Shaw Direct/Winegard

[jheppner]

Have any of you Canadians had trouble with your Winegard automatic dish not being able to locate and hone in on the Shaw Direct satellites?

[Bill_Satellite]

Sounds like a bad solution. Winegard does not appear to have been able to find a solution and is simply telling their users what to do as a work-around.

[jheppner]

I'm not particularly happy with Winegard's explanation regarding their satellite dish locating the Shaw Direct satellites but here's what I was told. Go into your Shaw Direct "Options" menu on the TV screen and bring up the page showing the satellite signals. Deploy the satellite dish and wait for the satellite signals to read green and in the 90s. At this point, your Winegard controller should read "Satellite ID: 111". Immediately push the "Select" and "Power" buttons simultaneously on the controller which will lock in the satellite signal. We have used this method for weeks now and it works fine. Winegard says "With the changes Shaw made, services in the states will be hit or miss. If you can get it to work in manual, then that is your best option."

[roy67ss]

The update is hardware that includes a new controller and internals in the turret. Any software would come programmed into the controller. Please let us know what Wingard says. I have heard of some dealers having issues with the new update as well.

[jheppner]

We definitely have the latest LNB, plus the new software provided by Winegard, which was installed in October. As I said, the automatic dish worked fine as we were travelling south until we arrived in the Laughlin area. Now we are still moving south and we're having to stop the dish when it finds "111". No more "automatic"! When we do this, our signals are always over "90 green" but because we're only working off "111", there are a number of channels missing, none of which affect our viewing habits, thank goodness. As soon as I get good cell phone reception, I will call Winegard to try and get some more up to date information.

[joebedford]

Just curious: you didn't state the vintage of your Travel'r. Do you have the xKU triple LNB?

[Bill_Satellite]

That really sucks. Please keep update once you get in touch with Winegard.

[jheppner]

No, it definitely is not working after paying for the updated software. See my post of October 19 where I've reported Winegard's solution. I've been meaning to call them to get further info but right now I'm in a bad area for cell phone reception.

[Bill_Satellite]

It's not working after you did the $600 required update?

[jheppner]

We're now in Parker, Arizona, and the Winegard/Shaw Direct is still not operating on "automatic" but at least we can get a signal even though there are still some channels missing. I'm not going to call Shaw Direct about this because then I might have to explain where I am.

[Lwiddis]

Down Mexico way?

[jheppner]

We have had the Winegard updated software installed in our dish for Shaw Direct. It worked fine all the way to Laughlin where it decided it couldn't find both satellites so it stowed. I called Winegard and they said when it honed in on "111" I should push the power and select buttons at the same time to lock the dish in. They said DO NOT pull the plug as you will have to have the controller totally re-set. I've been following their instructions and it works fine although I object to paying approximately $500 for software that doesn't do what it was supposed to. At this point, we're not having any problems getting the HD channels although they have a tendency to go missing and then return again. Very puzzling.

[Bill_Satellite]

MDKMDK wrote:
It was my understanding that the newer G1 satellite, which is supposed to carry most of the HD stuff now, casts a more northerly coverage shadow, than the old Anik F1/F2 birds. ShawD customers have been reporting that they can still receive programming south of the 49th, but that it's inconsistent.
Anecdotally, I was shopping for a portable dish receiver system a few years back and was told by Winegard, that the Trav'ler full sized roof mounted dish would probably be the best bet to pick up anything in the US, going forward. They said the domed portable systems "paddle" dishes were probably too small to be effective in picking up signal.
Maybe some ShawD customers in the deep south will add an update of where they are (approximately?) and what dish/systems they're using?

Winegard was being generous with their description of service with ShawD and a dome. First, you would have to buy a dome for ShawD as the standard domes will not work. 2nd, the domes will not receive any programming outside of Canada or the extreme N. parts of the US.

[campinghut]

As to the upgrade the winegard part number is sk-73up

[MDKMDK]

It was my understanding that the newer G1 satellite, which is supposed to carry most of the HD stuff now, casts a more northerly coverage shadow, than the old Anik F1/F2 birds. ShawD customers have been reporting that they can still receive programming south of the 49th, but that it's inconsistent.
Anecdotally, I was shopping for a portable dish receiver system a few years back and was told by Winegard, that the Trav'ler full sized roof mounted dish would probably be the best bet to pick up anything in the US, going forward. They said the domed portable systems "paddle" dishes were probably too small to be effective in picking up signal.
Maybe some ShawD customers in the deep south will add an update of where they are (approximately?) and what dish/systems they're using?