Shaw Direct/Winegard

As to the upgrade the winegard part number is sk-73up

MDKMDK wrote:
It was my understanding that the newer G1 satellite, which is supposed to carry most of the HD stuff now, casts a more northerly coverage shadow, than the old Anik F1/F2 birds. ShawD customers have been reporting that they can still receive programming south of the 49th, but that it's inconsistent.
Anecdotally, I was shopping for a portable dish receiver system a few years back and was told by Winegard, that the Trav'ler full sized roof mounted dish would probably be the best bet to pick up anything in the US, going forward. They said the domed portable systems "paddle" dishes were probably too small to be effective in picking up signal.
Maybe some ShawD customers in the deep south will add an update of where they are (approximately?) and what dish/systems they're using?

Winegard was being generous with their description of service with ShawD and a dome. First, you would have to buy a dome for ShawD as the standard domes will not work. 2nd, the domes will not receive any programming outside of Canada or the extreme N. parts of the US.

We have had the Winegard updated software installed in our dish for Shaw Direct. It worked fine all the way to Laughlin where it decided it couldn't find both satellites so it stowed. I called Winegard and they said when it honed in on "111" I should push the power and select buttons at the same time to lock the dish in. They said DO NOT pull the plug as you will have to have the controller totally re-set. I've been following their instructions and it works fine although I object to paying approximately $500 for software that doesn't do what it was supposed to. At this point, we're not having any problems getting the HD channels although they have a tendency to go missing and then return again. Very puzzling.

Down Mexico way?

We're now in Parker, Arizona, and the Winegard/Shaw Direct is still not operating on "automatic" but at least we can get a signal even though there are still some channels missing. I'm not going to call Shaw Direct about this because then I might have to explain where I am.

It's not working after you did the $600 required update?

No, it definitely is not working after paying for the updated software. See my post of October 19 where I've reported Winegard's solution. I've been meaning to call them to get further info but right now I'm in a bad area for cell phone reception.

That really sucks. Please keep update once you get in touch with Winegard.

Just curious: you didn't state the vintage of your Travel'r. Do you have the xKU triple LNB?

We definitely have the latest LNB, plus the new software provided by Winegard, which was installed in October. As I said, the automatic dish worked fine as we were travelling south until we arrived in the Laughlin area. Now we are still moving south and we're having to stop the dish when it finds "111". No more "automatic"! When we do this, our signals are always over "90 green" but because we're only working off "111", there are a number of channels missing, none of which affect our viewing habits, thank goodness. As soon as I get good cell phone reception, I will call Winegard to try and get some more up to date information.