Just did a self install cannot get picture. signal strength is good.

[Velvet Elvis]

okay fellas- now with new coordinates for a 1000.4 cannot find signal at all- what is best way to line up the azimuth- dishpointer says true and magn- which one do i shoot for, is it that picky.

i loosened skew and elevation and slowly moved it everywhere and cant find nothing- but when i was looking for 110, 119, 129- found them really easy...

 

[HIFI]

they are lower in the sky and almost due east. Do you have clear line of site to the east southeast?

 

[Velvet Elvis]

very clear line of site- never did get near due east dishpointer says 160 degrees i went over to about 135 at the most

 

[HIFI]

set at 37 elevation and 75 on skew and make sure your mast is 100% plumb

 

[Dah-Henny]

For your zip 54247, dishpointer shows, for a 1000.4:

1. EL 36.9
2. AZ true 158.9, magnetic 162.8
3. SK 75

Dish Network shows:

1. EL 37
2. AZ 161
3. SK 75

 

[Velvet Elvis]

cant find any signal fellas- i give up it is plumb skew at 75 went from 180all the way to 90 and up down elevation slowly all over the place and picked up nismiq or something like that

one signal in a half hour up there- what is your guys trick set skew and tighten and slowly go through the motions when its being picky?

 

[HIFI]

i'm assuming you are using the point dish screen and not a meter, so at this point the best you can try is set the sat on 61.5 and transponder 10 on that screen

 

[Velvet Elvis]

i tried that and after a period of time it goes automatically to sat 105

 

[HIFI]

maybe try sat 77 on transponder 21

 

[Velvet Elvis]

is it supposed to be this difficult to find these satellites? when i was set up for wrong ones it was easier- where do i see which dish i have- is there a spot in system info- i saw it on other box but now cant find it.

i tried everything- its a full moon out tonight and full moon looked like about 160 degrees

 

[HIFI]

those are a little tougher to find without a meter. Is the LNB on the dish look like three evenly spaced lenses or two side by side and one off to the side?

 

[Velvet Elvis]

one off to the side- are meters available at any major stores or just specialty stores and internet-

i do have service plan- but i havent updated dish with new address and they may know its my fault. Thought i would give it a try, but this is becoming tough to acquire signal-

thought it was goin to be easy after finding 110, 119, 129 super easy

 

[HIFI]

have yet to see em in your local stores other than maybe rat shack, but knowing that it is a 1000.4 it will be tough to lock in without a meter as those sats are not near as high powered as the 119 and 110

 

[HIFI]

you may look at meters from the dish store that is a sponsor of this site, the link is at the top of the page

 

[HIFI]

real bummer I'm not closer and can run by and point it for ya

 

[Velvet Elvis]

see one at radio shack- i was using point dish with a friend and a walkie talkie

so a meter will make it that much easier?

 

[harshness]

is it supposed to be this difficult to find these satellites?

It can be quite difficult to line up three satellites at once -- especially if you don't know exactly what equipment you've got and exactly where aim. This is why DISH Network typically does it for free. Their installers have meters, line-of-sight scopes and usually quite a bit of experience in finding satellites without lots of back and forth and running around.

 

[Velvet Elvis]

for free? they wanted to run my credit, renew 2 year agreement and charge me for service call?

i have a 1000.4 know which satellites, coordinates and plumb cant seem to find any signal at all

in house wiring is properly wired- I enjoy figuring this stuff out- i am so close and will enjoy that picture so much more

 

[TheKrell]

People have done it themselves; see here for example. The problem with using the receiver is the response time is so slow you can slew across the desired sat and never see it. Since the dish is wider than it is tall, the most sensitive direction is the az setting. If you're using a compass, then you use the "magnetic" number, not the "true" az. I always did my own installs on the smaller Dish 500's sometimes using the receiver, and sometimes using a $20 meter. I think you have to be within about +- 2 deg on a Dish 500 in order to see anything, and then fine tune. The 1000.4 is bigger and you have to get closer before the receiver is useful. I couldn't argue with a free upgrade, so I let a Dish tech do my 1000.4. After an hour or so in preparation, he had it peaked in about 5 minutes using his Sat Buddy.

 

[Tech#344]

Clear the check switch matrix. if it still says 119 or 110 it will not lock on to eastern arc satellites. To clear the matrix disconnect the sat feed from the receiver and run check switch, let it count to 38, then restart the receiver it should then lock on to eastern arc satellites.