Satellite Antennas - Old Fashioned Dish
I am looking to buy equipment to receive satellite broadcasts via Dish network. We would only use it 3-4 times a year so I am leaning towards the old fashioned dish vs a portable unit. Specifically a ...
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I got around to setting up my 1000.2 EA twin LNB and ViP211Z receiver. I was able to lock in on a satellite using an inline signal meter 15 minutes after setting up the tripod and dish. I have never aimed a portable dish before. Receiver instructed me to call Dish to activate. That took about another 20 minutes including hold time. The guide downloaded and I had channels.
Here's the funny part: I couldn't understand why I only had about eight channels. I ran check switch only to find out I was peaked on the 77 bird. This LNB doesn't feature 77 reception. So I re-aimed the dish and quickly got 72.7 with about 50 signal strength. I then ran check switch again but couldn't see the 61.5 bird. Turns out the free aiming app I used gave me a bad skew value. I checked the value in the angle table specific for the twin LNB, and double checked against dishpointer, and got the right skew. Then I deleted the app. All is good and I can't wait to go camping next weekend.
These manual dishes aren't that hard to setup. I did pay close attention to getting the mast as plumb as possible. Thanks to Dutch_12078, I modded the adjustable bracket with thumb screws and thumb nut for tool-less adjustment. I also modded the feet of the tripod with adjustable feet with two inches of adjustment on each foot. Finally the mast is held steady by thumb screws.
Here's the funny part: I couldn't understand why I only had about eight channels. I ran check switch only to find out I was peaked on the 77 bird. This LNB doesn't feature 77 reception. So I re-aimed the dish and quickly got 72.7 with about 50 signal strength. I then ran check switch again but couldn't see the 61.5 bird. Turns out the free aiming app I used gave me a bad skew value. I checked the value in the angle table specific for the twin LNB, and double checked against dishpointer, and got the right skew. Then I deleted the app. All is good and I can't wait to go camping next weekend.
These manual dishes aren't that hard to setup. I did pay close attention to getting the mast as plumb as possible. Thanks to Dutch_12078, I modded the adjustable bracket with thumb screws and thumb nut for tool-less adjustment. I also modded the feet of the tripod with adjustable feet with two inches of adjustment on each foot. Finally the mast is held steady by thumb screws.
