Dish TV info request

[Edd505]

Looks like Dish has a pay as you go which would work well as we are about half time RV'ers. I use cable at home. I'm thinking of going Dish but have a bunch of questions. Looking for a portable self aiming antenna for 1TV.

1. Think I need the Wally not Hopper as we don't record much.
2. IF you have Dish at home is that the programing you get in the RV?
3. Dish has a couple antennas, Playmaker & Tailgater and King has a
Tailgater. Does one have better reception than another?

[Edd505]

Bill.Satellite wrote:


Not a Joey. That is only usable with a Hopper and is not a receiver. You will want a Wally or 211 series receiver.

Duhh, a Wally, what was I thinkin comes in a kit :S

[Larry-D]

We use a VIP211z in our larger TT with the Pathway X2 antenna. In our Rpod we use a Wally and the same antenna. I like the Wally a little better (its newer) and seem to work faster. But both are equally acceptable and work well.

I would recommend as large of an antenna as your comfortable with because trees/leaves have a big effect on signal strength. To me it was surprising to see the signal loss. Also, depending on your location the combination of receiver/antenna to pick up both the eastern arc of satellites and the western arc is very beneficial. Again trees/leaves and other things may block one arc but the other arc is "visible".

Get the Dish satellite app, uses your cell phone's camera and as you watch the phone's screen and look up into the sky with your phone there are three red dots to denote the satellites in both arcs. With this you can look for a clear shot to the arc.

[Bill_Satellite]

Edd505 wrote:
Thanks for all the reply's. Looks like a Tailgater from one of the two & a Joey. I understand the Pathways a better unit for east/west or two TV's. That's easy for me, open an atlas and stay left of the staples, I'm good to go. I have wandered across the Mississippi a couple times to the land of OZ, but it's a rarity. 😉

Not a Joey. That is only usable with a Hopper and is not a receiver. You will want a Wally or 211 series receiver.

[Dutch_12078]

You will be better off with an X2 no matter which side of the "staples" you stay on. Having the ability to use either the eastern arc or western arc satellites means you have more aiming options on sites with tree cover or other blockages, and both arcs are receivable in nearly the entire country. We've used the eastern arc to get around sky blockages as far west as the Grand Canyon, and the western arc as far north and east as Vermont. The Joey you mentioned is only used as a sub-receiver with a Hopper installation, and does not work as a standalone receiver. A Wally would be the better choice there, or if you can find one, a VIP 211K that comes with a built-in OTA tuner that's an extra cost option on the Wally.

[Edd505]

Thanks for all the reply's. Looks like a Tailgater from one of the two & a Joey. I understand the Pathways a better unit for east/west or two TV's. That's easy for me, open an atlas and stay left of the staples, I'm good to go. I have wandered across the Mississippi a couple times to the land of OZ, but it's a rarity. 😉

[Big_Katuna]

As Bill stated the Wally is a stand alone receiver which will work with the carry outs and get HD.

I concur the Pathway is the best carry out as it gets both eastern arc and western arc.

Mine was worked flawlessly.

The Hopper and Joey do not work with any carry out and I found trying to carry the Hopper, Joey and the Joey repeater out to the RV every excursion clunky and a pain.

I bought a HDMI wireless transmitter to run the outside tv although the Pathway will run two boxes.

[lj2654]

I have a tailgater satellite by dish and a vip211z receiver. It has worked fine for me for the last 5 years. King Controls makes these satellites as well as the one branded King. The first one I bought had a tracking issue and had to be replaced by King under warranty.

[Bill_Satellite]

Depending upon how often you will need the Dish service it might be more affordable to keep cable at home (especially if it's a bundle deal) and just pay for Dish when you are in the RV. It's a monthly service that can be cancelled and the remaining credit for that month applied to your next activation.
I recommend the Winegard Pathway X2 for the Dish pay-as-you-go service. It has the largest antenna of the portables and it can be used with both the EA and WA Dish satellites giving you much more flexibility.

[Bill_Satellite]

NEOK wrote:
I may be wrong but I think the Wally only works with a Hopper. We use a first generation Tailgater with a Dish 211k receiver when we travel. It cost $7 a month when we use it.

No, the Wally is a stand alone receiver just like the 211 series. You are thinking of the Joey's that are used by the Hopper.

[Rover_Bill]

A basic Dish service account will cost you about $60/mo (more for extra options). If you get it for your home, the service will require a large FIXED satellite dish attached to your house, a Hopper converter/receiver box, and if you have more than one tv, a Joey or Wally converter box for each additional tv. Some campers take their Hopper/Joey with them and get an extra/spare FIXED satellite dish to manually setup at the campsite. That way they pay for only a single account.

The Hopper works ONLY with a FIXED dish that is manually aimed at the satellite when it's setup. The Hopper can't reorient a PORTABLE satellite dish like the Playmaker/Tailgater/King - you need a Wally receiver (or an older Dish211K) to do the automatic orientation.

The current generation recommendation for RV's is a Wally receiver with a Playmaker/King PORTABLE satellite dish. (Tailgater with Dish211k receiver is an older generation system). If you already have a DISH service account for your home, this extra system will only cost $7/mo. for each month used. If you don't have a home account, then you can get a PAY-AS-YOU-GO account which will cost about $60/mo for each and ONLY those months that you use this system.

NOTE: PORTABLE satellite dishes are designed to support only one =OR= up to two tv's so be careful to purchase exactly what you need. Also USA based systems are not designed to work in Canada.

[rhagfo]

Wow, we have had Dish pay as you go for at least the last four years, you are required to pay for a full month in advance, but don’t need to use the whole month once you start! We used for weekends many times, called to activate once we had located all three satellites, then at the end of the weekend we would call and cancel service. This way we only paid for the two or three days we used not a whole month. We do own both the TailGator and vip211 receiver.
The next time we went out, to get it activated we just had to pay for the two or three days we last used, and that could have been six months ago.

[NEOK]

I may be wrong but I think the Wally only works with a Hopper. We use a first generation Tailgater with a Dish 211k receiver when we travel. It cost $7 a month when we use it.

[BB_TX]

We have had Dish at home for many years. A number of years ago we added a receiver in the RV for an additional $7/mo to the home account. And yes, it received the same channels as our home account. If we traveled out of our area, I called and had the local channels changed to the nearest major city we were close to at the time. That disabled the home channels at our home, but since no one was there it did not matter.

BUT. Our daughter moved back in and she was not happy when we traveled and messed up the Dish programming for her. So I changed the RV to a separate pay-as-you-go account and only pay for the months we are in the RV. Now that account is completely separate from the home account and I can change the locals without affecting the receivers at home.

We have the Hopper and Wallys at home, but have an older vip211k receiver and Tailgater in the RV.

If you go with the pay-as-you-go plan, do not authorize them to do an auto charge to your credit card each month. Call each month you are using it and pay for that month only. If you allow auto charge and forget to call and stop your service they will continue to charge your card each month. If you normally call to pay each month and you are not going to use the RV for the next month(s), simply do not call. They will automatically stop your service until you call to restart it. No additional charge.