Actually you'll need an SL3...I recommend the same configuration you have at home, if you have SWM, get a SMW dish, If you're non-SWM, get it that way...so you dont have to reconfigure the receiver every time you take it back and forth. Treat the whole deal like a tailgate setup.
Menu, Settings, Info and test, More System Info, Channel down 1 time. The dish type should be right there on that page.
Mine says "Slimline-3S (SWM). I do have the SWM LNB in my system.
Well, not really "locked". But they'll remember the most recent configuration, so to save the hassle of reconfiguring each time you move them to and from the dock, it's simply easier to have the same type of dish in both places.
Many people have posted about hiccups when having to switch from SWM to non-SWM when travelling with one of their receviers/DVR's....having the same config saves the hassles and the reconfiguring each time.
The real issue here is SWM versus non-SWM. I have a SWM3 LNB at home and a SWM5 LNB I use with the RV. I thought I needed the 119 head to help with alignment of the skew. Now that I have setup the dish a number of times I can tell you, that for temporary use like travelling you can get away with just setting the skew according to the settings suggested on the various dish pointing websites.
And as noted before, there are a number of posts about trouble switching receivers from SWM to non-SWM and vice versa. I can tell you from experience that a receiver set for SWM3 works just fine with a SWM5 LNB without changing any settings.
Your biggest issue is getting things aligned the first time. And if you are going to leave the dish permanently mounted on the dock and just take the receiver back an forth to the boat adding the cost of a meter seems sort of expensive. (Yes, I know you have a boat so maybe $400 to $500 bucks doesn't make that much difference. But, for a one-time setup you can hire someone to come out and do the dish setting and just leave it there.) I justified the cost of a meter (to myself) since I do a lot of setups and teardowns as we travel. Very different than just having a dish on a dock.
So, just match the dish on the dock to what you have at home and you will really minimize any problems with moving the receiver back and forth.
As peds48 noted, this is not the case. There are different, multiple, guide data feeds and which one your equipment looks for depends on whether you have a 3 or 5 LNB dish. Eventually you will have problems. However, it is much easier to change SWiM3 to SWiM5 or vice versa, Not as challenging as going between SWiM and non-SWiM.
Only for short times...as they dont receive the guide data the same way due to different frequency stacking plans. It is still best to use the same 3 or 5 at both locations. You will get nag messages about not receiving guide data for some many hours after a little bit if you mismatch the dishes and dont change the type in the receivers menus.
We have sort of moved away from the central issue of SWM versus non-SWM. Given the fact that you have SWM at your house you will save yourself a ton of trouble when moving the receiver by using a SWM setup at the dock. And it would also be more compatible to use the same LNB3 or LNB5 setup as you have at your house. In my case I have a SWM3 at the house and a SWM5 in the RV. Since the receiver is set to SWM3 I assume it only uses the one triple head and ignores the other two since I have not experienced any of the guide data issues mentioned above. (Maybe I am living on borrowed time here, but so far no problems.)
I am on the road right now using the LNB5 setup with no issues. But, with our RV travels I only have it hooked up for about 3 to 4 days at a time then move it and do a reset when I set it up again. If you only have your receiver at your boat for a couple of days I would imagine that you would have similar results.
Your biggest issue is getting things aligned the first time. And if you are going to leave the dish permanently mounted on the dock and just take the receiver back an forth to the boat adding the cost of a meter seems sort of expensive. (Yes, I know you have a boat so maybe $400 to $500 bucks doesn't make that much difference. But, for a one-time setup you can hire someone to come out and do the dish setting and just leave it there.) I justified the cost of a meter (to myself) since I do a lot of setups and teardowns as we travel. Very different than just having a dish on a dock.
Hopefully he's got a fixed dock rather than a floating dock. I would think making a dish work on a floating dock could be difficult or impossible, depending on how evenly the dock rises and falls - I'd check a floating dock with a level on both axes when something moves by that disturbs the water enough to move it before going to the trouble of putting a dish on it. If that's the situation perhaps you could put the dish somewhere on land at the end of the dock and run a coax to your slip.
Hopefully he's got a fixed dock rather than a floating dock. I would think making a dish work on a floating dock could be difficult or impossible, depending on how evenly the dock rises and falls - I'd check a floating dock with a level on both axes when something moves by that disturbs the water enough to move it before going to the trouble of putting a dish on it. If that's the situation perhaps you could put the dish somewhere on land at the end of the dock and run a coax to your slip.
We have sort of moved away from the central issue of SWM versus non-SWM. Given the fact that you have SWM at your house you will save yourself a ton of trouble when moving the receiver by using a SWM setup at the dock. And it would also be more compatible to use the same LNB3 or LNB5 setup as you have at your house. In my case I have a SWM3 at the house and a SWM5 in the RV. Since the receiver is set to SWM3 I assume it only uses the one triple head and ignores the other two since I have not experienced any of the guide data issues mentioned above. (Maybe I am living on borrowed time here, but so far no problems.)
I am on the road right now using the LNB5 setup with no issues. But, with our RV travels I only have it hooked up for about 3 to 4 days at a time then move it and do a reset when I set it up again. If you only have your receiver at your boat for a couple of days I would imagine that you would have similar results.
You are not "living on borrowed time" with your SL5 SWM dish and the receiver set to SL3, because as I posted with the SWM LNB guide data ALWAYS comes from the 101 satellite and so the lack of 119 signals isn't an issue. If the SL5 dish had been non-SWM then yes you would have problems, because the guide data on the SL5 dish comes from 119 when you select a channel from a transponder at 103 - just telling the receiver it's an SL3 does not work, because the SL3 and SL5 have different electronics.
"quite stable" might not be quite good enough for HD. This begs the question why did your marina go through the added expense of installing floating docks if not to accommodate some movement of the water (maybe to take out during the winter because of ice?)
You did say others have dishes installed. On the pilings or on the moving dock? Do the they also have HD dishes?
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