Expensive Meter Vs taking Tv and reciever

[skysurfer]

...and never used C band which I believe is probably a somewhat easier to align and will get even easier as they disappear.

With the increase in KU sats for Tv, radio ( in a country with free speech why should we have to pay to listen to radio) and data alignment becomes more difficult as the arc become more crowded.

I find c-band a little harder - the signal can look good on a meter but you won't be dead on the bird. That's why I use Ku-band - much more unforgiving of pointing/alignment errors. C-band just falls into place when you use Ku for aligning.

as for ku-band being crowded and making alignment difficult, I don't have that issue. I have had the issue with my $10 squaker I used to use since it looks at generalized energy and not specific frequencies. With my satfinder meter, no problem. I try to use fairly unique freqs/SR's that stored in my meter so I can know for sure if I"m on the right bird/polarity.

 

[tvropro]

I usually rotate skew through the peak then come back the other way and eyeball my lnbf degrees settings. Then split the difference in degrees and do a lock down.

 

[mbarnes]

...a spectrum analyzer you can simultaneously see both horizontal and vertical frequency outputs of the LNBF at the same time while making adjustments makes peaking very quick. Very easy to see what is happening to both polarities and over the entire frequency range at once.

I will respectfully disagree with part of your comment. The spectrum analyzer is a great tool, but the LNBF will only do one polarity at a time. I have used spectrum analyzers many, many times for dish alignment. Personally, I like the AVCOM units. They are battery powered and you hook them directly to the LNB and it provides the power. Switching is done by the supply voltage, typically 12V for one polarity and 18V for the other. The spectrum analyzer (if designed for the purpose) will have a 12/18 volt switch to flip between polarities.

Other than that, you are absolutely correct, the spectrum analyzer is a great tool. When I was in the business, I had several basic tools. A handheld GPS to get my exact location and a Palm Pilot with an aiming program to get az/el/skew data. Then I had a $5 compass from Wal-Mart and an inclinometer from someplace to roughly set the dish to position. Next I hooked up the spectrum analyzer and a Bulz-I-Meter (high end "squealer") to peak signal strength, verify correct satellite, and tweak polarity.

I would periodically go to dishes on known birds and hook up the SA and find a very easily recognizable signal. I would then take a picture of the SA with the waveform and the settings. Comparing signals during an install with the pictures made satellite recognition almost painless. Everything battery powered and all but the SA fit into a medium sized tool bag.

Worked out great. But only cost effective when you are in the business. I can't justify $3k for home fta use. So, I do what most have recommended here, a receiver, small TV and squealer. In fact, I hope to find a very cheap used receiver some place (yard sale/Craig's list/eBay/etc.) modify it for battery power and match it up with a cheap DVD player that has external video input and put it all together in one small package.

Good luck with your installs.

 

[MikeinBaja]

I used the receiver/TV combo for years until I scored an old Birdog on a swap deal. Sure don't miss dragging power cords and everything else out just to do a little tweaking.

 

[marco916]

You have a laptop computer?

I use laptop PC with USB Capture module, with the Saltbox plugged into it. The one I use is from AverMedia, you can pick one up from your local computer stores for around $39, $49 dollars, I'm sure there's others in the market, I think ATI makes a similar device. They are really made for capturing analog sources from VCR"s Camcorders into digital format. But it makes a handle utility for tuning your Dish, especially if your dish is on the roof or up on the side of the house. It sure beats lugging around a small TV, or running back into the house. If you have a Fry's Electronics in your state near by, they sell the Aver Media Capture devices and others as well.

 

[Larry1]

I will respectfully disagree with part of your comment. The spectrum analyzer is a great tool, but the LNBF will only do one polarity at a time. I have used spectrum analyzers many, many times for dish alignment. Personally, I like the AVCOM units. They are battery powered and you hook them directly to the LNB and it provides the power. Switching is done by the supply voltage, typically 12V for one polarity and 18V for the other. The spectrum analyzer (if designed for the purpose) will have a 12/18 volt switch to flip between polarities.

You are probably right, as it has been a couple (or more, quite a few more) of years since I did see my friend use it, and at this time I do not know if he connected one or two feeds to it. (.... Come to think of it, at that time he was probably using stacked LNBF's AKA StarChoice beer cans) He uses it to setup satellite internet systems, (and did setup StarChoice systems as well).

 

[skysurfer]

Personally, I like the AVCOM units. They are battery powered and you hook them directly to the LNB and it provides the power. Switching is done by the supply voltage, typically 12V for one polarity and 18V for the other. The spectrum analyzer (if designed for the purpose) will have a 12/18 volt switch to flip between polarities.

1) I picked up my $300 satmeter because the AVCOM portable I used to use has a few issues - the internal battery cannot hold a charge (yes, I could probably find a replacement), but more importantly the AVCOM doesn't suport diseqc or 22khz tone that a lot of modern LNBs need nowdays. I figured $300 for a great portable meter that actually locks onto a signal of various types with precise readout of various things - s/n and ber - and control of everything you would need in a modern lnb/system (freq, sr, lo, tone, diseqc control, etc) is better than a few grand for another AVCOM if they even make a model nowdays for satellite with diseqc and 22khz tone features added in to what the 37D had.

2) it doesn't take a proper spectrum analzyer to have a 12/18V switch. For satellite use, yes it should have one, but my primary and backup spec analyzers (not the avcom portable) are lab quality, not satellite-designed, so it doesn't have the power switch or power and I run a dc-blocked tap to my lab-quality analyzers when I use my various sat receivers.

 

[pedrogarcia]

There is always a great sense of achievement when you manage to align with a TV and a receiver and if you have Iceburg experience it is great. Me I hate the cold and prefer to align using my Satlook NIT knowing I am spot on. I can download or scan in the warm.
As Updatelee said earlier it is not just alignment you are also able to determine LNB, cable, connector, Diseqc, differences and faults without resorting to substitution.

 

[14karat]

Hey Iceberg,
If it hits -27 here I'll probably be under the house with a blowtorch trying to thaw the water lines. The wife wouldn't let me LOOK at a TV screen if the pipes are froze...

 

[Tron]

If it hits -27 next door in Mississippi, I'm moving down to the Equator!

Wait, that'll give me fits with my satellite reception, better not

 

[GreatFTA]

Good thing about my Trimax 1100 meter, if I have a power failure and wanted to see TV, hook up the cable from the dish to it and ta daaa... TV!!!!

 

[emuman100]

You know, I've had varying results, actually. I have a Maxpeak SAM DVB-S meter. Using a Visionsat IV-200, I could bot find Montana PBS. With the meter, I found the signal (not sure what signal it is seeing). I found AMC1 vertical with the meter too, and got alignment spot on, much much easier than I could with either the Visionsat or Scientific Atlanta D9234. The Fortec Star scalar ring mounting arms are not made for heavy Chaparral feedhorns and Norsat LNBs, so I always found it difficult to align.

My meter allows you to add only the satellites you want via a settings file that you can download from the website. It never had a setting for AMC10, so I aligned it with a commercial Motorola DSR-4410 receiver, tuned to the Weather Channel multiplex. But, either the 8' Fortec Star is just so hard to align because it's cheap, or the elevation for AMC10 is low where I live, or trees may be in the way, but I just can't seem to get a good signal.

My dishes stay at the birsd they are pointedc at, and I usually find, with Fortec Star dishes, becaise they are made so cheaply, are very hard to align.

 

[pendragon]

I really prefer tweaking with a bench-grade spectrum analyzer, but lugging my massive HP on the roof would be crazy. Instead I haul my laptop and video conference over wireless to my lab machine that runs a web cam pointed at the analyzer. I've also thought of rigging up a network-attached IEEE-488 interface to the analyzer to control the beast remotely and save particularly interesting screen/data captures on the fly.