Social Feed

The Hopper 3 is the idea RV receiver because of its multiple tuners allowing you to record anything when it is available and then you watch when you want to. With that in mind, dome dishes are just not practical. The single LNBF limits the capability of the Hopper 3 to not much more than a Wally.

I am a full-timer (no house) and have a Winegard Trav'ler. On a typical year of 40-50 stops, there are only a few times when I need a tripod to deal with trees. For that reason, I also carry a tripod dish.

Since you don't want to invest in a Trav'ler, the answer is a tripod. For an RVer, the best tripod is the HD Tripod from TV4RV.com. Unless you are always on large flat level areas, you need a tripod with adjustable length legs to be able to get the mast vertical, a critical requirement.

Because I setup on all kinds of surfaces, I use a pair 5 gallon buckets (Home Depot/Lowes) filled with about gallons of water each, more stable than just one bucket. The buckets stack for travel and are ideal for holding the bungee cords and the other stuff for the dish. No need to carry heavy weights leaving more carrying capacity for shoes. You also do not worry about driving stakes into the ground and hitting a water line.

For aiming the dish, using a smartphone that gives you idea of where the satellites are in relation to the trees and other obstructions. A periscope device like this is a help.

I recommend getting the screw elevation modification kit from TV4RV.com that makes changing the Elevation a lot easier.

For coax cable, find solid copper core RJ6 wire. Costs more and harder to find but will deal with being rolled up and unrolled in a manageable way. Depending on where you RV have enough cable, the trees can be far. I carry a 100', 50', and a 25' roll. The Hopper 3 only requires a single coax cable.

Also with the coax cable, invest in a connector crimp tool, coax wire stripper and some crimp connectors. It is good practice to put new ends on the cable every year or so.

For a tuning meter, this is a big cost for a Hopper 3. The Allied Instruments Super Buddy 29 and later meters are only ones qualified for use with the Hybrid LNBF used by the Hopper 3. Around $300 used on eBay and may need a battery. An alternative is to use DPP (standard) LNBF heads and a DPH-42 Switch which makes the DPP LNBF act like a DPH LNBF. Then a more normal meter like a First Strike FS-1 or equivalent meter could be used. I recommend a smart meter that identifies the satellite ID when locking on. Dumb meters can have you lock only the wrong satellite and you only find out when running the Switch Check.

A webpage explaining my tools and setup.

I Had put a DPH LNBF on a Traveler and it did not seek well. The far better solution is the DPH-42 Switch. Only a few bucks more and the seeming is normal. Winegard is supposedly working on electronics compatible with the DPH

A Winegard Traveler is about 63 pounds. Not exactly something you want to carry and position. That is why the Traveler can withstand very high winds.

I am full time in a 5th wheel and use the Traveler with a DPH42 and Hopper 3/Joey. All works well (except have weak signal on the 129 sat) Also carry a tripod dish setup, but have not had to use it yet. Also have a Tracker Light Sat meter, but wish I had bought a better one (IE Super Buddy 29) as this one is a pain entering the data for it to find the sat.

I have seen a Trav'ler attached to a plywood square that they clamped to the camp site picnic table. It looked pretty awkward to move around while loading it into the back of their truck before they left. I suppose they could have just set it on the ground as well. All in all, between lugging the thing around and securing it, plus running the requisite wiring, it took them longer to set up than it typically takes me to set up and aim our tripod mounted 1000.4.