Dish Tailgater

[wd]

I have had a dish tailgater for a while now. Sometimes I can be sitting in the same location and it may take only 1 time to find all the satellites and sometimes it will take 5 or 6 times of re scanning to find all of the satellite's and some times it doesn't find all of them. When I turn it of at night I have to start all over again scanning the next AM. I took the top off and verified the dish rotates and elevates. Sometimes when I change channels it will say no satellite's found but if I keep going back and forth to that channel it will usually come in. It either works great or it's a real pain.
Just curious how many are having issues like this. My luck i'm the only one. I've done a search here but haven't found a solution. Any input is appreciated. Thanks

[wd]

I ran a new cable from the tailgater to the receiver and still didn't find all of the satellites. Hooked it up in the storage bay connection that goes to the receiver, called Dish tech center. They had me manually change the satellite to 119 and the transponder to 19 and so far it's working great. They couldn't tell me why I had the issues to start with. It seems like it's a different solution now and then. Hope it stays working. Thanks for the replies, it gives me more options to troubleshoot if I run into it again.....Thx

[wd]

GoPackGo wrote:

wd wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

I ran a cable from my storage bay to the receiver and hook into the connection box. I tried hooking directly into the receiver with no luck
I'm going to get a new quad shield cable and try that. Thanks

yes,originally I ran a permanent coax from the receiver to a connection box in the compartment then ran a coax from the box to the tailgater and it worked but at times had a hard time locating all 3 satellite's. to experiment, I ran the coax from the tailgater through the window to the receiver still have problems finding all 3 at times. I am getting a new coax cable and try it again. thanks
Not quite sure what you said. Did you run a cable from the Tailgater through a window and then DIRECTLY to the receiver box ? This is the test.

Do not hook to anything in your storage bay, etc. Run one cable - from your Tailgater and then plug directly into the receiver box. Then see if things improve.

[GoPackGo]

wd wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

I ran a cable from my storage bay to the receiver and hook into the connection box. I tried hooking directly into the receiver with no luck
I'm going to get a new quad shield cable and try that. Thanks

Not quite sure what you said. Did you run a cable from the Tailgater through a window and then DIRECTLY to the receiver box ? This is the test.

Do not hook to anything in your storage bay, etc. Run one cable - from your Tailgater and then plug directly into the receiver box. Then see if things improve.

[azjeffh]

I had no issue with my OEM cable as well when connected directly to the receiver. While I hope it solves the issue, I'm also hoping you're not spending $$ needlessly.

[greenrvgreen]

As Pack said, the most important thing is to have no connections, junctions or interuptions. Better-shielded cable ought to help, but I didn't see anything wrong with the 50-ft OEM cable that came with the Tailgater.

[wd]

GoPackGo wrote:
Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

I ran a cable from my storage bay to the receiver and hook into the connection box. I tried hooking directly into the receiver with no luck
I'm going to get a new quad shield cable and try that. Thanks

[GoPackGo]

Do you have the situation that Hawkpat described ? This could very well be your problem. Are you connecting to the 'sat in' connection on the outside of your trailer ? These portable units do not like to have any splitters, switches, etc anywhere in their cable runs inside your RV.

If you run the cable from your Tailgater through a window opening, connect the cable directly to the receiver box and the issue goes away, then you have found the problem.

[wd]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to see if I can find a heavier duty coax cable and see if that is the issue. Thx

[azjeffh]

We have ViP 211z receivers and never had an issue like you're experiencing. Turning off the receiver should have no effect, however cutting the power to the receiver will cause it to rescan.

[hawkpat]

I have found that sometimes if it is having trouble finding satellites if I connect it directly to the receiver it works much better. Going through the satellite in connection on the RV seems to diminish the signal. Yesterday there were several stations I could not get or not get in HD but when I changed the connection direct to receiver they were all perfect.

[greenrvgreen]

As said, do not turn the reciever off unless you want the Tailgater to go through the whole process again. And yes, it can take several attempts on occasion, but if you have an unobstructed view of the birds it should not take 5 or 6 attempts, unless there is a problem.

I would double-check the connection, make sure you have as short a cable as possible (50-feet minimum) and that there are NO junctions or splitters in between. In my experience, when the Tailgater takes several attempts to find the birds it is suffering from low power through the coax.

I routinely run my Tailgater on 150-feet of coax. At that cable length it can take several attempts to find the birds. At 100-feet it requires a re-do considerably fewer occasions. I have found that every now and then the mechanism seems to get stuck, and simply jiggling the dome gets it moving again.

All in all I am very satisfied with my Tailgater and so far have no desire to upgrade to the newer, bigger Pathway X2. I suspect that the OP's issues have to do with very minor obstructions that happen to be blocking one or more of the three sats required for full service.

[rhagfo]

wd wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:
I don't have a tailgater - I have a Winegard Pathway X2, but they work the same.

These receiver dishes are automatic, but they need to have a clear view of the satellites to start with. They also get their operating power through the cable. If you completely kill power to the inside receiver box (unplug it) or disconnect the cable, then it will have to go through the entire satellite acquisition process again.

How do you decide where to set the Tailgater ? They need to have a mostly unobstructed view. I use the DISHFORMYRV app for Iphones. $10. Works great.

I use the same app to find the satellite's. It looses the satellites overnight when I turn off the box and tv. I don't unplug anything. Thx

:S

Don't turn off the Dish Receiver box, hurts nothing to leave it on. Turn on TV in the morning and hit the select button on the remote, and you are on line.
The only time I have had issues with getting signal most of the time the forest is in the way.
I have a couple of free Satellite location apps, and both work great.

[JiminDenver]

My Tailgater looses the satellites and guide if the power is turned off but it never takes long to find them.

[BB_TX]

Mine takes longer to find the sats sometimes than it does at other times. But once found it is fine. I never turn mine off though until we get ready to travel to a new location. I just turn the TV(s) off and leave the sat box on.