Dish TV in the RV

[boshog]

So the wife and I decided that we would like to take Dish TV with us on our summer camping trips. I did the research which left a couple questions and trying to decide which antenna is a nightmare. I've read the reviews, they are either "everything is wonderful" or "sucks, don't buy, doesn't work".

I want a plug-and-play setup so I've narrowed down the list of antennas to;
King VQ4510 Tailgater
Winegard PA-6002 Pathway X2

The X2 boasts it can tune in both the east and west arc, so?I don't know what the advantages are. I understand Dish split the country and have east and west birds servicing the viewer’s needs. Does this mean if I'm camping west of the Mississippi the King Tailgater cannot tune the western arc?

We just want to watch a movie in the evening or some other favorite show while we are camping wishing away a rainy night. I know both of these antennas are newer and many reviews talk about earlier versions of both. For those of you using these newer versions, what say you? Another suggestion? Thanks.

[azjeffh]

lryrob9301 wrote:


.... OR you can go buy one and try it for yourself.

Well said.

[lryrob9301]

justme wrote:

lryrob9301 wrote:

justme wrote:
Let me restate my question. Can the X2 select 72, 110 and 129 if they are in view?

No, the Pathway X2 will acquire Eastern Arc sats 61.5-72.7-77 OR Western Arc sats 110-119-129. It will not acquire a combination of the two arcs.

Too bad-- it seems the programmers are getting lazier every day 🙂 That would be a great feature for those stuck under trees. BTY how can I verify your comment. As the saying goes trust but verify.

Since I have owned and used an x2 for over three years I believe I know it's capabilities, OR you can go buy one and try it for yourself.

[lbrjet]

The two sets of sats are way far apart. Use a little common sense. No way could a Dish pointing at one set pick up the others.

[GoPackGo]

How about if I verify it.

My X2 will acquire EITHER the eastern arc or western arc satellites SEPARATELY, based on me telling it which ones to look for. It will not pick and choose 3 sats from the 2 sets.

[justme]

lryrob9301 wrote:

justme wrote:
Let me restate my question. Can the X2 select 72, 110 and 129 if they are in view?

No, the Pathway X2 will acquire Eastern Arc sats 61.5-72.7-77 OR Western Arc sats 110-119-129. It will not acquire a combination of the two arcs.

Too bad-- it seems the programmers are getting lazier every day 🙂 That would be a great feature for those stuck under trees. BTY how can I verify your comment. As the saying goes trust but verify.

[lryrob9301]

justme wrote:
Let me restate my question. Can the X2 select 72, 110 and 129 if they are in view?

No, the Pathway X2 will acquire Eastern Arc sats 61.5-72.7-77 OR Western Arc sats 110-119-129. It will not acquire a combination of the two arcs.

[justme]

Let me restate my question. Can the X2 select 72, 110 and 129 if they are in view?

[GoPackGo]

The eastern and western satellites are two separate sets of 3 each satellites. You only need to access one set to get all the Dish channels.

You choose either the eastern OR the western set and then the X2 chooses one of the three satellites within that group, based on the channel you select. It can only focus on one satellite at a time, but will automatically switch between the three as needed, again based on the channel you select.

One of the main benefits of the X2 is that you can access the eastern set of Dish Satellites if the western set is blocked.

Having said all that, there have been times when I could only access 2 satellites from one set. When that happens, you will not have access to all programming.

[justme]

Will the X2 align with any of the three satellites in the eastern and western arc? There are situations where the trees are blocking one or two of the 6 satellites. And it 4 or 5 of the satellites are blocked will it align to what ever is available? Seems to me if I was to write the software I would provide that flexibility.

[Valkyriebush]

lryrob9301 wrote:

Valkyriebush wrote:

211K has Hard Drive installed. 211Z does not

NO, a 211K DOES NOT have a hard drive. The DISH 411K HD receiver has a hard drive.

Your right, my bad. It has a coax cable hook up also, verse HDMI, I knew it was something different.

[GoPackGo]

Bumpyroad wrote:

RoyB wrote:
If you haven't tried it yet don't rule out having the OTA BATWING Crankup antenna for a backup source of Digital HDTV when on the road...

This uses your installed Digital HDTV items with nothing else required to make it work.

We use this all the time in our travels pointing at the local towns NATL BROADCAST Clear TV networks. TV reception is great at all the places we go to here on the East side of the US.

Roy Ken

will this work for the various ESPN channels, Big 10 channel, golf channel, comedy channel etc.?
bumpy

No.

The only OTA channels will be ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and some public broadcasting channels. And to get them you will need to be reasonably close to the large town/city that is doing the broadcasting.

[GoPackGo]

One other plus for the X2 - There are 2 outputs so you can send cable to 2 different TVs. You can watch different programs but they must both come off the same satellite. And the dish itself is 1 inch larger so it does a better job when shooting thru leafy places.

Also, another vote for the DISHFORMYRV app for Iphones only. These things are automatic but I always want to set them down where they can get a clear shot at those sats.

[lryrob9301]

Valkyriebush wrote:

211K has Hard Drive installed. 211Z does not

NO, a 211K DOES NOT have a hard drive. The DISH 411K HD receiver has a hard drive.

[Larry-D]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Larry-D wrote:
It's bulky but rugged and you need to manually rotate the dome back to the transport position before going down the road.
.

isn't this a portable unit? why do you have to manually rotate it? if you have it roof mounted you have to climb up there all the time? or are you talking about mounting it at the top of the ladder etc.?
bumpy

It is portable, not mounted on the TT its mounted on a tripod stand. It can be RV mounted but its at least 2' in diameter so it would be kinda big up there. For the price it should have a "park yourself" command.

I used it a few times not knowing it had to be "parked" when traveling, heck even tripped over the coax and knocked it over once. All with no problems. Then saw somewhere that it needed to be "parked" for traveling. Looked it up and sure enough there it was in the instructions. Easy to do, just steady pressure to turn it and do not force it. In the "parked" position it looks like the dish inside the dome is facing straight up.