What am I doing wrong ?

[Horsedoc]

I know this is a long post, but what I don't know about this kind of stuff would write a few books.
Took the Wally from bedroom and put it in the MH. MH has the Winegard - Roadtrip dish. The dip switches have been set to receive DISH signals. This weekend we stayed at a SP that does not have decent cable and this was a good opportunity to see if the Roadtrip worked. We got setup and leveled. When I turned the dish on, it began searching you could hear it turning and moving. When it stopped I turned the Wally on and it was ready to go. It showed the guide but would not go to the local channels (lower numbers) saying they were not available. I then punched in 120 and it came right up. Great! when I tried to go to other channels it would give me the message about the signal being lost and giving me options on what I could try before calling DISH. I gave up and turned the Roadtrip selector switch off and switched back to cable. Later that day, it tried it again. Wally and Roadtrip turned and did their thing and then stopped. Message came up that Wally was restarting and downloading guide. I went to 120 again and it came up for a few and then died with the same message of lost signal.
When we returned home I set up again with no trees around, thinking that may have been the problem. Nothing then. When I put Wally back in the house it immediately produced a picture.
What am I doing wrong and what is the sequences to do it right? Thanks for your time

[Horsedoc]

Bill, thanks. Will try that next time we go out. I expect that is the thing that needed to be done.

[Bill_Satellite]

When you move the Wally from the home style antenna to a dome you MUST complete a successful Check Switch routine before you can receive all programming. You also need a clear view of the sky (fairly large as the satellites are spread across 20 degrees of sky). Depending upon where you are located you might be setup for Eastern Arc satellites at home and the dome set for Western Arc. You will need to start by checking these possibilities.

[wa8yxm]

You may well be doing nothing at all wrong with one small exception.. MOVING.

Local Stations are sent by "Spot Beams" Now you ask what is a spot beam?

Though technically a tad more complex you don't need to know how to create them (I DO but I play with radios. and I do mean play, and antennas)

But to explain a "Spot Beam" I am going back to my theater training.

Imagine a stage... On the floor of the stage is painted a large map of the USA including parts of Canada and Mexico...

Standing on the spot that corrosponds to your Front Yard is the Star of the Shot singing his solo (it's a musical after all) He is standing in a SPOT LIGHT beam.. the rest of the stage is dark.

Well that Spot Light is a Spot Beam. exactly the same thing no difference at all.

And when you moved. you moved into one of the dark spots outside the beam.

DISH allows you to change your service zip code to wherever you were parked and then the new locals work after your receiver's next update (Daily or on power up not sure which on that).

[AllegroD]

Did you check the switch settings to see how many satellites it could see? Sat channels are only available if you can connect to the satellite it is broadcast on. Are you using a home Dish service or Dish Outdoors? Dish outdoors uses spot beams for locals based on your physical location. If you move out of area a to area b, and did not change your service location, you will not receive any locals in area b, until you update your location. In reverse, if you change your location to area b and return to area a, you will not receive locals until you update your service location.

[BurbMan]

Thanks! I don't know anything about satellite TV, but I always learn something new here on RV.net!

[Horsedoc]

Wally is a receiver from DISH. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear

[BurbMan]

What's a Wally?