Using Dish Tailgator cube
Nearing the end now of a second 5K+ trip using the Tailgator dish. Some observations. Fist, recently someone posted asking about coating the Tailgator with No-Wet to help rainfade with the Tailgator. I responded that rainfade is from a storm between the unit and the satellite. True, but I have also noticed the unit gets dust, etc on it, thus rain does not run off as it should. Upon cleaning it and putting rainex on it, my signal strength has gome up considerably.
Second, getting the locals changed has not always gone smoothly, sometimes it has. Depends on the tech doing it. Some tips: make sure they only change the service address, not the billing address also. They only need the new zip and city to do this in case you do not have an actual street address.
Third: be sure to tell the rep to send an authorization to your receiver as well as changing the address info in their computer. This is most important and not all techs seem to know to do this. I repeat it several times during the conversation. It usually only takes less than 5 minutes for the switch to take effect. Be sure to ask what channel numbers and what networks they are while you have the tech on the line.
Fourth: You will have to download the program info again after the new locals are received. You will have downloaded the program info doring the initial setup, but the new locals obviously will not be included in that.
When pluging in the receiver give it a few minutes before attempting to do anything. Turn it off wait a bit, then turn it on and you should get the setup screen. Go to the aim dish screen (push 6-1-1 on the menu screen), and change the zip code to the same one you gave the dish tech.
Often after aiming the dish, aquiring the signal, and dowloading the program guide, you will get a "complete signal loss" screen. Just unplug the receiver 10+ seconds, and repeat the aiming/scanning process.
All in all, most pleased with the service and the hardware. Easy to set up, decent picture but no HD just SD. For $7 a month added to our home dish bill, a real bargain.
When boondocking without electricity, a 150w inverter easily handles the receiver.
Now that I have learned these things thru much frustration, I hope it helps someone else.
Second, getting the locals changed has not always gone smoothly, sometimes it has. Depends on the tech doing it. Some tips: make sure they only change the service address, not the billing address also. They only need the new zip and city to do this in case you do not have an actual street address.
Third: be sure to tell the rep to send an authorization to your receiver as well as changing the address info in their computer. This is most important and not all techs seem to know to do this. I repeat it several times during the conversation. It usually only takes less than 5 minutes for the switch to take effect. Be sure to ask what channel numbers and what networks they are while you have the tech on the line.
Fourth: You will have to download the program info again after the new locals are received. You will have downloaded the program info doring the initial setup, but the new locals obviously will not be included in that.
When pluging in the receiver give it a few minutes before attempting to do anything. Turn it off wait a bit, then turn it on and you should get the setup screen. Go to the aim dish screen (push 6-1-1 on the menu screen), and change the zip code to the same one you gave the dish tech.
Often after aiming the dish, aquiring the signal, and dowloading the program guide, you will get a "complete signal loss" screen. Just unplug the receiver 10+ seconds, and repeat the aiming/scanning process.
All in all, most pleased with the service and the hardware. Easy to set up, decent picture but no HD just SD. For $7 a month added to our home dish bill, a real bargain.
When boondocking without electricity, a 150w inverter easily handles the receiver.
Now that I have learned these things thru much frustration, I hope it helps someone else.
