Wingard In-Motion roof mounted satellite receiver

CA Traveler wrote:
Yes you can check channel 100 without activation of the receiver.

DTV would not install at my daughters because of the trees and it had nothing to do with falling leaves. If they can't give you a solid signal every day then they don't want the almost certain hassle of customers with marginal signal. But your experience may be different.

No longer can you check 100 or 200 without activation. You can check signal strength and transponder numbers. Maybe OLDER Direct receivers you can still get the "Info"(100/200) channel without activation. Doug

Jim Norman wrote:
Well I am even more confused now having found and read this thread. We have a new Tiffin, it has the Winegard In Motion come and a Direct TV receiver. We have never had satellite at home, too many trees. I see that DirecTV has to have a 2 year contract and while I can 'pause' the service the time paused is apparently added to the contract. That to me is pretty much a deal killer. I am thinking of buying a Dish Wally Receiver and getting the pay as you go plan at its lowest level just to see if I even want it. Also, with all the leaves gone, we MIGHT be able to get service at home, then I'll explore that possibility and drop cable. If that works then I might go for DirecTV, although it appears that that could require replacing the antenna in the future.

Also I think I read that I can turn on the receiver I have and then start the antenna and see if channel 100 can be accessed.

DO I have this anywhere near straight?

Thanks

You say you are more confused but to me it sounds like you have found a great deal of clarity as you have it all just about right.

When I first bought my motorhome in 2004 it had an in-motion system. It worked and my wife would use it to watch TV while on the road. She would watch the overhead which I could also see from the drivers seat, which is illegal in most states. But we never got stopped for it.

But here's the problem: I see you live in South Dakota. The satellites orbit over the equator. What that means is the further north you go, the lower the satellites are on the horizon. So obstacles like trees on the side of the road block the signal. Every time the signal would get blocked for more than a few seconds the satellite dish would go into search mode and it may take a few minutes to get the satellite again. When we were up in Northern California or above it didn't work very well because of that. In the desert in Southern California it worked perfectly.

But the real problem is the thing eventually broke and after doing a lot of research I determined they were basically junk and broke all the time. Sounds like the one you have is newer, so maybe they fixed that problem. And I wanted HD channels anyway so I swapped my dish out for the Winegard Travelor. Don't really miss the in-motion TV at all.

A phone app can help.

I'll give it a try tomorrow night. I agree on the tree issue. We've had quite a number removed since last we tried. If I get the azimuth and elevation I can get pretty close idea if it will work on the house.

Yes you can check channel 100 without activation of the receiver.

DTV would not install at my daughters because of the trees and it had nothing to do with falling leaves. If they can't give you a solid signal every day then they don't want the almost certain hassle of customers with marginal signal. But your experience may be different.

Well I am even more confused now having found and read this thread. We have a new Tiffin, it has the Winegard In Motion come and a Direct TV receiver. We have never had satellite at home, too many trees. I see that DirecTV has to have a 2 year contract and while I can 'pause' the service the time paused is apparently added to the contract. That to me is pretty much a deal killer. I am thinking of buying a Dish Wally Receiver and getting the pay as you go plan at its lowest level just to see if I even want it. Also, with all the leaves gone, we MIGHT be able to get service at home, then I'll explore that possibility and drop cable. If that works then I might go for DirecTV, although it appears that that could require replacing the antenna in the future.

Also I think I read that I can turn on the receiver I have and then start the antenna and see if channel 100 can be accessed.

DO I have this anywhere near straight?

Thanks

dougrainer wrote:

usersmanual wrote:
the difference between sd and hd TV is like nite and day- most people will easily identify that there is major difference between the two
-As far as set up goes/ well some people don't even know how to put air in tires and others can repair and set up most anything

How many times have you installed and set up a Direct TV or Dish 500 dome system? Doug

actually I have set up a couple but Iam not a expert by any means- what I said was even ray Charles could tell the difference between HD and SD TV

usersmanual wrote:
the difference between sd and hd TV is like nite and day- most people will easily identify that there is major difference between the two
-As far as set up goes/ well some people don't even know how to put air in tires and others can repair and set up most anything

How many times have you installed and set up a Direct TV or Dish 500 dome system? Doug

In motion sounded cool to me when we bought the MH, but turns out the dome didn't work anyway so I shoved it off the roof and installed our Travler.

For in-motion, we fake it and record shows for the daughter to the DVR and that will play down the road. I'm not totally sure she knows the difference.

On the bigger TVs - (40" and up), you can really tell the difference between HD and SD.