Direct TV satellite set up

X2 what Bruce said. I can setup my dish in minutes using the tripod system from TV4RV.com. I just finished using it for 4 months and it never moved in a summer of Florida thunderstorms. Setup is easy. One thing I use that helps aiming a lot and is cheap is a wireless baby monitor. After the tripod is set up and the dish is installed I use the monitor so I can watch and hear the signal strength from the Genie sat strength option. Works great for me.

No HD with the G2 and to use the Genie you have to add the SWM8 hardware.

We gave up and bought a G2 that finds the satellite all by itself.

Do yourself a huge favor and visit www.tv4rv.com and purchase their heavy-duty tripod setup. Their system can't be beat for simplicity in aiming your dish and acquiring a signal in mere minutes.

Bruce

We had lots of practice since we used the round SD dish for years. Heard and read it was more difficult but in our experience it proved not to be the case.

We use receiver indicated values for zipcode we are in and set dish accordingly. We make sure our homemade stand is level and using a compass acquire sat 101, tweak until over 90% and we are good to go as all the other sats come right in.

With a clear shot to the south it takes just minutes to be up and running. All the same channels we have at home including locals if we are still in NM. We made it simple and use the same exact sat dish we have at home so there is no need to even go through setup routine.

Practice at home and after a few tries you will get the routine down. There are devices such as align-a-site and satellite meters that can help you pinpoint the correct satellites, with all our prior practice we haven't needed anything more than a compass.

That's why it is critical to get the sat settings accurately adjusted to zipcode, that way once sat 101 is in the 90% range all the other sats come right in as long mast is level. Good luck and keep practicing and you will soon be able to readily set up your sat dish wherever you go.

taviking22 wrote:
If you have a smartphone I'd highly recommend the DishPoint AR Pro app. You can Google where to get the Android version app.

Ditto: Getting a clear view is important and you can really get tricked. You may have one limb or tall skinny tree blocking just one satellite and it will drive you crazy.

Then, always start with the tripod or mounting device perfectly level. NOT 1/2 bubble off. The right left motion is not nearly as critical as the up down is. Look around to see if there are any dishes already set up in your area and start in that direction. Going right to left about 6 inches from the compass heading or looking at other dishes should get you started. When you change the elevation do so in the smallest increments you can. Then slowly move right and left again.

I don't find it any harder to set up an HD dish than my old round dish. The trick is to use a good tripod. I use a surveyors aluminum tripod that is very stable and its easy to set perfectly level with one leg pointed at the compass heading; in Florida; 220 degrees.

Then you look up the settings by zip on the receiver and set the dish azimuth and angle. Swing the dish back and forth around the compass setting and peak out the signal on the 101 Sat. Then loosen the leg pointing at the compass heading and peak out the signal again.

I usually get mine in the low to high 90's and the other HD sats will be in the high 80's.

I also use AR Dishpointer app on my iPhone so I know I have clear line of sight to the sats; no tree interference

If you have a smartphone I'd highly recommend the DishPoint AR Pro app. You can Google where to get the Android version app.