Mouting Winegard SK-SWM3 TRAV'LER Satellite to Roof

[morrisg]

We just purchased a new 2015 Jayco 29QBS. I was looking to purchase a Winegard SK-SWM3 TRAV'LER Satellite; I want HD TV and the portable ones don't provide that for Direct TV.

Has anyone installed one of these units? I have concerns when it talks about mounting it to my roof. Also, is there a "clean" way to run cable back into the trailor other than a window?

Any expereinces, good or bad are welcome.

Roll Tide!

[nunyadamn]

I had the manual version of that one - it was standard definition. I believe, if it mounts the same (I don't know why it wouldn't), the cable comes down through wherever you want it to. Mine had a flat plate mounted a few inches away from the base of the satellite for the cable to go into the class C I had. The cables that are attached to the satellite will be long enough for it to swivel around and find the satellites. For my class C, the cable was just run into the roof and around to where it needed to go near the TV. I am glad I didn't need to run that cable. If you have an external cable-in connection on the outside of your trailer, you could just have the input from the roof go into that connection - that is what I do now with my portable. If you are going to mount the satellite on the roof, you could try to mount it directly above where your TV currently is so you can just drop the cable down to it.

As far as advise, I just went through buying a satellite for our new trailer. You may have already thought about these, but I will post my opinion anyway just in case. If you park your trailer somewhere, and a tree is in the way of your roof mounted satellite, you only have a couple of options - cut the tree, move the trailer, not watch TV. A second thing, IF you decide to sell your trailer anytime in the future, you will not get the money back for the satellite attached to your roof.

Now, if you have the mobile satellite, not mounted to the roof, you can move it around and possibly get reception - instead of cutting the tree, moving the trailer, etc. If you sell the trailer, you can keep the satellite for the next RV you buy, sell it, give it to someone, or keep it and use it somewhere unexpected - in-laws in my case. I gave up the HD so I could keep the convenience.

[morrisg]

Wow! you really took some time to think about this and provide some good advice, especially conenring the trees and resale value problem by mounting something on the roof. I decided to take your advice and purchase a Direct TV SlimLine that's portable as well as having 50 foot of coax if I'm under trees I would at least have the possibiilty of reception by moving it around. Just need to learn how to adjust it.

Thanks agagin for your time and well thought out advice.

Morris from Tuscaloosa

Roll Tide!!

[nunyadamn]

I went that route for a while - portable manual. That is such a pain. I couldn't believe how hard it was to find the satellites. Sometimes I could get it within 30min, other times it would take over 2 hours. I now have the portable automatic. Works great. I have the ladder mount for it, when nothing is blocking it, or I can just put it anywhere around me if needed. I just connect one port from it to the cable/satellite connection on the outside of my trailer. I am going to run a second input sometime in the future so I can watch and record at the same time.

[RVhiker]

Definitely setting up an HD dish is more difficult than for SD. But with the right equipment and practice it is not impossible. I've set up my portable manual dish for HD DirecTV many dozens of times. It takes me about 15 minutes and most of that is assembling the dish. A good site for technical DirecTv information is DBSTalk. Most of the folks on that forum are as friendly as the the members here, and are professional or serious amateurs.