Dish Installs

[mhs4771]

I would have gone with one of the automatic fold down dishes vs the dome. The reflector in the dome is much smaller and results in lower signal levels. Are you going Dish or DirecTV?? If Dish I think you can get HD with the Dome, for DirecTV you have to go to the Big SlimLine Dish (that's what we have). We knew we were putting the Dish on the roof, so we had RW install the 4 coax cables we needed.

[atom ant]

You're right, we had HD Dish with our dome on the Montana. It would get Direct, but only in SD. Something to do with the way Direct communicates.

[UNDRPSI]

Well we went with the Tripod setup. This setup guarantees that we would not loose the signal with a slimline HD dish in 50 MPH winds. When I received the tripod I was glad it bought this one. Even the guy that came over to install the receivers said it was the best tripod he had seen. It took the installer 2 1/2 hours to get the all ready installed sat. cables to talk to each other. Found one splitter and numerous bad splice connections. But he got it.. Everything works now like it should from the get go.
Splice connections were hard to find but we found them all and redid the connections and was able to get signal to all connections. I would have thought that Redwood would have have made sure all home runs would have clear signals. One more thing to check out on the next PDI the next time we get another 5th wheel.

[SW1117]

We haven't received our GK yet, but we have decided to do the tripod setup as well. This was from friends that have travel a lot and found they always can get a signal even when they are under the trees, but if it's on the roof, they said you pretty much have to move to coach to get signals under trees.

Good luck with your surgery! My prayers are with you for a speedy recovery.

[UNDRPSI]

<div style=": rgb255, 255, 255; margin-left: 2px; margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb0, 0, 0; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; -: n&#111;ne; ">Well after the first weekend with the new Direct HD TV with the SWM 3 setup everything is working great! The new tripod from TV 4 RV.com makes setting up and aiming a breeze. I went with the Heavy duty satellite dish setup with the high wind option. After the initial setup I wanted to move the tripod to the rear of the coach, out of site kinda from the road. I also want to set it up my self so I knew how to do it down the road the next time. I down loaded a app on my cell phone of the satellites that Im using and his gives me everything I need to find the direction of the satellite, elevation,and tilt. I then hooked up the meter and tuned it in. From there I turned on the tv and went into the sat settings to the meter on the tv and fine tuned it to almost perfection. 100% on 2 out of 3 satellites with the 3rd at 98%. Now all we need to do is learn where all are favorite channels are. Over all I think this is the best way for us. Now we dont have to be worried about the trees to get a signal we just move the tripod.

MarSue Good Luck with your surgery.

[SW1117]

We are also going to use DirectTV. We want to make sure that we get HD and I was told that most of the SAT units did not get HD. The tripod you got from an internet site? And that was preferable from getting it from DirectTV? We also wanted the Genie DVR so that we can recored off all 3 TVs. Any tips you can provide, I would appreciate. We should be getting our coach in about 4 weeks, so I will have decisions to make before we move in and I sure want to make the right ones.

[Adamsvr]

SW1117, for Directv HD, I would suggest you get a Winegard Slimline antenna. It automatically locks to the satellites. You'll also need two dedicated coaxs per TV to get the -95 dBm of signal strength for DTV. Don't put any splitters in these coaxs. Just be sure that you don't park your RW under trees.

[SW1117]

We ordered 4 dedicated coax cables just for the DVR to work correctly. Doesn't the Winegard Slimeline Antenna go on the roof? We wanted the tripod so that we could not be worried about trees.

[Adamsvr]

Yes, the Slimline goes on the roof. I haven't seen any HD dishes on a tripod.Â*Then there's the issue of storing them in the garage and setting them up at every campsite. I'd much rather just turn them on and let them find the satellites with a roof mounted unit.

[Hummel]

I went with the Winegard Carryout GM - 1518 972, Winegard Tripod TR 1518 and the Nature Power 5.8 Amp AC to DC Power Converter. I also hooked up an infared adapter from the bedroom to the basement TV so I can change channels while outside. Breaking down of the unit for storage takes less then three minutes and it doesn't matter where we park our 2013 36RE. We receive all the Directv channels the same as our home base. You just have to watch out for the trees.

[mhs4771]

If you plan to use DirecTV and want HD, the large SlimLine Dish is the only option. You can get a Heavy Duty Tripod that will support the SlimLine, or you can make a base that just sits on the gound or picnic table. Several in the park have gone that route. We went with the Automatic Trav'ler SlimLine on the roof and for the most part have been OK. More and more Parks have Satellite Friendly sites if you ask.

[SW1117]

I believe there are options for the tripod now that can get HD. We don't want to have to avoid the beauty of being in the trees just because of the dish on top of the coach. I will make sure before be buy something, but right now leaning toward the tripod.

[UNDRPSI]

We went with the HD slim line dish from Direct TV but they messed up and sent us the Home install instead of the RV setup that we discussed when setting up the account and placing the order. We later found out that after you order the Satellite setup and it is installed they will Then send you the RV setup. They just dont listen when you order.. WE DONT HAVE A HOME WE LIVE IN OUR RV AND TRAVEL THE COUNTRY! But they did take our money quickly and they also sent it to the right place BUT they got the billing addy wrong. Come on people do your job!!!! I have too..
SW1117 all I can say is to bad that Redwood doesn’t keep up on how many wires they have to run to have HD TV in their coaches. With the new SWM 3 technologies you only need 1 RG6 cable to run 8 different tv’s . NICE!!!
One other thing SW1117 make sure you have the dealership tone ALL your cables during your PDI. I would do both Cable and Satellite’s cables. Alot less headaches down the road. I sent you a pm.

[Adamsvr]

We too had problems with our DTV install because of Redwood's coax wiring. But on Redwood's behalf, it is not their job to keep up with the numerous satellite providers - it's our job. We need to specify what we want and need. Regarding Directv, it can be very frustrating with their customer service who are trained to do residential installations; however, what we've found is that if you ask for their RV section it really helps

[SW1117]

That's the reason we ordered the 4 dedicated coax cables. The dealer knows the purpose and is going to make sure it is right during the PDI. That is the best thing about this forum. Everyone is so great at sharing their experiences and it keeps those of us that know practically nothing from making huge mistakes.

[Adamsvr]

I don't know if this is still the case, but in the recent past you needed two dedicated coaxs per TV if you want to record multiple shows on the DVR. To only watch DTV and record the same show, you'll only need one coax per TV from the satellite antenna, but multiple DTV boxes. At least that's the way it used to be.

[John8545]

You might have dealer with experience do the install, dealer, ( Denis Dillon), installed our slim line on roof, but do to lack of knowledge bout installation, service ran cables up and down our roof, installed switch in bedroom and swore that was correct way of installation. Second day we were back at dealer and demanded they correct cabling, with wind as low as 2 mph, sounded as we had birds do cha cha on roof. Also, bedroom tv was hooked to sat. But we instructed service people we wanted "park" cable only in bedroom. It took me two months to correct connections and have it connected right. Dealers just do not listen to customers. We are former motor home owners, and we are really thinking hard of going back to motor home.

[RifRaff]

What TV dish or direct.
Getting ready to but.want to setup out side on tripod.
Herb.

[almcc]

Our 36 RL came with the roof pre-wire but for the time being I want to use the Tripod for TV reception, since it's primary purpose is a sat internet dish with the TV LNB mounted to the side.

Our Canadian sat TV provider's hardware requires a second coax line from the dish for the PVR (no splitters allowed). In our RL, one sat input line at the dock goes to the bedroom, the other goes to the entertainment area, I wanted to use these two inputs to go to the entertainment area and I didn't want to do a re-wire to get the second line to go there. Instead, I traced all the lines that go to the roof and I installed a small coax jumper in the bedroom that connects the dock input to a line going to the roof, then I installed a small jumper on the roof to the coax line going to the entertainment area. That way I get two sat inputs for the PVR. Depending on whether Shaw still provides signal to the US in future I may go with a Winegard dish on the roof.

Edited by: almcc

[Dan]

Originally Posted by almcc

Our 36 RL came with the roof pre-wire but for the time being I want to use the Tripod for TV reception, since it's primary purpose is a sat internet dish with the TV LNB mounted to the side.

Our Canadian sat TV provider's hardware requires a second coax line from the dish for the PVR (no splitters allowed). In our RL, one sat input line at the dock goes to the bedroom, the other goes to the entertainment area, I wanted to use these two inputs to go to the entertainment area and I didn't want to do a re-wire to get the second line to go there. Instead, I traced all the lines that go to the roof and I installed a small coax jumper in the bedroom that connects the dock input to a line going to the roof, then I installed a small jumper on the roof to the coax line going to the entertainment area. That way I get two sat inputs for the PVR. Depending on whether Shaw still provides signal to the US in future I may go with a Winegard dish on the roof.

From what i heard Shaw has put up a new satellite and will discontinue signal to that little country between us and Mexico some time after this fall. Not good, just as all the Bell customers jumped over to Shaw after they did the same


Dan