Dish For Dummies

[ol__yeller]

This is all new to me so I have a lot of questions. We have Dish at home. The main receiver says Hopper Sling and has a plastic card (data card?) that says G4. We also have Joeys in the house.

We recently bought a 2008 Winnebago that had a Dish Tailgater and a satellite dish hard mounted on the roof of the RV. There were 2 dish receivers, 1 for each satellite dish. We don't generally watch much TV and I decided to sell the tailgater and that receiver. We just didn't have the extra room in our small RV to haul it around with us. I know it would provide better reception than the crank up roof model, but that isn't what I need to know. Our next campsite has great line of sight of the southern sky so I am trying to figure out what I need to hook this stuff up.

I am thinking of leaving behind the receiver that was in the RV as I'd have to call and get it added to our system. Using logic only, I assume that I'd have to unhook and bring my main Hopper receiver as I think the Joeys need to be connected to the main receiver to work, right? If I am wrong, can I just bring a Joey and use that as my receiver? What will I be giving up? If I need to bring the main Hopper receiver will it be a problem if I unhook it from my home system and then re-install it when I return? I apologize in advance for the "see spot run" type of questions but I hope someone will help me out and explain how this all works together. I do have the instruction manuals that came with the RV and I plan to read them when we arrive at our site. I assume those will tell me how to find the satellite and what cables I need to hook where. I just want to be sure I bring the right stuff with me and get this right the first time. Thanks!

[ol__yeller]

OK, got it all set up & working today. It wasn't that difficult once I figured out the wrong coax was plugged into my receiver. Dish was no help but they referred me to Winegard tech support and he walked me thru the setup menus. He was very helpful. I can live with this.

[ol__yeller]

Hey thanks for the info! I'm not gonna lose any sleep over selling the Tailgater. There just wasn't room to haul it in our little 26' RV and as I stated earlier, TV isn't that critical when we are camping. The RV came with this setup and I thought I could figure out how to use what I have. If it is too hard to use I guess we will go back to Bob Newhart and Leave it to Beaver on DVDs at night. I guess the original owner spent money on a system that is too difficult to use. I knew that having a rooftop dish would complicate setup because you are somewhat restricted in how you can locate the RV it is sitting on. That is why I can't practice at home in my driveway, because of trees I don't have line of sight.

On this trip, I will have great line of sight. I will use the pointing info provided and see if I can get a signal from Dish. It will only cost me $7 to find out. If it is too difficult, it is no big deal and I can cancel the $7 going forward. Again, I really appreciate the knowledge shared here.

[AllegroD]

Satellite Pointer

Have fun. I, too, believe the Tailgater would have served you well. Manual pointing direction and elevation is gonna keep you busy.

[TechWriter]

ol' yeller wrote:
Yes!

Hopefully, there's someone out there who know how to aim this guy with a 211 receiver.

I suspect you should do as much practice aiming in your driveway before camping.

You're really going to regret selling that Tailgater.

[ol__yeller]

Yes!

[TechWriter]

ol' yeller wrote:
Ok coach is home now. It is a Winegard. The manual doesn't give a model # but here are the specs . . .

Is it this dish?

[ol__yeller]

Ok coach is home now. It is a Winegard. The manual doesn't give a model # but here are the specs

LNB Compatible with Directv, Dish network & ExpressVU
Antenna height 20.9"
antenna width 19.2"
F/D 0.59
Offset angle 24 degrees
Frequency range 10.95-12.75 GHz
Gain:
11.2GHz 33.22 dBi
12.1GHz 33.89 dBi
12.6GHz 34.23
Aperture efficiency 73%
Cross polarization (on axis) -21dB
Beamwidth at -3dB 3.5 degrees
Beamwidth at -10dB 7.0 degrees

The only other designation I can find is in the expired warrenty info which refers to an Antenna/Lift/LNBF/LB-1000

I hope this helps identify what I have

[ol__yeller]

Easier said than done. Cardiologist said ladders and roofs are not in my network anymore. As my wife watches me like a hawk I probably can't get away with an attempt. I'll look in my Winnebago satchel as I'm sure it has that info in there as it was installed at the factory. I'm picking the RV up later today from the storage lot so hopefully I will have more info.

[AllegroD]

If you can, climb on the roof and see what sat. antenna you have. If you cannot find the name and model, take a pic and post it. We need more info to see if we help you further.

[kmbelt]

ol' yeller wrote:
Thank you everyone for your knowledge. This is a new experience for me. As we don't watch much if any TV while camping, I probably won't add the DVR capability. I wasn't aware that Dish uses 3 satellites and I'm pretty sure mine is a manually adjusted dish atop the RV. If I am hearing you correctly does this mean when I get a signal, I will only get some programming? To get other programming, can I readjust the dish (sounds like a pain)? If we find ourselves on more longer trips, I may upgrade the dish to newer technology but for now I just wanted to see what I have. I know having a rooftop mounted dish limits line of sight so I will have to consider that in my decisions. Also we only have one TV in the RV.

This could be correct. Not knowing what dish you have, you might only be able to receive one Sat in the sky at a time. if this is the case, you want to hit the 119 sat. It is also possible it can hit two. The way to know is if it has multiple LNB's. the round circles on the end of the dish arm.

[ol__yeller]

Thank you everyone for your knowledge. This is a new experience for me. As we don't watch much if any TV while camping, I probably won't add the DVR capability. I wasn't aware that Dish uses 3 satellites and I'm pretty sure mine is a manually adjusted dish atop the RV. If I am hearing you correctly does this mean when I get a signal, I will only get some programming? To get other programming, can I readjust the dish (sounds like a pain)? If we find ourselves on more longer trips, I may upgrade the dish to newer technology but for now I just wanted to see what I have. I know having a rooftop mounted dish limits line of sight so I will have to consider that in my decisions. Also we only have one TV in the RV.

[Bill_Satellite]

ol' yeller wrote:
Sorry if I wasn't clear, I sold the tailgater. All I have now is the Dish on the roof of the RV and the receiver for it. I called Dish today and guess I'll activate the old 211 receiver for $7 a month and forgo the DVR player. I'll attempt the 211 hook-up next week when we are at the beach and have good line of sight.

Even this will likely leave your options highly limited unless the roof top antenna is an auto pointing antenna (dome or Winegard Trav'ler, which it likely is not).
An antenna that you must manually point or is an auto pointing antenna with only 1 single LNB (the eye at the end of the antenna arm) can only receive 1 satellite and Dish uses 3 to provide all of their programming. Additionally, if you have more than 1 TV and you want to watch programming on more than 1 you will likely need 2 receivers or a 211K (not 211Z) so you have a coax output so you can at least watch satellite in SD on the 2nd TV.

[Dutch_12078]

ol' yeller wrote:
Sorry if I wasn't clear, I sold the tailgater. All I have now is the Dish on the roof of the RV and the receiver for it. I called Dish today and guess I'll activate the old 211 receiver for $7 a month and forgo the DVR player. I'll attempt the 211 hook-up next week when we are at the beach and have good line of sight.

You can add an external USB hard drive (up to 2TB) to the VIP211 and get the DVR functions for a one-time $40 fee.

[ol__yeller]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I sold the tailgater. All I have now is the Dish on the roof of the RV and the receiver for it. I called Dish today and guess I'll activate the old 211 receiver for $7 a month and forgo the DVR player. I'll attempt the 211 hook-up next week when we are at the beach and have good line of sight.