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.

[steveh27]

I have a tailgator which works well most of the time. Sometimes in PA I have trouble getting the HD sat 129. I wish I could get the X2 and use the eastern sats, but it is too big for storing in my Class B.

[Bumpyroad]

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

[RoyB]

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

[K_Charles]

We us the pathway and it works most everywhere. In the north east one sat is very low in the sky to the west so trees could be in the way. The eastern arc would be better. Every where else the western arc works for us. Having both east and west would make it easier to work around trees.
You only set the dish where it can see the Sat and it does the rest.
I didn't get the pathway X2 because it was too big for my storage bay.

[Valkyriebush]

I have the pathway X-2. with two 211 receivers. works great. Beats taking the 322 receiver unit out of the house like I use too
. Although you can get one sat at a time, you still can watch different programing on the other TV as long as its on the same satellite and most stations we watch are on 119 anyway.

[dahkota]

the advantages are that if one group of satellites is hiding behind trees, you have a second set for which to aim. I have traveled all over the country with a Pathway X2 and pick up either western or eastern as the site I am in warrants.

We had a road trip mission and a pathway x2. The pathway x2 was more consistent in picking up a signal. While we could only watch one satellite at a time with the pathway x2, at least we were able to get reception most anywhere, unlike the road trip mission.

[Dutch_12078]

Having the Dish eastern and western arc sat sets both available gives your portable dish more aiming opportunities in parks with trees, etc. The "look" angle for the eastern arc is steeper than the western arc east of the Mississippi, also making aiming easier at times. That makes the X2 the better overall choice. Both satellite arcs carry essentially the same programming, except that some locals are only available on one arc, with others available in HD on one arc and SD on the other. Note that the X2 and the Tailgater only work with the VIP series, such as the 211K and 211Z receivers, not with the multiple tuner Hopper.

[Ranger_Smith]

The eastern arc and western arc means that if it can't find one set of satellites it will go looking for the other. It will look for like satellites 110 and 119 and if it can't find them because of a tree or whatever it will look for the ones at I think 61 and 72.5