Dish hopper 3 rv upgrade?

[georgelesley]

I want to upgrade our home hopper 2 to a hopper 3. We have the Winegard traveler SK1000 automatic dish. I am getting mixed info. Winegard says no way. I mentioned the DPH42 switch and they said it has never been tested in that application. I mentioned changing the LNB and was told the unit will not communicate correctly with the hopper 3.

I have spoken with two dish installers, one said it worked but seemed a bit vague about it and said it took some fiddling with it and required some different steps when activating the system. The other tech it can be done.

We have a tech scheduled to come to our home this week to upgrade our hopper to a hopper 3. I sure do not want to cause a problem where none exists now.

Anyone done this upgrade with the same equipment and know anyone that actually does it successfully or is Winegard correct and it cannot be done?

[Bill_Satellite]

I suspect that Winegard has still not sent anything out but rather he read the instructions presented here.

[Thunder_Mountai]

We are planning on upgrading to a Hopper in our MH. I've been talking with Paul at Satellite Advantage in Quartzite. He had previously told me that a Hopper 3 was not an option with a Travler system. I talked with him again yesterday and he said he had just received an email yesterday from Winegard outlining the process for making a Hopper 3 work on a Travler system. He said it involved some switches, etc.

[georgelesley]

Many thanks to techwriter for the wiring diagram for the DPH42 switch and the hopper 3. The dish tech I employed on the side finished the installation of our hopper 3 in our mh last evening. He wired it EXACTLY as techwriter posted it. He did try several others ways, but in the end only the way techwriter shows worked.

We now have all 16 tuners working. No more recording conflicts! I did insist the DPH42 be installed inside as was the solo hub. I told him I wanted everything inside so I could get to it if needed. We did find it is necessary for both the hopper and te DPH42 switch to be unplugged until the Winegard box inside indicates the satelittes are locked in. It can then be turned off by pushing menu and power simultaneously or left on, your choice. Plug in the hopper and DPH42 and in a few minutes you will be watching tv.

Thanks again to techwriter for providing a truely great service to the dish rv community. Why Winegard does not do this remains a mystery.

[Bill_Satellite]

I believe that the DPH42 switch is an outdoor unit so it could easily be mounted on the roof beside the Trav'ler and only cable would need to come through the roof. If you already have an antenna on the roof you already have at least 1 cable coming in so you just need to cut and modify the existing connections without having to open the roof again.

[georgelesley]

TechWriter wrote:

georgelesley wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I used to work for Winegard and they are the least willing bunch of folks to address changes that I have ever seen. They would much rather say "No, you can't do that" than try to figure out if there is a way that this could be done. I know they are a very big company with lots of people who keep their jobs by saying NO to everything but Winegard is a much better company than this and they need to embrace change much more readily.
I really like the Winegard products but no company is perfect.

Bill not trying to be a pest but I really need an answer to a question I am getting conflicting info on. Do two or three cables need to come thru the roof from the traveler to the DPH42 switch? The Dish Depot person (not a tech) said two, but your great diagrams show three. Please, which is correct?

I am getting the Hopper 3 installed in our house today and will be rapidly pursuing getting it installed in our motorhome while the wx is perfect for it to be done.

This so much for your great help. I will give the Dish tech today a copy of your info and see if he will do the job on the side for me.

Those would be my "great" diagrams, not Bill's:



And, yes, you need to connect all three cables from a Winegard Travler to a DPH42 switch -- one cable for each of the 3 sats (110, 119, 129).

The only time you would use less cables is probably on an Eastern Arc 1000.2 dish because only two sats (61.5 & 72.7) are used.

On the other hand, if you're using a 1000+ dish (for International programming), then you would connect 4 cables to a DPH42, one for each of this dish's sats (110, 119, 129, and 118).

Wow, sorry for giving the credit to the wrong person, techwriter. You have certainly given us all interested in this stuff some wonderful information. It appears the blog dated 6/1717 is the latest and the one to use. I guess another cable will have to be installed thru the roof. The rest appears to be straightforward enough.

Thanks again!

[TechWriter]

georgelesley wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I used to work for Winegard and they are the least willing bunch of folks to address changes that I have ever seen. They would much rather say "No, you can't do that" than try to figure out if there is a way that this could be done. I know they are a very big company with lots of people who keep their jobs by saying NO to everything but Winegard is a much better company than this and they need to embrace change much more readily.
I really like the Winegard products but no company is perfect.

Bill not trying to be a pest but I really need an answer to a question I am getting conflicting info on. Do two or three cables need to come thru the roof from the traveler to the DPH42 switch? The Dish Depot person (not a tech) said two, but your great diagrams show three. Please, which is correct?

I am getting the Hopper 3 installed in our house today and will be rapidly pursuing getting it installed in our motorhome while the wx is perfect for it to be done.

This so much for your great help. I will give the Dish tech today a copy of your info and see if he will do the job on the side for me.

Those would be my "great" diagrams, not Bill's:



And, yes, you need to connect all three cables from a Winegard Travler to a DPH42 switch -- one cable for each of the 3 sats (110, 119, 129).

The only time you would use less cables is probably on an Eastern Arc 1000.2 dish because only two sats (61.5 & 72.7) are used.

On the other hand, if you're using a 1000+ dish (for International programming), then you would connect 4 cables to a DPH42, one for each of this dish's sats (110, 119, 129, and 118).

[georgelesley]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I used to work for Winegard and they are the least willing bunch of folks to address changes that I have ever seen. They would much rather say "No, you can't do that" than try to figure out if there is a way that this could be done. I know they are a very big company with lots of people who keep their jobs by saying NO to everything but Winegard is a much better company than this and they need to embrace change much more readily.
I really like the Winegard products but no company is perfect.

Bill not trying to be a pest but I really need an answer to a question I am getting conflicting info on. Do two or three cables need to come thru the roof from the traveler to the DPH42 switch? The Dish Depot person (not a tech) said two, but your great diagrams show three. Please, which is correct?

I am getting the Hopper 3 installed in our house today and will be rapidly pursuing getting it installed in our motorhome while the wx is perfect for it to be done.

This so much for your great help. I will give the Dish tech today a copy of your info and see if he will do the job on the side for me.

[Dutch_12078]

Dish has never officially supported Hopper use in RV's, so it's not surprising that they wouldn't offer any hookup advice.

[Bill_Satellite]

The LNB requirement and the 16 tuners available.

[TNSnowbirds]

What is the difference between a Hopper 3 and a Hopper with Sling? I want to use my Dish this winter in Florida and I'm from Tennessee. Any problems? Thanks

[Bill_Satellite]

I used to work for Winegard and they are the least willing bunch of folks to address changes that I have ever seen. They would much rather say "No, you can't do that" than try to figure out if there is a way that this could be done. I know they are a very big company with lots of people who keep their jobs by saying NO to everything but Winegard is a much better company than this and they need to embrace change much more readily.
I really like the Winegard products but no company is perfect.

[az99]

want-a-be wrote:
You would think the manufacturer of the dish would know a little more about what will work with their product!!!
Good Luck

They don't. It also took them several years to get the DTV setup fixed for the SWM that customers fixed probably 2 years before. They still can't figure out how to get EA on DISH which most on the east coast have had for many years. But they probably are busy working on some new whiz bang OTA digital free TV junk.

[georgelesley]

TechWriter wrote:

want-a-be wrote:
You would think the manufacturer of the dish would know a little more about what will work with their product!!!

But they don't.

Yes, you can use a DPH42 switch with a standard Winegard Travler SK1000.

Here are the Instructions

Looks like the blog entry 6/17/2017 is the right one to use and answers most of my questions. Do three cables come from the roof to attach to the DPH42 inside? According to the installing tech he put a solo node under the traveler base when installing. I assume that goes away?

Looks like the diagram on page four of the instruction explains it all very well.

[ljr]

TechWriter wrote:

want-a-be wrote:
You would think the manufacturer of the dish would know a little more about what will work with their product!!!

But they don't.

Yes, you can use a DPH42 switch with a standard Winegard Travler SK1000.

Here are the Instructions

Excellent!!! Thanks.