Wineguard Crankup Satellites

[ScottMills]

I was about to purchase one of these systems for my coach.. but, I have a concern.. It looks like the dish on these units have a single LNB.. meaning, it can only pick up one satellite.. Direct TV uses 3 satellites for their programming.. Anyone else have one of these units with Direct TV?

I can't find a triple LNB crank up unit... looks like the only triple LNB unit Wineguard makes is a $1300.00 automatic alignment unit.. don't think I want to spend that much.. I wonder if I can take a standard triple LNB dish and mount it to the crank up base..

Anyone have any experience with these?

 

[geodrake]

We have the crank-up with a single LNB, and we are satisfied with it.  We can't get HDTV from Direct, but no big deal. 

There is one other problem:  We do campground hosting and frequently stay in one place for up to three months at a time.  When we arrive at a new location I call Direct TV and have my "service location" changed so that I can receive local stations.  In a few instances, the locals are on another bird, and without a second LNB we can't receive them.

This has happened twice, last year at Patagonia, AZ and currently at Ft. Myers, FL.  In AZ we were just SOL.  Here, we put up the antenna and receive the locals over the air. 

There is a solution to that too.  Do the waivers and purchase east coast/west coast feeds.  That provides major networks, but still no local news, etc.

 

[Ned]

There are no manual antennas for HD because of the need to skew the dish to receive the multiple satellites.  The amount of skew will depend on your location.

 

[ScottMills]

I'm planning on keeping my existing manual dish in the coach.. so, if I'm in a park with lots of trees and I can't get a signal with the crank up unit, I can usually find a window through the trees with my tripod dish...

I'm not concerned with having HD... was mainly concerned we wouldn't be able to pick up local channels.. I guess between having an over the air antenna, crank up and manual point dish.. we should be able to pick up whatever programming we're wanting to watch one way or another..

 

[ScottMills]

BTW. I see in the description for the RM-DM61 (Crank up with pointing Wizard) that it has a built in splitter.. do they mean you can connect two receivers to the dish, or you can hook up two tv's to one receiver?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The splitter lets you use two receivers, so you can watch different channels on two tvs. With one receiver and two tvs, both have to watch the same channel.

 

[ScottMills]

Just wanted to make sure that's what they meant... I don't want to be limited to only using one receiver..

 

[Ned]

As far as I can tell from the Winegard web site, the splitter on the RM-DM61 is just for the OTA antenna, not for the satellite LNB.  Typical TV splitters won't work with the satellite LNB wiring as the LNB needs to see the DC voltage on the cable used to switch polarization.  To use the RM-DM61 with multiple satellite receivers would require a multiswitch and a dual LNB.  The RM-DM61 comes with a single LNB.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Wingard's Knowledgebase says you can use "both coax" or their separate splitter add-on to use two receivers with that dish.

http://winegard.com/kbase/kb_tip_results.php?tip_num=00000000125

However, this description of the RMD61 says the built-in splitter is for a second tv.
http://www.summitsource.com/winegard-rmdm61-roadstar-rv-satellite-dish-omnidirectional-tv-antenna-camper-outdoor-combination-offair-vhf-uhf-crankup-digital-local-signal-broadcast-combo-travel-aerial-with-digital-magic-and-lnbf-part-rmdm61-p-4598.html

The Winegard site is somewhat confusing on this score.

 

[LindaH]

As long as the Winegard crank-up satellite dish has a dual LNB, there's no need for any kind of spliter in order to watch two different satellite TV programs on two different TVs.  Been there, done that.

 

[Ned]

A splitter would be just for OTA.  For multiple satellite LNBs, a multiswitch is needed to pass the DC control voltage that originates in the receiver.

According to the Winegard web site, the DM61 comes with a single LNB, but it can be easily swapped for a dual.  You could then run each LNB to a separate receiver, but if you have dual tuner receivers, like the DTV and Dish DVRs, you need a multiswitch.

Yes, the Winegard description is not clear.

 

[Biker56]

You better hope they have changed the crank up to not get loose with age.
And then a small breeze will throw it off signal. Been there done that.

Picture in instructions does show two cables coming from the LNB. So it could run two regular receivers or one DVR receiver.
Their older crank ups only had one output.

Direct TV uses 3 satellites for their programming

There is the old 3 LNB 101/110/119 & a new 3 LNB 99/101/102.8
I don't know what one you are posting about.

If you don't want HD then the 101 will be the only satellite you need. The 99/102.8 are the new HD satellites and the 101 LNB can't use them. They are nothing much left on the 110/119 anymore, maybe a few locals for some areas.

For the Winegard HD roof dish it has 5 LNB with 4 outputs. I don't know why they also sell the older 3 LNB one as some probably think it is good for HD at a cheaper price then the 5 LNB. And its not.