Help for portable dish

[georgepink]

hi all, and thanks in advance for any assistance.

I have checked with DTV and what I am trying to do is perfectly ok with them.

I have a travel trailer that I want to bring one of my STB's with me when I travel. I purchased a tripod mounted dish <small oval with 3 LNB's>. With the dish, I received a signal meter.

Ok, so I run an rg6 cable from my TT to the dish in my back yard. I put it right next to the dish that feeds my entire house, so line of site should be fine.

I set the azimuth, tilt, and elevation to what the web shows for my location.

If I hook up the meter, I get a green light <occasionally> and a beep <occasionally>, but nothing steady, and nothing consistent. the needle shows 0...at least that is consistent. I have made small adjustments, slowly and still get nothing.

So, I chalked it up to possibly a bad meter (to test I put it between my home setup <not through a switch, but directly to the dish and a receiver> and I get the same thing, although a little more consistency on the light, but still the needle shows 0 for signal.

ok, so then I pull the meter out and go back to 'absolute' settings. when I check my stb for any kind of signal I get 0's on every satellite and every transponder. Even if I still need slight adjustments, shouldn't I get at least a bad signal if I'm aimed in the general direction? I'm going to try, next, to eliminate the trailer's wiring to see if it is something there, rather than my setup.

<as an aside, DTV tech was here about 5 months ago to troubleshoot some problems and left behind a 3 LNB 'bar', so I have also tried using that-the problem that the 'new lnb' was put in for has not changed, so I am pretty sure the 'old LNB' is fine.>

my question is this. how precise should the aim be to get at least something? am I right in assuming I should at least get some kind of response? Also, can you recommend an easier method of aiming the dish? I've already spent close to 10 man hours trying to get this, and the only reason I want it is so the kids will have something to do if it's raining or if we need to check the weather forecast. I really don't want to spend hours and hours of my camping time, trying to get this blasted thing working.

ok, end rant and rave. Thank you for looking. And again, I appreciate any assistance.

George

 

[HDinCincy]

hi all, and thanks in advance for any assistance.

I have checked with DTV and what I am trying to do is perfectly ok with them.

I have a travel trailer that I want to bring one of my STB's with me when I travel. I purchased a tripod mounted dish <small oval with 3 LNB's>. With the dish, I received a signal meter.

Ok, so I run an rg6 cable from my TT to the dish in my back yard. I put it right next to the dish that feeds my entire house, so line of site should be fine.

I set the azimuth, tilt, and elevation to what the web shows for my location.

If I hook up the meter, I get a green light <occasionally> and a beep <occasionally>, but nothing steady, and nothing consistent. the needle shows 0...at least that is consistent. I have made small adjustments, slowly and still get nothing.

So, I chalked it up to possibly a bad meter (to test I put it between my home setup <not through a switch, but directly to the dish and a receiver> and I get the same thing, although a little more consistency on the light, but still the needle shows 0 for signal.

ok, so then I pull the meter out and go back to 'absolute' settings. when I check my stb for any kind of signal I get 0's on every satellite and every transponder. Even if I still need slight adjustments, shouldn't I get at least a bad signal if I'm aimed in the general direction? I'm going to try, next, to eliminate the trailer's wiring to see if it is something there, rather than my setup.

<as an aside, DTV tech was here about 5 months ago to troubleshoot some problems and left behind a 3 LNB 'bar', so I have also tried using that-the problem that the 'new lnb' was put in for has not changed, so I am pretty sure the 'old LNB' is fine.>

my question is this. how precise should the aim be to get at least something? am I right in assuming I should at least get some kind of response? Also, can you recommend an easier method of aiming the dish? I've already spent close to 10 man hours trying to get this, and the only reason I want it is so the kids will have something to do if it's raining or if we need to check the weather forecast. I really don't want to spend hours and hours of my camping time, trying to get this blasted thing working.

ok, end rant and rave. Thank you for looking. And again, I appreciate any assistance.

George

We need a little more info. Are you trying to get HD? The absolute easiest way to use D* on the road (and I've done it for years) is with the round dish. It has a single white LNB (although there are two in it I believe.) I can align it with no instruments or anything. You can buy 'em on ebay for $20 or less. If all you want is SD and ease of alignment, go for that one.

 

[harshness]

The Phase III dish needs to point decidedly to the west of where a Ku/Ka dish points.

Use Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com and select the appropriate setup from the "Multi-LNB" menu. This is also the place that you'll want to go before you travel so that you can get the correct aiming information for any distant camping locations.

 

[boba]

You are looking for a satellite about the size of a van 22,300 MILES above the Equator. You need to be dead on in your aiming, it isn't a TV antenna that just connecting it will get you some pictures.

 

[georgepink]

We need a little more info. Are you trying to get HD? The absolute easiest way to use D* on the road (and I've done it for years) is with the round dish. It has a single white LNB (although there are two in it I believe.) I can align it with no instruments or anything. You can buy 'em on ebay for $20 or less. If all you want is SD and ease of alignment, go for that one.

No, at this point not shooting for HD, just SD for now. What makes a single LNB easier to point than a multi LNB? I mean, I'll buy one if that what it takes, but, how can that make it easier. If I can understand, then I'd feel better about throwing another $20 into it.

 

[Jimbo]

No, at this point not shooting for HD, just SD for now. What makes a single LNB easier to point than a multi LNB? I mean, I'll buy one if that what it takes, but, how can that make it easier. If I can understand, then I'd feel better about throwing another $20 into it.

With SD, you only need the old single lnb dish. (only need the 101 sat)
Once you get to HD your looking at multiple sats . HD could be on up to 3-5 sats.

Jimbo

 

[BlueEos]

We're dealing with small correction here...

You are looking for a satellite about the size of a van 22,300 MILES above the Equator. You need to be dead on in your aiming, it isn't a TV antenna that just connecting it will get you some pictures.

There is an old rule that for every 1 degree of error, at 60 miles, you will be 1 mile off. Using this rule, a one degree of error will point you over 300 miles off at the satellite altitude above the equator. Actually, the error will be more for someone located North or South of the equator (depending on how far you are away from the equator).

 

[HDinCincy]

With SD, you only need the old single lnb dish. (only need the 101 sat)
Once you get to HD your looking at multiple sats . HD could be on up to 3-5 sats.

Jimbo

Jimbo beat me to it! With the "old" dish, as long as your elevation is correct, you can quite easily use the meters on your receiver's set up page to align the dish. I make sure my post is perfectly vertical (I use a "bullseye" but they're getting hard to find) and then simply slowly rotate the dish on the post until you get a strong audio signal (D11) and then lock that puppy down. Getting your support (in your case the tripod) PERFECTLY plumb is key. Good Luck!