satellite meter

[ronithayer]

I was wondering about the analog satellite meters that I see on ebay. Has anyone used one before and are they worth the money?

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to the site!!!

I assume you mean the 10 dollar or so ones. They can be a help to know that you are getting close to a satellite. That is about it though. They are just a simple amp. Your best bet is use the meter you already have....in your receiver. Take it out to the dish with a small TV set and then you can tweak it the best. Even if you get a signal on the little meter, you don't know for sure which bird and they don't work so well to tweak in the quality. Now if channel master ones that go for 50 -80 on ebay they work a lot better but still lack the ability to input a certain transponder for proper tweaking. They are better than nothing though when you don't want to take the receiver outside and you don't mind running back and forth.

 

[Bob2011]

The cheap meters for $10 are worth it especially if you are installing more than one dish or lnb. They get you quickly on the arc and combined with pointing help from Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com you can be locked in on your sat in a few minutes. The meter built into some receivers can be really slow to respond and you can miss your target if you move the dish too fast.

With experience you can pretty much eyeball it and then use the receiver to peak the signal.

 

[SatelliteAV]

My 2 cents.....

As an owner of a company that sells satellite equipment, you might think that I would try and push anything that we sell as being something that you must buy. In this case, save your money!

The meters in modern satellite receivers are on par with professional satellite identification meters costing hundreds of dollars. Yes, it isn't as mobile and portable. You will need to stretch a power cord and place your receiver and small TV near the dish.

These small inexpensive meters are useful in verifying that a LNBF is receiving a satellite signal and that the dish is aimed at something, but that is about the extent of their capabilities. Small meters like you describe do not identify the satellite and are not effective in fine-tuning the dish or LNBF skew. Only a professional satellite meter or the one built into your receiver displays a Signal. Quality meter, which is necessary to optimize the dish aiming and LNBF skew setting.

 

[RT-Cat]

The cheap meters for $10 are worth it especially if you are installing more than one dish or lnb. They get you quickly on the arc and combined with pointing help from Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com you can be locked in on your sat in a few minutes. The meter built into some receivers can be really slow to respond and you can miss your target if you move the dish too fast.

With experience you can pretty much eyeball it and then use the receiver to peak the signal.

I really do not disagree too often, but in this case I do because of recent experience. I used DishPointer to locate where a sat was. The satellite pictures of my location are very high quality. I can even see my split rail fence, so I know I have my dish location set correctly. DishPointer showed the line cutting right over the corner of my garage. Using a cheap meter, I would get a signal. But with sats so close together was it this one or was it that one? Gave up and got the equipement out there. Found what I was looking for and got dish set perrrrrfect. You can look from the dish to the sat and it does not line up with that spot on the garage. It is about 6 feet left of that location.
So I have to agree with Sat AV on a meter. I would say use your receiver or if you can, purchase a quality meter and spend less time goofing around looking to the sat you want.

 

[sergei]

I was wondering about the analog satellite meters that I see on ebay. Has anyone used one before and are they worth the money?

I would say it depends on how serious you are about this hobby and how much time you want to spend on installing a dish or dishes by using a cheap analog meter and compass. Myself I've done it the old fashion way and have found that it's a lot quicker by using a more expensive meter.

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi, I find them very useful for roughing in a dish. The way I use them goes something like this: Take the receiver and small TV out to the dish that needs aiming then hook up the cheap analog meter in series with the satellite receiver and adjust the squelch so the squeal is off or just starting to sound. Make sure the receiver is set to the satellite you want to receive and the make sure the TP you are looking for is set in the receiver. Now move the dish around and you will find the analog meter will start to squeal much louder when you start to close in on a satellite. Reset the squelch so the squeal is almost off and peak the dish using the analog meter. Now look at the receiver meter and see if it is starting to show a signal. If so peak using the satellite receiver and you will be good to go. If not most likely you are not on the correct satellite so mark the dish mount with an ink marker and try again or you could do a blind scan and find out what satellite you where on. As soon as you know where one satellite is the rest will be easy to find - just use the ink marks on the dish mount as a reference. Hope this helps, DC

 

[ronithayer]

Thank you guys this helps me out. I will just use the receiver that works for me. Also not to change the subject but I setup on Galaxy 28 and could not get a picture I got signal and quality but no picture. Am I not setting things right can someone explain how to get a signal from a satellite. I am using a viewsat pro

 

[RT-Cat]

......can someone explain how to get a signal from a satellite. I am using a viewsat pro

It is just a thought, but you may catch more answers if you start a new thread(post) with a title that matches your question.

RT.