I have a problem with my Tailgater antenna that I would like ask about. The Tailgater is approximately five years old and is used with a VIP 211k that is in my RV.
While camped recently, during the night, it came up a small thunderstorm, nothing severe and only a couple of lightning flashes. The next morning when I turned the TV on there was no picture, just the info screen telling me that I had a complete signal loss. Having had this happen previously I thought the wind had moved the antenna off of the signal and went out to check it. Finding that the antenna appeared to be in the same place, I went in and did a re scan on the receiver as I usually do to restore the signal. After trying the re-scan several times and powering the receiver down several times I was having no luck gaining the signal back. It would get no further than the first test and it would never leave that screen until I powered down and tried the scan again.
I took the cap off of the Tailgater and discovered that the dish inside was pointing exactly backwards, that is, it was pointing straight on the handle of the antenna. I then turned the antenna so that it was pointing backwards to the southern sky which in turn made the dish point in that direction. After doing another re-scan the antenna performed perfectly, regaining the signal on all three satellites. Longer story short, it now has to be pointed backwards in order to receive programming normally, Facing it back with the nose to the southern sky it will not work.
Has anyone had this problem? The only thing I can think is that the lightning, a couple of flashes not severe, has somewhat damaged the electronics in the antenna although there is no visual evidence of that. The antenna seems to have lost its positioning logic somehow. It really looks crazy turning the antenna backwards to the southern sky.
While camped recently, during the night, it came up a small thunderstorm, nothing severe and only a couple of lightning flashes. The next morning when I turned the TV on there was no picture, just the info screen telling me that I had a complete signal loss. Having had this happen previously I thought the wind had moved the antenna off of the signal and went out to check it. Finding that the antenna appeared to be in the same place, I went in and did a re scan on the receiver as I usually do to restore the signal. After trying the re-scan several times and powering the receiver down several times I was having no luck gaining the signal back. It would get no further than the first test and it would never leave that screen until I powered down and tried the scan again.
I took the cap off of the Tailgater and discovered that the dish inside was pointing exactly backwards, that is, it was pointing straight on the handle of the antenna. I then turned the antenna so that it was pointing backwards to the southern sky which in turn made the dish point in that direction. After doing another re-scan the antenna performed perfectly, regaining the signal on all three satellites. Longer story short, it now has to be pointed backwards in order to receive programming normally, Facing it back with the nose to the southern sky it will not work.
Has anyone had this problem? The only thing I can think is that the lightning, a couple of flashes not severe, has somewhat damaged the electronics in the antenna although there is no visual evidence of that. The antenna seems to have lost its positioning logic somehow. It really looks crazy turning the antenna backwards to the southern sky.
