Dish Network or Direct TV?

[2psnapod2]

Ok, as we are full timing now, I have been looking at buying a Automatic Wineguard Dish. I see on there website that if you want to get the HD Channels then you have to use Dish Network. Is this correct?

Another question is if we are moving more often than not is the Automatic Dish better, or can one set up the manual one just as easy?

 

[danemayer]

http://www.winegard.com/directv/satellite-antennas.php

Winegard appears to offer an automatic rooftop unit with Directv in High Def.

I have a Directv Slimline 3 dish on a tripod which I aim manually. It does High Def and I would describe setup as moderately difficult. On a good day it'll take me 30 minutes. Bad day can take an hour. That's with a $10 signal meter and a compass. Next time out I'll be using a $180 meter that should make it much easier. But an automatic one-button setup is obviously much easier than the easiest manual setup.

On 1-2 night stops, I don't bother to set up the satellite. With an automatic unit I would.

I've heard that the downside of a rooftop unit is that if trees block the signal, you can't move the dish to get line of sight to the satellite.

 

[shovelguy]

We have a Tailgator we purchased in July at the GS Rally. It works with Dish only. We had Dish in our brick and stone home and were happy enough with them to decide to take them with us in our fiver. Since then it has been a nightmare that only now has been resolved. I must say that the Dish technical help folks are pretty much worthless. There were a few times when I was afraid my DH was going to stroke out as he dealt with the technicians and their higher ups. No one seemed to know anything. We finally have everything straightened out but I can't say that it was because of Dish and their assistance, rather it had a lot more to do with our persistance!

 

[sharmulst]

We have dish and seem to have all the bugs worked out, finally after 4 years. Our dish is portable and with just a small compass and a level, DH and I can have it set up in a matter of a few mintues. While in SD we added the local channels. Now when we move all we have to do is call them and they discontinue the SD channels and added Montana channels. Within about 2 hours we had the locals. Very happy with Dish now and they have been very helpful.

 

[2psnapod2]

Thanks for the info. I'm still up in the air here. I guess time will tell. Maybe Wineguard will come out with the Direct TV HD dish by the time I have to get one. Will see.

 

[Bob&Patty]

We had the tripod and dish.....hated it. It all went into the trash. We bought the Winegrad model 1518 carry out dome. It mounts on the ladder. Never have had any problems with finding a signal. Park in the CG turn on the switch....it finds the signal and we have TV, then turn off the switch. We have DirectV at home but bought receivers for the coach. The carry out is Directv and Dish compatiable...but no HD. We really dont care if we have HD or not. We have good flat screens and the pix is great.

This is the place we bought ours. They have free shipping and sometimes they have an open box sale that is $50.00 cheaper. CW has the ladder mount at about the same price as everybody.

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.as...V-Satellite-Dish-Antenna-(GM1518)&c=Satellite Dishes for RVs&sku=615798399061

 

[hoefler]

Have the Winegard Carry Out and the Winegard roof mount. If I were to do it all over again, I would get the Carry Out only. Too many times the roof top won't get through the trees. The Carry Out you can position about any where you have enough cable to get to.

 

[pegmikef]

We have a Tailgator we purchased in July at the GS Rally. It works with Dish only. We had Dish in our brick and stone home and were happy enough with them to decide to take them with us in our fiver. Since then it has been a nightmare that only now has been resolved. I must say that the Dish technical help folks are pretty much worthless. There were a few times when I was afraid my DH was going to stroke out as he dealt with the technicians and their higher ups. No one seemed to know anything. We finally have everything straightened out but I can't say that it was because of Dish and their assistance, rather it had a lot more to do with our persistance!

I too have the tailgater and think it is great. It is funny, but I got excellent help from the Dish folks after I told the first tech that he should look for a different job in his country. The main thing I liked was the price as it is an automatic seeking antenna that is much cheaper than the winegard and vucube (sp?). I also like the pay as you go with no additional fees for activation/deactivation.

 

[gjackson]

I must say that the Dish technical help folks are pretty much worthless. There were a few times when I was afraid my DH was going to stroke out as he dealt with the technicians and their higher ups. No one seemed to know anything. We finally have everything straightened out but I can't say that it was because of Dish and their assistance, rather it had a lot more to do with our persistance!

We have the Winegard Carry Out and use Dish network on the Pay-As-You-Go plan. We paid a one time fee of $99 for lifetime HD. I have to say I agree totally that Dish technical is totally worthless. After many hours of speaking with "Peggy" (you know the commercial), we gave up and finally figured it out for ourselves. Since then things have gone fairly smoothly.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Mike and Glen, ROTFLOL, I never get "Peggy" but get Rebeka or Frank.....YEA RIGHT. The last guy I talked to was in Egypt....what?? That was for XM radio........HUH?? I didn't know camels had XM radio's on them. I'm waiting to get someone in Russia. None of them can speak english very well and I get very frustrated with them and ask for someone else, but they are even worse.