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  1. #1
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    Any Canadians have a rooftop Satellite dish and Shaw service?

    We have been using a big portable dish when traveling and a dish mounted to our neighbours’ giant old antenna at our seasonal site. With the neighbours likely to sell at the end of the season and that giant antenna to go away, we are wondering about alternatives.

    I have poked around online and the only rooftop mount dishes I see for Shaw are crazy expensive and look a bit old school. I was hoping something like a Wineguard would work.


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  2. #2
    Big Traveler boyscout's Avatar
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    Not me, and I can't offer much advice but the assurance that I met a guy from Quebec in Florida who did this. His was an "old school" antenna that he placed on the ground and manually aimed with the aid of an iPhone app called Sat Scope (similar apps on Android). He was able to use it in Canada and in southern Florida without complication.

    I purchased a Winegard Carryout G2+ in 2017 in part because - at the flip of some switches - it can support either Dish or DirectTV in the U.S. and Bell in Canada. We've been pleased with it through two winter seasons of Dish Network in the U.S., but when we called Bell out to set it up for service in Canada we found that they could not provide service to us at home (trees blocking the satellites) and they refused to set it up at any other temporary location of our trailer. (Seems brain-dead to me, but a couple of long phone calls did not overcome their refusal.)

    We have been told that neither Dish or DirectTV will operate in Canada, so haven't bothered trying it.

    Good luck.
    Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch

  3. #3
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    We have a Wineguard Trav'ler and are quite happy with it. It came with our last rig and when we bought the Solitude 3 weeks ago had it moved over. It has worked quite well all over BC and most channels down to southern Az. Just be aware that any channels on the Anik G4 satellite will stop working within a few hundred K of the US border. They keep moving things around so it is hard to say what will work and what won't.

    -Rob-

  4. #4
    Site Sponsor Skiddy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by boyscout View Post
    Not me, and I can't offer much advice but the assurance that I met a guy from Quebec in Florida who did this. His was an "old school" antenna that he placed on the ground and manually aimed with the aid of an iPhone app called Sat Scope (similar apps on Android). He was able to use it in Canada and in southern Florida without complication.

    I purchased a Winegard Carryout G2+ in 2017 in part because - at the flip of some switches - it can support either Dish or DirectTV in the U.S. and Bell in Canada. We've been pleased with it through two winter seasons of Dish Network in the U.S., but when we called Bell out to set it up for service in Canada we found that they could not provide service to us at home (trees blocking the satellites) and they refused to set it up at any other temporary location of our trailer. (Seems brain-dead to me, but a couple of long phone calls did not overcome their refusal.)

    We have been told that neither Dish or DirectTV will operate in Canada, so haven't bothered trying it.

    Good luck.
    Both US satellite networks you mention will work in Canada. The coverage is pretty much all of North America below 55ºN. Check the beam coverage maps. Don’t forget Bell pays to have copyright on US programs, they want you to watch a Canadian channel on a Canadian service (as does the Canadian government, someone has to pay for the “birds”). Not sure about now, but 20 years ago it was against the law for resident Canadians to operate a US satellite receiver in Canada. Other than maybe local news, why watch the Bell feed? Neighbour has Direct TV, like you he spends time in the US south west, including Mexico. His biggest challenge was the initial setup, but once established he just pays the monthly bill and uses the service all year, regardless of where he is. At home in BC he moves the receiver into the house for the six months he is here using the outdoor antenna and his home’s coax cable.

    Have you tried setting up yourself? Elevation and azimuth are available for your location and are not difficult.
    Judy & Larry
    Ty and Ali the St Bernard drool machines
    Delta, British Columbia, GWN
    2019 Imagine 2150RB - lovingly christened “IM-A-GENE” towed by Dusty via Andersen 3350.
    2018 F150 SCREW 3.5 EcoBoost Lariat - respectfully christened “Dusty”.

  5. #5
    Big Traveler boyscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skiddy View Post
    Both US satellite networks you mention will work in Canada. The coverage is pretty much all of North America below 55ºN. Check the beam coverage maps. Don’t forget Bell pays to have copyright on US programs, they want you to watch a Canadian channel on a Canadian service (as does the Canadian government, someone has to pay for the “birds”). Not sure about now, but 20 years ago it was against the law for resident Canadians to operate a US satellite receiver in Canada. Other than maybe local news, why watch the Bell feed? Neighbour has Direct TV, like you he spends time in the US south west, including Mexico. His biggest challenge was the initial setup, but once established he just pays the monthly bill and uses the service all year, regardless of where he is. At home in BC he moves the receiver into the house for the six months he is here using the outdoor antenna and his home’s coax cable. Have you tried setting up yourself? Elevation and azimuth are available for your location and are not difficult.
    I have not even tried getting DirectTV here. I was told by five or six Canadians met in various places in the U.S. - apparently not experts - that I would be unable to use DirectTV in Canada. One reported that he was unable to receive it in Barrie, Ontario, not far from our home and well south of the 49th parallel.

    You write about getting "elevation and azimuth" for our location and setting up ourselves, but our Winegard Carryout G2+ is an automatic dome-style antenna. Do you expect that it would be able to find its "birds" from up here?

    Where our trailer is mostly-parked until the end of October we've been getting over 30 channels over the air (until I clipped off the batwing's wing last weekend!) We'll have to decide about re-activating our DirectTV subscription while there, but thanks for correcting the bad information I had.
    Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch

  6. #6
    Seasoned Camper Clanker24's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lilrhody View Post
    We have been using a big portable dish when traveling and a dish mounted to our neighbours’ giant old antenna at our seasonal site. With the neighbours likely to sell at the end of the season and that giant antenna to go away, we are wondering about alternatives.

    I have poked around online and the only rooftop mount dishes I see for Shaw are crazy expensive and look a bit old school. I was hoping something like a Wineguard would work.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    I have a Shaw dish I set up on a tripod. Use it at home in Canada and when we go camping in the states. Personally I would not put one on my roof because u may be blocked depending on where u park. Have thought about getting one of the small portable units but not sure how well they work with Shaw. Used to have bell service but when they changed their satellites they no longer worked south of the border
    John & Joanne
    2018 Solitude 374TH
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    2001 Harley Ultra Classic

  7. #7
    Seasoned Camper
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clanker24 View Post
    I have a Shaw dish I set up on a tripod. Use it at home in Canada and when we go camping in the states. Personally I would not put one on my roof because u may be blocked depending on where u park. Have thought about getting one of the small portable units but not sure how well they work with Shaw. Used to have bell service but when they changed their satellites they no longer worked south of the border
    We also carry a Shaw dish and tripod in addition to roof mounted one for that reason. In three years I think we have used it twice!
    Rob, Chris and fur baby Maya - Follow us at rctravels.rmcd.ca
    2019 Solitude 374TH, Victron Multiplus II 3000 2x120, Cerbo GX, 6x Battle Born 100AH, 1800W Solar, Blue Sky CC's, Starlink
    2023 GMC Sierra Duramax Denali 4x4 DRW Longbox Crew Cab, Curt Q25

  8. #8
    Site Sponsor Skiddy's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=boyscout;246918]I have not even tried getting DirectTV here. I was told by five or six Canadians met in various places in the U.S. - apparently not experts - that I would be unable to use DirectTV in Canada. One reported that he was unable to receive it in Barrie, Ontario, not far from our home and well south of the 49th parallel.

    You write about getting "elevation and azimuth" for our location and setting up ourselves, but our Winegard Carryout G2+ is an automatic dome-style antenna. Do you expect that it would be able to find its "birds" from up here?

    The satellites, birds, are geo stationary, over the equator and at a specific parking spot, typically 61ºW if you are in the east or 119ºW if you are in the east etc. Your Carry Winegard is self tuning and should have no issue finding a signal as long as there are no obstructions. Those old large C band dishes worked in pretty much all conditions, while the trade off to smaller dishes, higher carrier frequency like Ku band are sometimes affected by heavy rain or snow, wet snow flakes can look like bowling balls to a Ku signal. A wineguard dome, the way I understand it, tunes to one bird at a time, change channels and you might have to wait to tune in the new bird. If you DVR, you have to be on the same bird as what you are watching. Elliptical dishes can catch two birds if they are close to each other.
    The Canadian satellites are focused to serve Canada and the signal will be focused to cover the border north. As long as you stay close to the border, the US birds a loud and clear in virtually all cases.
    Judy & Larry
    Ty and Ali the St Bernard drool machines
    Delta, British Columbia, GWN
    2019 Imagine 2150RB - lovingly christened “IM-A-GENE” towed by Dusty via Andersen 3350.
    2018 F150 SCREW 3.5 EcoBoost Lariat - respectfully christened “Dusty”.

  9. #9
    Seasoned Camper
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skiddy View Post
    The Canadian satellites are focused to serve Canada and the signal will be focused to cover the border north.
    Actually Anik F1R and F2 work well down into Mexico. It is only Anik G2 whose service stops within a couple hundred K south of the border. A lot of Shaws channels are still on the old birds.
    www.lyngsat.com is a good resource in figuring out which channels are where.
    -Rob-
    Rob, Chris and fur baby Maya - Follow us at rctravels.rmcd.ca
    2019 Solitude 374TH, Victron Multiplus II 3000 2x120, Cerbo GX, 6x Battle Born 100AH, 1800W Solar, Blue Sky CC's, Starlink
    2023 GMC Sierra Duramax Denali 4x4 DRW Longbox Crew Cab, Curt Q25

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by KamFlyer View Post
    We have a Wineguard Trav'ler and are quite happy with it. It came with our last rig and when we bought the Solitude 3 weeks ago had it moved over. It has worked quite well all over BC and most channels down to southern Az. Just be aware that any channels on the Anik G4 satellite will stop working within a few hundred K of the US border. They keep moving things around so it is hard to say what will work and what won't.

    -Rob-
    Rob - you are using the Winegard with a Shaw subscription?


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