Well, I got 'er done!
Picked up the Winegard
RM-DM46 crank-up style roof-mounted satellite dish with elevation display.
I spent about 3-1/2 hours installing the setup this Saturday. It went well. Up on the roof with a 1-3/4" hole saw chucked in my drill, ready to bore through made be feel a bit squeamish. But I had measured and measured and I knew what the outcome should have been. It was fine. I came within 1/2" of my mark on the ceiling inside the trailer.
Long story short, the install went well but on the site where I store my trailer, I have a couple of tall trees in the line-of-sight with the satellite in the 119 degree orbital slot that I needed. That's okay though, setup the portable and we had TV and Sirius music.
For a longer read, below, I've listed a few steps, comments and tips for others who may be planning a roof-mounted satellite dish installation:
1. Camping World and an independent RV service company quoted me $225 and $210-280 respectively for installation labor. This is a DIY project if you're handy and into this sort of thing.
2. If you're considering a manual system, consider a model with an elevation display like the RM-DM46. Much easier to sight in, knowing your relative elevation from inside the trailer.
3. If installing yourself, read the manual several times prior to install day.
4. The model I used does not have a wire chase within it. As such, you will have to drill 2 holes. One is 1-3/4" for the hexagonal drive shaft/directional tube. The other hole will be about 1/2" for the downlead and elevation sensor cable (if applicable).
5. You will need nearly an entire caulking tube of RV roof sealant to seal around the dish base, the downlead plate base, the dish feed arm cradle and all of the screw heads.
6. I shortened the preconnectorized downlead because I didn't need it all. If you also do this, you'll need an RG-6 coaxial connector, coax stripper, proper crimper/compression tool. I am not sure of the pass-band on them, but a twist-on F-connector may work too.
7. Sure enough, I found the factory installed coax for the dish, in the roof. The edge of the mounting hub (dish base) needs to be at least 10" from the edge of the roof. I opted to mount the center of the hub at 22" from the roof edge, matching the Winegard TV antenna. This put the ceiling controls in the bedroom right where I wanted it. Straight across from the TV antenna controls, far anough away from the medicine cabinet doors, line of sight to the bedroom TV (for seeing the signal level meter and hearing the tuning tone).
8. My Landmark roof is about 5-1/2" thick from rubber roof membrane to vinyl padded ceiling. Had it been greater than 6-1/2", I would have needed several extension items from Winegard.
9. The elevation display can be 12 VDC powered or it can be powered by a 9 volt battery. Rather than finding unswitched 12 VDC power, for now at least, I went the 9 volt battery route. The manual says it is good for 1 minute of use for 88 consecutive days. I guess this means 1 battery change at the beginning of each camping season for me then. I also decided to mount the display inside the medicine cabinet. There were wires coming into the cabinet from the ceiling (for the vanity lights I think), so there was plenty of room to get more wires through that ceiling penetration inside the cabinet. Using a stiff wire, I fished the display wire across the roof about 18".
10. Magnetic compases don't read correctly inside the trailer so don't trust it. check your trailer heading outside with a compass, then adjust your heading ring on the satellite rotation control in the trailer.
11. You will need to loop the 2 satellite jacks in the UDC of the Landmarks. For reference, in the UDC, the left jack is the wire that comes from the roof. The right jack is the wire that goes to the entertainment cabinet for the satellite receiver.
12. In the entertainment cabinet, besides the satellite coaxial cable feed, there is another preconnectorized coaxial cable (marked with blue tape). This line feeds the VCR input for the 2nd TV section of the Winegard RF switcher in the coat closet. If you connect this cable to the TV OUT jack (RF output) on the satellite receiver, then select VCR on the 2nd TV section of the Winegard switch, you will be able to watch satellite TV on the bedroom TV (channel 3 or whatever your satellite receiver's TV OUT modulator is set to.
Happy camping!
Jim