Satellite Antennas - Old Fashioned Dish

I have one, but I modified it. The dish now has a manual adjustment knob for elevation, and with that, I have a tripod modified with a manual azimuth knob.

Along with that I use the SatFinder app on my Android phone and the usual signal strength meter.

I carry the dish on my rear ladder and the tripod on my cargo rack.

You should be able to locate a portable dish from lots of different sources... I use one here...

Something like this one

google image

You will want to find one with the head for the SAT SERVICE you are signed up with... Also I would get a two port head so you can run RG cables to both your Living room and Bedroom HDTV setups. This will allow you to watch separate TV channels at the two locations.

I use to bring SAT RCVRS from the house and this worked out great for me to pick up standard SAT TV signals from DIRECTV. I would connect the SAT RCVRS VIDEO OUTPUTs to my VID1 AUX port on the HDTVs. This way we can use the TV remote to select either SAT TV or CABLE/OTA TV.

However when the Natl Broadcast went to digital mode a few years ago I started using my BATWING antenna to pick up the local towns HDTV signals which is a much better TV signal being full blown High Def HDTV.

Stopped bring along my SAT TV items from home after that. We usually get several HDTV signal from the local towns just about everywhere we go using the BATWING antenna pointed at the local towns.

Roy Ken

Most important when setting up the dish is to make sure the mounting pole is as perfectly plumb as possible. Any time I had trouble locking onto a sat signal, I would go back and double check my mount and invariably it would be a little out of plumb. Once I made sure it was plumb the signal would lock.

I always used 100 feet of coax just in case I had to move the dish away from the RV to get a clear shot to the satellites.

It can be frustrating... It's taken any where from 20 minutes to put the dish and mount together and align it to an hour. Once it actually took about 8 hours over 3 days until I was finally able to find a spot where I could get a signal.

I now use a Dish Tailgater portable antenna and it is well worth the $400 to me. I screw in the coax and it's ready.

Thanks everyone! I was looking at this dish paired with a VIP211K.

https://www.amazon.com/NETWORK-1000-2-EASTERN-DPPLUS-ANTENNA/dp/B00P49YTEA

Our entire original satellite system for our motorhome cost about $250. That included a Dish VIP211K receiver, a 1000.4 dish that came with an eastern arc triple sat LNB, a western arc triple sat LNB, three 50' lengths of RG6 coax and connectors, and a roof mount tripod that I modified with about $20 of hardware store parts to add adjustable leveling feet and a large thumbscrew for locking the shaft. I also modified the dish with plastic handled thumbscrews, making the entire setup and aiming operation "no tools needed". Having both eastern and western LNB's available significantly expands the aiming options on heavily treed sites. To date, we have never had a site where I couldn't get a signal, even if only through a small gap in the tree cover. It normally takes me 15 minutes or less to set up and aim the dish using a digital signal meter.

I have a DishTV 'dish' with 3 eyes hanging in my shed. I gave it up when we purchased a Tailgater. Since then, we've given up all satellite televison. I gave the Dish Receiver and Tailgater to another RV.net member several months ago.

I'd gladly give the old 'dish' with 3 eyes to you if you want to come and get it. No plans for camping in Virginia any time near soon to possibly meet up. I'd even throw in the trip-pod for the same price!

Thanks again all. So to hijack my own thread...how do the portables, i.e. Tailgater, work in the eastern part of the USA since they only receive the western arc satellites?

I should mention I am not concerned with receiving local channels.

The Tailgater only gets the western. But the Pathway X2 gets both eastern and western

I used a tripod the first year. But the adjustments and markings for aiming the antenna are crude at best. Sometimes I would get the sats in 5 minutes. Other times it could be half hour.

I now have the new Dish Playmaker and it is very convenient. The only little thing I found is that it has to be very level or it can't find an antenna. I suspect the mechanism internally has a somewhat limited mechanical range.

Whether Directv or Dish network, we always purchase the same sat dish we have mounted on our roof at home from an online source. Currently with Dish network and we use the same dish you posted above along with a couple of VIP receivers.

With an open view of the southern sky we can be up and running in minutes, literally. Takes longer to unwind coax, plumb tripod, and mount sat dish than the acquisition of all 3 sats, the actual pointing process takes just a couple of minutes, including tweaks to improve signal strength.

Of course with tree cover or other hindrances to the southern sky it takes a few minutes longer, we carry enough coax to lock in pretty much anywhere we RV. Stand/tripod must be plumb for HD, not quite as critical for SD since only a single sat in needed.

I'm not sure where some struggle locating satellites, the receiver clearly indicates the settings for elevation, azimuth, and tilt if attempting to acquire all subscribed programming across the 3 satellites. There are some useful sat finder apps although we just use a compass.

Regardless of satellite service provider, we lock in and peak center satellite using compass and varying tone pitch from receiver. With Dish network we then run multi-switch test, once completed all 3 sats should be locked in according to receiver's signal strength meter.

To avoid any issues that prolong the process, ensure coax is in good condition and all connection points are tight. Also ensure stand/tripod and all dish specific settings are tight to eliminate any chance of movement or sag. Practice at home to become familiar with the process.

We would go with a portable dome but they don't do Directv in HD, and they are limited to how many receivers and which channels can be viewed at the same time from each receiver. Switching between satellites is aggravating, we want every receiver to have every channel just like at home.

On our next new rig, we will opt to have the Winegard Traveler mounted on the roof so we can enjoy all the channels that we subscribe to with less fuss, we do lots of forest camping and we'll continue to bring our HD sat dish and tripod with us for those RVing scenarios.