Winegard Sat. Antenna - Tripod, Picnic Table, Other?

By the way Winegard makes a short tripod for use with their portable domes, Like 8 inch legs. This too is a good choice, just enough to keep it off the ground.

ALL satellite antennas work better if properly leveled or plumbed (The vertical equivalent of level) but the domes.. Will usually compensate for an off-level set up. The X2 is no different.

I would suggest the smart phone upgrade or.. If you wish there is a device which I think is over priced called the "Align-A-Site"

Here is how to use it: Go to the antenna pointing page on your receiver and enter your zip code.. And of course the birds you are looking for (I'd use 119 to start).. The receiver will give you some "Presets".. Dial them into your align-a-site and go take a look,, If you can not see the sky through it's viewer, The antenna will not work.

Update: I recently went out for 2 weeks in 3 different campgrounds. A picnic table worked fine in all 3 locations. Love that X-2!

While I sometimes use the compass/level functions on my iPhone, you don't really need a smartphone, computer, or much information for the Pathway X-2 set up - just point it more or less south and let it do its thing. When it goes to find the satellites, you will see which way it is "looking", and make just make sure it has a clear view that direction. Move it and start again if there is something in the way. If you want to know more about the direction and elevation of each satellite, you can get that from your receiver by putting in the zip code of your location.

Thanks to all of you for your input. No, I don't have a smartphone. I just did a Google and found dishpointer.com. That ought to be a good place to start.

With the pathfinder you can skip the tripod. I think they make a platform you can use.

Question: Do you have a SMART PHONE?

There are several Sat-Finder apps. Including one, which I think is called Sat-Finder, many are free.. Most of these apps have the ability to use the phone's rear facing camera (The one you'd use to "Shoot" the video of the dude in the suit getting paintballed in the commercial) to look at the sky and they overlay the sat position on it.. I kind of wonder if the DISH app (I believe Dish has an app but not sure if free) can lay all 3 on the screen.

If you look at the cross-hair and see tree.. MOVE.. If you see open sky. SUCCESS, Note that you do need to look while lying down for best results but it should not take you more than a couple minutes to figure out the height difference less you are in a well treed site.

We've been using ours daily for 2+ months(over this time, we have used it in 9 states and 22 campgrounds). No tripod. Depending on the circumstance, we put it on the roof, on the ground, on the picnic table - anywhere we think the signal is best. We have never been shut out completely though we have had a couple of occasions (in heavily treed campgrounds) where we could only pick up two satellites. A tripod would not have made a difference.

donn0128 wrote:
Buy a heavy duty tripod for it. Money well spent.

X2
Don

EcoBullet wrote:
I finally subscribed to Dish Pay-As-You-Go and am very pleased with the picture I get with the Pathway X-2. It took a while to locate a place on my lot where it could see all the satellites. I have it sitting on top the slide and haven't been on the road yet. I had planned to just set it on the ground, but considering the difficulty in getting a clear path on my home lot, I'm wondering if that is going to be a problem while on the road. Where do you set your Dish antenna? Thanks!

I've been using the following for almost the last 20 years ... cost was almost nil and it's basically indestructible. Only minoe downside is the weight, but that gives it the stability in even higher wind conditions.



I even bought one of the heavy duty tripods, but after using it once decided the cinder block option way far superior and eaiser to use.

Depends on the location of the trees. The smartphone app "DishPointer Pro" is worth its weight in gold.

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I do not believe that the Tailgater tripod is interchangeable with the Winegard products. Here's the tripod you would use with the Carryout or Pathway antennas.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/winegard-carryout-portable-satellite-antenna-tripod/47715

direct link. :)CLICKY