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

[Motor31]

If you don't mind modifying your trailer you have a simple option for the cable connection. Find a cabinet that is against the outside wall that is close to your TV receiver that you can route a cable to it. Drill a small hole from inside the cabinet through the wall. Make sure it is not through a stud or wiring area. Then use a household exterior cable plate on the outside of the wall and connect the inside cable to it. You can then hook the outside cable to the cable connector on the outside wall. Make sure it's covered by something to keep the weather off of it when not in use. An exterior outlet cover will work fine. I did that for my satellite internet connection and it has worked great for over 4 years.

Doing it this way gives you a cable connection to the front TV separate from the main exterior cable connection and you do not have to run a cable through the entire house.

[wingnut60]

Mike,
I appreciate your suggestion--have been mulling over what to do for the cable(s)--I also need the 12 volt, so have 3 cables coming from the Carryout to the trailer. Been looking for some way to do it cleanly AND have 3 connections in the same area. I also anticipate placing the Carryout on the roof most of the time, so that and the entertainment center location will have a lot to do with where I come thru the wall.
As these units become more popular, I am sure more solutions will become apparent as some more adept RVer will do all the hard work for me and all I will have to do is copy it.
Thanks,
Joe

[Huck]

wingnut60,

I understand what you are saying about setting up a 2 and 3 LNB dish.

I traveled a lot with the Dish 500. Then switched to Directv with the 3 LNB dish. It can be a pain in the ass setting up these dishes.

I have standard def. tv so I now use a duel feed single LNB dish. I have to run two RG6 wires because with the duel feed LNB each output is different. One feed carries the even transponders and the other carries the odd.

Here is a link to a great, very active forum that you can find any answer about satelite tv. But they are very green about traveling and RVing. http://www.dbstalk.com/

I will try to explain what I do to run 2 sat. feeds into my suite using the standard wiring from the factory.

I have an auto roof dish and also use a tri-pod dish at times. My tri-pod dish setup should work for you with your carryout.

I removed the splitter on the cable feed behind the hookup center. And use the cable and satelite feeds from the hookup center to get two sat. lines to the ent. center. Either way, you have to remove any splitters and put a co-ax connector in place of it.
This may work for you...with the addition of a 12v outlet in the hookup center.

Then I run the two feeds into a multi-switch that combines the even and odd transponders and splits them into four feeds. But I only use 3. Two sat. feeds go to my DVR and one goes to the bedroom.

My satelite wiring is much more complicated than this with the combination of the auto roof dish and the ability to use cable when I am using the roof dish and being able to wire all this through the video selector switch so we can watch the VCR, DVR, cable, or DVD in the bedroom as well as the living room separately. I can watch about anything in any room without manually changing any wires, just pushing buttons on A-B switches and the video selector.

I hope this may help you...

[wingnut60]

Update on my Winegard Carryout...

I have gotten much more comfortable with this unit, and can use it just about anywhere I can find an opening to the south sky. I ended up using the satellite and cable connections in the service bay, and the 110 volt plug in there to power the inverter.
I have used the Carryout on the roof and on the ground without a problem--just have to be able have a view of the southern sky. Have 50' of RG6 cable plus the 12 volt power cord bundled together, and store everything in the basement on the off-door side.
Have found out that Dish will change my 'service address' to wherever I am--I do this if staying in the same spot for a week or longer. This gets me the major channels of whatever spot beam I am located in. Downside, this will cancel the major channels at home and wife loses recordings scheduled on those channels.
I have an extra DVR in the trailer that costs me $6 month--this keeps me from having to take one out of the house when we travel. If we go longer than about 30 days in between use, I always have to get the DVR updated when we set up. We have had minor hiccups with this process, especially if we have to call Dish for the update--in some places we have had electricity and wifi, but no cell service, and it is very difficult to get a tech to update if I can't be in front of the DVR with phone in hand.
All in all, the Carryout works for me. It is over 2 years old now and still operating as new so far.

Joe