Jimbo,
Yes, it has complete instructions on how to use it and what to expect.
Actually the Acutrack III plus allows you to look at both the Ka/Ku bands at the same time. This is a feature I believe no other meter in this price range has. It also allows you to see all the individual satellites as well.
Using this meter I was able to get my 5 LNB dish adjusted "dead nuts" for max signal on all the birds especially the 99 and 103 degree satellites which are very critical for good HD on DirecTv. In my opinion, this is a very good meter.
The Acutrac III plus handels both the Directv and Dish network sats. This particular Sat meter is not upgradable through the internet at this time.[/quote]
AIM08,
First off, Welcome to the site !!!
I was looking thru the Birdog's instructions online, just to get an idea, could not find the Acutrac III + one.
I noticed that there were a lot of sats listed in the download info, I know there are a bunch that have nothing to do with Direct or Dish from my days playing with my old C- Band.
Is there a webpage specifically for the Acutrac meters as well ?
You mentioned that it is NOT upgradable as of now, is there a usb or anything like that that would allow upgrades in the future on the unit ?
While I'm only at this time concerned with the D* and DISH sats, I noticed that if I looked for the 99, 101, 103 sats in the birdog list it showed more than just D*'s sats at 101, for example, there is a KV AMC-4 101 West, this would not be the same bird that would be at the D* 101, so IF this was downloadable , would you just d/l the ones that had D* name in them ?
Some have said that the sats will show up with thier names on the screen with this unit, others say No, which is it, when I'm pointing it will say Directv 101, 103 , 99 ?? Or will it just peg a meter like an old cheap one I had years back.
IF this one actually does designate the sat you found, then YES I definatly will invest in it. I really don't want to spend the money on the Birdog as I only do a hand full a year.
By chance, does this also do the new SWM dishes (one line ) ? If not, thats OK, I see it will do the 3 99, 101, 103 dish obviously.
Jimbo,
Thanks for the welcome!
Just go onto Solid Signal website and serach for the Acutrac III plus satellite meter.
I don't know if this meter works for an SWM setup but you can download the manual on-line and check it out.
The alignment method suggested by Zynergi will certainly work and is the method most used by D* installers but it has its caveats for getting the 99 and 103 signals peaked exactly right.
If you live in a strong signal area, you can get a way with peaking the 101 and 119 Sat's and take what you get on the 99 and 103 Sat's but if you want to optimize the signals, IMHO I would suggest using a signal meter that you can see the actual signals from those satellites.
In one of my recent installs of a 5 LNB dish using the standard method suggested above, signal levels on the 99 and 103 Sat's were in the mid 70's. I then hooked up the Acuatrac III plus and by tweaking the actual 99 and 103 satellite signals, I was able to get the signal levels adjusted into the mid 90's.
I think it comes down to personal choice. In my case, once I tried the signal meter above, I won't use anything else. {:>)
