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2oldman's avatar
2oldman
Explorer II
Jan 30, 2020

Getting harder to aim Slimline SWM

I've been aiming my Slimline dish (SWM) for years without as much trouble as I'm having now. I can move maybe 50 miles, where the settings don't change that much, but it can take a half-hour or more to find the 101.

I use the "test signal strength" screen where it shows the 2 Tuners on horizontal parallel lines. I position a Swift hitch camera in front of the screen and take the little receiver with me to the dish. The beeps are really helpful, but I don't always get those. That seems weird.

The zip code locator on the TV screen shows an azimuth of 141°, but my smartphone Satfinder pro says it's 154.9. That's a big difference.

And what about this... which side of the red marker is the actual elevation? I suppose it would be the left...or the middle?



Is it possible that Direct has tightened up the angle at which you find the 101? Anyone else having more trouble?

26 Replies

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  • Belgique's avatar
    Belgique
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2020
    I had that issue and finally determined that the arm had a bend that was not obvious. I found it the hard way by buying a new arm. A long time ago it was the reflector that had distorted, also imperceptible. Just yesterday I was getting 772 and finally relaized that I had a bad coax connector that would intermittently not pass the signal.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jan 30, 2020
    azrving wrote:
    With all your money maybe you need an upgrade. ??
    lol.. yeah maybe. I've always kind of enjoyed setting it up, especially those times when I put it up and it's on the signal already, just needing minor tweaking.

    I don't understand why it's getting so much more fussy. I replaced the dish thinking the old one has taken too many falls. I guess the only other device it could be is the LNB.

    It just seems like this stuff should either work or it doesn't.
  • FlatBroke's avatar
    FlatBroke
    Explorer II
    Jan 30, 2020
    When the roofers screws my DirecTv dish up I went up and found It wasn’t leveled I fixed that. It would show 95 but would quit when it got a not too heavy rain. Seeing how I fell off my roof on the last voyage to adjust it I called the pro. Took him quite awhile to get all adjustments correct. Had no outages, even in a snowstorm, sense then.
  • azrving's avatar
    azrving
    Explorer
    Jan 30, 2020
    Huumm. Mine just sits up there and goes Rrrrrrrr, Buuurrrrr, Whirrrrrr . With all your money maybe you need an upgrade. ??
  • CA_Traveler's avatar
    CA_Traveler
    Explorer III
    Jan 30, 2020
    I'd be surprised if anything changed with DTV in terms of aiming and reception, just way to many fixed dishes.

    But DTV doesn't reveal very much. Apparently going to replace 103 and the SD 101 situation is clear as mud.

    I would assume you would the center of the red mark and then fine tune? I'd go with the DTV azimuth. Any compass device like a smartphone is subject to magnetic variation and deviation let alone basic accuracy. A good compass might help but it's also subject to variation and deviation.
  • CA_Traveler's avatar
    CA_Traveler
    Explorer III
    Jan 30, 2020
    No change for my RF Mogul, power on to locked in 4 minutes. :B

    Mayge time for a good meter.:@

    Considered getting the TV4RV heavy duty combo package for $500. And then maybe the meter for $300, but couldn't justify if for a few trees. :S

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