Newbie Question--Satellite Setup (HELP!)

[hotwire132002]

Hey, I'm trying to set up my Dish 500 dish. I put in all my information, and for my zip it told me the following:

Azimuth: 222
Elevation: 31
Skew: 116

I have a question for each of those. First, for elevation, the marks on the dish don' got as low as 31! Second, for skew, the marks don't got up to 116!

Finally, how do I figure where to point the dish in the way of Azimuth?

Thanks for shedding some light on my situation!

 

[SimpleSimon]

Sorry guy - my Dish 500 has Skew calibrated to 140+ (140 is the highest number stamped), and elevation down below 30 (sun was in my eyes - couldn't see that well).

If the Azimuth number came from the Point Dish screen of your receiver, it's the compass direction - already adjusted for magnetic deviation (as I jut recently discovered - thanks again to whomever that was!).

 

[Mickdog]

Sorry guy - my Dish 500 has Skew calibrated to 140+ (140 is the highest number stamped), and elevation down below 30 (sun was in my eyes - couldn't see that well).

If the Azimuth number came from the Point Dish screen of your receiver, it's the compass direction - already adjusted for magnetic deviation (as I jut recently discovered - thanks again to whomever that was!).

Good thing you were not in the Army Simple, you would have been LBS!!! :shocked

 

[hotwire132002]

Hey, I'm trying to set up my Dish 500 dish. I put in all my information, and for my zip it told me the following:

Azimuth: 222
Elevation: 31
Skew: 116

I have a question for each of those. First, for elevation, the marks on the dish don' got as low as 31! Second, for skew, the marks don't got up to 116!

Finally, how do I figure where to point the dish in the way of Azimuth?

Thanks for shedding some light on my situation!

D'oh! When I was adjusting the dish, I got the numbers mixed up--I was thinking elevation was 116, skew was 31. Figured it out! I feel so stupid...

 

[SimpleSimon]

Don't sweat it. There's only one stupid poster in this thread, and it ain't us.

 

[hotwire132002]

OK, I now have all the angles right (n-truple checked )

I'm still getting no signal. Any advice?

 

[SimpleSimon]

You might try just nudging the dish around a bit, but beyond that now's the time to tell us what your LNBF, switches (if any) and receiver models are.

A generic isolation is to run a single cable directly from port #1 of the LNBF to the receiver.

 

[hotwire132002]

You might try just nudging the dish around a bit, but beyond that now's the time to tell us what your LNBF, switches (if any) and receiver models are.

A generic isolation is to run a single cable directly from port #1 of the LNBF to the receiver.

I'm not sure what model the LNBF is, but I know it's a DishPro on a "Dish 500" dish. There are no switches, the dish is connected directly to the receiver. The receiver is a Dish 301.

 

[Mr Tony]

hook up a cable to the left output on the LNB (the thing on the front of the dish) and run directly to receiver.

If your skew and elevation are right, its pretty simple from there

 

[hotwire132002]

hook up a cable to the left output on the LNB (the thing on the front of the dish) and run directly to receiver.

If your skew and elevation are right, its pretty simple from there

That's how I'm hooked up--and I'm still not getting any signal.

The dish is mounted on a metal pole, I used a level to make sure it's perfectly vertical, and I checked the skew, azimuth and elevation multiple times.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Aiming a dish is an iterative process. Try swinging the dish as much as 15 degrees each side of where you think it should be. Do it SLOWLY. VERY slowly, and be in earshot of the TV tone or have someone calling to you.

If you still get nothing, it's likely that either the receiver of the LNBF is dead. Find a friend/neighbor with E* DISHPRO and swap receivers. If it ain't DishPro, find someone else to avoid possible damge to their gear (details if you really want them).

 

[hotwire132002]

Aiming a dish is an iterative process. Try swinging the dish as much as 15 degrees each side of where you think it should be. Do it SLOWLY. VERY slowly, and be in earshot of the TV tone or have someone calling to you.

If you still get nothing, it's likely that either the receiver of the LNBF is dead. Find a friend/neighbor with E* DISHPRO and swap receivers. If it ain't DishPro, find someone else to avoid possible damge to their gear (details if you really want them).

I've tried the swinging dealio multiple times, I'll try one more time and if that doesn't work I'll say it's a dead LNBF. I'll keep you updated!

 

[hotwire132002]

I've finally given up. I've been doing everything correctly, according to instructons (and your help!) and no signal. I think I've got a dead LNBF. Oh, well. Hope I have better luck when my Ku dish comes in!

 

[ken0042]

Just a quick question, are you selecting the "Check Switch" before trying to aim? If not, you'll need to.

I recently made the same mistake with my new Dish 500.

 

[Mr Tony]

Just a quick question, are you selecting the "Check Switch" before trying to aim? If not, you'll need to.

I recently made the same mistake with my new Dish 500.

no dont do that.....you get 119 first, THEN do the check switch

 

[SimpleSimon]

What Iceberg said - with the exception that if you've already run a Check Switch and want to get back to square 1, disconnect your sat feeds from the box and run a check switch, then hook back up. To really clear the matrix, diconnect, chkSw, pull power plug, chkSw again, then hook your feeds back up.

 

[ken0042]

Hmmm, this is interesting. I've been reading along and you guys really sound like you know your stuff. But I just double checked the installation instructions that came with my new system and it clearly talks about running the check switch before aiming the dish. It's on page 65. It mentions that in the satellite line you will see "Conn" and under transponders you will see "X."

I haven't set up my own dish yet; I still have some trees to trim. I just want to know if anybody has done this successfully before I try.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Which manual are you looking in - I'd like to check what it says and see if I can figure out why they're saying that.

My preferece (and some other installers I know) is to start the whole thing by going direct from port #1 of the 119 LNBF to the receiver, first thing. That's not always possible of course.

 

[hotwire132002]

I did the Check Switch before searching for the satellite. So, is this wrong? I'm confused

 

[SimpleSimon]

Ken's post has confused me too. So I went to the 311's install manual and sure enough, page 65 says to run Check Switch after connecting but before aiming when installing a DP Twin. The 301 manual has the same info on page 69. It also says to NOT have any external switches in the setup, and if there's a second dish, aim it separately by directly connecting it, Check Switch, then aim. Note that all of this applies to DishPro LNBFs.

Sure sounds logical to me, and the truth is, I don't know why I've done it with a "clear" switch matrix in the past - unless I'm just carrying over some stuff from installing Legacy gear.

One note: You will NOT hurt the equipment either way.

Maybe we could get some of the other experienced installers to weigh in on this?