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Last changes 3/1/2008 |
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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We have a tripod that has adjustable legs which makes aligning
the mast to be vertical a lot easier. Our tripod has
a built in bubble level to assist in the leveling process. |
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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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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 Dish 500 Pro was not quite up to the loading
of the Dish 1000. This happened during a serious wind where the water
ballast buckets could overcome the arm weight.
We acquire 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 back 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 Dish 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 Dish 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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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 Dish 1000. We put the desired azimuth, elevation, and skew
settings into the Align-a-Site and then put it on the Dish 1000.
We found that after a couple of setups, the metal in the dish was causing a 40° compass error. We now take the target
azimuth setting and add 40°. 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. |
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 Dish 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.
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 could also set the Accutrac 22 Pro to put out a tone that increases as the signal strength grows from the satellite.
But we don't use that because we have one more tool to aid the aiming process. We have wireless earphones that
we can use with the Sound System/TV when we don't want to disturb the other person if they are sleeping or working.
We wear these wireless earphones when we are aiming the dish. The receiver is also putting out a tone that increases
as the satellite signal strength increases. We found this one to be a better indicator because the receiver only gives you
a tone if it is locked onto a DishTV satellite. The Accutrac 22 Pro meter could give a reading on a non-DishTV satellite.
We usually remove the Accutrac 22 Pro meter from the cabling. Listening to our earphones, we swing the dish from side
to side looking for the maximum tone. Once we center on the best signal, then we tweak the Elevation a bit up and down,
again looking for the highest tone.
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. |
