Direct TV Satellite Aiming in Canada

Was able to get a useable signal on the 101 satellite with an 18" dish, through a hole in the tree cover at Whistlers Campground in Jasper, Alberta. That was 52.87N and 118.07W. As I recall, the elevation setting was about 27 degrees and my best signal was around 70%.

Noticed a few DirecTV dishes around town. I'm sure the rain fade would be a real problem there.

I don't know much about DirecTV dishes/LNBs because we're on Bell satellites 82 & 91. If you really want to know for sure, what you can do is look up the footprint coverage map(s) (by some googling) and find the radiated power (EIRP) for the satellites you want to pick up. This will tell you if you need a larger dish to get more of the signal. It looks like DirecTV has decent coverage well into Canada tho.

If you know the exact angles for aiming and know how to set them up, it makes finding a satellite a LOT easier so you don't have to spend forever sweeping back and forth to find it. Azimuth is easy and if you get an inclinometer you can set the elevation to within a degree or two. If the signal is strong enough you can just look for other direcTV dishes around you or if in Canada and everyone else is using Shaw or Bell sats, you can look up those azimuths and adjust yours to get approx. angles then fine tune. Using one LNB/satellite would make it a lot easier so you don't have to fiddle with skew also.

The dishpointer app is super cool! Sometimes you can have just a small hole between trees on your site. It might be a good idea to have some extra coax (RG6) if you need to have the dish farther away from the site. A guy next to us last summer had a few hundred feet of it on a spool!!

I have had a strong DirecTV signal in Banff and Jasper with an open face antenna. The details for Banff from Dishpointer are:

Elevation: 29.8
Azimuth (true): 161.6
Azimuth (magn.): 147.2
Dish Skew: 101.4

I even got the East/West locals there

YEP! Just need the app! Great pic!

Trees? What trees?

southernsky wrote:
Heading to Banff and Jasper AB. in the spring. We have Direct TV and use a dish on a tripod. Has anyone used Direct in Canada and know what are the settings for the satellite dish in this area?

If you have a smart phone download and install Dish Pointer (pro) by Augmented Reality and enjoy the show. Yes, you will get the signal in that area, yes, it's OK to do so, yes, you will have to find a gap in the trees as the satellite is pretty low up there, no, you won't get locals as you are not in the US. I was able to pick it up using a dome. An open face dish will likely have something near an 80 signal on the 101. Great places, have fun.

GordonThree wrote:
You might want to read your contract with AT&T, terms of service, section 1 subsection N.

I see nothing in that paragraph that prevents a mobile account (covered in 1(h)) from doing what the OP is trying to do.

Not doing nothing illegal, the receiver was bought for our RV. If that is what you mean.

..

OP, Hope you realize that you probably won't get DTV locals.