Need help "Specing" a Trav'ler Dish antenna

park_ridge_dave

Member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2016
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Mundelein, Il
Hi,

First post so go easy OK? (lol)

My RV was recently struck by lightning and, you guessed it almost everything electronic was fried. Anyway, that gives me a chance to upgrade my DISH system. I want to go with a Winegard Trav'ler and some kind of Hopper. I know that one blog has a DIY conversion method to enable a hopper 3 to be used but I am really not keen on potentially voiding the warranty on a $2000.00 (installed) antenna. I believe that I can run a Hopper 2 using the Trav'ler with no problems, from what I have read.
My Questions:
1. Do I order WA or EA (I winter in Naples FL and the locals are all on WA sats).
2. Does it make any difference if I travel a lot (I do) to the west coast?
3. Why does Dish make it so hard to use a hopper in RVs? (Anybody?)
4. The party line seems to be use a Wally (single tuner??? why bother)
5. I am trying to accomplish a multi-sat view (no loud movements at night and able to switch "instantly" to a new bird) with some kind of DVR with multi tuner capability. Until the warranty is over on the new dish then I can "hack" it and upgrade to a hopper 3.

Any other advice is appreciated as well. I am reading all I can find, but, I need to choose what I want by Tuesday September 13, hence, this post.

Thanks in advance,

Dave
 
From all that I have read, the hopper 3 is not compatible with the "stock" Trav'ler dish antenna. The antenna needs to have the LNBF replaced with a Hybrid LNBF. and the hybrid node. I don't have any "hands on" experience I am only going by what I have read. I would like to use the Hopper 3 as it is supposed to be faster has more tuners etc. But don't want to chance voiding the warranty by replacing the head (the antenna is about $2000.00 installed). I figured that I could use the hopper with sling (hopper 2) until my antenna warranty runs out then upgrade and use a hopper 3 and the hopper 2 on the system.
 
1 & 2. A Dish Trav'ler is only a WA dish. You can singly aim at the EA Arc dishes but one-at-a-time.

Until Dish started to drop the EA Locals in SD on the WA, it wasn't a big deal. Now it is more of a deal and I carry a ground tripod for the EA markets and one or two times the trees get in the way.

3. Why? I don't think Diskes it difficult to use a HOpper in an RV. I have been doing it since the release of the Hopper. Are Dish CSR fully versed in RVs? No way. The CSRs are targeted for the major number of subscribers and RVs are not that.

4. Again, this is the limit of CSR scripts. Remember probably none of the CSRs have ever been RVing. Talk to someone else. When I got the first Hopper to be installed in my fifth-wheel, Dish wouldn't even talk to be except to say, call a local dealer. I was the first install for the local dealer and he was happy to use the skills he had learned a few months before. I already had the Trav'ler install from the VIP 722 and I removed the switches and other cables for the ground tripod. Make it simple for the installer. The installer had hot-staged the Hopper to review his procedures. The result of removing the VIP 722K and the VIP 612 and putting the Hopper and Joey in place took 15 minutes.

5. When I got the Hopper 3. I had to have an installer and this time I reverse things, I had the installer change the ground tripod DPP 1000.2 to DPH and I just told him to ignore the Trav'ler. After he left, I put a DPH on the Trav'ler. We just bought a motorhome and had a Trav'ler installed at Camping World. They tested the install with a VIP 211 and then I went home and put a DPH on it. Warranty is not an issue with me. Winegard does not officially condone the DPH on the Trav'ler but they know we have been doing it. You have to watch two to the three LNBF wires are attached to the DPH. I have photos on this at Hopper3.

Why do you need a Hopper 3 that requires a Hybred LNB?
Why would anybody want a Hopper 3, because of the 16 tuners which make dealing with PTAT not always being available a lot easier.

Another site to check is from TechWriter
 
1 & 2. A Dish Trav'ler is only a WA dish. You can singly aim at the EA Arc dishes but one-at-a-time.
[Edited to save space]
Thanks for the "come back". And I winter just up Tamiami Trail from the Dish Depot guys in Naples Florida. So maybe I am going to be OK with the swap out. Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I am really "Anal retentive" I guess (lol)

Also, thanks for the reference to Tom's Blog I had run into that one myself it's very helpful!!
 
Brussam,

I looked at your Hopper 3 Posts and also Tom's Both are extremely helpful. I have one question, though. When you open the coax to the hopper using the A/B switch, how do you know when the Trav'ler has "locked on" to the Sats? When it stops moving? I assume that since you've "unhooked" the hopper there is no screen to look at or do you guys watch the "fancy dancy" tester display (did I read that as $700 ???? Yikes).
Cheers,
Dave
P.S. I am so new here that I haven't figured out if the forum allows PMs
 
The control box for the Trav'ler is inside. It plugs into an AC receptacle and has a control cable to the Trav'ler. On the front of the control box is a LCD display that allows you to set parameters like which satellite you want to point at or the Multi-dish which means 119, 110, 129.

When you power on the control box, it displays it is Connecting to the dish, and then Searching. If you watch the whole time, and listen, you will hear when the dish is homing in on a satellite (sound slow down). Then display will say Peaking which means the dish is focusing on the satellite, then it will say Identifying Sat. Then when you hope is says 119W. If not, the dish will start seeking again. If is identifies 119W, then is will say Peaking Skew. Sometimes the controller jumps right into Peaking Skew and not display 119W, but if it is Peaking Skew, the controller is on 119W. When the Peaking Skew display stops, then you see Identifying Sat and 119W, The Identifying Sat and 110W, and then Identifying Sat and 129W. Then the display will show all three satellites, 119W, 110W, 129W. That is when the dish is pointed and ready to go. That is when I flip the Ground/Roof coax switch and go to the TV. I only run the Switch Check if I change from the Trav'ler to the ground tripod.

First thing I check to see if we have moved out of the last Spot Beam we were in. If we are still receiving Locals, we are done. If we have moved out of the Spot Beam, then it is Chat time with Dish to change the Service Address. We don't care where the Locals are, just that we get Broadcast channels.
 
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Whoa! That was a detailed answer. I haven't found a detailed manual yet, but with answers like that I won't need to (just kidding I will find it). I apologize for such a "newb" question, But, I am playing for (to me) Big Bucks! Your help is most gratefully appreciated!!

Dave
 
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