Winegard Trav'ler Replacement

[pigman1]

After numerous problems with our Winegard Trav'ler and unbelievably obnoxious people on the phone that call themselves "customer service reps", we gave up. Instead of purchasing another disaster we removed the piece of junk and installed a dish from RF Mogul. OMG!! What a difference. The antenna finds the necessary satellites in less than half the time the Trav'ler took on it's best days and operation is so easy it's almost magic. Press power on, press search, and it's done.

Not only that, but the antenna has the ability to tune all the way down to the horizon, regardless of your latitude. The Winegard would not tune below 18 degrees above the horizon. This effectively eliminated reception in the northern reaches, such as Alaska. We've spent 8 summers in Valdez, and unless I went to extraordinary measures, the Winegard was useless up here (we're in Valdez now). This year I turned the Mogul on and in less than 4 minutes I was watching DirectTV in very heavy cloud cover with occasional showers.

I purchased the antenna from Don at Precise Satellite in Florida. He will install or send you a unit for you to install. I did it myself as I'd installed two other Trav'lers. The R F Mogul is lighter and much easier to handle, but is very stiff and strong. The install does require new wiring, so be prepared to punch a new roof hole or run it down a refer vent.

For anyone interested in a first class product with replaceable parts (unlike Winegard) and super customer service, contact Don at Precise Satellite or Royal at R F Mogul direct.

[Dutch_12078]

CA Traveler wrote:
Can someone educate me on Dish's US satellite usage? I was under the impression that their default western arc sats were the primary ones for HD and maybe 4K. And the eastern arc was more limited.

By contrast DTV has 3 sats south of Texas that cover the 48 states plus Alaska. DTV has announced plans to end SD transmission in 2019 meaning SD dishes and receivers would then be obsolete.

The DISH western arc is only the preferred choice in those areas where it offers the better LOS. The programming on both arcs is identical with the exception of spot beamed locals that may only be on one arc or only in HD on one arc while SD is on the other arc. The reality is that both arcs are reachable from either coast for the most part, although the low elevation at the extremes can be problematic. As a fulltime RV'er, I regularly switch arcs as needed to get the best, or sometimes the only, LOS on heavily treed campsites. The photos below show the sat views from our current location. There is nowhere within our site that has a clear view of more than one DISH western arc or DTV satellite, but the DISH eastern arc is a clear shot at all three birds.

[CoCoDave]

So, after all of the above, is there a majority/plurality opinion as to which antenna, Winegard Trav'ler/RF Mogul Eagle, best supports Dish service on a motor home? I have to decide on one or the other soon. We have an appointment on October 10th to install the antenna along with a Razar OTA.

TIA

[ljr]

CA Traveler wrote:
Can someone educate me on Dish's US satellite usage? I was under the impression that their default western arc sats were the primary ones for HD and maybe 4K. And the eastern arc was more limited.

By contrast DTV has 3 sats south of Texas that cover the 48 states plus Alaska. DTV has announced plans to end SD transmission in 2019 meaning SD dishes and receivers would then be obsolete.

I frequently switch between Dish EA and WA. Perhaps I’m missing something but, except for some local channels, I haven’t noticed anything on one that’s not on the other. I have HD TVs and a Hopper 3 but no 4K (yet).

I typically switch due to obstacles and/or local channels.

[CA_Traveler]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Thanks CA Traveler. I couldn't quote the Genie 2 specs so I did not want to get them wrong.

Hopefully I got it right. I was guessing that the 5+2 support used 17 tuners/channels. That's at least within the Reverse Band LNB - RBLNB - capability of 21 channels.

[Bill_Satellite]

Thanks CA Traveler. I couldn't quote the Genie 2 specs so I did not want to get them wrong.

[CA_Traveler]

Can someone educate me on Dish's US satellite usage? I was under the impression that their default western arc sats were the primary ones for HD and maybe 4K. And the eastern arc was more limited.

By contrast DTV has 3 sats south of Texas that cover the 48 states plus Alaska. DTV has announced plans to end SD transmission in 2019 meaning SD dishes and receivers would then be obsolete.

[CA_Traveler]

Technology advances with improvements in software, appliances, cars, homes, etc.

DTV has taken a new direction with it's HS-17 Genie 2 which is a server with no TV connections, rather wired or wireless clients are connected to the TVs. It supports 5 HD plus 2 4K programs which uses 17 channels with it's 2 TB hard drive.

While I have no current need for the Genie 2 I can see the handwriting on the wall in terms of my grandkids generation and their wired homes. My home has cable and phone wires which are not used. Instead we use DTV's lowly HR44 receiver and Verizon phone and internet. This is at least partially due to keeping cost down by moving the equipment to the RV when we're out and about. All of these technologies will be obsolete in the future. In Chandler, AZ Intel has constructed over $12 billion in empty buildings. I'm sure they have a plan to fill them and use all of the solar power covering the parking areas.

[TechWriter]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
No, not sour grapes. Over kill is simply over kill. Keep in mind that I don't give 2 cents about your sarcastic response as I don't care what anyone else does. If it works for you/them, that's great. But if someone is giving misleading information or information that I believe to be slanted I will likely chime in. You like DISH and think 16 tuners is important. I don't.

Besides Hoppers 3's 16 tuners, there's also the H3's faster processor that I mentioned, plus the Hopper 3 has a 2 TB hard drive vs DirecTV's 1 TB.

[Bill_Satellite]

No, not sour grapes. Over kill is simply over kill. Keep in mind that I don't give 2 cents about your sarcastic response as I don't care what anyone else does. If it works for you/them, that's great. But if someone is giving misleading information or information that I believe to be slanted I will likely chime in. You like DISH and think 16 tuners is important. I don't.

[TechWriter]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Does anyone really record 16 channels at the same time? If so, when the heck would you have time to watch all of that stuff! I have a hard time EVER finding 5 channels to record simultaneously with my Genie.

Sour grapes much?

So far I haven't used 16 tuners at once, but I have used more than 5.

Bill.Satellite wrote:

To call the Genie "inferior" is just nonsense. The chips inside do not allow me to watch a show and faster so it's really not important.

Oh yes they do.

[CA_Traveler]

I'm stuck in the dark ages without a 4K TV or several. Just one HD TV in the MH and one HD TV at home for my lowly HR44. 😞

What's important to us is time shifting. We rarely watch live TV rather watch recorded programs which take about 30 minutes for a 60 minute show. Pause, move forward/backward are our friends. All shows including live shows are recorded. 🙂

Technology advances with more bells and whistles. Maybe some day I'll want multiple 4K capability which both Dish and DTV offer. :@

Maybe... :h

[Bill_Satellite]

Does anyone really record 16 channels at the same time? If so, when the heck would you have time to watch all of that stuff! I have a hard time EVER finding 5 channels to record simultaneously with my Genie. To call the Genie "inferior" is just nonsense. The chips inside do not allow me to watch a show and faster so it's really not important.

[TechWriter]

CA Traveler wrote:
What's inferior with my DTV HR44? Always want to learn!

DISH's Hopper 3 is a 16-tuner DVR while the HR44 (and HR54) are both 5-tuner.

Under the hood, the Hopper 3 uses a Broadcom ARM-based BCM7445 Ultra HD (4K) video decoder while the HR44 and HR54 use earlier less powerful Broadcom chipsets --BCM7340 and BCM7346, respectively.

[CA_Traveler]

What's inferior with my DTV HR44? Always want to learn!

[TechWriter]

CA Traveler wrote:

The central US location of DTV (99, 101, 103) is a huge advantage that covers the lower 48 states and Alaska.

That "huge" advantage is offset by DTV's inferior receivers.