Winegard Trav'ler

Radio_Flyer · 06-26-2014, 04:20 PM

Thinking of getting the Trav'ler to replace my dish on a pole setup. Will yhen allow me take it on the road. Install seems pretty straight forward. Right now I use KU-band satellites 110°, 119° and 129° for my setup, on the east coast. I set up a friends system last week after Dish gave him hassles, using the three satellites. Dish told him that would be temporary since they were doing away with the 110 and 119. Whether they do or not, does anyone know if the Trav'ler can track on to the newer satellites or be upgraded to in the future? For almost $1200 I wouldn't want to install it and have to replace it in a year or two. Can't find any info searching Wineguard site. Thanks.

atom ant · 06-26-2014, 07:41 PM

I would ask Winegard direct. We had a Road=trip dome that was upgradeable to get 129 a few years back, but it wasn't necessarily a cheap upgrade.

0nTheRoad · 06-26-2014, 08:12 PM

First I've heard about DISH changing/eliminating satellites, can you provide more detail and let us know what you find out?

johnboytoo · 06-26-2014, 08:35 PM

We just had our directv winegard installed last October and the sat guy we've been using for a LONG time didn't mention anything about that... but haven't talked to him in a month or so...

Radio_Flyer · 06-26-2014, 09:28 PM

Called Dish and Winegard. The Trav'ler is western arc only and not upgradeable. They are working on a larger dish that will support both arcs. No timeframe. Dish tech told me that they are trying to switch all the eastern folks to the eastern arc satellites and that they carry the local HD channels. As for losing satellites, I was told no, no plans currently but using the western arc I would not get HD on my local channels. For my use, the Trav'ler will work all the way down the east coast and going west, which is what I wanted to make sure of. The installer that came out for my friend apparently had bad information or didn't want to set him up. I did his setup and had no issues getting him running on the western arc. I just had to make sure that putting holes in my rig for the antenna wasn't going to be a short term solution.

atom ant · 06-26-2014, 11:53 PM

So other than local HD channels, our Trav'lers are good to go no matter where in the US? (this arc talk confuses me

)

0nTheRoad · 06-27-2014, 12:24 AM

I think that is what Radio+Flyer is saying???

I really don't want to have to replace the Trav'ler!!!

**hoosierguy** · 06-27-2014, 12:40 AM

So far, our RoadTrip Mini-Max has worked for us from Colorado to Florida. Will learn in a few weeks if it will work all the way to Washington State..........hope so.

johnboytoo · 06-27-2014, 01:25 AM

Ah, good to know....

but, having been all over the rectangle from Texas to the North Carolina and Arkansas to Florida with nary a problem from the winegard, had hoped that info was skewed a bit (get it ? sat talk

)

coloradolivin · 06-27-2014, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

Ah, good to know....

but, having been all over the rectangle from Texas to the North Carolina and Arkansas to Florida with nary a problem from the winegard, had hoped that info was skewed a bit (get it ? sat talk

)

Ya, I hear ya. We have the old school set up with the Dish 500 and dual LNB's. Have the old inline SAT finder and the tripod for the DISH. Works great, I get excerize running back and forth from dish to TV to see if we got the signal

, till the MF falls over in the wind

lwg · 06-27-2014, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloradolivin

Ya, I hear ya. We have the old school set up with the Dish 500 and dual LNB's. Have the old inline SAT finder and the tripod for the DISH. Works great, I get excerize running back and forth from dish to TV to see if we got the signal

, till the MF falls over in the wind

You gotta upgrade to some of the apps for point the dish. The only time I go to the TV is to verify the signal is good before I tighten everything down, and that's just one trip.

I now see how quickly I can set it up. Down to about 5 minutes from removing everything from the RV to having it set up.

Radio_Flyer · 06-27-2014, 03:32 AM

Took me a lot of transfers to Dish techs before someone that could answer the questions got on the line. Winegard was easier. But the bottom line the Trav'ler should be good from coast to coast. I am still going to keep the old tripod and dish, but install the Trav'ler.

atom ant · 06-27-2014, 05:23 AM

I enjoy watching the travler find itself! I would miss that. But if it couldnt find any satellites, the fun would be continuous

I would use it for radar!

Radio_Flyer · 06-27-2014, 01:45 PM

I've seen a few of the big class A rigs with the moto-sat and big internet antennas on the roof. Sure look like the command and control vehicles we used to sit in along the DMZ. Wish they had been as plush :-)

almcc · 06-27-2014, 03:04 PM

To get an alternate opinion you may want to go over to datastormusers.com, it's a site primarily for satellite internet folks but they have forums on Dish etc. There is a guy (Bill Adams) who is a Winegard trainer and installer, he can give you the detailed answers you are looking for. He has better info than the entry level folks you talk to at Winegard.

By the way Motosat is out of business although you can get used systems and parts from a number of companies out there.

atom ant · 06-27-2014, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by almcc

To get an alternate opinion you may want to go over to datastormusers.com, it's a site primarily for satellite internet folks but they have forums on Dish etc. There is a guy (Bill Adams) who is a Winegard trainer and installer, he can give you the detailed answers you are looking for. He has better info than the entry level folks you talk to at Winegard.

So you have heard a different answer?

arcticman1957 · 06-27-2014, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloradolivin

Ya, I hear ya. We have the old school set up with the Dish 500 and dual LNB's. Have the old inline SAT finder and the tripod for the DISH. Works great, I get excerize running back and forth from dish to TV to see if we got the signal

, till the MF falls over in the wind

Coloradlivin, I have been taking the tv from the bedroom to the dish, I sit it in a lawn chair and put the receiver on a milk crate once the 500 is set. I put everything back inside and it works great. This saves wear and tear on the double knee replacements.

coloradolivin · 06-27-2014, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arcticman1957

Coloradlivin, I have been taking the tv from the bedroom to the dish, I sit it in a lawn chair and put the receiver on a milk crate once the 500 is set. I put everything back inside and it works great. This saves wear and tear on the double knee replacements.

That's kind of a cool idea. !! I am thinking that once we get a chance to use the coach more, I may invest in a dish that is self finding, but still on the ground. I will keep the old 500 set up here at home when the coach is sitting idle

almcc · 06-28-2014, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atom ant

So you have heard a different answer?

Nope, I don't have a different answer. But, I've found that getting answers from entry level persons at some organizations sometimes don't give the correct answers. In my case that happened with me when I contacted Winegard.

It's always good when you do some detailed research before making a decision!

atom ant · 06-28-2014, 04:42 AM

Ah, was just curious - I don't track the satellite strategic plan very close, but would hate to lose use of my Travler.

I went direct to Engineering when I contacted Winegard. Got an accurate answer up front and a box on my porch the following week with an upgraded control board. I always considered them a better source than Dish, who continuously tell me I cant use a Hopper in an RV.

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