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.

[Valkyriebush]

boshog wrote:

Valkyriebush wrote:

boshog wrote:
Thank you everyone for the information. It is pretty clear to me the X2 is the way to go based on our wants. Simple and reliable setup, I'm camping for enjoyment and not to fight with equipment. The bride gets her dander up when rain-fade happens and I don't want that aggravation either 🙂

I'm just going to grab the X2 bundle which includes the X2, tripod mount, VIP211z receiver, and coax. When we go full time, I'll grab the Dish receivers from the house but for now, the VIP211 will do all we want for our weekend trips.

The X-2 works with the 211 receivers only!

Then nothing left to do but get an external HD and pay the fee for DVR. Might just as well do that now. Thanks.

211K has Hard Drive installed. 211Z does not

[Bumpyroad]

when I ran my cable a long distance I put one of those < $20 in line boosters in and it did noticeably kick up the reception strength.
bumpy

[Larry-D]

boshog wrote:
Thank you everyone for the information. It is pretty clear to me the X2 is the way to go based on our wants. Simple and reliable setup, I'm camping for enjoyment and not to fight with equipment. The bride gets her dander up when rain-fade happens and I don't want that aggravation either 🙂

I'm just going to grab the X2 bundle which includes the X2, tripod mount, VIP211z receiver, and coax. When we go full time, I'll grab the Dish receivers from the house but for now, the VIP211 will do all we want for our weekend trips.

That's the setup we use. Works great when the signal is strong enough. Just bought 200' of coax to get out from under the trees.

Remember in your installation planning the coax has to go straight to the receiver with as few connections as possible. We noticed a lot of signal loss with connection.

[Bumpyroad]

boshog wrote:


Then nothing left to do but get an external HD and pay the fee for DVR. Might just as well do that now. Thanks.

I had to use a powered external HD, the USB powered one didn't work.
bumpy

[boshog]

Valkyriebush wrote:

boshog wrote:
Thank you everyone for the information. It is pretty clear to me the X2 is the way to go based on our wants. Simple and reliable setup, I'm camping for enjoyment and not to fight with equipment. The bride gets her dander up when rain-fade happens and I don't want that aggravation either 🙂

I'm just going to grab the X2 bundle which includes the X2, tripod mount, VIP211z receiver, and coax. When we go full time, I'll grab the Dish receivers from the house but for now, the VIP211 will do all we want for our weekend trips.

The X-2 works with the 211 receivers only!

Then nothing left to do but get an external HD and pay the fee for DVR. Might just as well do that now. Thanks.

[Valkyriebush]

boshog wrote:
Thank you everyone for the information. It is pretty clear to me the X2 is the way to go based on our wants. Simple and reliable setup, I'm camping for enjoyment and not to fight with equipment. The bride gets her dander up when rain-fade happens and I don't want that aggravation either 🙂

I'm just going to grab the X2 bundle which includes the X2, tripod mount, VIP211z receiver, and coax. When we go full time, I'll grab the Dish receivers from the house but for now, the VIP211 will do all we want for our weekend trips.

The X-2 works with the 211 receivers only!

[boshog]

Thank you everyone for the information. It is pretty clear to me the X2 is the way to go based on our wants. Simple and reliable setup, I'm camping for enjoyment and not to fight with equipment. The bride gets her dander up when rain-fade happens and I don't want that aggravation either 🙂

I'm just going to grab the X2 bundle which includes the X2, tripod mount, VIP211z receiver, and coax. When we go full time, I'll grab the Dish receivers from the house but for now, the VIP211 will do all we want for our weekend trips.

[Bumpyroad]

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

[Kenc_AL]

I have had the Pathway X2 for 2-3 years and love it. Two other advantages not mentioned in other comments to date:

1) Two different times I have been able to get my "home" locals when way out of market. Once on the western arc and once on the eastern arc.

2) Last Super Bowl we had my Pathway and a Tailgater side by side both tuned into the same station off the same arc feeding 2 different TV's at a large party. A rainstorm came through, the tailgater went to SD and then lost signal (rain fade) the Pathway kept HD throughout the rain storm and never dropped the signal.

[Larry-D]

Tried two Tailgaters and they were both very sensitive to any blockage such as trees. Ended up with the X2. Bigger dish is less sensitive however trees will block it but much less so. It's bulky but rugged and you need to manually rotate the dome back to the transport position before going down the road.

Once set up there can be a lag to go from one arc to the next to go to specific channels.

Overall I'd give the X2 a little higher rating than the tailgater simply for the larger size of the dish inside the dome.

[rhagfo]

We have a Tailgater, and work very well for us, I am still fit enough that i prefer to place on the 5er roof.
1st time out place just above the kitchen vent, keep hearing this small motor noise.:h

Then we notice the noise cam when we changed channels!! It was the dish align for best reception. 🙂

[azjeffh]

Agree the X2 should be your first choice.

[lbrjet]

We have used our Tailgater all over the country. On a trip to Maine last summer we couldn't pick up all of the sats. Had limited channels and no HD. The rest of the country is OK. If I had a do over I would spring for the extra set of sats. There are times in the trees when you can't seem to get all of them. Having another set gives you a second chance at it. We use the DishForMyRV app on the Iphone which works great in locating where the sats are and trying to postion around the tree branches.

[dahkota]

RoyB wrote:

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

I'm in Anastasia State Park (St. Augustine, FL) right now, buried in trees so I can't use my dish. I have OTA - 25 channels: 6 religious channels, 3 spanish channels, 1 kids channel, 5 old movie and really old rerun channels, 1 radio channel, 1 country music video channel, 1 car channel, 1 duplicate channel, 2 infomercial channels, and 4 channels I would actually watch - Fox, CBS, CW, and a CBS sub channel. The reception is great but there is very little reason to turn the TV on.

[Dutch_12078]

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

When the NBC Sports and NHL channels plus the NHL Center Ice channels are available OTA everywhere we go, we'll use the OTA antenna more. Until then...