Difficulty finding sat. signal

[rracer5]

Hey guys, long time/returning customer. I now fulltime live in a RV so, we travel around a lot. I have a Slimline dish with a 3 lnb SWiM "head" , power inserter etc. I also have my original 5 lnb non-SWiM "head".

The problem I'm having is, when I set up my dish with the non-SWiM, & use my inline signal finder, I can usually find the 5 sats. fairly quickly and then "fine tune" using the rf dial & tone from the inline sat. finder.

When I try to find the sats. with the SWiM head in place, my inline sat. finder/meter seems to be useless. The tone and meter don't change while looking for the sats. I get the same steady tone no matter which direction/angle I move the dish. But, not so when I do the same with the non-SWiM mounted.....I find sats. easy that way.

Am I hooking my meter in the wrong place? Do I put it inline before or after the power inserter?

The only reason I'm getting away from the 5 lnb non-SWiM setup is so I only need 1 coax from the dish & because it is starting to loose reception of most of the transponders periodically. When this happens, I have to go out and change my coax to one of the other 4 leads from the 5 lnb. It seems that doing this, "resets" everything and all works ok for awhile until I notice I'm loosing channels.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Sorry guys, I wasn't quite awake yet and just realized my correct terminology for "HEAD" should be "switch". Ok, I'm awake now!!!!

 

[Jimbo]

It's possibly that your meterms does not handle SWM ....
What I would do is use the old set up, point dish, get your signal.
Then swap out the lnbs .... putting your SWM one on, put your single line coax on, fire up the PI then the recvr .... run a Repeat Sat Set Up, this will verify the SWM is being seen and you should be good to go.

 

[rracer5]

It's possibly that your meterms does not handle SWM ....
What I would do is use the old set up, point dish, get your signal.
Then swap out the lnbs .... putting your SWM one on, put your single line coax on, fire up the PI then the recvr .... run a Repeat Sat Set Up, this will verify the SWM is being seen and you should be good to go.

That's what I've been doing......such a hassle! Was trying to eliminate the swap. Is there another meter that will work w/SWiM? How do all you techs. do SWiM installs? One of those expensive meters?

Thanks again guys.

 

[Jimbo]

That's what I've been doing......such a hassle! Was trying to eliminate the swap. Is there another meter that will work w/SWiM? How do all you techs. do SWiM installs? One of those expensive meters?

Thanks again guys.

Most of the installers currently use the AIM and some still use the Birdog.
I Use a cheaper one ... can't remember the name off the top of my head, but it does do the SWM but the battery pack is terrible.

All you need to do is find the 101 really and the others should for the most part fall into place. Fine tune if needed.

I just find the 101 with mine and go from there, but it adds the 21v for the swm too.

Edit: I have a SatLookLite