Aiming a SWM3 with Genie.

Big Katuna wrote:
I just figured out my slimline had been damaged. I could never get the HDs as high as the one on my house. When I switched to SWM3 a few weeks ago I decided to re-zero out the level, set the skew and tilt the same as the DTV guy did and I still could not get 90s on 99 & 103. I got to looking at my dish and the bracket that the dish bolts on to had been bent at some point in time. One of the tabs was deflected up a skosh.
I took it apart and restraightened it and it helped. I think it is still not right so I am going to watch for a new dish.

An expert might pop up and correct me but I've read the FCC gave DirecTV an exception to park the 103 and 99 within 2º of the 101 slot. To do so, DirecTV had agree to throttle back the power on the 99 and 103. I don't think you can ever get readings on these wing-men as high as the leader's. I have never done it with any of my dishes. I've even tried tweaking them with tilt and shims. Improving one degrades the other.

That said, a change in the arm alignment or the dish contour will noticeably affect signal even though invisible to the eye.

Nothing is wrong with being in the 80's with the wing-men. If you want to tweak, you can play with small fender shims between the dish and the back plate.

I've put a lot of thought into protecting my dish to avoid it getting bent. I remove the arm and insert a foam sleeve on the LNB. The dish travels under the bed. I use a TV4RV.com tripod with the legs spread wide and chains to to restrict further spreading. I anchor it to 5 gal bucket filled with water or rocks depending om the duration of the stay. I tie the bucket to dish eyelet with a turnbuckle. Bungee cords give too much. I try to keep the dish close to the rig on the lee side to keep it out of the wind and away from those wandering through your camp. I have added reflective tape to make it more visible.