satellite dish setup

[kipandbob]

A few questions for those of you with tripod-mounted satellite dishes:

- Dish provides azimuth & elevation angles for a given zip code. How do you set up the antenna to these angles when you relocate?
- Is a simple compass adequate for azimuth - at least getting close?
- I saw a $42.00 "signal strength" meter from CW. Do you have any experience with it or something similar? Our installer had a "magic box" that costs $600+; seems to me there has to be a suitable, less costly way.
- what's your experience with tripod levelers?

As usual, many thanks,
-Bob

[richfaa]

There should be a set screw or screws or other adjustment to change the angles.

A simple compass will do fine.We use the trusty boy scout compass.

The 42.00 signal meter or something similar will do the job. We use it.

[PapaBeav]

We just had Direct TV installed in both our house and the RV last week.

So I set ours up with the signal that comes through the TV inside the RV. I will get the dish close with my GPS then fine tune the dish with the beeping signal that comes through the TV. I just leave the window open and turn the volume up so I can hear it outside.

[HughM]

Rich is dead on in my opinion. I use the signal meter and DW doesn't have to yell out the windown or my nighbors hear the loud TV signal.
A simple compass gets you close and signal meter gets you right on.
Hugh

[embraceatrend]

Hi Bob, we use www.dishpointer.com to get the satellite coordinates, simply enter your present location and pick your service provider from a drop down menu and google earth will provide you with elevation, azimuth and skew. We have seen all shapes and sizes of tripods some homemade, some store bought, the key to any tripod is that the mast of the tripod that the dish sits on must be PLUMB, or you might as well eat the coordinates. Set the elevation first and then we usually set the dish directly to the south and ever so slowly nudge the dish to the east to obtain the azimuth, we sometimes use a satellite finder, (ends of the finder are designated, receiver and dish) or use the tv and your bride to give you a holler when you hit the satellite, finally the skew is only needed if your trying to hit 2 satellites at the same time, in my case one is the programming and the other satellite is the HD. We set the skew last, I find the satellites easier to find if the skew is at 90 degrees, everyone has there own procedure, get the tripod PLUMB, and you wont have any problems, if you do, drop everything, have a extended happy hour and give it a whirl the next day.

[Champ_49]

I use the winegard carryout, its easy and I don't have to do anything except turn it on. It does the finding for you. You can get a tripod with it for free if you watch the sales at Camping World. I also am at Land Between the Lakes in western KY. No regular signal at all on regular TV. I'm in so many trees I was a bit concerned that the carry out dish might have problems and at first it did, until I mounted it to my ladder on the roof. Came in like a charm.

Only question I do have is I also have a 311 receiver that I am using but would like to use my 722 with recording capabilities. Problem is that the carry out only has one LNB and it automatically moves from satellite to satellite as you change channels. Which means you can't record on one channel and watch another. Is it still possible to use this same receiver to at least record on the channel your watching? I can't seem to get Winegard to answer the phone and they want me to leave a messege which I did 3 times, never got a return call!!!

Dave

[mhs4771]

Bob, I have one of the little signal meters from CW, you're welcome to it, just pay for the postage to send it and it's yours. I had the Winegard Travler Slimline installed this summer, love it, push a button and it does everything. I still have my portable dish, but I gave up using the meter, tended to get locked on the wrong satellite. I just use a good compass and a small RCA LCD TV, one of those hand held deals, and an old Rcvr that isn't activated, but works for aligning the dish.

[richfaa]

NOTE.. As mentioned PLUMB..is critical.. The satellites are 22,500 miles up and about the size of a Ford Escort..1/4 inch off plumb on this end can be be several miles on the other end...

level the tripod ,find the elevation and Az using the dishpointer, use the compass to point to the Az and the signal meter to zero in, Careful as there are a lot of satellites up there.

with the tripod level and knowing the az and elevation 98% of the time the picture is there when we point to the Az using the trusty boy scout compass..very easy..

[clutch]

We use a magnetic level to get the pole straight and then use the zip code guide for the other two settings. A cheap old survival knife with a small compass in the handle helps us find the direction. The beeper on the TV works just fine and Sallie can give me a lot of feedback out the window.

[nunya]

ditto on the PLUMB and boy scout compass, we use cell phones to chat if dish is too far from window. Most of the time, no Problem!

[branmo6x]

I just bought a satellite finder on amazon for $7.73 plus $499
shipping. It works great,just be sure your tripod is level.

[Jdrobone]

Branmo6x, man that shipping is a killer!
I use the toner, and compass with Dishnetworks co-ordinates per zip code. Only thing is I have a HD receiver/dish setup and must pick up 3 sats. 61.5, 72.7 and 77. This makes the skew more critical and sometimes takes me an extra "X" amount of time. I have never failed to get it aligned yet though.
Jerry

My bad, that was 72.7, not 72.5

[jjackflash]

quote:Originally posted by branmo6x

I just bought a satellite finder on amazon for $7.73 plus $499
shipping. It works great,just be sure your tripod is level.

The price is great,but the shipping is outragous!
I'm sorry,I couldn't resist.
Jack

[7.3Ford]

quote:Originally posted by Champ_49

I use the winegard carryout, its easy and I don't have to do anything except turn it on......

Only question I do have is I also have a 311 receiver that I am using but would like to use my 722 with recording capabilities.

Dave,

I also have a Carry Out. I got the VIP-722 to work, but wasn't pleased with it. Couldn't get the check-switch to work very well because it tries to find different sats between the two tuners. Soooo what I did was buy a VIP 211K HD (One Turner) Receiver (got it from Amazon $129.99) and also got 320GB USB Portable External Hard Drive (Amazon $58.99). You pay a one time fee $39.99 to Dish, and it turns VIP 211K HD receiver into a DVR, when the USB Hard Drive is connected. And best of all you don't get charged $7.00 a month DVR fee.

[Champ_49]

Very nice and easy suggestion John. Will look into it and probably do what you did in the future. I have the 311 (older reciever) and it dont have the USB port, so will have to do the same thing as you. So far I have gotten pretty negative results to hooking up the VP722, so I am not going to do it.

Thanks again.
Dave

[kipandbob]

A thousand thanks to those who responded. As usual, you Monty folks are a wealth of knowledge.

Cheers,
-Bob

[7.3Ford]

quote:Originally posted by Champ_49

Very nice and easy suggestion John. Will look into it and probably do what you did in the future. I have the 311 (older receiver) and it don't have the USB port, so will have to do the same thing as you. So far I have gotten pretty negative results to hooking up the VP722, so I am not going to do it.

Thanks again.
Dave

Dave,

BTW, you may be able to upgrade the 311 to VIP-211K for free, just agree to keep Dish for 2 years. In my case they wanted to change my Dish to point to Eastern Region Sats. (different dish) and I didn't want to pay for that, since I already had three different dish where I am at already.

[kipandbob]

quote:Originally posted by embraceatrend

Hi Bob, we use www.dishpointer.com to get the satellite coordinates, simply enter your present location and pick your service provider from a drop down menu and google earth will provide you with elevation, azimuth and skew. We have seen all shapes and sizes of tripods some homemade, some store bought, the key to any tripod is that the mast of the tripod that the dish sits on must be PLUMB, or you might as well eat the coordinates. Set the elevation first and then we usually set the dish directly to the south and ever so slowly nudge the dish to the east to obtain the azimuth, we sometimes use a satellite finder, (ends of the finder are designated, receiver and dish) or use the tv and your bride to give you a holler when you hit the satellite, finally the skew is only needed if your trying to hit 2 satellites at the same time, in my case one is the programming and the other satellite is the HD. We set the skew last, I find the satellites easier to find if the skew is at 90 degrees, everyone has there own procedure, get the tripod PLUMB, and you wont have any problems, if you do, drop everything, have a extended happy hour and give it a whirl the next day.

Larry,

Thanks much for the thorough reply. I must ask, how do you set your elevation? For where we are now, Dishpointer indicates 48.9 degrees. I don't have an inclinometer (or whatever the thing is called) to tell where 48.9 is. I presume these are degrees above the horizon, yes?

And, you stated to "...pick your service provider..." For me it's Dish. As far as I can determine looking at my system parameters, I should choose Dish 1000.4 (61.5W, 72.7W, 77W). That's where I got the 48.9 elevation.

Sorry if these sound like bone-head questions; this is my first attempt at this. Dish set it up initially.

Thanks again,
-Bob

[hookman]

There should be marks for degrees on the side of the dish where you adjust your elevation. The dish pointer program is the best I have used. If you put the whole campground address in you can find your site and it shows you were to point on the Google map. I have set up dishes for about 12 yrs, now it is the DW job as we had a Trav'ler Dish installed in Sept. so she gets to push the button.

[harryd2]

I have a slimline HD with heavy duty rv tripod it has been blowen over four or five times so I get the azmuth and slue then I hand sweep the sky up and down thll my wife tells me I got it