Dome Dish...Do you like yours? Should I buy?

[MojaveJoe]

I am considering getting a KVH TracVision S2 domed dish for my Dish500 receiver and my fifth wheel.

I have read about issues like "Rain Fade" and "Humidity" forming on the dome, and that a pop up dish (w/o dome) gives a stronger signal with none of these problems.

Iam also concerned that I may be spending 10-20 minutes pushing the Sat Select switch until the S2 finally finds my desired sat Echostar 119. (I believe it has to cycle through 9 north american satellites until it finds the one you want. )

Iam also concerned about off level parking of fifth wheel, vs finding satellite automatically.

Just wondering if any of you dish owners would share your experiences on these issues.

Are they ever a problem for you, or not?

I can get the S2 for about $1150 inc tax, but before I buy I want to make sure it will be easy to use and almost always in service.

Looking forward to reading your experiences and advice,

Joe

 

[Royal]

I use a Direct TV dish on a tri-pod. I have two ea 50 ft cables so I can get around trees Etc. I have a friend with a Dome roof mount and he is always blinded by trees etc. in many RV parks. I have about $75 bucks invested in attena hardware and it always works better than my Buds high price roof mount. I guess if you always camp in the wide open spaces they are OK> My 2 bits.

 

[Mniver]

I agree with Royal. Considered getting a roof mount but have experienced the same problem. If you want a nice camp site with shade in the trees then you have to have the flexibility to move the dish and hard mounted on the roof you just can't do it. Little more of a hassle getting it set up but with the Directv, with just a zip code u can get the correct settings and lineup on the sat is a breeze. Just my 2cents. Mike

 

[Biker53]

We have the King Dome on our motorhome. It automatically selects the sattelite, may have to do it twice. However is not an in motion system. I beleive it is cheaper than what you are considering not sure. The biggest advantage of a dome is windy days, which we have a lot of in West Texas. With normal dish on roof you have to lower or the wind will take it off, or it shakes so bad you lose the signal constantly. Dome works surprisingly well through trees. Unless you have some really large limbs directly in line of sight it seems to work well. Rain is no more an issue with it than with a normal dish, have no problem with condensation in dome can't see how this would be an issue unless dome is cracked. I have had both the one you raise from the roof by using a handle and the dome. Much prefer the dome. If you are going to use an external dish get a gadget from camping world which connects inline with the cable and tells you the strength of the signal while you stand outside and adjust the sattelite, about the size of a credit card and costs around $60. Otherwise you have to yell back and forth as to reception from rig to yourself. If you look at the higher end motor homes you almost always see a King Dome, not sure why just happen to notice it in our travels. You can recognize because this dome is fairly large. Go to their website, they were working on an in motion system.

 

[ALS]

I have the TracStar SV 260, automatic in motion on our Renegade Toterhome and it works fine, they have this same system that is not in-motion.

If it is totally blocked, that could be a problem, but, the majority of the time not a problem.



We also us a standard dish (Direct-TV) on our T & E trailer for use in the living quarters and it can be a pain to get right, but, works okay once it's set up.

Good Luck

Allen

 

[TowPro]

I have the winegard manual aim dish on top of my 5er. As others have said I am now limited to camping in open fields only (if I want to watch TV).



I feel its harder to aim my dish then a tripod system. Now I know its about 1. 5 turns from all the way up, then I rotate left and right, come down another 1/8 turn, go left and right, etc, etc. Some times I can hit it real quick, other times it takes 30 minutes.



They make a display that reads out your angle, but its more then I want to spend.



Plus its only a single LNB system, I can only watch 119 while in the RV. Not sure I could adapt a larger dish, and dual LNB's to the wineguard frame or not.



I think I will be buying a tripod and a dish 500 with the new LNB that is also the switch.



I helped somebody aim a wineguard tripod this weekend. It had a level on the tripod. Get everything level, set the elevation on the dish, and turn it left to right and your set. took about 5 minutes.



But then you have to find a place to pack the dish, while mine stores nice on the roof.