How to aim a satelite dish....
Thread Starter
|
Fleet Owner
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 29,941
Likes: 46
From: Drummonds, TN USA
How to aim a satelite dish....
The first move is to get the local zipcode from the guy at the counter (registration desk) of the RV park (you'll need it later)
Best and first thing to do is make sure the post it is mounted on is plumb - straight with regard to up and down. A cheap level can take care of that.
You can pound a post in the ground, or use a tripod - but get it plumb.
Go to the reciever, and call up the menu. At the right place (search around, you'll find it - probably under "DISH POINTING") and get the altitude and compass setting - this is where you enter the zipcode the nice man at the counter gave you. The compass setting is cleverly disguised as a term called "AZIMUTH", okay? Don't let it throw you.
On the side of the pivoting part of the dish - if you look close you'll see degree markings. This is why setting the post straight is important.
Loosen the pivot, and tweak the dish to the right elevation. Don't lock it down - leave it loose enough to move a little.
Use a compass to find the azimuth - standing behind it and looking right over it across the center.
CRANK THE VOLUME OF THE TV UP ALL THE WAY if you don't have a helper - and go in the dish pointing menu to the tuning page. It will have a bar graph but will also make noise as you get a better signal.
Go out to the dish and tweak it left and right until you get it as loud as you can. Then go for the up and down, carefully.
If the TV can be outside where you can watch the bargraph it works best.
70% or better is a clear signal. Get into the 90% range and you won't have any problems..
~Wolf out
Best and first thing to do is make sure the post it is mounted on is plumb - straight with regard to up and down. A cheap level can take care of that.
You can pound a post in the ground, or use a tripod - but get it plumb.
Go to the reciever, and call up the menu. At the right place (search around, you'll find it - probably under "DISH POINTING") and get the altitude and compass setting - this is where you enter the zipcode the nice man at the counter gave you. The compass setting is cleverly disguised as a term called "AZIMUTH", okay? Don't let it throw you.
On the side of the pivoting part of the dish - if you look close you'll see degree markings. This is why setting the post straight is important.
Loosen the pivot, and tweak the dish to the right elevation. Don't lock it down - leave it loose enough to move a little.
Use a compass to find the azimuth - standing behind it and looking right over it across the center.
CRANK THE VOLUME OF THE TV UP ALL THE WAY if you don't have a helper - and go in the dish pointing menu to the tuning page. It will have a bar graph but will also make noise as you get a better signal.
Go out to the dish and tweak it left and right until you get it as loud as you can. Then go for the up and down, carefully.
If the TV can be outside where you can watch the bargraph it works best.
70% or better is a clear signal. Get into the 90% range and you won't have any problems..
~Wolf out
Moderator
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 6,518
Likes: 917
From: Home Base Nebraska
The best way I have found is to buy in line Satellite Finder, it eliminates half of the steps and it's lot faster. Also don't pound posts in the ground in RV Parks all the services are buried in the ground and not cheap to fix.
Denny
Denny
