asl-1 discontinued?

[3oldman]

What's up with that? I went to Solid Signal and it says 'discontinued.' From what I'm reading I *must* have this unit to aim my SWM3 using an FS1 meter.

Yes, I can find it elsewhere, but why would it be discontinued?

 

[BobStokesbary]

What's up with that? I went to Satpro and it says 'discontinued.' From what I'm reading I *must* have this unit to aim my SWM3 using an FS1 meter.

Yes, I can find it elsewhere, but why would it be discontinued?

I am confused. I just added one to my cart on satpro and had no trouble. Where do you see that it is discontinued? (I am just glad I bought mine last year. That is quite a price hike.)

On edit: There are a number of sites that still sell the ASL-1 and at a price much better than Satpro. Just do a search.

 

[3oldman]

Where do you see that it is discontinued?

Sorry.. that was at Solid Signal. OP edited.

 

[Jimbo]

Why do you need this high dollar meter ?

 

[BobStokesbary]

Why do you need this high dollar meter ?

Jimbo,
The ASL-1 is not a meter. It is a converter that allows non-SWM meters to work with SWM. Last year it cost $20. This year it is $27.
Bob

 

[3oldman]

Why do you need this high dollar meter ?

I assume you're referring to my FS1.

I don't know.. because cheap never works for me and this meter was touted as a good one? I did a lot of research before splurging on a good meter, and I'm sure in time I'll think of it as such, but it is quite complicated for a novice like me. If you have any other suggestions that don't involve me throwing money away on crap, I'm all ears.

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo,
The ASL-1 is not a meter. It is a converter that allows non-SWM meters to work with SWM. Last year it cost $20. This year it is $27.
Bob

I assume you're referring to my FS1.

I don't know.. because cheap never works for me and this meter was touted as a good one? I did a lot of research before splurging on a good meter, and I'm sure in time I'll think of it as such, but it is quite complicated for a novice like me. If you have any other suggestions that don't involve me throwing money away on crap, I'm all ears.

Are you guys setting up these dishes every day, or once in a while, if your doing it as your job, then yes I can understand, but if your like alot of us, just setting up the occasional one, I find no need for a meter, or the addl hardware to use it with.

Use the recvr meter and a bit of patience.
If you've set up more than a few you probably can get it set up with a level and a compass in 15-20 minutes anyways.

Practice and patience !

 

[BobStokesbary]

Are you guys setting up these dishes every day, or once in a while, if your doing it as your job, then yes I can understand, but if your like alot of us, just setting up the occasional one, I find no need for a meter, or the addl hardware to use it with.

Use the recvr meter and a bit of patience.
If you've set up more than a few you probably can get it set up with a level and a compass in 15-20 minutes anyways.

Practice and patience !

Jimbo,
I use the meter when we are on our RV trips where there are probably eight or more setups per trip. I bought the meter when I was new to DirecTV and didn't know what was really involved with doing dish setup and wanted to minimize my issues. I also watched a couple in another RV doing the yelling out the window routine and just thought it would not work for my wife and me. If I was only going to do this once or maybe if I needed to "tweak" my dish I would use the meter in the receiver and just run a long coax to our small tv to do the alignment. Now that I have the meter I enjoy being able to do it all at the dish and then just plug it in and watch.
Bob

 

[schneid]

Long story short, OP started a long thread on RV_Net about his "meter" which seems to be a PIA. His issue was that it didn't work with his SWM SL3 because a SWM LNB needs more juice than a meter or receiver can provide. Hence you must get a SWM Power Inserter into the mix. The ASL-1 is a gizmo, really kind of a glorified splitter, that has connectors to the dish, the 101 and 119 ports on the meter, the PI, and 18v out to power the meter if required.

The thread is here. It is interesting academic reading.

RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Technology Corner: First Strike meter..first use

For the time being OP is connected as a nice man with a $600 Super Buddy got him sighted in.

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo,
I use the meter when we are on our RV trips where there are probably eight or more setups per trip. I bought the meter when I was new to DirecTV and didn't know what was really involved with doing dish setup and wanted to minimize my issues. I also watched a couple in another RV doing the yelling out the window routine and just thought it would not work for my wife and me. If I was only going to do this once or maybe if I needed to "tweak" my dish I would use the meter in the receiver and just run a long coax to our small tv to do the alignment. Now that I have the meter I enjoy being able to do it all at the dish and then just plug it in and watch.
Bob

I agree that if you don't have another person around, it's very handy ...

Does this meter tell you what Sat your hitting, or does it show when it hit ALL the sats up there ?

IF it tells you what your hitting, then yes that would be helpful.
I want one that beeps when I hit the Sat I need to hit and thats it.
This may be the case, if it's able to be told what sats you want would be great.

If so, let me know I may be interested as having someone else around is not always possible.

Fwiw, I am NOT using a SWM set up in the Motorhome as that would just add another satep to the process, not needed in this instance.

 

[BobStokesbary]

Jimbo,
I totally agree, it would be really great to have a meter that knows what bird you are pointing to. My Accutrac II does not. On my third setup I got all lined up on 110 and nothing worked. Fortunately someone on another forum realized what I had done and got me straightened out quickly. Since then, I am more careful on the direction and can always find 101 with relative ease. I guess it is everyone to their own devices. I find the meter handy to have around and like the convenience of being able to do it myself. (My wife is usually busy doing other things in the RV when we stop.) I was also new to satellite service when I got my dish and wanted to keep the same configuration in the RV that I have at home since I take the bedroom HR24 along with us. It is just easier to minimize the things I have to change on the various parts of the system.
Bob

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo,
I totally agree, it would be really great to have a meter that knows what bird you are pointing to. My Accutrac II does not. On my third setup I got all lined up on 110 and nothing worked. Fortunately someone on another forum realized what I had done and got me straightened out quickly. Since then, I am more careful on the direction and can always find 101 with relative ease. I guess it is everyone to their own devices. I find the meter handy to have around and like the convenience of being able to do it myself. (My wife is usually busy doing other things in the RV when we stop.) I was also new to satellite service when I got my dish and wanted to keep the same configuration in the RV that I have at home since I take the bedroom HR24 along with us. It is just easier to minimize the things I have to change on the various parts of the system.
Bob

I was really HOPING you were gonna tell me that you found a meter that does tell you what Sat your hitting.... short of the Birgdog, I don't know of any.

 

[schneid]

SWM is great on the road. Eliminates one feed and you no longer have to manually switch from SWM to Multiswitch. The receivers auto-detect SWM LNB's. That saves two steps. The ASL-1 provides all the connection points.

 

[Jimbo]

SWM is great on the road. Eliminates one feed and you no longer have to manually switch from SWM to Multiswitch. The receivers auto-detect SWM LNB's. That saves two steps. The ASL-1 provides all the connection points.

Of course if you Dont use the SWM, you don't need to worry about changing the settings at all.

I use a SL3 at home as well as in the RV, so no changes at all.... no steps removed.

Like I said before, 15-20 minutes and your done, how much more time do you want to save ?

When they finally come out with a Carryall or whatever they call it now that I can sit it outside and it will set itself up , then that will be even better, but till then and they make it at a reasonable price, I'll go the old way.
Btw, I don't watch anything on SD.

 

[schneid]

Of course if you Dont use the SWM, you don't need to worry about changing the settings at all.

I use a SL3 at home as well as in the RV, so no changes at all.... no steps removed.

Like I said before, 15-20 minutes and your done, how much more time do you want to save ?

When they finally come out with a Carryall or whatever they call it now that I can sit it outside and it will set itself up , then that will be even better, but till then and they make it at a reasonable price, I'll go the old way.
Btw, I don't watch anything on SD.

They switched me to SWM when I added DECA so I matched up the RV.

 

[3oldman]

if you don't have another person around, it's very handy ...

Does this meter tell you what Sat your hitting, or does it show when it hit ALL the sats up there ?

IF it tells you what your hitting, then yes that would be helpful.
I want one that beeps when I hit the Sat I need to hit and thats it.
This may be the case, if it's able to be told what sats you want would be great.

I rarely have another person around.

The meter does *not* tell you what sat you're hitting -per se. You tell IT what sat you want, and then when YOU find it, it tells you. It does one sat at a time.

Beeps?.. well, that's a bit strange. It does beep (all the time) but I'm not yet sure if the beeps change when the signal comes in. I spent hours with this thing and I managed to find a weak 101, but the beep changed to a growly-froggy sound, not something with faster beeps as I expected.

The guy who actually sighted my dish used an $800 meter which didn't do the beep thing very well either. And I really need that if I want to leave my meter inside and listen instead of dragging it outside and having to watch it.

Yes, it's able to be told what sats you want.

I'm not with the dish this week so I can't do much more experimenting. I got some 'parameter' values for sats which I'll be playing with. Bottom line on this meter is that I think it's weird that as a user you have to enter lots of numbers just to find a satellite.

 

[Jimbo]

I rarely have another person around.

The meter does *not* tell you what sat you're hitting -per se. You tell IT what sat you want, and then when YOU find it, it tells you. It does one sat at a time.

Beeps?.. well, that's a bit strange. It does beep (all the time) but I'm not yet sure if the beeps change when the signal comes in. I spent hours with this thing and I managed to find a weak 101, but the beep changed to a growly-froggy sound, not something with faster beeps as I expected.

The guy who actually sighted my dish used an $800 meter which didn't do the beep thing very well either. And I really need that if I want to leave my meter inside and listen instead of dragging it outside and having to watch it.

Yes, it's able to be told what sats you want.

I'm not with the dish this week so I can't do much more experimenting. I got some 'parameter' values for sats which I'll be playing with. Bottom line on this meter is that I think it's weird that as a user you have to enter lots of numbers just to find a satellite.

What meter is it again ?
You say you can tell it which one your looking for and that's the only one it will see, well that's Great if that's what its doing.

Fwiw, if your setting this up with tha meter, wsouldnt you want to have the meter hooked up at the dish, so you could see the changes ?

You want to hit the Directv Sat at the 101 location, if the tilt and elevation is setup ahead of time, when you find the 101, the rest should fall into place.
Also, makesure you have a compass as well.
Sent from my Samsung Epic using SatelliteGuys

 

[3oldman]

What meter is it again ?
wsouldnt you want to have the meter hooked up at the dish, so you could see the changes ?

First Strike FS1. Not necessarily. I've been setting up sd for years using just the beeps on the receiver amplified really loud. I have no idea why dtv chose not to include that in the newer receivers. Im trying to mimic that with a meter, and it wold be nice just to leave the meter in place inside. Alas, that may be impossible.