Direct TV Satellite Alignment

[pensan04]

Is there anywhere with a good tutorial / help video about the Direct TV Satellite Alignment for HD.

I am in Greenville, SC, and from what the guy on the phone told me, Satellite 101 should be the main one that I need for most of my channels. I am using this to tailgate, so ESPN / Fox Sports / Locals are all I need.

The issue I had last night was I hit 101 with 90%, but when I ran the test setup, and you get the screen with the white checks or Xs, only one of the two 101 were checked. The issue was in the setup screen, it didn't give me the option to choose more than one of the 101, where as it had multiple 99 and 109 satellites that I could cycle through.

Last night I was able to pick up locals but no ESPN... I received a 771 error code which is signal strength related.

Anyone have any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Dish is SL3PIG and an H24 Receiver with a BBC

 

[mdram]

lots of vids on youtube

 

[pensan04]

Also, I chose the Dish Type as Slim Line 3 and the Switch Type as Multiswitch. Is that correct with this setup?

 

[csloan1981]

Did you try the SD ESPN channel because it sounds like you might have SD hide? If that’s the case you need to change that go to menu-settings-preferences and change Hide SD Duplicates

 

[pensan04]

Did you try the SD ESPN channel because it sounds like you might have SD hide? If that’s the case you need to change that go to menu-settings-preferences and change Hide SD Duplicates

Thanks... I will try that tomorrow at the tailgate. I seem to be able to find satellite 101 with ease, but I can't get the other satellites over 40%. But we have been using SD for years, so we will go that route as a backup

 

[HoTat2]

The problem is your dish alignment may be sufficient for the lower frequency Ku band signals from 101W, which produces broad signal peaks that are comparatively easy to align the dish to.

But not for the higher frequency Ka band signals where the HD (and some SD) signals originate which have much sharper narrower peaks in comparison and require a fine or vernier adjustment of the dish alignment beyond an initial "coarse" adjustment such as you already have to 101W.

 

[Jimbo]

The problem is your dish alignment may be sufficient for the lower frequency Ku band signals from 101W, which produces broad signal peaks that are comparatively easy to align the dish to.

But not for the higher frequency Ka band signals where the HD (and some SD) signals originate which have much sharper narrower peaks in comparison and require a fine or vernier adjustment of the dish alignment beyond an initial "coarse" adjustment such as you already have to 101W.

If his settings are correct and hes actually getting the 101, then the 99 and 103 should fall into place ... I'm thinking something is off, he should see signal on at least 1 of the other ones if the 101 is hit.

 

[HoTat2]

If his settings are correct and hes actually getting the 101, then the 99 and 103 should fall into place ... I'm thinking something is off, he should see signal on at least 1 of the other ones if the 101 is hit.

But merely "getting 101" is not sufficient. You have to be on the precise peak of 101 Ku in order for the sharp narrow peaks of the adjacent Ka band signals to "fall into place" on their peak response curves as well.

And this can be difficult if not impossible to find without the dither procedure due to the broadness of the 101 Ku peak.

See this old, but still informative, video here as a demonstration for instance with a laser pointing device.



And even more importantly, check out Veronica in the video too ...

Boy, ... she can come and align my dish anytime ...

 

[Jimbo]

But merely "getting 101" is not sufficient. You have to be on the precise peak of 101 Ku in order for the sharp narrow peaks of the adjacent Ka band signals to "fall into place" on their peak response curves as well.

And this can be difficult if not impossible to find without the dither procedure due to the broadness of the 101 Ku peak.

See this old, but still informative, video here as a demonstration for instance with a laser pointing device.



And even more importantly, check out Veronica in the video too ...

Boy, ... she can come and align my dish anytime ...

I wonder how many techs do it the way they are suppose to vs just getting the signal ?

 

[HoTat2]

I wonder how many techs do it the way they are suppose to vs just getting the signal ?

I actually once had a conversation with the chief engineer in that video Mike Frye sometime later after he retired.

And he said their main concern back at that time of the video was that another nationwide Ka band satellite service only 2° away to one side of 99 or 103W could begin at any time.

And due to all the mis-aligned Ka/Ku dishes installed by techs. who didn't do the dither procedure to peak the Ka signals correctly. They expected the phones to start ringing off-the-hook as they were going to be deluged with angry calls of complaints from the co-channel interference this would cause.

He said luckily though, and much to their relief, no Ka service decided to occupy the 97 or 105W slots.