I think the antenna model you are talking about with the unit that
rotates is a thing of the past. I had one of those 2 boats ago and you
are right - POS! I believe it was the model 2010. It never did work
right. I got the Shakespeare 2020 after that. It had a stationary
antenna with a little RF amp and I had no problems. This new 2050 that
I have also does not rotate and also has a 12V RF amp. Thank goodness
that they decided to make the amp box a LOT smaller. I bought the 2050
after seeing the results on a friend's boat while in deepest darkest
BC last year.
After a lot of digging, I found a Consumer Alert on Shakespeare's web
site. There were only some 200+ units that were manufactured in March
of '02 that were bad. Thank goodness the unit I bought was
manufactured in 2005.
I do have Sat on board. I have a pole mount that I had built that fits
very nicely into one of my fishpole holders. I have your standard
18" dish on the top of it and is wired into the saloon via the bilge
route. I also have an exterior cable TV connection.
Unfortunately, I have Dish Network. Their service is great, but their
options for receivers SUCKS! All I want is a small, non DVR receiver
with an RF remote - not IR. They offer no such thing. I have been
calling them for over a year and getting promises that such a unit is
in high demand by RV'ers, truckers and boaters - They kept telling
me that they would have an offering soon, but nothing has materialized.
Direct TV does have a very nice small receiver that is perfect! I
leave for vacation in 1 month. If nothing from Dish Network shows up
in the next week or so, I will be switching the house, cabin and boat
to Direct TV very shortly.

Dave