Tailgater

DISH really can't help and should not be used for trouble-shooting hardware that has nothing at all to do with DISH. A tailgater CANNOT lock onto 3 satellites at a time. It can only "find" the 3 satellites and move between the 3 satellites, one at a time as you change channels.
Where you are located could well be the most important question. If you are in an area where the locals are broadcast from the EA satellites (62.5, 72 and 77) then you dome will not be able to pick up these as the Tailgater is setup to work with the WA satellites only. Are you able to watch all of your normal TV channels other than the Networks? If so, there is nothing wrong with your Tailgater!

I found the same issue with Dish, while in the South East. As it turns out, there are a couple of zip codes that are Eastern Arc only.
Fortunately for me the tech I talked to knew of the issue and set me up with the neighboring Zip Code. If only I had wrote that Zip Code down.....
Tell Dish you are in a Zip Code next to the one your in and see what happens.
Let us know.

Richard

Thanks everyone. I tried pretty much everything listed. I’ve used this setup successfully in 48 states over the last four years or so. It has just recently copped this attitude. I’ve never locked onto all three sats and gave up on that a long time ago. Using all the same equipment I got locals up until three weeks ago. Wrote it off as tree or mountain interference. At a location now where that is definitely not the case. Dish rep said it probably has died of old age. That doesn’t really make sense to me and King support is closed till Monday.

In my experience DISH can be exhaustive to work with. This is their list of compatible antennas: Dish Antennas Totally agree with calling the manufacturer if you have any questions about the antenna. I was instructed to either use the app, internet or call in to update with the new zip code anytime we moved. We could not receive local stations until the zip code was reported, changed by Dish and we ran a new set up.

Do you pay for the locals as part of your package with Dish? they are optional. Call them back and talk to someone else. I had a problem after I put my service on hold thinking we would have cable at the RV park. I called and told them to turn it back on and that my receiver would need to be re-flashed as I hadn't used it in months. Couldn't get it to work. Three days later after many calls and ordering a new Tailgater I asked them if they were sure they had turned it back on. Answer was "Oh yes"...funny, after that call it started to work. I would call King Controls and run it by them if you have any questions.

B.O.

Which receiver are you using? After the antenna initializes and you go through a switch-check, do you have a signal on all 3 satellites?

or

Are you trying to get the locals OTA (off the air)? In that case, you'll need use your crank-up rooftop antenna and go into setup to do a channel scan to find them.

Some receivers (like the Vip211z) have built-in OTA tuner and some don't. There's a separate connection point for the OTA antenna if your receiver supports that feature.

Are you located within the spot beam footprint for your service address? Are the locals for your service address on the western arc satellites?

1. Dish and Direct have NOBODY that knows anything about RV mobile Sat domes or systems.
2. So, do NOT rely on Dish or Direct for operational problems that involve the RV Dome or Sat on the roof.
3. When you call Dish or Direct, ASK what expertise the phone rep has with RV systems. If they state they have knowledge, they are lying:B Doug

Is it picking up everything except locals? It may be failing to find the sat your locals are on. You can see on the info screen which sats it has and the strength of each.

Take the cover off before you power it up and then watch after you do power up. You will see the antenna rotate one direction until it reaches end of travel pointing toward the handle. Then it will reverse direction and rotate a full turn until reaching the handle from that direction. Then it rotate back to a generally southern direction and stop. Then the antenna will begin a series of incremental side to side and up and down movements attempting to home in on the three sats. Note they say point the handle north. But I think you are good as long as it is not pointed south since the handle is the point the rotation stops.

So yes, there are things to fail inside there. Mine worked fine for about 7-8 years, but has started having problems finding the sats. Last year I fell back to the tripod mounted antenna.

I don't know that system, but usually the first thing to confirm is that, with the "booster" on down in the RV, that you do have 12v power on the end of the coax on the roof just before connecting to the antenna. If not, address that. If so, and still no joy, then it is the antenna amplifier not working (not usually) Also the Tv set must do its own "search".