AIMING A 5 lnb SLIMLINE DISH?

[mluntz]

Once I had signal locked from my Slimline, I did use a meter to fine tune. It made a little difference but not much. I have signals from high 80's to high 90's. and even a couple of 100's on all 5 sats.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Have any of you guys had any luck installing the slimeline ka/ku band dish without the help of a signal meter? I am planning on installing it later this week, and was wondering if the 20 dollar meters from ebay are any good, or just to pay an installer the 80 bucks to do it. Any thoughts?? Thanks

Directv will supply the dish and installation for free. I figured that I would redo it myself if necessary, but the installer did a good job.

I have heard of people aligning them without any meter, using the signal strength on 99 or 103 (which only works if you are near enough to a spotbeam, of course) after an initial alignment on 101 (and 119 for tilt).

 

[Jimbo]

I have heard of people aligning them without any meter, using the signal strength on 99 or 103 (which only works if you are near enough to a spotbeam, of course) after an initial alignment on 101 (and 119 for tilt).

I have done that, I feel that my 99 and 103 for the new mpeg4 signals should come in fine, the numbers are about avg for those sats I guess, it's still to soon to tell seeing for the most part I have yet to see a mpeg4 signal.

I will fine tune if needed, but won't know that till September...
I cannot afford a 3-5 hundred dollar meter and use it a few times a year...

Jimbo

 

[firebert]

I also will be trying the alingnment using the reciever only. I don't want to repeat and questions already asked, but I would love to know the tricks that Jimbo used.

I did mine that way as well, didn't want to spend the money for a meter that I would use 2-3 times a year.
Everything in the 90's for the101,110,119, 99 and 103 in the 60's but I don't know how accurate the meter is for the new sats at this time.

Jimbo

 

[dishcomm]

I did mine that way as well, didn't want to spend the money for a meter that I would use 2-3 times a year.
Everything in the 90's for the101,110,119, 99 and 103 in the 60's but I don't know how accurate the meter is for the new sats at this time.

Jimbo

I use a meter..Nail it every time..it's easy.....

 

[laserlvl]

The signals from 99 and 103 are in a different type of modulation that the Birdog cannot detect. The window for the correct alignment on 101, 110, 119 is about the sixe of a softball. The window for 99 and 103 are abou the size od a golf ball. So you can get good 101, 110, 119 and still only get 60% on 103. 99 is not lit at this time. Wese the dithering process to make sure we are dead center on 101 and 119. Then 99 and 103 will follow, this process is necessary because we cannot directly read 99 and 103. If you do not think this is necessary you can come halp me on the 8-10 service calls we do every day because the dish was installed without the dithering process.

 

[jcrandall]

I too installed my slimline with just the receiver.

I found 101 and got it aroudn 95+. Checked 119 an it was about the same, mid 90s on most transponders (had set tilt before placing it on the mount).

Then I switched to 103c and found most in the 70-80s. I peaked that for a few minutes, got them in the mid 90s, then locked it down. Re-checked 101/119 and still 90+. Then checked the spotbeams on 103s & 99, and the beams that I can pickup here were mostly 98-100. I know of 3 HD LiL markets that I get beams for here, and all looked good.

Not too hard if you know what you are doing and start with 101 then peak to 103c.

 

[ScottChez]

I just did the same thing last night. It works.

On mine there is a fine tune screw for Up and Down. I used that to tweak 103 after 101 was perfect. I tweaked tilt using 119. I got some 100s now on 103!


"I found 101 and got it aroudn 95+. Checked 119 an it was about the same, mid 90s on most transponders (had set tilt before placing it on the mount).

Then I switched to 103c and found most in the 70-80s. I peaked that for a few minutes, got them in the mid 90s, then locked it down. Re-checked 101/119 and still 90+."

 

[Joe Diamond]

Considering what is being offered for installations.........plus the great chance of not getting paid........a five hundred dollar meter is not in my future. The AU-9 works well without a meter. Hit 101 and fine tune a little with your finger. Spend the time making the mast plumb & secure + adjust to the published el & tilt on the ground.

Joe

 

[Jimbo]

I too installed my slimline with just the receiver.

I found 101 and got it aroudn 95+. Checked 119 an it was about the same, mid 90s on most transponders (had set tilt before placing it on the mount).

Then I switched to 103c and found most in the 70-80s. I peaked that for a few minutes, got them in the mid 90s, then locked it down. Re-checked 101/119 and still 90+. Then checked the spotbeams on 103s & 99, and the beams that I can pickup here were mostly 98-100. I know of 3 HD LiL markets that I get beams for here, and all looked good.

Not too hard if you know what you are doing and start with 101 then peak to 103c.

Thank you Masterdeals,

People see to think this is rocket science, perticularlly those that are installers, they had to learn somehow, how did they do thier first installs.
Not everyone can afford to have a 4 hundred dollar meter sitting around the house collecting dust for the half a dozen times I would need it a year.

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

Spend the time making the mast plumb & secure

Joe

Good work Joe,
I hope this was the first thing you did !!!

Jimbo

 

[iwc5893]

Thank you Masterdeals,

People see to think this is rocket science, perticularlly those that are installers, they had to learn somehow, how did they do thier first installs.
Not everyone can afford to have a 4 hundred dollar meter sitting around the house collecting dust for the half a dozen times I would need it a year.

Jimbo

The only rocket science in this job is what was used to put the sat into orbit in the first place.

I've tuned dishes using the receiver, a cheap meter, a medium cost meter, and finally an expensive meter. The only difference between the 4 methods is how much time it takes me. The more expensive the meter, the shorter the time required. For somebody who is paid per job, time is a very important issue. For the hobbyist/home owner who is going to do this a couple of times a year the receiver method works just fine if they are willing to spend the time to do it right.

 

[Mark_R_G]

Ditto what he said. I installed my own HD setup easily, no meter, get very good numbers.

1) Make sure that mast is true. Can't say that one enough.

2) Do this with two people and it goes easily. Person #2 will be reading the strength meters from the reciever to you over a cell or in my case the station to station cordless phones we have.

3) Start off with the settings provided for your zip code, and have the reciever meter on 101.

4) Very slowly sweep the assembly on the mast left to right until you get a signal, rough tune this as best you can, then lock down the mast clamp.

5) Now be methodical, don't rush this part. Go through the adjustments one at a time peaking out each one separately, no I'll turn this one a little then that one a little, that will only get you into trouble, you won't save any time at all.

6) Rinse, repeat #5 for 103.

Tada, push the big red button... 'That was easy".

 

[glz]

I just finished replacing my old dish with a slimline (I did mine completely alone). Would have helped to have someone inside giving me the numbers but I managed to get this pretty dialed in without an external meeter (my friend no showed).

101, 110 & 119 was a peace of cake. Seems 99C & 103C are active now, but 99S & 103S are not. I'm in the low to mid 90s on the "Ku" birds (101,110 &119) & the mid 80s on the "Ka" birds (99 & 103).

I did mine by an accurate leveling of the mast, adjusting the elevation and tilt to the numbers for my area, mounting the antenna on the mast, a compass & a little eye balling, then the signal meeter on my HR21 - Started with 101, then following the video directions (Earlier in this thread) using the HR21 instead of an expensive signal strength meeter... Only took about 45 minutes start to finish...:up

Well worth the effort and anyone can do it.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Good work Joe,
I hope this was the first thing you did !!!

Jimbo

Actually I made sure the dog was tied up, the son-in-law was not armed and the cars in the driveway averaged over fifty thousand each. Then I felt confident to charge by the hour for the wall fish work and phone lines.

The first several hundred installations are a bit daunting but after a while they just snap into place. Now I have to work on sitting my ass on hold a little faster to close the jobs after activation.

If the mast is not plumb you do not swing from left to right you go from north left to south right all afternoon. Damn thing just won't tune!

Joe

 

[Firehawk 157]

Speaking of mast: what size pole does the 5lnb slimline au9 take?
I have a 1 5/8" currently for my outbound Dish Network 1000.2...Glad to see I can aligng it though without a meter, they have my install booked out for over a month... I cannot wait that long!

 

[iwc5893]

Speaking of mast: what size pole does the 5lnb slimline au9 take?
I have a 1 5/8" currently for my outbound Dish Network 1000.2...Glad to see I can aligng it though without a meter, they have my install booked out for over a month... I cannot wait that long!

The slimline uses a 2" OD mast.

 

[brokenarrow]

Hi,

I wanted to give credit to this thread and it's contributors. Short story; This thread helped me dial in my Slimline 5 dish. Long story; I recently upgraded my D*TV subscription to HD and got the HR23 DVR receiver and Slimline 5 dish... Because of some inherant curse I seem to have on me concerning hired help and the work I get from it, I demanded that I personally install the new dish, receiver and switching box. So the install guy gave me the stuff, (including two B band converters, which I did not familiarize myself with by name, only that they connect to the back of the DVR), said, "sign here.", smiled and left. I hooked it all up, banging my head quite a bit trying to line up sats 99 and 103 without early success. I searched far and wide on the internet but this thread right here gave me the best information for manually aiming my dish without an inline signal detector. I DL'd the instruction manual and read the comments here and figured there was some little something the inline tuner did that I couldn't do. (NOT SO!) It just so happened that the new DVR receiver had a glitch and would intermittantly cease responding to the remote, so I called D*TV and had them send me a replacement. So they sent me a HR22 with a new pair of B-band converters. That's when I realized what these things were called and it hit me. I had seen (and largely ignored) a warning in the set up that said "Do not install B-band converters!" Well, until now I didn't know I had because I had put them on like I was told without ever asking him or myself what they were or why I put them there. Turns out that the HR23 already has B-band converters built into it. The second set of B-band converters (external) that the installation dude had given me was blocking my 99 and 103 signal.

So with the HR22 there are no built in B-band converters and it was appropriate to install them. I did so and when I powered up the new unit all my stuff came in beautifully. WOW! HD is cool!


Conclusion: This is a very worthy and accurate thread.



Thanks a LOT!