PDQ OWNERS FORUM

hi all,

we have used our dishtv dish antennae mounted on a dock piling for 10 years. we have changed marinas and can no longer mount the dish on dock/piling. we used tv over wifi this winter and i'm not totally satisfied.

my question: has anyone used a "normal" dish on the boat at the dock? if so, how did you mount?

Hey John,

This is not exactly what you asked for, but I do have some experience with a similar situation. My RV roof top dome failed and was obsolete anyway. I replaced it with a Dish Tailgater portable dome. It only requires the coax from the receiver, no external power. Place it on the ground and it finds the satellites automatically. The receiver has to be compatible, but I think most are. The thing works great! Very light weight and simple. I have considered trying it on the boat, just haven't yet. My guess is it could handle the slight movement in a slip. I think I paid about $200 on ebay for a slightly used model( looked like new and in original packing).

Hope all is well with you guys.


Rafe

hi rafe,

good to hear from you.

i'm familiar with the tailgater and its winegard equivalent. i was all set to pull the trigger when i called the winegard tech support and asked what happens when you have a total loss of signal, namely does it automatically re-acquire. his answer was no, you have to manually go thru the setup. this is from the tailgater manual:

"If you move the DISH Tailgater Pro while in use, or get a screen indicating complete signal loss, you
will have to perform a new scan to restore programming by going to the Mobile Antenna Setup screen
as follows:"

i think what i'm going to do is use our "old gray dish" on a wood mount on the foredeck. this way i'll see how many times the wave action in the marina causes a signal loss. if it works reasonably well i'll go for a tailgater.

are you still on boat or back in texas? where will you cruise next winter?

stay safe.

Still at home, but hope to get to the boat next month. No definite plans for next year but really looking forward to a Bahamas trip, whenever that can happen.

Rafe