Trav'ler Install and Operation----FOLLOW UP...SOLVED
My Trav’ler story. Bought a DirecTV Trav’ler SK 3005 on EBay for about $700. No promises were made. It wouldn’t work…bunch of issues including corrosion. Sent it to Winegard and they fixed it for $400 (sure looks like a new one to me). Winegard folks were fantastic … super responsive tech support and amazing customer service. So, I’m still ahead.
Thanks to help from you folks, including a wiring diagram by Bill, I did a DIY install. Was very easy. As others say, getting it on the roof is the hard part but I have a 6’5” son-in-law baseball player…he didn’t break sweat. I did the SWM8 adapter and, per Bill’s advice, mounted it on the roof for heat purposes. Ran a RG6 and the control cable through the old round dish path to Genie. Installed an A/B switch inside so I can still use the SWM3 tripod antenna if need to get around trees. I run a RG6 off the splitter on the ground and through a window for the bedroom DVR – too lazy to fish it. One question that generated discussion here was Genie set-up since the tripod is SWM3 and the roof SWM8: it works using SWM3 for both.
Some “just curious” questions:
The first start-up acquisition took about 10 min. Next time it was a minute or so. Does Trav’ler remember where it was? Does it look for any bird and once it finds one, extrapolates from it where the DirecTV bird is?
Does Trav'ler ever get/need a software update from Winegard?
I’m guessing there is no way to fine tune it? I got a bunch of X’s on the setup screen but ignored them and all channels, including DNS, work perfect. No signal degradation in wind or light rain. Surprising to me since strengths are low in a wide open sky:
101 85%
90C 25%
99S 0%
103S 0%
103 CA 50%
103 CB 12%
If it were to fade would a re-acquire force a finer tune?
Any tips and tricks on operation that are not mentioned in the manual?
Bottom line: Trav'ler is a fantastic piece of equipment and Winegard backs it up. If you're an HD and/or DVR fan, it is well worth considering.
Thanks to help from you folks, including a wiring diagram by Bill, I did a DIY install. Was very easy. As others say, getting it on the roof is the hard part but I have a 6’5” son-in-law baseball player…he didn’t break sweat. I did the SWM8 adapter and, per Bill’s advice, mounted it on the roof for heat purposes. Ran a RG6 and the control cable through the old round dish path to Genie. Installed an A/B switch inside so I can still use the SWM3 tripod antenna if need to get around trees. I run a RG6 off the splitter on the ground and through a window for the bedroom DVR – too lazy to fish it. One question that generated discussion here was Genie set-up since the tripod is SWM3 and the roof SWM8: it works using SWM3 for both.
Some “just curious” questions:
The first start-up acquisition took about 10 min. Next time it was a minute or so. Does Trav’ler remember where it was? Does it look for any bird and once it finds one, extrapolates from it where the DirecTV bird is?
Does Trav'ler ever get/need a software update from Winegard?
I’m guessing there is no way to fine tune it? I got a bunch of X’s on the setup screen but ignored them and all channels, including DNS, work perfect. No signal degradation in wind or light rain. Surprising to me since strengths are low in a wide open sky:
101 85%
90C 25%
99S 0%
103S 0%
103 CA 50%
103 CB 12%
If it were to fade would a re-acquire force a finer tune?
Any tips and tricks on operation that are not mentioned in the manual?
Bottom line: Trav'ler is a fantastic piece of equipment and Winegard backs it up. If you're an HD and/or DVR fan, it is well worth considering.
