Dish Hook Up & Usage

[Jeff&Karen39MB]

We're having installed a Dish Hd Trav'ler, with newest available Hopper that allows up to 16 recordings plus a wireless Joey for bedroom that we are told we can move to outside Tv if we wish, all that would be required is to leave a short piece of coax cable to hook to so as not to have to remove outside TV every time we decide to use. This would not be a problem as we don't use the outside TV much and I don't want to pay a monthly equipment service fee for it.
We gave up on the idea of the Tripod due to mostly storage and decided not to hook up myself after listening to some of the stories posted.
Question we have is, overall how many of you that use Dish are happy with service and performance, I am aware trees can be a problem at some sites, but what about storms and cloudy days, does this affect service to a large degree or just minor inconveniences.
Also our installer who is used to RV hook ups said he would need to add a power sauce at roof along with (SAT) cables which were installed by Redwood.
Does anyone know if Redwood provided power to roof, or best point inside to fish a power line up to that area by removing some overhead lights and fishing a wire to a hookup site. I would rather have wire protected inside roof rather than drilling another hole in roof and running a wire across top of roof and securing same.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated and if possible a picture of power source \ point.

[Jim & Mary]

Our own Atom Ant has many pictures of his install on this forum. the roof photos clearly show the coax and control cable on the roof for use in the Travel'r install. That control cable travels from the rooftop to, in our case, the cabinet near the bedroom tv in the cabinet to its left.

http://www.redwoodowners.com/forums/...llite-908.html

[Jeff&Karen39MB]

Thank you Jim, Brad is a talented guy, and those pictures are worth a thousand words. Glad to know Redwood supplied power, our installer said a lot of Rv manufacturers don't unless specifically asked.
Have a great day.

[Jim & Mary]

Jeff & Karen

This gentleman's website is the best I've found so far detailing getting the hopper 3 to work with the Winegard Travel'r. I followed his earlier posts when I switched our Travel'r to Hopper 3 from Hopper 2, and as long as I followed his procedure, we have no troubles. If you call or contact Winegard directly, they have said: "the Travel'r does not work with the Hopper 3". Well this gentleman and my own experience proves otherwise. Apparently he now has another method which does not require modifying the dish, but I haven't gone to that method. Read his various pages and judge for yourself which you wish to try. Hopefully if you're having someone else do the install, they know about this. If I can be of further help, feel free to PM me.

Jim

[Jim & Mary]

sorry, forgot to include the link:

https://rvseniormoments.com/tech-docs/dish-tv-for-rvs/

[brenkco]

I have been pleased with the dish service. I haven't lost signal using the full size dish. Using the portable, tailgater for instance, is another story.

BTW, you should only need an HDMI cable for your outside TV to a wireless Joey.. If you go wired, then yes, you need the coax.

[atom ant]

Thanks for the compliments folks

Believe it or not, I'm still using that Travelr now on the MH. Jim Mastered the Hopper 3 - I never got that far (I only had the Hopper/Joey original version). Trees can definitely impact your signal, and how often will really depend on your travels. I can count on one hand how many times I had to surrender to movies on the hard drive because I couldn't get signal. Typically if you ask the campground reservations desk for satellite friendly, they know the right spots.

[Jeff&Karen39MB]

Thanks Jim, we are using a gentleman called Satellite Steve, @ Satellitesteve.com he's been around the Merritt Island Fl area for a number of years, talked to him about a year ago but never took the plunge until now.
He was very informative, gave us the pros and cons of Direct and Dish, to help us make a choice of which service to use, no pressure to sell his business, i will watch him do the install.
Thanks for all your help, will post pictures of install when completed.

[Jeff&Karen39MB]

Hi Brad,
Hope all is well with you and Dory, looked at post Jim did of your install, very nice roof connect, I will be sure to show this to our installer Steve, see what is his idea is for roof mount.
As always enjoy your mods and pics.
Have a great day, and thanks for info on usage, it helped calmed my fears.

[thomas861]

We’ve had the Trav’ler for about 3 years now and have been pleased with it. Only one place we’ve stayed that trees were an issue...so far. I find Dish to be very RV friendly and that’s why we went with them...but I’m not happy with them not carrying one particular channel. I considered changing over to the Direct TV version a couple of months ago but for now have tabled those thoughts due to the cost.

Yes, Redwood does have everything on the roof you need for the install. As far as the third TV, our installer added a set up in the bedroom that allows the outside TV to mirror the bedroom one. For us that works perfectly, no extra box needed.

[Jeff&Karen39MB]

Thanks for your response, I did mean HDMI, we are using the wireless Joey.

[Jeff&Karen39MB]

Thank you for advise, we decided not to go with Direct for a couple of reasons, price after 1st year, and also service, as Dish has an RV division for help with any problems, should they occur.
When we winter in Florida we will call Steve if any service is needed.

[Txcowgirl]

We are scheduled to pick up our new RW3881ES this week! So excited, and I am sure to be full of questions. One I hope someone can help me with is about satellite TV.
In our old rig, we had a Tailgater VQ2500, with a VIP 211K receiver, which we never hooked up. The TV in it was ancient, so it wasn't worth the effort. In this new rig, I understand it is prewired for a Winegard. Do we need this particular type of satellite, or can we use the Tailgater? If so, will I need anything else? It came with a 50' coaxial cable, and I have an HDMI cable for the receiver. This is made by King, I believe. Do any of you have this set up and does it work very well? Thanks so much.

[brenkco]

Txcowgirl,

Let me try to help you. To save you some frustration, there are a few things you need to know.

First, your rig is wired for 3 systems, satellite, OTA (over the air) and cable TV. Winegard is a brand like Xerox is to copies, this refers to the satellite wiring.

Each of the 3 types have some special requirements. To keep it simple, I'll only talk about satellite. Satellite must be a direct run from the antenna to your receiver. It won't work on the OTA or cable runs because there are splitters.

The next issue for you is to find which satellite feed goes where. Typically, there are 3. One from the roof to the living room, 2 from the convenience center, one goes to the living room and one to the bedroom. If you can't determine which is which, you can get a simple tester. Let me know and I can send you a link for the one I use.

Once you have the coax from the antenna to the rig, connect the VIP211 to the coax near the TV. The HDMI cable goes from the 211 to the TV.

A note of caution about your cable length. Specs for the tailgater calls for no more than 50' total.....INCLUDING that that is in your rig! The farther south you are, the more forgiving. The small dish inside the tailgater shoots through less atmosphere the closer you get to the equator (TMI, I know, but it all goes to coax length.)

Another limitation of the tailgater is one receiver, one show at a time. You can attach a hard disk and it will become a DVR. For the most part, you cannot split the signal and watch a 2nd TV. There are work arounds, but they require different equipment.

It's not that complicated if you understand the 3 different wiring systems and how they work.

Hope that helps....let us know how it goes!

Ken

[Txcowgirl]

Ken, thanks so much for this very helpful information! Very interesting about the equator, never knew. We are in TX, so somewhat south. Thanks again, and I'll let you know how things come together, may need more help. LOL.

[brenkco]

I'm in northern California. I didn't have trouble until I went north to Oregon & Washington. Lost HD signal on occasion. You should be fine in Texas.

Let me know if you run into issues...I'll be glad to try and help.

Ken

[xtasee]

Save yourself a bunch of frustration and get the traveler SK1000. It’s a little more money but well worth it. The last thing you want to do when traveling is to screw around with the satellite. The system is totally automatic and will run both of your tv’s at the same time. Best money I spent on the rv. Works perfectly with your vip211z

[Jim & Mary]

Ken

I've been all over the western 2/3 of the US and have not failed to access HD channels with my Hopper 3 and Winegard antenna until I got to Illinois and Indiana. But all over the West from Texas and Arizona up to the NW (we live in Oregon)all the way to the border in Washington we've never had any trouble getting HD service.

[brenkco]

Jim & Mary,

I haven’t either with the Winegard full size dish, traveler or tripod mount. We were taking about the tailgater, the mini dish in an enclosure....a whole different ball game!

Ken

[danrn]

This may not be for everyone, but I use my laptop hooked up to my TV to watch my DISH using my DISH anywhere program on my computer. I have to change channels using my computer (no remote), but I didn't have to buy additional equipment, or have had additional equipment installed on my RW.