (4 year or newer) no special orientation is needed.

We've had both Directv and Dish over the many years and I do agree that it is a bit easier to attain a sat signal from Directv. We have never used an automated satellite acquisition device such as the Tailgater, always setting up the same model sat dish we have at home on a tripod or home made stand when RVing.

That being said we haven't had any issue with getting a signal with Dish network while on the road although as I stated above it does take an extra minute or two to lock in the satellites with Dish. The process is the same for either service and any problems acquiring a sat signal is either user or equipment error.