I am in Columbia, SC and we are about a month away from college football. We have decided to bring satellite to our tailgate this year, and I just have a few questions. We have DISH network at the office, and plan on bringing one of those receivers on the weekends. I just need to know what kind of extra dish to buy. Can I buy a used dish, and does it have to be a certain kind? I know there are a few used DISH network dishes on Craigslist and ebay for sale, etc. and I just have no clue where to begin. The DISH outside of our office says Turbo HD and the receiver I will be using is the vIP211K HDTV receiver. Thank you in advance for your help.
What kind of Dish do I need for tailgating?
- Thread starter carolinagirl
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There is a new dish coming out within the next week called The Tailgater which can be used with a 211k that is perfect for what your trying to do!
Hold off for a few days!
Hold off for a few days!
I wish I could bring that dish, but it is bolted into the ground, and it was already pushing it for them to let me 'steal' a receiver every weekend. My question is what is the difference between the DISH 500 and 1000.4, etc? Do they all do the same thing? I am trying to find the most affordable way to do this.
He meant to buy a dish identical to what you are using now. But the Tailgater is the best solution. No aiming problems.
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As much as I would love to get the Tailgater, I don't think it is in the budget for this year! The people who park near us have agreed to help us with aiming to get us started. A friend of mine has a Dish 1000 Plus that he said I can have. Will that be compatible? We have the 1000.4 HD Plus Dish now, but I've been pricing that one and it is about $100 locally, and $70 online, but the shipping is around $36. The 1000.4 talks about Eastern Ark, etc (I have no clue what that is), but when I researched the 1000 Plus it didn't say anything about that.
Good luck aiming a DISH 1000.4 when your on the road. The 1000.4 is a big dish and is shipped in 3 seperate boxes.
Dish uses two arcs, Eastern and Western. You don't need both, just one of them. Eastern Arc has 3 orbits: 61.5, 72.7 and 77. Those are the orbits you need to point to if you're using the 1000.4.
carolinagirl said:
The 1000 plus is compatible with Western Arc which is satellites 110/119/129. Eastern Arc is satellites 61.5/72.7/77. Both of them have the same programming. It just depends which one you have Line of sight for.
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Good question. If you're willing to spend the money, I'd go for the 1000.4 since it'll be easier to point to the eastern arc orbits from SC. The 1000+ will work too, but I think it would be hard to point at since the western orbits are further away from SC. Because of that the 1000+ may be more vulnerable to rain fade (especially from 129 where most of the HD is at and it's the furthest away from SC) With that said, I think the 1000.4 may be the best solution for you.
"SHOULD?" The Tailgater. You will save yourself a great deal of aggravation.
Now, since you said you could get a 1000+ for free, go with that. You can experience the joys of aiming it. Make sure the tripod you get is meant to hold the large dishes. Most I've seen, and the one I have that I used to use, are only good for the 500. Now, aiming a 500 was relatively easy. I would not want to try to aim a large dish on a tripod, from what I've read on this site. But maybe you'll have the touch and everything will work out. If not, you will have learned at little cost that the Tailgater isn't so expensive, after all. Remember, you may be getting a free dish, but you have to mount it on something.
CarolinaGirl:
We use our tailgate with our satellite dish and pointing and is very easy. No need to spend the money for the "tailgater". Buy a satellite meter (you can get one on ebay for under $20). You don't want to point using the meter on the dish box. Set your approximate elevation at home (if you live close to the stadium, check your current dish and use that same elevation). I'm assuming you'll be buying a generator (Honda and Yamaha make great, quiet, 1000 watt generators, more power than you need for tailgating). So, you'll set up your box, connect to TV, run coax to dish. On the dish, use a 3 foot cable running from the dish. Turn on your generator, attach the coax from the box to your meter, and the coax from your satellite to the other input (they are marked on the meter). Move from right to left or left to right, you should find three signals. Focus on the middle signal. You should be good to go. Once you set it up once, you won't need to adjust again. Lastly, connect the 3 foot coax from the dish to the coax from the box using a connector. I have to run checkswitch on mine because I have a switch at home, you may not need to.
We take ours to UCLA games, and it takes us literally 30 seconds or less to find the satellites.
One last tip. Whenever we take it to a road game, I use Google earth to determine where south is in relation to the stadium. Compasses don't seem to work well when you are surrounded by cars....
We use our tailgate with our satellite dish and pointing and is very easy. No need to spend the money for the "tailgater". Buy a satellite meter (you can get one on ebay for under $20). You don't want to point using the meter on the dish box. Set your approximate elevation at home (if you live close to the stadium, check your current dish and use that same elevation). I'm assuming you'll be buying a generator (Honda and Yamaha make great, quiet, 1000 watt generators, more power than you need for tailgating). So, you'll set up your box, connect to TV, run coax to dish. On the dish, use a 3 foot cable running from the dish. Turn on your generator, attach the coax from the box to your meter, and the coax from your satellite to the other input (they are marked on the meter). Move from right to left or left to right, you should find three signals. Focus on the middle signal. You should be good to go. Once you set it up once, you won't need to adjust again. Lastly, connect the 3 foot coax from the dish to the coax from the box using a connector. I have to run checkswitch on mine because I have a switch at home, you may not need to.
We take ours to UCLA games, and it takes us literally 30 seconds or less to find the satellites.
One last tip. Whenever we take it to a road game, I use Google earth to determine where south is in relation to the stadium. Compasses don't seem to work well when you are surrounded by cars....
Thank you so much for the advice. My friend also has a Dish 500 that works as well. Would that be easier than the 1000?
It depends whether you want HD or SD. The Dish 500 will only give you SD. The 1000.4 and 1000 Plus will give you HD.
I will defer to TomD's greater first hand knowledge. And ask what tripod he uses (They're generally around $40-$50). Or a truck clamp?
Hmmmm. $349 for the Tailgater. And a post by SG at DishSupport states it only works with Western Arc. Didn't know that.
Fifty bucks or less (or less than $100, if getting sat meter also) and a free dish to experiment with sounds better all the time.
And don't forget, the Tailgater ONLY works with the ViP211K.
Fifty bucks or less (or less than $100, if getting sat meter also) and a free dish to experiment with sounds better all the time.
And don't forget, the Tailgater ONLY works with the ViP211K.
Yes Tailgater only works on Western Arc due to the fact the satellites on the Eastern Arc are closer together. (And the dish is much smaller on the Tailgater)
If you are using it for tailgating, all you really need to find is a single satellite and if that satellite has the HD feeds on it, you'll get HD. You could actually use a Dish 300 with a single LNB, aim it and get all the HD you want.
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