Forum Discussion

AKBOB's avatar
AKBOB
Explorer
May 10, 2015

Trav'ler Problem

Hi,

I just sent this to Wineguard help desk but they are closed today. Thought I would post here to see if anyone has any ideas. Thanks.

I am in the middle of a trip and my Trav'ler is not acquiring a signal anymore. On Tuesday, May 5th I activated the Trav'ler, after arriving at a new RV park. The dish went up and the control box indicated the 3 satellites were locked on. But when I turned on the Dish 211K receiver it would report an error message of "complete signal loss". I tried many times to re-set all aspects of the system. From lowering and re-establishing a lock on the satellites with the Trav'ler to re-booting the 211K. All with no success.

After moving to a new RV Park a few hundred miles up the road on May 9th, I tried again. No luck. I called and spoke to Dish Tech support and after going through all their troubleshooting steps, they said it was the satellite that was not performing properly.

I decided to take matter into my own hands today. I connected a new coax cable from Port C directly to the back of the 211K to eliminate a cable issue. No luck, same issue. While up their I checked all coax connections and even looked at the connections at the end of the LNB. All looked clean and tight.

I borrowed a 211Z and still had the error message of "complete signal loss". I took my 211K to a home and connected it to their Dish system. My 211K worked.

So through process of elimination, something appears to be inoperable within the Trav'ler dish.

Since all the coax connections on the Trav'ler appear to be good, would the problem be between the rotating upper section and the base unit mounted on the roof of the RV? How do the coax connections connect to allow the upper unit to rotate?

This Trav'ler I have is a replacement unit you shipped to me the end of Sept. 2013 to replace my original unit for an unrelated problem. Now, less than 20 months later, I am dead in the water again.

I am requesting assistance in determining the problem and correcting it.
  • You have multiple connections (3) available on the SK-1000 and it sounds like you only have one bad cable since moving one cable seems to fix your issue. Assuming you are not currently using all 3 connections at the base you "should" be able fix it by moving a cable. The "C" port is the connection that goes to the controller inside the unit and the other 2 just loop around and exit at the base. If your C port cable is bad you should be able to swap A and C (or B and C) leaving you with 2 working outputs at the base.
  • Thanks for the info, Bill. I will try the other ports to see if there is one working. I re-read what I was commenting about you. I didn't mean it to sound that harsh. I apologize and appreciate the response.
  • I often rub folks the wrong way. It's why I left the forums awhile back and it took some time to come back. I guess I haven't changed much and will have to live with it or leave again and be done with it.
    Thanks for the comment, however.
  • Bill.Satellite wrote:
    I often rub folks the wrong way. It's why I left the forums awhile back and it took some time to come back. I guess I haven't changed much and will have to live with it or leave again and be done with it.
    Thanks for the comment, however.
    Your advice outweighs any rough and rowdy attitudes you may have. If they don't like it, TS.
  • I just had to replace my Trav'ler after 5 years. We had the same problem with a loss of signal on 2 of the 4 outputs
  • Thanks to OP and to Bill for their discussion of this issue, which I found through a Google search. Our SK-1000 suddenly experienced the "complete signal loss" issue today and check switch claimed there were no satellites found. after reading Bill's guidance, we swapped connections A and B at the Trav'ler and were able to get signal. I have an e-mail in to Winegard asking what parts are needed and their cost to repair the unit ourselves.

    Michelle

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