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Last Changed 6/9/2009
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All you have to do to setup up your satellite TV dish is to aim it
at a satellite located 22,400 miles above the Earth, something you
can't possibly see.
So how do you do it?
Satellites are referred to by their position in the orbit over the
Equator. For DishTV, we want satellites 110, 119 and 129 which are
at 110°, 119°, and 129°. We use satellite 119 as the aiming
satellite as this is the primary DishTV satellite. All the basic
programming is on 119. Satellite 110 carries expanded programming
and satellite 129 carries most of the HDTV programming.
DishTV supplies the initial settings for the dish setup from tables
based upon the Zip Code your are at. These tables are either in the
satellite receiver for dual LNBFs (Low Noise Blocking Filter). For
triple LNBF dishes like we have, we use a table in a manual. The
three values you look up are the Azimuth, Elevation and Skew. We
will cover these below. All the values are based upon aiming at
satellite 119.
The first step is the setup of the tripod. The goal is to have the
vertical mast of the tripod to be perfectly vertical. You also want
the tripod to be secure against wind forces.
The mast being vertical with the skew adjustment, insures that when
there are multiple LNBFs, they are aligned to the arc where the
satellites are found. A non-vertical mast will mean that only one
of the multiple LNBFs will be on the satellite arc. |
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Here is why we wanted a tripod with adjustable legs. The only
location on the camp site that would give us a satellite shot was on
this slope. A traditional roof tripod would have never worked here. |
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To secure the tripod, we are using a 5 gallon bucket full of water
and bungee cords to load the tripod with the buckets weight. We
successfully used this type of system with the satellite Internet
dish. |
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Well, we had been successful with one bucket. But in a major wind,
the dish tipped over and broke the plastic LNBF adapter. This
prompted the use of a second water filled bucket. The second bucket
was not for the weight but to be able to bias the weight to the rear
of the tripod. This was to offset the extra LNBF weight on the end
of the DishTV 1000 dish arm.
We finally found bucket covers at Home Depot. This cuts down on
wind evaporation of the water ballast and keeps leaves and other
trash out of the buckets. The covers are also handy as table areas
when setting up. |
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We also added a solar walkway light to make the dish visible in the
dark |
click on images to enlarge |
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We ballast load the tripod before we level it.
We have a tripod that has adjustable legs which makes aligning the
mast to be vertical a lot easier.
We use a bubble
level on top of the mast to insure it is vertical.. |
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A small regular level could be used by checking the mast on the
front and side. |
click on images to enlarge |
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Because we had the plastic LNBF break when the tripod tipped over,
we also made a modification to the dish itself to protect the LNBF
bracket.
We used some aluminum square tube and flat stock bolted to the dish
arm. In the event of a tip over, the arm extension with absorb the
impact. |
click on images to enlarge |
Note - we eventually found that the tripod that had worked so well
with the DishPro 500 was not quite up to the loading of the DishPro
1000. This happened during a serious wind where the water ballast
buckets could overcome the arm weight.
We acquired a new heavier duty tripod, again from H&G. We have
pictures of the new tripod at
H&G Heavy Duty Tripod
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Picture of compass
Azimuth setting coming. |
In the setup of our tripod, we also set the initial Azimuth
setting. This is the magnetic compass reading of where we are going
to point the dish. We have a compass that pops onto the top of the
mast. The advantage of setting the Azimuth now is that the metal of
the dish is not present to upset the compass reading. We use the
front leg of the tripod and the indicator of the Azimuth we had set
the tripod to. |
Dish Skew |
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The next step is to preset the Skew of the Dish.
The Skew is how much the dish id rotated in relationship to the dish
mounting bracket. Think of this as vertically twisting the dish.
The Skew is an important adjustment. The dish we have is a DishPro
1000 which has three LNBFs so that it can lock onto three different
satellites. The Skew sets the angle so that the three LNBFs focus
on the three satellites we want.
We usually set the Skew before we put the dish on the tripod mast. |
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click on images to enlarge |
Azimuth |
While we could set the tripod to the direction we wanted, it was
hard to aim the DishPro 1000 to that same direction by eyeball. The
dish arm is not a reference because the dish is twisted to the side.
When we setup the tripod, we usually aim one leg in the azimuth
direction to give us a reference point when we start to aim the
dish.
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Setting the Azimuth can be very frustrating as the arm of the dish
does not point anywhere you think the signal focus is. The
signal bounces to the LNBF with a 15 degree offset. Then the
dish is twisted on the horizontal axis by the Skew adjustment which
can be up to 140 degrees.
The result can be where the dish appears to be aimed into the
trailer as in this photo. |
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Step back and you can visualize the 15 degree vertical offset and
the 138 Skew at this location points to the right of the trailer. |
click on images to enlarge |
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We often found that we were setting up on the wrong satellite,
usually 10° off. Compensating for that was difficult by eye.
We already had an
Align-a-Site for setting up our Satellite Internet Dish. We
purchased an additional base plate and attached it to our DishPro
1000. We put the desired azimuth, elevation, and skew settings into
the Align-a-Site and then put it on the DishPro 1000.
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We found that after a couple of setups, the metal in the dish was causing compass deviation errors up to 40°.
We now take the target azimuth setting and add 20° as a starting point. We line up the azimuth arrow in the Align-a-Site and
we are almost dead on now. The Align-a-Site took a whole lot of the frustration out of setting up the dish.
Even with the addition of the deviation correction, we still could wind up on the wrong satellite once in a while. After determining
what direction we were off, we add or subtract to the Align-A-Site compass and tweak. It is a lot easier to see 9-10° on a compass than
looking into space. |
Elevation |
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The next step is to preset the Elevation. This is the angle of the
Dish to the vertical mast. This is part of aiming at the target
satellite. |
click on images to enlarge |
Now we position the dish onto the tripod aiming it using the
back leg of the tripod as the reference of the Azimuth.
Now to find that satellite out there 22,400 miles up.
If our tripod mast was vertical, the Azimuth, the Elevation and the
Skew were all set properly, we should be in the ball park. The
reason for only being in the ball park is that a Zip Code can cover
a large area of real estate. Therefore a little tweaking will be
necessary.
The goal is to aim the 119 LNBF towards satellite 119. Assuming the
Skew is set properly, then the 110 and 129 LNBFs should be pointing
towards their related satellites.
The DishTV has a built in Switch. The Switch accepts signals from
the three LNBFs and connects them to the outputs as needed. This is
great for hooking up receivers to the LNBFs but is can be a real
problem when aiming the dish. The reason is that you could be led
astray by either the 110 or 129 LNBF being aimed at satellite 119.
You would have an indication of being on 119 but the other
satellites are not being pointed to.
To alleviate this problem we tried disconnecting the 129 LNBF from
the Switch and putting aluminum foil over the 110 LNBF. This would
allow only the 119 LNBF to receive signals and when we get a lock
on, we would know that the 119 LNBF is pointing at the satellite.
However, with the Switch, there was no surety that the cable we had
the meter connected to was electronically connected to the 119 LNBF.
To solve the 119 LNBF selection problem, we bought a meter that can
select the 119 LNBF by putting a 22KHz signal on the wire. The
22KHz signal tells the Switch to connect the 119 satellites signals
to that output.
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We have Accutrac 22 Pro meter that we put in line with the cable
from the Switch to the receiver. This gives us a visual indication
of the signal strength. The Accutrac 22 Pro actually has two inputs
so that is could be looking at the 119 LNBF and the 110 LNBF at the
same time. We have just been using the primary input. |
We have found that we only need to connect one wire to the dish
since we can select the 119 LNBF by turning on the 22KHz signal.
The Accutrac 22 Pro solved another problem. The DishTV receiver
needs to runs a Switch Check when the environment changes. We also
has a roof mounted dish that is a different "switch" than our DishPro
1000. To complete the Switch Test, the satellite receiver has to
pick up a valid satellite. If the Switch Test is not completed, you
cannot use the receiver to try and select the 119 LNBF. This is
like a Catch-22, you need the Switch Test to find the satellite, you
need the satellite to run the Switch Test. By using the Accutrac 22
Pro meter, we can use it to select the 119 LNBF and get the dish
aligned on the satellites before running the Switch Test and having
a completed test.
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Using the Accutrac 22 Pro meter reading, we tweak the azimuth and elevation setting for a maximum reading. |
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Once we feel we have peaked the Azimuth and Elevation, then we go
look at the TV to see what satellite the receive says it has locked
onto. It will only lock onto a DishTV satellite, but it does have
three satellites to do that with.
At this point we do a step that is not always required but we have
found verifying this step prevents a lot of wasted steps. We go
into the trailer and we do a Switch Test, a function of the Dish
Receiver that validates the two inputs to the Receiver and the three
LNBFs. We get an Okay, we proceed.
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Sometimes, we find that we have locked onto satellite 129. If that
is the case, then we go back and swing the dish 10° to the left and
start over. Or we may have locked onto satellite 110 and we swing
the dish 9° to the right and start over.
We leave the Receiver in the Point Dish mode which puts out a tone
in proportion to the signal strength. |
click on images to enlarge |
We set the Accutrac 22 Pro to put out a tone that increases as
the signal strength grows from the satellite. It is easier to
hear the tone in bright sunlight.
To date, we have not bothered to tweak the Skew. When we have
locked onto 119 using the system above, we have found the other
satellites to be okay. |
