Traveling with DirecTV on East Coast

[baraff]

Hi all - I'm new to this forum. I live in Chicago and travel to the east coast in our RV. When I take my RCA receiver with I notice that I have no problem getting a signal EXCEPT when I'm on the coast, specifically the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Virginia Beach and Chincoteague Island, VA. On the RV I have a built-in sat dish with elevation finder. I punch in the zip on the receiver and set the elevation and azimuth to the recommended settings and NADA. Once I got a "blip" of 68 signal strength, but was never able to get it back. It works great throughout the midwest and away from the coast, but never once have I gotten a signal near the ocean.
I suspect its a transponder issue, but I have tried various settings with no luck. Anyone else had this problem, or have a solution?
Thanks!
baraff

 

[grydlok]

Maybe where you are parking has no line of sight. You may need to buy a tripod and dish and move it around to a spot that will work.

 

[baraff]

Maybe where you are parking has no line of sight. You may need to buy a tripod and dish and move it around to a spot that will work.

Thanks for the reply, but that is not the case. Especially on the Outer Banks, where there were no trees and clear blue sky. I seem to have this problem everytime I go east.
baraff

 

[chasfm11]

I recently traveled to Wyoming and had similar problems. I never have problems in Texas.

Based on this link http://www.dbsforums.com/images/map.gif
I believe a correction is needed to the information provided by the receiver. It appears to be giving you the azimuth in True North versus magnetic north. For the Outer Banks, it appears that the declination is 11 degrees east.

You have nothing to loose by adding 11 degrees from whatever azimuth you are using and trying your search from there. Since I was in Yellowstone when I tried mine, I should have subtracted 14 degrees. I swung my dish 20 degrees east and west of the azimuth provided but it might not have been enough. I sure wish I could go to Yellowstone again to try my theory.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Baraff,
Also know that the az info is to the middle sat (110) but most of your DTV programming is nine degrees over to the left (east). Add that to the mix with the compass deviation for the area..may help.

Joe

 

[chasfm11]

Oh, Joe. Where were you when I needed you? Thank you for clearing up the mystery for me.

No wonder that I couldn't find the 101 in Wyoming. I was sure that I lined up the dish compass exactly with the magnetic compass but that put me 14 degree off in Yellowstone (True North declination). Add another 9 degrees and it is suddenly clear to me why my swinging 20 degrees on either side of the azimuth provided by the receiver didn't get me near the 101.

Thanks so much again. What a load off of my mind.

Charlie

 

[baraff]

Thanks Guys, this makes sense. I will give it a try next time I'm on the Outer Banks!