Dish Network "Tailgater" Satellite Antenna Package Critique.

pegmikef

Well-known member
This is for anybody interested in an easy to use, reasonably priced, portable satellite system. After reading many threads on this forum regarding satellite systems and some other research, I decided on the the Dish Network Tailgater antenna and receiver and the RV program option. This is a pretty new system that has only been out a couple of months and costs around 500 dollars (receiver and antenna) including shipping. I bought mine on Amazon.com.

The antenna is similar to the winegard carryout or the VuCube, but cheaper (300 - 350) and is automatic. It comes with a fifty foot coax cable and receives its power through the cable. You basically point the antenna to the south, hook up the cable(s) dependent on your rig, and plug in the receiver. You are prompted for the state in which you are located, and then satellites are found, scanned, and the program data is downloaded to your receiver. You are then set up and ready to watch TV. This system only works in the 48 contiguous states and the antenna only supports one specific receiver (vip 211k).

The whole procedure was painless. I received the equipment, set it up in the driveway, called Dish Network to create an account and activate the receiver. Since the RV deal is 30 days at a time, you pay in advance. You own the equipment, so there are no other fees. There is no activation or deactivation fee, just the programming fees and they depend on the package you purchase. In my case, I bought the 120 channel one for 47 bucks including tax. When you no longer need it, you call and deactivate it. You can reactivate it anytime by just calling, but it is in 30 day increments. They will bill you after the first month if you are going to have consecutive months.

So far, I have used it in my driveway here in San Angelo and last week at a remote park in New Mexico (Bottomless Lakes State Park). It worked like a champ and it took less than ten minutes to set it up in New Mexico . . . just entered the new state and the system did everything else.

Here's the link to the site.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/redirects/promotion/tailgater/product-information/default.aspx
 
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GOTTOYS

Well-known member
I have been looking at them as well. Can you set it up as a "second" receiver for your home system or does it have to be a separate system?...Don
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
I have been looking at them as well. Can you set it up as a "second" receiver for your home system or does it have to be a separate system?...Don

I imagine you can use the receiver as a second receiver for your home system, in fact the website says if you already have the receiver, then all you need is the antenna which implies that the receiver is used with any antenna. I have cablevision at home so I don't really know much about how they work. I do know that a lot of folks just take their home receiver and hook it up to their portable/rv satellite antenna since they are already a subscriber. Maybe someone who knows more will jump in here and enlighten us both. Mike
 

hoefler

Well-known member
When we got or second receiver from Dish, they gave it to me since I was upgrading by adding a receiver. It is also a DVR, which is nice for getting shows when you are out to watch later. It cost me $5.00 a month, on all the time. I call them when I relocate to get local stations, no charge. But i did spend $700.00 on an automatic aiming Winegard Carry out dish.
 
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