tried everything

[rockcandy]

I bought a tailgating style system a year ago so that when I go RVing I can have television. I have had ZERO success in getting any signal. I'm familiar with the pointing, leveling, etc. but still nothing.

The dish I'm using in a Directv Dual LNB 18LNBRO-03

The receiver is Model D12MP.

How can I check to see if the dish is even functioning. I bought the entire setup from Satellite Oasis, and they were terrible as far as helping me out.

I dont know if Im not setting things right on the setup page or if Im doing something esle wrong.

Its to the point now, that it has become a challange to me to conquer this *&^) thing.

I have had Directv on the phone telling me what settings I should use but still NADA.

Thanks

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys! Can you hook the receiver up in your house to make sure it works?

 

[rockcandy]

Yes the receiver works. Its a 2nd receiver for a 2nd TV. When we go camping, I grab it and take it with us.

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys rockcandy!

Are you using the same type of dish at both locations? Is the mast plumb? Have you double checked the elevation, skew, and azimuth settings? How about all of the connections?

 

[harshness]

What is the dish mounted on?

There's nothing other than a good coaxial cable required to hook everything up.

My first guess would be that you're not reading the elevation correctly. Many wrongly assume that it is measured off the head of the elevation bolt. The reading is typically based on the edge of the plate that shows through the elevation bolt slot.

Another thing to watch out for if you're using a compass is that the parameters that the receiver gives you are with respect to magnetic North so if you're pointing with respect to true North, you're going to be about 16.5 degrees off in the Seattle area. dishpointer.com gives both the magnetic and true North azimuth numbers.

 

[texasbrit]

the usual cause of this problem is that the dish type is different - see post from Chip. If you have an SWM setup at home, and a non-SWM setup for camping, the receiver won't work at all until you go through satellite setup and change the dish type.
Connect the receiver to the dish.
Go into settings, satellite setup, change multiswitch type to "multiswitch" and then select the correct dish type (18in round).
Then you can start getting the dish aligned.

 

[rockcandy]

I typed up a response to all of the advice and didnt post it, sheesh. So, we'll try again.
The dish is mounted on a heavy duty tripod. I make sure the mast is plumb before I try to aim the dish.
Someone had already told me some time back that I had to chage the switch type to multiswitch.
I just checked dishpointer.com and copied down the information. However it says that the most common satillite is 119W Directv 7S.

If I recall correctly I think Directv told me it was sat 110? I could be totally wrong. Anyway, I have written down the ele 27.8 and the azimuth tru- 140.7 and mag 124.4

The ocas I am using seems to be good quality and it came with the package.

I will try all these changes in the daylight tomorrow and report back on how things went.

Thanks

 

[raoul5788]

AHA! You are using the wrong satellite. the 101 is the one you want. Your elevation is 31.5°, skew is 18.4°, and azimuth is 135.7°.

 

[rockcandy]

Success at last. The problem and I dont know why is that the elevations i was using were way off. As soon as I raised the elevation I got signal. Not sure if its a satellite choice or what. I think Im on 101 and it was about 37degrees for elevati0on.

 

[raoul5788]

Excellent! I'm glad you got it up and working.

 

[harshness]

I think Im on 101 and it was about 37degrees for elevati0on.

Sounds like you're reading the elevation scale incorrectly or your dish is damaged.

 

[raoul5788]

Probably not scaled incorrectly. See rockcandy's post, #7. He was aiming for 110 instead of 101. On the west cost that's too high of an elevation.

 

[harshness]

On the west cost that's too high of an elevation.

Anything over 35.3 degrees from Seattle will shoot over the top of the Clarke Belt.

The concept of a misread first came in Post #5 and I went to some effort to explain what might be happening and how to correct it.

 

[raoul5788]