Setup time for satellite tv

[ng2951]

I don't bother leveling all that much. Once I have the elevation, general azimuth, and where north is, I just eyeball it. The real trick is to get the elevation correct. With the exterior speakers on you just slowly traverse with the dish until beeping rate changes, then zero in on the bird.

[ironj]

how many LNB's are you aiming??? My triple is not that forgiving....i can aim a single by eye, and a double with just elevation and looking where the sun is......

the triple on the other hand is not as cooperative....i can usually hit one feed no problem....then getting the other two on the correct lnb's can be frustrating at times...LOL....if the pole aint level, getting the skew and elevation correct for all three feeds takes a LOT of luck and uses up any and all of your good karma you have banked...haha

[1l243]

Same problme I had when I went to the triple from a dual. And the main reason I went with the Tailgator....

[bob213]

I usually plan on 5 beers to get the triple aligned..........

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by ironj

how many LNB's are you aiming??? My triple is not that forgiving....i can aim a single by eye, and a double with just elevation and looking where the sun is......

the triple on the other hand is not as cooperative....i can usually hit one feed no problem....then getting the other two on the correct lnb's can be frustrating at times...LOL....if the pole aint level, getting the skew and elevation correct for all three feeds takes a LOT of luck and uses up any and all of your good karma you have banked...haha

Have you tried aiming 119 first then fine tuning 110 ?

[glendodom]

I am still using the DirecTv 3-LNB satalitte dish. Based on Azimuth/Longitude I get the settings and adjust the dish accordingly. First using a compass I go to the desired azimuth. Then using one of the small signal meters I then fine tune it. By getting on the right azimuth first you are going to pretty well hit the right satalitte when you fine tune with the meter. About 95% this process works great. That other 5% has caused me to have to have a couple beers I have to admit. Sometimes it the box seems to simply have to be rebooted to bring in the signal. I have considered the Winegard systems but then you have to run a power cord to it. You have a 50' cord which supposedly can be extended. I have parked in shady state park areas where it took 100-150 cable to get out to a clear shot. For that reason I haven't yet made the leap to the auto finder systems yet. I had DISH way back and it seemed harder to get on satalittes to me? Unless you go with the larger dish with the 5 node system you can't get HD with DireTv which is a bummer. The Slimline 3 node says it gets HD but don't.

[textman]

I use a DirecTV AU9-SL3 dish. It has 4 feeds so I can feed multiple receivers. I have it mounted on a tv4rv heavy duty mount. This setup works great... All you need to do is set the azimuth, elevation, and tilt according to your location. Use a compass to set the initial azimuth and fine tune using a meter. Set up and tune in takes less than 15 mins. and I get the HD channels except local HD if I am outside of the spot beam...

[comfun1]

How are you all getting your tripod level,doesn't it just rest on the ground? The tripods I see never have any leveling legs or devices.

[1l243]

When I use to have a manual Dish and I used the meter I could not tell which sat I was hitting.

Another thing I found out when setting up the manual dish we use to use walkie talkies DW in the trailer and me outside. I would use a compass. We had a really hard time one time and found out the when the walkie talkie got close to the compass the compass would go way off. So you were pointing the sat in the wrong direction.

My tripod had a level in the end of it which made it easy to center the stand.

The Tailgator comes with 50 feet of Coax. I bought and use a 100 foot Coax on a reel just in case. The Tailgator gets it's power though the Coax and gets HD...

[GASPEDDLER]

Originally Posted by textman

I use a DirecTV AU9-SL3 dish. It has 4 feeds so I can feed multiple receivers. I have it mounted on a tv4rv heavy duty mount. This setup works great... All you need to do is set the azimuth, elevation, and tilt according to your location. Use a compass to set the initial azimuth and fine tune using a meter. Set up and tune in takes less than 15 mins. and I get the HD channels except local HD if I am outside of the spot beam...

X2

Originally Posted by comfun1

How are you all getting your tripod level,doesn't it just rest on the ground? The tripods I see never have any leveling legs or devices.

The TV4RV tripod has three legs which are hinged and can be independently spread as well as extended. This is as easy as it gets!

[textman]

Yep, that is the tripod I have. Great system to get HD in the RV.

[ken0042]

GASPEDDLER- I assume the 5 gallon bucket is to weigh down the dish. I had never thought of that; so simple yet effective. I assume you just fill it with water at your destination, right?

[GASPEDDLER]

Originally Posted by ken0042

GASPEDDLER- I assume the 5 gallon bucket is to weigh down the dish. I had never thought of that; so simple yet effective. I assume you just fill it with water at your destination, right?

Yes, I fill it at the campsite and carry all my coax cables and other satellite gear inside when I'm driving. I actually switched the bucket handle to a metal handle because the plastic handle stretched as I tightened the chain. It stands up to most strong winds. BTW the tripod appears to be a surveyors tripod modified to accommodate a satellite dish. The shiny mast under the dish remains attached to the dish and attaches to the stand by way of a thread tube which is tightened from underneath the mast/platform. Prior to attaching the dish/ mast, a compass drops into that same opening and allows you to point the tripod-that's right you point the tripod-not the dish. After, while you are installing the dish/mast assembly simply line up two marks on the mast and on the tripod and more times than not you get a signal without having to use the meter.

Hers a pic of that mark.

[glendodom]

Nice operation.