Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post - How do I hate thee DirecTV....let me count the way

pbahlin · 05-27-2011, 05:05 AM

If this is your first time aiming a dish (just guessing) here are a few things to keep in mind.....

First, there are dozens and dozens of satellites in geosynchronous orbit. I've got an Iphone App that show's them all. Those 'satellite finders' that you get for 30 bucks will respond to every one of them. I know, I fell for the hype and bought one myself. It's for sale. I never, ever had any luck with it. It will peak up and you'll go wohoo and have nada at your receiver unless you are very, very lucky. Most of the time you'll be peaked on some satellite from Nepal or some 'Stan' country.

When you haven't done this before there are way too many unknowns in the loop. Eliminate as many as possible. Connect a single cable (no interim connectors) directly to your receiver and make absolutely sure you've got the correct antenna dialed in to your DirecTV receiver. Also make sure you've got the correct equipment in the feed. Some multiswitch antenna horns need a power supply in the coax feed and if that's what you've got be very sure you don't have a splitter in there somewhere. The DC power will not go through a conventional splitter. Some horns are OK to feed directly from your receiver.

Last and most importantly aiming the dish is critical. You have to remember that a half a degree error, over the 22,000 mile trip to the satellite, translates to about 200 miles off at the satellite. I've had occasions where I set up my tripod, plop the dish on and wham, there's a signal. That's happened twice in a year. More commonly it takes about 15 minutes to find a signal. And most commonly, it tries my patience to the max whilst creating uncommonly vile language, high blood pressure, and general frustration.

Here's what I do now, after living with this challenge for a year. First, make sure you have cold beer. Next, get a small TV and get it set up on the receiver so you can see it at the dish. In my rig I use a 'mirror' so I can put a tv in my basement that is running off the receiver. Throw away the Radio Shack thingy. Sorry, you probably can't find a buyer. The TV, displaying the signal strengths, is your best signal strength meter as it will only respond to DirecTV sats.

Then avoid the temptation to slap up your mount, whatever it is, and get right down to aiming the dish. This is the absolute most important thing. Spend a lot of time ensuring your mount for the dish is absolutely plumb (remember those 200 miles). Every minute you spend setting up that mount is a minute you won't be wasting while aiming the dish to the Nepalese Olympic Channel. When you're sure your pipe is so plumb a marble wouldn't fall off its flat top, go ahead and mount the dish.

Get the angle settings from your receiver by using the zip code from wherever you are and set up the angles. In my experience, the azimuth is less critical or sensitive, than the elevation and the tilt is the least important at this stage of the game. If your dish is like mine it's oval so this makes sense. There's more room for error in the long axis of the dish than the short axis. Remember that the three satellites you're after are up there in a line that is NOT horizontal. Tilt affects your ability to pick off three sats on that tilted line and it won't affect your initial aiming.

Try to get a signal for about 15 minutes. This is where the beer comes in. If you're having no success, stop. Crack open a beer and rejoice that you're on the road with lots of time on your hands so you don't really give a rip about TV anyway. Tell yourself TV is for losers. When the beer is gone try aiming some more (another 15 minutes max). Repaeat. I usually never have to go through more than three beers using this method.

Another tip is that I move the dish through 20 degrees or so of azimuth on one elevation setting and then do a tiny, tiny change in elevation before repeating another sweep of azimuth. Bracket the elevation angle with your tiny elevation changes.

Hope this helps. Once you've had success you'll get more faith in all the other variables and slowly you'll begin to get a feel for that 200 mile error up there.

One more tip. Keep Joanie inside during the entire process. It will improve your marriage. What I do is, I have Betty keep the beer flowing, that way she doesn't hear my cursing and I don't have anyone to yell at but myself.

05-27-2011, 05:05 AM	#3
pbahlin Montana Master Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Sioux Falls Posts: 617 M.O.C. #9380	If this is your first time aiming a dish (just guessing) here are a few things to keep in mind..... First, there are dozens and dozens of satellites in geosynchronous orbit. I've got an Iphone App that show's them all. Those 'satellite finders' that you get for 30 bucks will respond to every one of them. I know, I fell for the hype and bought one myself. It's for sale. I never, ever had any luck with it. It will peak up and you'll go wohoo and have nada at your receiver unless you are very, very lucky. Most of the time you'll be peaked on some satellite from Nepal or some 'Stan' country. When you haven't done this before there are way too many unknowns in the loop. Eliminate as many as possible. Connect a single cable (no interim connectors) directly to your receiver and make absolutely sure you've got the correct antenna dialed in to your DirecTV receiver. Also make sure you've got the correct equipment in the feed. Some multiswitch antenna horns need a power supply in the coax feed and if that's what you've got be very sure you don't have a splitter in there somewhere. The DC power will not go through a conventional splitter. Some horns are OK to feed directly from your receiver. Last and most importantly aiming the dish is critical. You have to remember that a half a degree error, over the 22,000 mile trip to the satellite, translates to about 200 miles off at the satellite. I've had occasions where I set up my tripod, plop the dish on and wham, there's a signal. That's happened twice in a year. More commonly it takes about 15 minutes to find a signal. And most commonly, it tries my patience to the max whilst creating uncommonly vile language, high blood pressure, and general frustration. Here's what I do now, after living with this challenge for a year. First, make sure you have cold beer. Next, get a small TV and get it set up on the receiver so you can see it at the dish. In my rig I use a 'mirror' so I can put a tv in my basement that is running off the receiver. Throw away the Radio Shack thingy. Sorry, you probably can't find a buyer. The TV, displaying the signal strengths, is your best signal strength meter as it will only respond to DirecTV sats. Then avoid the temptation to slap up your mount, whatever it is, and get right down to aiming the dish. This is the absolute most important thing. Spend a lot of time ensuring your mount for the dish is absolutely plumb (remember those 200 miles). Every minute you spend setting up that mount is a minute you won't be wasting while aiming the dish to the Nepalese Olympic Channel. When you're sure your pipe is so plumb a marble wouldn't fall off its flat top, go ahead and mount the dish. Get the angle settings from your receiver by using the zip code from wherever you are and set up the angles. In my experience, the azimuth is less critical or sensitive, than the elevation and the tilt is the least important at this stage of the game. If your dish is like mine it's oval so this makes sense. There's more room for error in the long axis of the dish than the short axis. Remember that the three satellites you're after are up there in a line that is NOT horizontal. Tilt affects your ability to pick off three sats on that tilted line and it won't affect your initial aiming. Try to get a signal for about 15 minutes. This is where the beer comes in. If you're having no success, stop. Crack open a beer and rejoice that you're on the road with lots of time on your hands so you don't really give a rip about TV anyway. Tell yourself TV is for losers. When the beer is gone try aiming some more (another 15 minutes max). Repaeat. I usually never have to go through more than three beers using this method. Another tip is that I move the dish through 20 degrees or so of azimuth on one elevation setting and then do a tiny, tiny change in elevation before repeating another sweep of azimuth. Bracket the elevation angle with your tiny elevation changes. Hope this helps. Once you've had success you'll get more faith in all the other variables and slowly you'll begin to get a feel for that 200 mile error up there. One more tip. Keep Joanie inside during the entire process. It will improve your marriage. What I do is, I have Betty keep the beer flowing, that way she doesn't hear my cursing and I don't have anyone to yell at but myself.