Winegard Carryout

[wingnut60]

I have tried for over 5 years to get Dish setups in my trailer--NEVER have gotten that done even tho have gone thru hours of talk with "Dish Tech people" who usually are heavily accented and hard to understand. Have gone from 1 LNB to 2 to 3 and service levels up to Dish 1000. Have actually run out of cusswords with the 3LNB Dish. This year I decided to check out the VuCube, but then the Winegard Carryout appeared--seemed to be the answer to my prayers. I bought one at CW in Fort Worth and talked to Gene there who was very helpful and knowedgeable.
THEN I got to Colorado and tried to set it up--same old/same old. Back and forth with Dish--but then I got in touch with Keith at Winegard, and I am happy to say I got the Carryout to work!!!!!!!! But it wasn't easy at all like the ads say. First, the Carryout requires 12volt power (as do the Vucube 2000/3000 I think) and so you have to buy the inverter or have one already. Then I get to CO and have a 360d view of the sky and set the Carryout on the ground and hook up the power cord and the coax--nothing! Dish gets their part done, says there is no sat available. Call Winegard and get Keith and he is VERY helpful/English-speaking/AND lives in Burlington, Iowa!!!!!!! Works hard with me, has me check voltage at several points in the power system---still nothing works. Then he asks me to try another power source OTHER than the inverter that CW sold me (I had already deteremined it was putting out 14.4 volts--within specs). I then plugged the Carryout into the powerpoint in my 450 and the dish immediately began searching for the sats. Another 15 mins and I had satellite reception--finally, after several years and maybe $1000 spent on different gadgets I got the success others have routinely.

So, if you want an opinion of Wingard Carryout--yes, it works, but only if you can have patience and maybe talk to Kieth in Burlington. I have read of others who have bought this unit and have had no problems whatsoever. I can say that I moved it and it kept the reception.

In my case, I have Dish with a dual receiver--for 2 TVs. I need to emphasize that to use the 2 TVs, you need 2 coax cables--AND THEY HAVE TO BE CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO THE RECEIVER--NOTHING IN BETWEEN--this means I couldn't use the MS sat conn and had to run 2 coax cables direct from the dish to the receiver--originally for cable, there was a splitter behind the receiver to go from cable to tv1 and tv2--this splitter had to go. I now have the Carryout with 2 coax (needs to be RG6, not standard coax?) feeding into the receiver and all is good. Now all I need to do if become a satellite tech and figure how to run these cables without going under the kitchen slide each time I set up to camp.

I want to make known my ineptness in things of this nature; and that this is actually the FIRST time in many years I have had mobile satellite reception. Life is good.
Joe