Finally got an Eastern Arc Dish and got it pointed

[chapelrun]

This past Sunday stopped by a local house that had an Eastern Arc Dish but missing the LNB and the guy gave me the dish - - said he had just switched to Comcast.

I already had an Eastern Arc Dish but the dish itself was warped. Thus I took the two and put one good one together.

I setup the dish both Sunday and today with a bit of trouble (but not too bad).

According to my zipcode (226xx) the skew should be set to 83 - - - but I found to get the best signal for 61.5, 72.7 and 77 that I needed a skew of 80. I peaked the dish on 72.7 TP 21 with a strength of 64, but the 61.5 strength was low - - - thus I kept playing with the skew until both 61.5 and 77 where as high as I could make them.

61.5 TP 29 strength 69
72.7 TP 21 strength 64
77 TP 21 strength 61

Since 72.7 and 77 are fairly close to the centerline of the dish and 61.5 is furthest from the centerline skew affected 61.5 more than the other 2. I assume others have had to adjust skew to get the best signal on Eastern Arc but since 77 will be going away I wanted my strongest numbers to be 61.5 and 72.7.

I also physically moved the location of my wing dish to 110 since my wing dish had been on 61.5.

 

[MikeD-C05]

This past Sunday stopped by a local house that had an Eastern Arc Dish but missing the LNB and the guy gave me the dish - - said he had just switched to Comcast.

I already had an Eastern Arc Dish but the dish itself was warped. Thus I took the two and put one good one together.

I setup the dish both Sunday and today with a bit of trouble (but not too bad).

According to my zipcode (226xx) the skew should be set to 83 - - - but I found to get the best signal for 61.5, 72.7 and 77 that I needed a skew of 80. I peaked the dish on 72.7 TP 21 with a strength of 64, but the 61.5 strength was low - - - thus I kept playing with the skew until both 61.5 and 77 where as high as I could make them.

61.5 TP 29 strength 69
72.7 TP 21 strength 64
77 TP 21 strength 61

Since 72.7 and 77 are fairly close to the centerline of the dish and 61.5 is furthest from the centerline skew affected 61.5 more than the other 2. I assume others have had to adjust skew to get the best signal on Eastern Arc but since 77 will be going away I wanted my strongest numbers to be 61.5 and 72.7.

I also physically moved the location of my wing dish to 110 since my wing dish had been on 61.5.

Those are great signal strengths for eastern arc dish. I get between low 60s - 70 on 72.7 and between 45-55 on 77 and 60- 70 on 61.5 sat. I'm in southeast Texas and I installed my dish myself back in 2008.

 

[chapelrun]

From page 4 of the instructions on installing the eastern arc dish it says the following . . . .

After the skew is set, do not try to fine-tune the skew angle when aiming the dish.

In most cases, I would totally agree with this statement - - - but in my opinion if this instruction is followed you will not get the best signal for all three satellite locations. If you are able to really peak on 72.7 for highest signal and then use skew to make 61.5 and 77 the highest, seems to be the best way to maximize your signal.


I think the idea of not changing skew is really true for a Dish 500 but not necessarily true for an eastern arc dish.

 

[whatchel1]

This past Sunday stopped by a local house that had an Eastern Arc Dish but missing the LNB and the guy gave me the dish - - said he had just switched to Comcast.

I already had an Eastern Arc Dish but the dish itself was warped. Thus I took the two and put one good one together.

I setup the dish both Sunday and today with a bit of trouble (but not too bad).

According to my zipcode (226xx) the skew should be set to 83 - - - but I found to get the best signal for 61.5, 72.7 and 77 that I needed a skew of 80. I peaked the dish on 72.7 TP 21 with a strength of 64, but the 61.5 strength was low - - - thus I kept playing with the skew until both 61.5 and 77 where as high as I could make them.

61.5 TP 29 strength 69
72.7 TP 21 strength 64
77 TP 21 strength 61

Since 72.7 and 77 are fairly close to the centerline of the dish and 61.5 is furthest from the centerline skew affected 61.5 more than the other 2. I assume others have had to adjust skew to get the best signal on Eastern Arc but since 77 will be going away I wanted my strongest numbers to be 61.5 and 72.7.

I also physically moved the location of my wing dish to 110 since my wing dish had been on 61.5.

77 isn't going away for those that get LIL on it.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Actually you use the azimuth cam to adjust the distance between 72.7 and 77. You can adjust it with a wrench about 3 degrees either left or right to get the best signal on both 72.7 and 77 sats. You can also use the elevation rod to peak even further on your sat dish. I worked on my sat dish install for hours to get everything as peaked as I could. It was also the first time I had ever done an eastern arc dish and it was much difficult to install , than the western arc dish.

 

[gpflepsen]

Actually you use the azimuth cam to adjust the distance between 72.7 and 77. You can adjust it with a wrench about 3 degrees either left or right to get the best signal on both 72.7 and 77 sats. You can also use the elevation rod to peak even further on your sat dish. I worked on my sat dish install for hours to get everything as peaked as I could. It was also the first time I had ever done an eastern arc dish and it was much difficult to install , than the western arc dish.

I put my EA dish up with no issues and no special adjustments; just follow the basics. I think so many stories of difficult installs make people think it's harder than it really is. You have to know what you're doing.

The azimuth cam doesn't adjust the distance between the 72.7 and 77, it just swings the whole assembly. To adjust the distance (or angle) between the two you'd have to adjust the focal point of the dish, length of LNB arms or separation of the LNBs.

 

[MikeD-C05]

The azimuth cam is there to further tweak your install in order to get the highest signal from both 72.7 and 77 sats. You have to get the sweet spot between the two so you get maximum signal for both sats. This is a way to fine tune the dish install before you lock it down. You start with pointing to just 72.7 sat and then you go through the steps to fine tune the dish and then lock it down. I know because until I did the azimuth cam adjustment I had very low signals on the 77 sat and higher on 72.7 sats. Once I adjusted the azimuth cam I got at least 45 - 55 signals on the 77 sat. I think that is why so many people complain about the 77 sat having low signal strengths. They don't adjust the azimuth cam and live with high signal strengths on 72.7 and 61.5 sats. May also be why DISH is just going with the new double lnb for 72.7 and just 61.5 and leaving 77 out entirely. Because installers and most people don't take the time to read the installation directions for the 1000.4 sat dish. I know I read them and followed them line by line very carefully ,because I had never installed this type of sat dish before. May also be why DISH is moving away from the 1000.4 sat dish installs and moving to just standard 1000.2 with the double lnb for 72.7 & 61.5 lnbs. The 1000.2 is simply aim point and lock it down with no further needs to tweek anything.