obiwan_canoli Report post Posted September 25, 2020 Given the amount of time I've had on my hands this year - as have so many others of us - I've spent a lot of time thinking about ways I can improve my RV experience. As a result, one of my goals is to improve satellite reception... Being relatively new to the lifestyle, when I bought my Class A, I wanted to extend my Dish at home to the RV, and so, it seemed the Winegard Trav'ler Satellite Dish was a great option... put it on the roof, always there, lots of good features, including the capture of 3 different satellites... But a few times I've been in an RV park, it's been at a site with trees that block my ability to get a signal... and in hindsight, I wonder if I didn't make a mistake with the Trav'ler, instead of something portable, to make it easier to place it where I CAN get a signal... Do RV'rs prefer the portable approach, or, for those with a Sat dish on top, do they also have a portable version for those times the Trav'ler can't get a signal? And if so, how and where do you connect it to your system? I have an external cable port, but am sure that wouldn't work for a satellite dish... so what are people doing to address this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
txtiger Report post Posted September 26, 2020 Many people use a external portable satilite dish. You just connect it to the outside of your RV. The problem is that you may need a different receiver than the one you are using for the Traveler. For instance Dish has the Pathfinder X2 portable satellite dish using a 211Z receiver. Also DirecTv I believe can only get SD and not HD on their portable satilite dish, but I may be wrong? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wayne77590 Report post Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) I used to carry the Winegard Carryout. A small portable dome antenna. I did not have a rooftop satellite dish with my prior MH. The carryout worked flawlessly. Only on a few occasions was I completely blocked by trees or obstacles. However, with any portable or rooftop dome antenna there are limitations. The Carryout only found 1 satellite at a time. It was automatic so that when I tuned to a channel that required a different satellite (Dish Network, 110, 119 and 129 birds) it was automatic and basically instantaneous. There were occasions when I could only get one satellite or two. Satellite 129 was typically the culprit because of trees or obstacles. All in all, I would recommend the Carry Out antenna. It is also DIP switch programmable for Dish, Direct, or Bell satellites. One other problem that may be encountered with a dome antenna, is for DirecTV it only received 101 and 119 which may not cover their HD broadcasts. With Dish Network HD is covered. the Carryout has outputs for two TV's but only one satellite at a time can be received. So if you are watching on channel in the living room and want to watch another in the bedroom, both channels have to be sent by the same satellite. I never used the two tv connector output and just re-wired the BOMB with a splitter for the bedroom. What ever was on one tv was on the other. Check the Winegard web site for specifications on other models they have to see if they fit your requirements. Yes, portability gives you the ability to move the antenna to possibly get away from obstructions. I guess that is the short answer.😀 p.s., I believe DISH satellite 72˚ carries all of dish's programming so maybe a selection of those, like the Pathway X2. The Pathway X2 will satisfy a two TV requirement for different channels. p.p.s., an open faced dish with triple LNB mounted on a tripod would also be portable. Sometimes (in my case many times) they can be difficult to set up to acquire the satellite(s). Edited September 26, 2020 by wayne77590 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
