DISH Tailgater Package ? anyone have issues with the dish unit?

[thelazyl]

I?ve had the DISH Tailgater package for 9 months.  I have been generally happy with it until now.  It comes with the Wally receiver and a King Tailgater 4 dish.  Last weekend the tripod was tipped over by our dog and the dish fell to the grass below.  It wasn?t a violent fall so I didn?t expect any difficulty.  However from that point forward I am dead in the water.  I spent an hour with DISH technical support and they threw up their hands and sent me to King.  King, in turn, gave me some steps for a ?reset? that I plan to try this weekend.  If that doesn?t work my only options are paying for a repair (~$150 plus shipping) or getting a new unit.

My symptom is ? when I power up the Wally receiver I am prompted for a scan.  After pressing scan I get a ?No satellite? message within 10 seconds.  The DISH tech said it looks like the dish is not moving.

If anyone else has experienced something similar I?d love to hear your advice.  If I need to purchase a new unit I am considering having it installed on the roof even though I will be limited when parked in trees.  The current portable dish configuration seems risky for someone with 2 dogs.

Thanks!

 

[John Stephens]

I am not familiar with your Dish equipment, but I have the 211 receiver (the predecessor to the Wally) and a Pathway X2, which is supposedly the best you can buy other than the Travler. I had the same problem with mine at the start of this 90 day trip - no satellites found, or one missing. It turned out that the barrel connection - the double female - inside the coach that connects the cable from the dish to the cable that runs through the coach was bad due to age. It was an easy fix that I did myself after Dish threw up their hands at me just like they did to you.

I have a feeling your issue is different and what I experienced has nothing to do with your problem, but I thought you might want to know. Check all your connections and make sure they're good before forking out repair money. The reason I mention it is because of what you said about the dish not turning or seeking out the satellites. That was my problem and it turned out that because the barrel was old and not making a perfect connection, it wasn't providing the 12v needed to turn the dish. Remember that when you have a dish that seeks for itself, it requires both the tv signal to pass through it along with 12v to turn the dish.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Replace the Tailgater with a Pathway X2 for better coverage and secure the dogs out of reach of it.

 

[billwild]

The Tailgater has negative reviews, and even the Pathway X2 has some negative reviews. I was considering a Pathway X2 as it is probably the better choice, and probably most expensive.


Bill

 

[ChasA]

I've been very happy with my Pathway X2.  But you can't mount it on your roof. The reflector dish in the X2 is 18", the largest of any automatic portable. And the larger the reflector,  the more signal it will pull in.

 

[thelazyl]

Here is an update:

I had very prompt service from KING.  A common problem with my type of dish is having an internal device needing to be reset if they hit the ground.  I take off the cover and wiggle a spring-loaded switch back and forth a few times.  I will be doing this tomorrow.

I appreciate the advice on other units.  I'll look more closely if I can't get this dish to work.

 

[thelazyl]

The fix turned out to be very simple.  After pulling up the hood I could see that the spring-loaded gear had fallen off it's track.  I just needed to pull the clutch-like gear back and press it back into place. Everything is golden now.  The only bummer is that DISH couldn't direct me to this - I had to go to the manufacturer.

 

[NY_Dutch]

The fix turned out to be very simple.  After pulling up the hood I could see that the spring-loaded gear had fallen off it's track.  I just needed to pull the clutch-like gear back and press it back into place. Everything is golden now.  The only bummer is that DISH couldn't direct me to this - I had to go to the manufacturer.

Dish doesn't repair or maintain the King Tailgater line of products. It's King's product and their CS that knows the product.