Satellite Antennas - Old Fashioned Dish

A couple of things to keep in mind when buying an automatic dome dish for DISH network use:

The only automatic that works with both the eastern and western arcs is the Pathway X2.

There are a number of local channel TV markets that are, or soon will be, eastern arc only.

If you have any plans to upgrade to a multi-tuner DVR Hopper series receiver instead of a VIP or Wally series box, your automatic dome will no longer be usable.

Teamfour wrote:
Thanks everyone! I was looking at this dish paired with a VIP211K.

https://www.amazon.com/NETWORK-1000-2-EASTERN-DPPLUS-ANTENNA/dp/B00P49YTEA

If you're camping near Sterling, VA, then your local stations will originate from Washington, DC -- which is on the Eastern Arc.

However, you may want to also pick up the Western Arc LNBF for the 1000.2. Other markets in your area (like Richmond) broadcast local stations on Western and Eastern Arcs. With both LNBFs, you have the option of aiming at two areas of the sky.

I use a very simple dish and a home-made PVC stand that is small, comes apart for storage and the whole thing can be set up in just a few minutes. I know it sounds crazy, but being level doesn't matter with a set-up like this - I've had it sitting at some pretty weird angles on sloping terrain. I have a satellite finder app on my smartphone that makes it easy to find a hole through the trees and I carry about 200' of cable, although I don't often use all of it. In most cases, after locating the hole through the trees, the dish is set up and locked on in about 10 minutes. Cheap, fast, and it works well.

Ted

Teamfour wrote:
Thanks everyone! I was looking at this dish paired with a VIP211K.

https://www.amazon.com/NETWORK-1000-2-EASTERN-DPPLUS-ANTENNA/dp/B00P49YTEA

There is nothing old fashioned about that antenna. That's the current technology antenna installed on nearly all Eastern Arc homes. If you are only using it a few days per year and all your travels will be in the Eastern US (East of the Mississippi) then you will have all of the antenna you need.

wxtoad wrote:
I use a very simple dish and a home-made PVC stand that is small, comes apart for storage and the whole thing can be set up in just a few minutes.I know it sounds crazy, but being level doesn't matter with a set-up like this - I've had it sitting at some pretty weird angles on sloping terrain.

Your dish is a single LNBF. I'll bet it's for acquiring DirecTV's sat 101 for SD programming, right?

If that's the case, then you can practically just throw the dish on the ground and acquire 101.

But it ain't the same as aiming a multi-LNBF dish 'cause there aren't any skew settings involved.

For DISH I strongly recommend a Triple LNB dish like the 1000.n series.

The 1000.2 is designed for the Eastern Arc, good if you are on the east coast but if you are planing on traveling west of the Mississippi you may want a 1000.2 as well, As far as I know that is just a swap of the LNB head (slightly differnet spacing).

To aim.. use something like Sat-Finder on your Cell phone and aim for the center satellite, Make sure you have a clear view.. Then use the Antenna Pointing page on the Receiver... use a portable TV at the base of your tripod to aim it.. Then go inside and confirm

Those inline beeping meters are useless by the way.. But the software in your DISH receiver rivals the best professional over 1,000 dollar Sat finder meters on the market,,, So use it.

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.