Satellite question

gasman94 · 11-24-2013, 02:14 PM

I just purchased a winegard tavel'r 1000 at CW for an incredible price and am going to have it installed in the spring. It is for Dish Network. I have a '14 Berk 390fl and was wondering which receiver to use and if I will be able to get sat signal to all three TV's (Bedroom, living room and outside). Also, any advice/experience with the dish pay as you go plan.

BarryD0706 · 11-24-2013, 03:03 PM

That antenna will work with any receivers that Dish offers.

If I were you, I would go with the Hopper & Joey system. That gives a lot of flexibility in wiring things up. The down side is that it contains a hard-drive so needs to be treated with kid gloves. (In other words, it doesn't like vibration and really should be put on a padded surface (like the bed) while traveling.) If you want to watch TV while moving, you should get some other receiver.

The problem with other options is that to get HDTV on secondary TVs, you have to have a receiver at those TV locations and a way to get coax from the Traveler to those receivers. I'm not a Berkshire owner so don't know if that is practical or what CW can do during installation.

If you're OK with standard-def at the secondary TVs, you can just use a "dual" receiver.

Hopefully some Berkshire owners will tell you what they are using.

With regard to pay-as-you-go, it works great if you aren't using the RV full-time. Notice that you can pay only for the days that you want the receivers turned on. You just have to have them disconnect the service between trips.

gasman94 · 11-24-2013, 04:47 PM

Thanks. I think I will research the hopper/joey system a little more. This sounds like something that I am looking for.

JTN8 · 11-24-2013, 05:34 PM

I have that dish on my 14 berkshire and love it!! I set up mine using the HDMI cable that is in the ent center which splits to the front tv also. So my mid tv and front tv are getting HD signal. I then used the RCA wires to the RCA input in the ent center and this feeds my other two TV'S (bedroom and ext ent tv). Those two TV'S only get standard def signal but I'm fine with that. I have direc tv and keep a HD receiver in there all year.

boowho · 11-25-2013, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryD0706

. The down side is that it contains a hard-drive so needs to be treated with kid gloves. (In other words, it doesn't like vibration and really should be put on a padded surface (like the bed) while traveling.)

Barry, you may know something that I don't and maybe I've been lucky, but my receiver has been bouncing around in my coach for over three years and the HD seems to be perfect.

I'd imagine that they used a standard computer drive, and those things are incredibly resilient these days. I have a three terabyte external drive that dropped on the floor from about three feet. That was a year ago, and the thing is still running perfectly.

Even I was surprised at that one (I was certain I'd lost an incredible amount of data), having been in the computer business long enough to remember when hard disks WERE as delicate as you say and you couldn't even breathe on them.

Bottom line is that if you drop the receiver (or almost any electronic device) on the floor, the only thing that'll break mostly break is the case.

Boowho??

BarryD0706 · 11-25-2013, 11:27 AM

Boowoo, is you receiver a DVR?

I don't claim to know how sturdy they are, but I can read the disclaimer that Dish has on the Hopper, and I doubt very much that you will find a Dish installer who is willing to install a DVR into an RV.

boowho · 11-25-2013, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryD0706

Boowoo, is you receiver a DVR?

I don't claim to know how sturdy they are, but I can read the disclaimer that Dish has on the Hopper, and I doubt very much that you will find a Dish installer who is willing to install a DVR into an RV.

YEP, VIP722K which is a full DVR.

Boowho??

JTN8 · 11-25-2013, 11:40 AM

Mine also is a direc tv HD DVR and I've never had an issue with it in the RV.

BarryD0706 · 11-26-2013, 09:01 AM

Gasman, I'm concerned with my Hopper recommendation. Many of us have Sat service at home and just take our receivers with us to the RV. (You should probably consider that too.)

If you ask for a pay-as-you-go plan, it will be obvious to Dish that you are installing the Hopper into an RV. While I think it's still an excellent technical choice, before you buy a DVR type of receiver, I urge you to verify with Dish that they will activate the receiver on a pay-as-you-go plan.

gasman94 · 11-26-2013, 09:45 AM

Thanks Barry. I hope that they will, because I just bought a hopper and two joeys from ebay last night. I would hope that they would not care about it, since it is my equipment and I am the one risking damage to it. I appreciate the heads up.....Rich

BarryD0706 · 11-26-2013, 07:28 PM

Actually my understanding is that Dish will repair/replace a defective receiver no matter who owns it. Let us know how it goes.

I hope you got the "single node" you'll need as well?

gasman94 · 11-26-2013, 08:05 PM

Single node?

BarryD0706 · 11-26-2013, 09:34 PM

Sorry. Should have been Solo Node. I get that wrong way too often. See this diagram: http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload...&%20Hopper.pdf

You can also use a Tap and a terminator (for the node client port) to avoid running two wires from inside the RV to the solo node.

boowho · 11-26-2013, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryD0706

If you ask for a pay-as-you-go plan, it will be obvious to Dish that you are installing the Hopper into an RV.

My VIP722K is on lease from Dish (I don't own it), I run completely without a contract, and they DO know that it's in an RV full time.

Maybe I just got lucky with the support rep, but as long as I send the $$$ once a month (MOST important thing to them), I doubt they'd care if I ran over it with the coach!!! Well once anyhow..... repeat offenses might catch their attention!!!

Further, I'll bet those lease units are depreciated out within a year or so after first being placed, and if I ever cancelled and sent it back, it'd go in the scrap file. JMO; could be wrong.

Boowho??

boowho · 11-26-2013, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryD0706

Actually my understanding is that Dish will repair/replace a defective receiver no matter who owns it.

I'd say so..... If you have no receiver, no matter WHO owns it, you'll not want to send that monthly stipend. Those stipends are what Dish lives for, don'tcha know??

Boowho??

gasman94 · 11-27-2013, 05:04 AM

Barry
Thanks for the diagram. I'll bring a solo node and splitter with me to CW in the spring for the install.

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