The dish that's inside the Tailgater is only 15 inches in diameter. That's about as small as you're gonna get and still be able to get the 129 HD satellite, as the signal strength on that one is weak on a full-size Dish 1000 dish, and is barely strong enough to get a signal lock on the Tailgater.
The Winegard Pathway X1 is a little smaller, but on a diagonal line from southern California to Maine the closer you get to Maine the weaker the signal. You can't get 129 in the northeast at all, and it starts getting iffy at about the Ohio/PA state line. In New England the 129 satellite is iffy on the Tailgater, too, it's just worse with the Winegard, because of the smaller dish.
The Pathfider X2 is considerably bigger and will have a signal strength twice that of the Tailgater, and sees both the eastern and western arc satellites, so it'll pick up whichever one gives the best signal. It's a nextgen satellite dish. If I were going to get a brand new one today, it would be the X2.
They do make tripod mounts for these things. Roof mounted in expediting is way better, I promise you. You get out there and get it all set up, and invariably when dispatch calls and you have to roll like right now, it'll be raining, and not only will you have to get out in the rain and take it all down, now you get to store a big wet thing and coax cable inside the van somewhere, because you have to have that coax cable running out there to it. When dispatch calls me and I'm watching TV, there's nothing to take down and stow, nothing to store or crank down, I just kill the power to the TV and receiver box and start the van and go.
The Tailgater (and the Pathway antennas) are set it and forget it, plug and play, when mounted. The Tailgater you can just sit on the ground or on the roof. I'm pretty sure you can do the same thing with the Winegard antennas. Be a real bugger to drive off with it sitting either place, tho. But the Winegard has a s
ide window mount you can get to temporarily mount it that way, kind of like a pole, only probably better. They make a window mount for the Tailgater as well.
