Dish 500 on old SuperDish pole - easy right

[zevs]

Just moved into a house that faces pretty much southwest. There was a SuperDish already mounted on a pole about midway on the northwestern side of the house, so I thought it would be no big deal to pop off the old SuperDish and use the same pole for my trusty Dish 500 with DishPro+.

So, I popped it off and used an engineering compass to line up my Azimuth with a vertical sight to the pole and saw lots of blue sky and figured all was well. Well, when I get the 500 on there and line up the seam on the back of the mount to the Azimuth, my SF95 does get a lower reading at best (although it's at about 5 degrees higher in elevation than I would expect) but my 622 doesn't register anything on the signal meter.

I did a bore sight off the arm with a drinking straw about where the LNB is, and it looks to be right smack on the very corner of the house. I guess the difference in my compass line-up the boresight is the skew to get 110?

So, am I missing something? The house hasn't moved or been added on to and the pole had a ton of cement on it so I figured the previous tenants were happy with the placement. Shouldn't I be able to use the same pole that a working SuperDish was mounted on for a Dish 500?

 

[garys]

A Superdish points slightly to the left than a Dish 500. Depending on what would be in your line of sight could move dish several feet. It may be easier to fit the lnb on the Superdish and use that for 110 and 119.

 

[zevs]

When you say it points slightly to the left, is that left facing the dish or behind the dish?

I tried to switch the LNBs but the SuperDish's arm was just slightly too big. Maybe I didn't give it enough elbow grease though...

 

[Anole]

few thoughts:

I'm thinking you should be having better luck.
But reading over your post, these things came to mind:

- I thought the SuperDish used a larger pole, and your 500 shouldn't fit...?
- when using your compass, did you allow for the local magnetic variation (error)?
- the seam on the back of the dish is not a valid aiming point
- did you run a switch check on the receiver?
- actually, you should know how to reconnect your old switch and dish, but is it necessarily all hooked up properly?
- using the LNB arm and boresighting on it is not very productive; the skew will cause confusion
- where are you located? do you have the correct skew dialed in?
- don't know alll the latest 500 variants, but doubt the SuperDish LNB bracket will fit it

 

[garys]

When you say it points slightly to the left, is that left facing the dish or behind the dish?

I tried to switch the LNBs but the SuperDish's arm was just slightly too big. Maybe I didn't give it enough elbow grease though...

From behind the dish.

 

[topcat0399]

a few anti-thoughts

I'm thinking you should be having better luck.
But reading over your post, these things came to mind:

- I thought the SuperDish used a larger pole, and your 500 shouldn't fit...?
- when using your compass, did you allow for the local magnetic variation (error)?
- the seam on the back of the dish is not a valid aiming point
- did you run a switch check on the receiver?
- actually, you should know how to reconnect your old switch and dish, but is it necessarily all hooked up properly?
- using the LNB arm and boresighting on it is not very productive; the skew will cause confusion
- where are you located? do you have the correct skew dialed in?
- don't know alll the latest 500 variants, but doubt the SuperDish LNB bracket will fit it

to fit a 500 on a superdish pole, use a pole adapter or scab a piece of 1-5/8 pole on the top of the 2" pole. when attaching that extension it must be PLUMB in 2 directions - otherwise your initial settings/aiming on the dish can become meaningless.

any sat finder will give you the magnectic aiming point for the center of the D500, or simple math fiqures it out.

the SEAM of the dish is absoluetly a valid aiming point, since the D500 is an OFFSET dish, the LNB arm sighting will throw you off ALOT. You stand behind the dish and sight THRU that seam to the magnectic azimuth that is exactly BETWEEN 110 and 119 in your area.

cant you just use the existing superdish as it is for 110/119? its designed for that. the superdish is aimed almost the same as the D500. That aim should certainly register on a checkswitch/receiver right off the bat. then you can easily tweak it.

post your area code for aiming data please.

 

[zevs]

Some new info:
I'm in Tennessee, 37934. I'm going straight off the azimuth my 622 gives for that zip (which is 228) on my compass. I didn't move far; my old zip gives the same coordinates, so I haven't changed the skew.

The pole had a small section of PVC added over top originally to accommodate the need for a larger pole for the SuperDish. I took the PVC off and it fit the 500.

I tried again to fit the Dish Pro+ LNB on the arm but the holes don't line up at all, so that still didn't work too well.

I went back to the 500, and moved it around a lot, but my 622 only ever picked up 129. There're some trees in the area that are out of the way on my compass but the arm and LNB point dangerously in their direction on the edge of the house, and they may have grown up since the SuperDish was last used. So, I got frustrated and used an old pole on the other side of my house where there are less trees and doggawnit, but I could only find 110.

So here's what I'm thinking: go back to the SuperDish which still has the original elevation locked down, do one straight line from tuner1 on the 622 to the 119 LNB, cut down the suspicious trees, get 119, rewire and see if I can get 110.

On this train of thought, here're some questions that came up:

I thought I read to avoid adjusting for magnetic variation. Do I need to do this?

I couldn't find any labels on the SuperDish. Which LNB is 119? The middle one?

When I put in "SuperDish" on my 622 it tells me to pick 105 or 121 and then gives me azimuths of 216 and 235 respectively. Which one do I use?

I do a checkswitch after I've picked something up, not before, right?

The trees that might be the culprits are tall but flimsy Birches; should be easy to cut. There's a thicker apple-tree-looking one also. It's father down a slope and no where near as tall, but how can I tell for sure if it's in the way too? I've heard of installers saying "that one's the problem". How do they know so specifically?

 

[topcat0399]

Some new info:
I'm in Tennessee, 37934. I'm going straight off the azimuth my 622 gives for that zip (which is 228) on my compass. I didn't move far; my old zip gives the same coordinates, so I haven't changed the skew.

The pole had a small section of PVC added over top originally to accommodate the need for a larger pole for the SuperDish. I took the PVC off and it fit the 500.

I tried again to fit the Dish Pro+ LNB on the arm but the holes don't line up at all, so that still didn't work too well.

I went back to the 500, and moved it around a lot, but my 622 only ever picked up 129. There're some trees in the area that are out of the way on my compass but the arm and LNB point dangerously in their direction on the edge of the house, and they may have grown up since the SuperDish was last used. So, I got frustrated and used an old pole on the other side of my house where there are less trees and doggawnit, but I could only find 110.

So here's what I'm thinking: go back to the SuperDish which still has the original elevation locked down, do one straight line from tuner1 on the 622 to the 119 LNB, cut down the suspicious trees, get 119, rewire and see if I can get 110.

On this train of thought, here're some questions that came up:

I thought I read to avoid adjusting for magnetic variation. Do I need to do this?

I couldn't find any labels on the SuperDish. Which LNB is 119? The middle one?

When I put in "SuperDish" on my 622 it tells me to pick 105 or 121 and then gives me azimuths of 216 and 235 respectively. Which one do I use?

I do a checkswitch after I've picked something up, not before, right?

The trees that might be the culprits are tall but flimsy Birches; should be easy to cut. There's a thicker apple-tree-looking one also. It's father down a slope and no where near as tall, but how can I tell for sure if it's in the way too? I've heard of installers saying "that one's the problem". How do they know so specifically?

LOL - sorry. had to laugh. i think you are saying that you were trying to put a DP Plus Lnb on the superdish. It wont work. The superdish LNB only fits on the superdish. The DP Plus only fits on a Dish500 (well the old 1000 dish too but...) anyway:

The 119 LNB on the superdish is marked "DBS" on the back. The one marked "FSS" is for 121. dont even connect that anymore - you dont need it. The outboard DP Dual is for 110.

ok, so i think you should make sure your superdish pole is PLUMB in 2 directions. otherwise the dish settings are useless. thats probably why your only hitting 129 (pole leaning forward???).

put your superdish on and aim the center of it (the seam) at about 230' magnetic. the elevation should be set to around 37 on the dish. the skew on the superdish should still be ok if you didnt change it. if you decide to use the 500 dish, the aiming and elevation settings are the same. the skew should be ok from your other house.

connect your reciever and run check switch. if you did as i say, you should register 119&110. Then select sat 119 Transponder 11 and tune that dish in with the reciver adjusting both elevation and left and right, then lock her down.

FYI: the sats are in the sky at knoxville area at ABOUT as follows.
119 236' mag, 34' elev
110 225' mag, 40' elev
129 245' mag, 27' elev
61.5 150 mag/42 elev

you are always aiming a Dish500, or a superdish exactly BETWEEN 119 and 110.

so...you have a 622 and no hd programming OR sats? HD is on 61.5 or 129

 

[aegrotatio]

Just moved into a house that faces pretty much southwest. There was a SuperDish already mounted on a pole about midway on the northwestern side of the house, so I thought it would be no big deal to pop off the old SuperDish and use the same pole for my trusty Dish 500 with DishPro+.

Hi, the mount will no longer be plumb mounting that 500 on the SuperDISH pole.
What you can do is remove the pole but leave the foot.
Take your DISH 500 pole and fit it into the foot as best you can. Use a drill, long bolts, and washers since it will not be a perfect fit. After you get the pole plumb get a can of grey spray paint and paint over those scratched and drilled parts so they do not rust later.

This will be better than over-spreading the DISH 500 mounting flange onto the too-large SuperDISH pole. It matters because of the skew settings. The other way, it's not impossible, but it's not easy.
***EDIT*** Oh I just noticed you found a PVC "adapter."

Now, if you change your mind and want to keep the SuperDISH, the "Plus" LNB works with the SuperDISH, but you will need to drill holes for it on the end of the SuperDISH arm. You can rather buy the repoint kit for your SuperDISH which already has the holes in the right places.

The SuperDISH in my avatar has been recently repointed and repaired another time and both installers describe the repoint kit and how little it differs from their DISH 500 PLUS systems.


.

 

[topcat0399]

Hi, the mount will no longer be plumb mounting that 500 on the SuperDISH pole.
What you can do is remove the pole but leave the foot.
Take your DISH 500 pole and fit it into the foot as best you can. Use a drill, long bolts, and washers since it will not be a perfect fit. After you get the pole plumb get a can of grey spray paint and paint over those scratched and drilled parts so they do not rust later.

This will be better than over-spreading the DISH 500 mounting flange onto the too-large SuperDISH pole. It matters because of the skew settings. The other way, it's not impossible, but it's not easy.
***EDIT*** Oh I just noticed you found a PVC "adapter."

Now, if you change your mind and want to keep the SuperDISH, the "Plus" LNB works with the SuperDISH, but you will need to drill holes for it on the end of the SuperDISH arm. You can rather buy the repoint kit for your SuperDISH which already has the holes in the right places.

The SuperDISH in my avatar has been recently repointed and repaired another time and both installers describe the repoint kit and how little it differs from their DISH 500 PLUS systems.


.

you, are obviously not an installer.

 

[zevs]

Stroke of luck: Charter came out to hook up the internet connection and the installer used to be a Dish installer but switched to the cable company to travel less and use less gas.

He said he still had all his old equipment in his truck and got out a viewfinder thing to look through. I guess that's how they know to tell you which tree it is because he used it to tell me which birch was just barely in the way. So, I cut it down and went back to my 500 and picked up 119 and 110 right off the bat.

Now the weird part: the first check switch detected 119 and 110 on both tuners but with a weak signal, so I went out to fine tune the signal some more and now only one tuner will come in even after doing another check switch. I took off the Dish Pro Plus separator and switched the lines around with success, so I don't think anything came loose.

Despite that, it went through a couple updates and now it tells me that the smart card is not compatible, to remove it and hold down the power button to reset it. The weird thing is that this actually works and everything comes back despite the fact that the card is not inserted.

It's been about a month since the 622 has been used. Anyone have any ideas why it would be behaving like this?

 

[zevs]

Did a series of check switches with and without things attached, switched the lines around, and unplugged the 622 to finally get the second tuner going.

Now just wondering about the smartcard sitting on top of it doing nothing...Software says it's L512.

 

[topcat0399]

Did a series of check switches with and without things attached, switched the lines around, and unplugged the 622 to finally get the second tuner going.

Now just wondering about the smartcard sitting on top of it doing nothing...Software says it's L512.

hey - a 622 doesnt have a removeable smart card. its built into the maotherboard. that card came from a different older machine somewhere.

 

[dodge]

Did a series of check switches with and without things attached, switched the lines around, and unplugged the 622 to finally get the second tuner going.

Now just wondering about the smartcard sitting on top of it doing nothing...Software says it's L512.

doesnt a 622 need 129 or 61.5 to get hd????
then why are you using a 500+

 

[zevs]

doesnt a 622 need 129 or 61.5 to get hd????
then why are you using a 500+

Originally I thought I could use the SuperDish for 119, 110, and 129. When I realized I couldn't, and had problems with the SuperDish, I went back to the 500. Guess I'll need to upgrade to something like a 1000.2 .

 

[LordKron]

geez you do it your self types, always screwing things up, Call Dish and and them do a Dish mover's. if ya dont got it then pay for it.
90 percent of the time, the Installers that give a crap have to fix crap like this. because you think you know what you are doing

 

[zevs]

geez you do it your self types, always screwing things up, Call Dish and and them do a Dish mover's. if ya dont got it then pay for it.
90 percent of the time, the Installers that give a crap have to fix crap like this. because you think you know what you are doing

Yeah, I'd like to see them try to "move" something if they showed up at the address that's actually on my account.

Besides, you should see the mess the original installers left. They may have aimed the dish correctly, but then they drilled a hole for the cord up through the carpet right by a working cable drop that terminates in the crawl space INCHES away from where they drilled the hole! Charter guy confirmed that the house has never had cable either so I don't think the drop has ever been used!

 

[Dgenx321]

You can use a SuperDish for 110 119 129.

But you have to have the kit to do it.

Works very very well....

 

[LordKron]

I guess I must be on of thoses installers that care, atleast I try to please my customers and make things easy for me and them.

 

[aegrotatio]

you, are obviously not an installer.

No kidding.
He wants to play do-it-yourself and I gave him do-it-yourself advice.
I have four other dishes on my house, but the DISH Network one is done by E*.
Buzz off!