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Old 07-06-2020, 06:47 PM   #1
uechikid
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Portable Satellite Dish Setup

We have Dish in the House and have the hopper 3. I bought a portable full size dish for our TT to use with the hopper. I had it sort of working once but when I tried to dial it in it got worse. Now, I can’t get the dish setup and working at all. I have spent roughly 12 hours on two day trying. That doesn’t Include all the videos I’ve watched and read, read and reread the manual that came with the dish. I am an accomplished do it yourselfer but this one has me beat. I’m spent. I want to higher someone to teach me how to set it up but I can’t find any leads anywhere.
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Old 07-06-2020, 08:15 PM   #2
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Portable satellite dishes don't work with hoppers. Only Walley and vip211 run them. See Dishs FAQ. Hoppers aren't programmed to look for Satellites. Tech does that when installing and aims the dish. For portable dish you need a portable receiver to look for the satellites.
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Old 07-06-2020, 08:30 PM   #3
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Rereading your post it appears you bought a regular satellite receiver. Good luck with that. You have to set that up in three different planes every time you move it. Life is to short. Being off degree or two on any one of the three equals no reception.
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Old 07-06-2020, 08:32 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyldfire View Post
Portable satellite dishes don't work with hoppers. Only Walley and vip211 run them. See Dishs FAQ. Hoppers aren't programmed to look for Satellites. Tech does that when installing and aims the dish. For portable dish you need a portable receiver to look for the satellites.
This is a dish just like the one on my house. It’s a 1000.2 with three lnb for the western arc. Looking for satellites 110, 119 & 129.
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Old 07-06-2020, 08:44 PM   #5
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I tried adjusting my house one after putting on a new roof. After half a day I paid Dish to do it. Took the guy about an hour to get it right with all his equipment. Would dread the thought of going through that every time I set camp. I'll stick with setting my pathway x2 out looking south and turn on the receiver. Let them find the satellites while I set camp.
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Old 07-06-2020, 08:56 PM   #6
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I can’t tell you how many videos I’ve watched where the say they can get the dish dialed in in 15-30 minutes. Not my experience so far.
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Old 07-07-2020, 03:39 PM   #7
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If you want to watch Dish and have it at home, why fight with alignment every time you set up? I have a Playmaker and while it can only connect to one TV all I do it set it either on a picnic table, my slide out or the tripod. Point the handle to the north and connect to the coax in which connects to my Wally. I pay $7 a month on top the house Dish service. If you want two TVs to be able to tune get two Playmakers (lots of alternatives but that was the cheapest when I bought mine as a package) and just connect the 2nd in the same way. As an alternative, they have Playmaker with two outputs which I suspect will feed two Wally receivers tuned to channels on the same sat. Not sure... you would have to call and ask.



https://www.dishformyrv.com/dish-pla...h-wally-white/


If you can afford it, you can get a Dish Trav'Ler antenna and hook up three receivers watching shows on different sats. This is a pricey option and the main downside imho is that you would have to mount the thing on the roof of you camper which means shaded campgrounds may prove problematic. You would have to search for a spot with no trees blocking the southern sky. Here in my area of Texas this generally isn't all that hard to do but if you live somewhere with a lot of large trees the norm, it is a consideration.


https://www.dishformyrv.com/winegard...llite-antenna/
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Old 07-07-2020, 04:24 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wiredgeorge View Post
If you want to watch Dish and have it at home, why fight with alignment every time you set up? I have a Playmaker and while it can only connect to one TV all I do it set it either on a picnic table, my slide out or the tripod. Point the handle to the north and connect to the coax in which connects to my Wally. I pay $7 a month on top the house Dish service. If you want two TVs to be able to tune get two Playmakers (lots of alternatives but that was the cheapest when I bought mine as a package) and just connect the 2nd in the same way. As an alternative, they have Playmaker with two outputs which I suspect will feed two Wally receivers tuned to channels on the same sat. Not sure... you would have to call and ask.



https://www.dishformyrv.com/dish-pla...h-wally-white/


If you can afford it, you can get a Dish Trav'Ler antenna and hook up three receivers watching shows on different sats. This is a pricey option and the main downside imho is that you would have to mount the thing on the roof of you camper which means shaded campgrounds may prove problematic. You would have to search for a spot with no trees blocking the southern sky. Here in my area of Texas this generally isn't all that hard to do but if you live somewhere with a lot of large trees the norm, it is a consideration.


https://www.dishformyrv.com/winegard...llite-antenna/
Yeah, I looked at all the options. I read numerous articles and watched more videos than I can count, and decided that because I already have Dish, and a receiver (the Hopper), and most people with the full size tripod mounted dish made it seem like a good option. And, I could save some money as well. I might have shot myself in the foot though.
I hate spending money on stuff that I thought would be great or work great, only to find out that it's not, and then have to spend more money.
This RV trailer thing we have entered into seems like a money pit so far. Not to mention all the stuff that wasn't right with the trailer from the factory, that I had to deal with because the dealer sucks.
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Old 07-12-2020, 11:12 AM   #9
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Update

Thanks for all the replies.
I called Dish for tech support and the phone support was little to no help. However, they did send a tech to the house. He checked my equipment and had the dish aligned with his really expensive meter in about 10 minutes, maybe less. We discussed how to set it up on the road, and he said, short of having a meter, he couldn't be of much help. After he left my wife asked if I could send the dish back. I thought I was passed the return window, but when I checked online I still had a few days. Went through the process online and bam, a return label popped up. Got it boxed up yesterday and tomorrow it's going back.
Now we are looking at the more expensive option, the dishes that find the satellites automatically.
Thanks wiredgeorge for the links. We are leaning towards the Winegard Pathway X2 bundle on Amazon. It's way more than I want to spend but, it should help to provide home away from home when we start reaching out across the country.
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Old 07-21-2020, 04:29 PM   #10
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I received the Winegard Pathway X2 and Wally receiver. Yesterday got it setup using the TV in the garage and everything seemed to be working. Moved the Wally to the trailer and connected the cable to the KeyTv SAT connection and couldn't get the dish to work. Reconnected the cable from the dish directly to the Wally and it was working find. Today I took the Hopper our to the trailer, connected it directly to the dish on the house through the KeyTv and again, nothing. Connected the cable from the dish to the solo node and everything worked.
As many others have experienced, the KeyTv system is a POS. Brand new trailer and this thing has never worked right. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent messing with it.
Now I think I'M going to look for an alternative to KeyTv for tv use. I'm kind of at a loss.
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Old 07-22-2020, 03:36 AM   #11
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I have an old camper with no satellite dish coax jack so put one directly outside adjacent to my entertainment center shelf. On the inside, you can't see the hole the RG6 comes through due its location inside the shelf section and I use a 2' length of RG6 to connect to my Wally. I generally set my Playmaker on my slide about 8' from the outside jack and use a short piece of coax. I also have a tripod in the event there are trees blocking the southern sky from my slide top location and have various lengths of coax. 75' works but is about as far as you can go. Gizmos like KeyTV might be a great idea if they work but why go through the complication?
https://www.amazon.com/JR-Products-4...language=en_US
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Old 07-22-2020, 11:24 AM   #12
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Thanks wiredgeorge. We decided to take the path of least resistance and do the same as you did. Install a through the wall connector in the cabinet behind the TV.
Now that begs the question, When drilling through an exterior wall, do I need to be concerned about hitting wiring and plumbing? Or is that all run through the ceiling and under the trailer? Also what type of sealant do I use with fiberglass exterior walls?
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