Dish 1000.2 Problem (can't find the 129)

quakelord

Member
Original poster
Aug 17, 2008
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Hello!! New to the site, hope you guys can help.

I moved from Detroit, MI to Toronto, Canada and took my VIP 622 DVR HDTV receiver, but left my Dish 500 (119&110) connected to a single (129) on top of my house. I'm keeping my account and house active. Before, I left for Toronto, I purchased a Dish 1000.2 and bolted it to my new house. I can get 119 and 110 no problem , but can't dial in the 129.

Initally, I used these settings. E26.6 A229.9 S123.7 from one of the website posted here. I ended up at more like E30, A230, S128, but cannot dail in 129.

The instructions state that...
the left is 129
the middle is 119
the right 110

however when I cover the middle with tin foil, 119 was still strong. I cover the left one 119 goes away (the left is suppose to be 129) and

when when I cover the right with tin foil, 110 was still strong. I cover the middle one 110 goes away (the middel is suppose to be 119).

I performed a check switch and returns that all connections good. No signal on the 129. I turn my reciever off for 20 min and "think" a took a software download.

Any one know what theis going on?
 
Check your skew on the dish, do a google for a website that tells you your locations for the 1000.2 dish for your area. Here in California it is 90' . :up
 
You are too far left.

Cover all except 119 and scan for the highest signal, then tighten. Uncover the rest and check. Have a beer.
 
Adjust your skew also. It should be around 124. If the skew is incorrect you will never get all 3 signals. You are picking up 110 and 119 on the wrong lnb's. Cover all but the 119 lnb and adjust for signal. Make sure your mast is level too.
 
A common alignment error. I went all through this same fire drill when I put up my 1000.2 dish.

The dish is swung about 9.5 degrees to far to the left (the approximate distance between sats) as seen from facing the REAR side of the dish. This is making 110 come in through the 119 LNB, and 119 come in through the 129 LNB. And yes, each LNB can pick up any of the 129, 119, 110 sats.

Firstly, re-read these steps completely three times before starting. They will seem less complex as you re-read them.

Before starting, take the dish off the mast and make sure that it is absolutely plumb! Get a "torpedo" bubble level from the hardware store (just ask, they'll know what that is) that has a magnetic strip on one side. Magnetically attach the torpedo level vertically on the mast at 90 degree point around the mast. Make sure the bubble perfectly between the lines for all of the 90 degree points. Use the bolt adjustments to fix any leaning in-or-out error. Any left-or-right errors may need re-seating the mast base.

Bottom line, that mast must be perfectly plumb (vertical) to achive proper alignment.

Place the dish back onto the mast, and tighten the azimuth clamp just enough so that you can still easily move the dish by grabbing the outer edges of the dish, but so that the dish can't move on it's own. Also, not so tight that you warp the dish when moving with the outside edges. The elevation adjustment can't be so easily tightened to slip up and down with moderate pressure since it tends to just fall down when even slightly loosened. You will end up repeatly loosening and tightening the elevation to adjust it.

As others have said, cover the left and right LNB wih tin foil, leaving the middle one uncovered (again, facing the REAR of the dish). Use the pointing values from the 1000.2 manual to start finding 119. If you do find 119, then you know that it's coming through the middle LNB. This is what you want. If you find 110, the dish is swung too far to the left (again, facing the REAR of the dish). If you get 129, the dish is swung too far to the right.

If you can't find 119, try adjusting the elevation up or down a couple of degrees at a time. I have found at least three instances were the elevation values stamped on the 1000.2 dish was mis-stamped by up to 5 degrees. Once you find 119, tweak the elevation and azimuth until you get best 119 signal.

Bottom line though, you MUST get 119 with the middle LNB, or you'll NEVER get proper alignment!

Tip: When adjusting the elevation or azimuth, NEVER adjust both at the same time! Always adjust azimuth left and right until the highest signal is achived, then lock it down. Then adjust the elevation up and down until the highest signal is achived, then lock it down. Repeat this process, re-loosening the elevation or azimuth until adjustments in both achive no higher signal strengths.

Next, uncover both the left and right LNB, leaving ALL LNBs uncovered. Now use the dish pointing screen to see the signal strength of 110 and 129. If you don't have one or both, unlike what the 1000.2 instructions says not to do, rotate the dish skew a couple of degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. If you only have 110 or 129, and when you rotate the skew it goes away, the rotation was the wrong way. tweak the skew until you get the best COMPROMISE bewteen a highest 129 and 110 signal.

Now restest the signal strength 119. If it got a bit lower than you first got, re-tweak the elevation and azimuth until you get the highest signal on 119.

Now retest the 110/129 skew peaking.

Repeat hese last two steps until you find no substanial changes in signal values from all three sats (this may take two to three trips through these steps at best, or a dozen times at worst). Once you're done aligning, lock down all of the adjustment bolt tightly. Then retest the signal strengths of ALL three sats one more time. If any one of them changes by much, the act of tightening the bolts moved the dish alignment. Loosen the bolts slightly in succession to figure out which ones moved the dish, and compensate that adjustment.

Be prepared to spend an hour or two doing this alignment. Be patient. This may seem like a lot of work (and it is!), but this will provide the best alignment.

Tip: The 129 sat is sick. It's signal streangth is weak and wobbles slightly in the sky. This means it's signal strength is low compared to 110 and 119, plus the signal strength goes up and down slightly depending the time of day. If you get a lot of signal drop outs when watching TV, try re-tweaking the dish skew for a higher 129 signal; even at the expense of 110. 110 has a lot more signal power to spare. Make sure the any skew adjustments didn't effect 119.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
Did someone say 118.7 is not DBS? Is there any way to take advantage of this when adjusting with a digital or analog meter?
 
A common alignment error. I went all through this same fire drill when I put up my 1000.2 dish.

The dish is swung about 9.5 degrees to far to the left (the approximate distance between sats) as seen from facing the REAR side of the dish. This is making 110 come in through the 119 LNB, and 119 come in through the 129 LNB. And yes, each LNB can pick up any of the 129, 119, 110 sats.

Firstly, re-read these steps completely three times before starting. They will seem less complex as you re-read them.

Before starting, take the dish off the mast and make sure that it is absolutely plumb! Get a "torpedo" bubble level from the hardware store (just ask, they'll know what that is) that has a magnetic strip on one side. Magnetically attach the torpedo level vertically on the mast at 90 degree point around the mast. Make sure the bubble perfectly between the lines for all of the 90 degree points. Use the bolt adjustments to fix any leaning in-or-out error. Any left-or-right errors may need re-seating the mast base.

Bottom line, that mast must be perfectly plumb (vertical) to achive proper alignment.

Place the dish back onto the mast, and tighten the azimuth clamp just enough so that you can still easily move the dish by grabbing the outer edges of the dish, but so that the dish can't move on it's own. Also, not so tight that you warp the dish when moving with the outside edges. The elevation adjustment can't be so easily tightened to slip up and down with moderate pressure since it tends to just fall down when even slightly loosened. You will end up repeatly loosening and tightening the elevation to adjust it.

As others have said, cover the left and right LNB wih tin foil, leaving the middle one uncovered (again, facing the REAR of the dish). Use the pointing values from the 1000.2 manual to start finding 119. If you do find 119, then you know that it's coming through the middle LNB. This is what you want. If you find 110, the dish is swung too far to the left (again, facing the REAR of the dish). If you get 129, the dish is swung too far to the right.

If you can't find 119, try adjusting the elevation up or down a couple of degrees at a time. I have found at least three instances were the elevation values stamped on the 1000.2 dish was mis-stamped by up to 5 degrees. Once you find 119, tweak the elevation and azimuth until you get best 119 signal.

Bottom line though, you MUST get 119 with the middle LNB, or you'll NEVER get proper alignment!

Tip: When adjusting the elevation or azimuth, NEVER adjust both at the same time! Always adjust azimuth left and right until the highest signal is achived, then lock it down. Then adjust the elevation up and down until the highest signal is achived, then lock it down. Repeat this process, re-loosening the elevation or azimuth until adjustments in both achive no higher signal strengths.

Next, uncover both the left and right LNB, leaving ALL LNBs uncovered. Now use the dish pointing screen to see the signal strength of 110 and 129. If you don't have one or both, unlike what the 1000.2 instructions says not to do, rotate the dish skew a couple of degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. If you only have 110 or 129, and when you rotate the skew it goes away, the rotation was the wrong way. tweak the skew until you get the best COMPROMISE bewteen a highest 129 and 110 signal.

Now restest the signal strength 119. If it got a bit lower than you first got, re-tweak the elevation and azimuth until you get the highest signal on 119.

Now retest the 110/129 skew peaking.

Repeat hese last two steps until you find no substanial changes in signal values from all three sats (this may take two to three trips through these steps at best, or a dozen times at worst). Once you're done aligning, lock down all of the adjustment bolt tightly. Then retest the signal strengths of ALL three sats one more time. If any one of them changes by much, the act of tightening the bolts moved the dish alignment. Loosen the bolts slightly in succession to figure out which ones moved the dish, and compensate that adjustment.

Be prepared to spend an hour or two doing this alignment. Be patient. This may seem like a lot of work (and it is!), but this will provide the best alignment.

Tip: The 129 sat is sick. It's signal streangth is weak and wobbles slightly in the sky. This means it's signal strength is low compared to 110 and 119, plus the signal strength goes up and down slightly depending the time of day. If you get a lot of signal drop outs when watching TV, try re-tweaking the dish skew for a higher 129 signal; even at the expense of 110. 110 has a lot more signal power to spare. Make sure the any skew adjustments didn't effect 119.

Good luck.


Thanks you so much for the tips. I my opinion, this dish1000.2 is not ready. It should not be this hard. I should have puchase another 500 with a single. I will let you know how it turns out.

One more question. If I live in Oakville, ON, Canada. What do you think the settings should be?
 
A common alignment error. I went all through this same fire drill when I put up my 1000.2 dish.


Good luck.


What is the hell is going on!!! 2 hours on the roof. I followed your directions to the tee. I cannot get 119 on the center LNB. You guys say I'm too far left, which I don't understand because standing behind the dish I'm getting 119 on the Left One and 110 on the Middle one. Don't I need to go left?

Here are the coordinates that www.dishpointer.com gave me.

E-26.4
A-229.9
SK-123.7

I'm actually at (just to be able to watch 119)
E-32.2
A-?
SK-123 (with no 110 cause I got pissed off and had enough)

Here is a picture.

 
quaklord,

To understand why moving the dish more to the left is the wrong way, you have to understand the geometry of how the sat siganls are received by the dish 1000.2. Look at the two simplfied diagrams I've included.

Notice in the first diagram how the sats are in the opposite order, from left to right, than the order of the LNBs. Follow the colored lines to see the reflected paths of the signals from the sats. In 129's case, it's to the right of the center line of the dish. This means the signal will reflect off he dish to the left into the 129 LNB on the left. The opposite is true of 110. Sat 119 is (should) be directly in line with the center line of the dish, so it's signal reflects straight into the center 119 LNB.

Now look at the second diagram were the dish is rotated to the left. It's a little harder to follow, but in this case the green 119 line is reflected more to the left into the 129 LNB. This also reflects 110 more to the left into the 119 LNB. And the 129 signal is reflected way off to the left beyond any of the LNBs.

So, as you can see, when your only getting 119 into the 129 LNB and 110 into the 119 LNB, you would have to rotate the dish to the RIGHT to gain 129.

As far as hitting 119 with the center LNB, I know it's tedious, but keep at it. Set the dish alignments to the values you got off of dishpointer.com. As far as I can tell, these figures should be a good start. Mentaly map out a 8 to 12 inch square grid pattern at the end of the LNB arm. Slowly move through the grid pattern, 1 inch at a time, starting from the dishpointer.com values as the center of the grid. Unlike other Dish Network dishes, the 1000.2 azimuth value should be close, but the elevation is more likely to off from the calculated values. From your picture, I'd say you need to move the elevation up 5 to 7 degrees (about were the 129 LNB is in space); but trust the values first. 119 is there, you just have to find it.

Being armed with this new knowledge should help. And don't think your alone in not quite understanding this at first. I spent a week doing exactly what you've been doing, getting 119 into the 129 LNB and 110 into the 119 LNB, and moving the dish the wrong way trying to find 129. It's only after I drew up these drawings for myself did I finally understand what I was doing wrong.

I hope this helps, and good luck
 

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quaklord,

To understand why moving the dish more to the left is the wrong way, you have to understand the geometry of how the sat siganls are received by the dish 1000.2. Look at the two simplfied diagrams I've included.

Notice in the first diagram how the sats are in the opposite order, from left to right, than the order of the LNBs. Follow the colored lines to see the reflected paths of the signals from the sats. In 129's case, it's to the right of the center line of the dish. This means the signal will reflect off he dish to the left into the 129 LNB on the left. The opposite is true of 110. Sat 119 is (should) be directly in line with the center line of the dish, so it's signal reflects straight into the center 119 LNB.

Now look at the second diagram were the dish is rotated to the left. It's a little harder to follow, but in this case the green 119 line is reflected more to the left into the 129 LNB. This also reflects 110 more to the left into the 119 LNB. And the 129 signal is reflected way off to the left beyond any of the LNBs.

So, as you can see, when your only getting 119 into the 129 LNB and 110 into the 119 LNB, you would have to rotate the dish to the RIGHT to gain 129.

As far as hitting 119 with the center LNB, I know it's tedious, but keep at it. Set the dish alignments to the values you got off of dishpointer.com. As far as I can tell, these figures should be a good start. Mentaly map out a 8 to 12 inch square grid pattern at the end of the LNB arm. Slowly move through the grid pattern, 1 inch at a time, starting from the dishpointer.com values as the center of the grid. Unlike other Dish Network dishes, the 1000.2 azimuth value should be close, but the elevation is more likely to off from the calculated values. From your picture, I'd say you need to move the elevation up 5 to 7 degrees (about were the 129 LNB is in space); but trust the values first. 119 is there, you just have to find it.

Being armed with this new knowledge should help. And don't think your alone in not quite understanding this at first. I spent a week doing exactly what you've been doing, getting 119 into the 129 LNB and 110 into the 119 LNB, and moving the dish the wrong way trying to find 129. It's only after I drew up these drawings for myself did I finally understand what I was doing wrong.

I hope this helps, and good luck


RTC, this helps a ton. Thanks so much for taking the time. I will give another try tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
 
quaklord,

To understand why moving the dish more to the left is the wrong way, you have to understand the geometry of how the sat siganls are received by the dish 1000.2. Look at the two simplfied diagrams I've included.

Notice in the first diagram how the sats are in the opposite order, from left to right, than the order of the LNBs. Follow the colored lines to see the reflected paths of the signals from the sats. In 129's case, it's to the right of the center line of the dish. This means the signal will reflect off he dish to the left into the 129 LNB on the left. The opposite is true of 110. Sat 119 is (should) be directly in line with the center line of the dish, so it's signal reflects straight into the center 119 LNB.

Now look at the second diagram were the dish is rotated to the left. It's a little harder to follow, but in this case the green 119 line is reflected more to the left into the 129 LNB. This also reflects 110 more to the left into the 119 LNB. And the 129 signal is reflected way off to the left beyond any of the LNBs.

So, as you can see, when your only getting 119 into the 129 LNB and 110 into the 119 LNB, you would have to rotate the dish to the RIGHT to gain 129.

As far as hitting 119 with the center LNB, I know it's tedious, but keep at it. Set the dish alignments to the values you got off of dishpointer.com. As far as I can tell, these figures should be a good start. Mentaly map out a 8 to 12 inch square grid pattern at the end of the LNB arm. Slowly move through the grid pattern, 1 inch at a time, starting from the dishpointer.com values as the center of the grid. Unlike other Dish Network dishes, the 1000.2 azimuth value should be close, but the elevation is more likely to off from the calculated values. From your picture, I'd say you need to move the elevation up 5 to 7 degrees (about were the 129 LNB is in space); but trust the values first. 119 is there, you just have to find it.

Being armed with this new knowledge should help. And don't think your alone in not quite understanding this at first. I spent a week doing exactly what you've been doing, getting 119 into the 129 LNB and 110 into the 119 LNB, and moving the dish the wrong way trying to find 129. It's only after I drew up these drawings for myself did I finally understand what I was doing wrong.

I hope this helps, and good luck


I GOT IT!!!!!
Thanks to RTCDude
 
Future readers:

Hook up a signal meter to 129. Set elevation and skew to specs. Move the dish left and right around the azumith with a compass. Soon as a signal is reached. STOP. If no signal is present, move it up a bit and try, if still none move it down a bit. Now move the dish slowly left and right until you hear/see 3 distinct readings on the meter. The weak one is 129 to the left . Now peak the weak one moving left and right. Now peak it moving it up and down. Be careful when tightening the bolt because it will change the elevation. Compensate by being a bit off so it will peak when tightened. Now peak it using the skew. This should be the best you can get for 129. Now hook up normally and run a check switch. Enjoy!
 
I GOT IT!!!!!
Thanks to RTCDude

Very glad it worked out for you. It always warms ones cockles a little when you can pass on some useful advice.

I am curious though... How well did the procedures work out for you? Did you have any additional troubles? What were your final Az/El/Sk settings, and how far were they from the dishpointer.com values?

Again, glad to have helped, and happy HD viewing.
 
Very glad it worked out for you. It always warms ones cockles a little when you can pass on some useful advice.

I am curious though... How well did the procedures work out for you? Did you have any additional troubles? What were your final Az/El/Sk settings, and how far were they from the dishpointer.com values?

Again, glad to have helped, and happy HD viewing.

The specs were dead on to dishpointer.com (what an amazing tool, especially for people living in Canada). The mistake I made was getting a tone on the 119 off the bat and thinking I had to go to the left. Your diagram is what made the light bulb goes off. I was way off. About 24 degrees.
 

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