Help with Slimline Set-up

[ksu_funny33]

I recently purchased a Slimline 5 LNB satellite kit for tailgating. The satellite I bought was a directv HD 5 LNBF. I received it today and put everything together to the best of my knowledge. I am definitely not a satellite guru so I went by what I saw with my house dish and with what I learned from the web and installation manual. I even read through the thread another guy had installing his just a few days ago. Hopefully you can help me like you helped him!

I am having trouble figuring out how the course knobs and fine adjustment knobs are for the tilt, azimuth, and elevation. Are those the little black knobs? I have gathered the info for my azimuth, elevation, and tilt from dishpointer.com. After putting everything together and leveling out my unit. I began adjusting the elevation and tilt by just loosening the bolts and then tightening them. I assume this is not correct, but I was getting confused by the manual's instructions. I then used a digital compass app to try to direct my azimuth, but I am not quite sure where I should set my phone to direct it. Should I place it on the lnb bar or what? I tried going through the dish installation on my receiver but I only get 0's for the 32 inputs on the 101. I hope you can help me. I am not terrible with electronics typically, but I have never worked with satellites before so hopefully I don't sound too bad. Thanks!

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys, if your receiver is a non dvr you should be able to turn on the sound in dish pointing to help get a signal, it will start beeping faster the better signal you have. I you get a signal mark the mount and dish with a pencil then use the "dithering" adustment to fine tune to get 101 in. After that the others should fall into place.

 

[ksu_funny33]

I do have a regular HD box with no DVR. It is the model H21-200. I have tried going through and getting a signal, but I couldn't seem to pick anything up. Maybe I was moving my dish too fast and not waiting for the signal? I'm not totally sure my tilt, azimuth, and elevation are dialed in correctly. I roughly dialed them in, but I am not totally sure about the azimuth as I am unsure where to aim my compass.

 

[ksu_funny33]

Can anybody offer me some advice? It appears that I was going off of the settings off my home dish, which is a 5-lnb swm and my tailgate dish is just a 5-lnb. I think I need to adjust the settings when I go through the dish setup on my receiver to 5-lnb without the swm set up. I have given up for the night as it is too dark outside to keep at it, but I plan to go after it again tomorrow after I get off of work. I think I might pick up a post level to make sure that I am completely level as I was just using a standard level tonight. I hope that by changing the settings on my receiver set up to not include the swm I will be able to get some signals on the 101 satellite. Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys!

The settings on the dish are the same for swm and non-swm. First, definitely use a post level as opposed to the one in the mast, they are more accurate. If you are using a box from your swm setup, you need to go into the menu for the antenna setup and change it to non-swm. Make sure you are using the azimuth settings for the 101 satellite. You can get the numbers from www.dishpointer.com or they are also in the setup menu in the receiver/dvr. Don't put the compass on the dish or right near it as it will affect it's accuracy. Go behind the dish with it. Good luck!

 

[ksu_funny33]

I will try this after I get off work today. If I remember correctly, the box setup said something along the lines of LNB-5 and then below it SWM was highlighted, but I don't think I could change it to take that off. Do I need to choose another LNB-5 setting? When I get home later, I can read through the other LNB-5 choices so I can provide a better idea of them.

A few other questions...I have the 3 foot RG6 cable running from one of the inputs on the LNB to my satellite finder that came with my kit. I then have a longer RG6 running to a B band converter which is then running into my receiver. I assume that I need the B band converter and that my setup is okay otherwise. I don't seem to get any spikes on the satellite finder as well. I took it off as I thought it might be defective and just planned to use my receiver and then signal meter on it. Instead of the satellite meter joining the two RG6 cables, I have a F81 double female barrel connector. If anything is wrong with my setup, that would be nice to know. Thanks!

 

[ksu_funny33]

Well after coming home and switching the satellite dish settings on my receiver to Slimline 5 and Multiswitch, I got it in what seems like 5 minutes. Almost all of my 101 transponders were >95. I didn't even have the tilt and azimuth fine tuned. I just ran through the setup on my receiver with the help of a directv tech person guiding me over the phone and am now enjoying my shows in HD just fine. I even did it a second time after changing the position of my dish, and I got it in a matter of minutes. It almost feels like I cheated or something as easy as it turned out. After reading and watching all the videos, I was ready for it to take me forever. Hopefully it gets me by!

 

[dfergie]

Glad to hear you got it!

 

[ksu_funny33]

Thanks for all the help!!

Glad to hear you got it!

 

[raoul5788]

Thanks for all the help!!

That's what we are here for!