Sattelite AR does not show birds

I put the $10 version of Dishpointer (DP AR) on my iPhone after intermittent unsuccessful attempts over a 2 day period (DTV101 alignment). It worked great showing me the gap in the trees and that I had the dish a few degrees off. I usually just use a printout of the map from the Dishpointer web site but I just couldn't lock on to the 101 SAT. I kept getting the 99 because I got a great signal on the meter but only 2 transponders.

IMHO it's worth the ~$20 to buy Dishpointer Pro. It shows you the position of the satellites on a camera image of what your dish is pointing at. It makes it very easy to know "if that tree in front of you" is going to block the satellites you need. It makes it a lot easier to figure out if you need to reposition your RV or where you can put your tripod-mounted dish.

Dyngbld wrote:

2oldman wrote:
I thought dishes were elliptical to capture 3 sats.

They are. But you really are not pointing directly at any of the sats, you are pointing between them so you get enough of a piece of each one to work. If you are not using the "local" channels you don't even need one of the sats at all.

Not true. In the case of the SL3 and SL5 you aim at the 101 satellite. The others are peripheral. With the old Phase III dish the 110 satellite was center and the 101 and 119 were peripheral.

The vertical angle between perpendicular to the dish and the actual elevation of the satellite is 22.5 degrees, if I remember correctly.

The LNB is not in the center and that is what confuses many people.

The satellite is set up to reflect the down coming signal of the dish to the LNB. It will usually be coming i9n at a higher angle than the bar that mounts the LNBs. Satellite AR shows if there is any thing interfering with the signal. Make sure there are not any trees directly overhead. I use a Dish triple LNB HD dish, Satbuddy 2 meter and Satellite AR.

Dyngbld wrote:
. But you really are not pointing directly at any of the sats, you are pointing between them

Fine, but I was thinking 15d off was not between them.

2oldman wrote:
I thought dishes were elliptical to capture 3 sats.

They are. But you really are not pointing directly at any of the sats, you are pointing between them so you get enough of a piece of each one to work. If you are not using the "local" channels you don't even need one of the sats at all.

I thought dishes were elliptical to capture 3 sats.

2oldman wrote:
Ok. I set mine to Directv and sometimes just sat 4s. I have found that app almost useless anyway as the birds are a good 15* off where my dish actually points.

HaHa...good one! A misconception is that you point your dish directly at the sats. Nope! Your dish never actually points AT the sats. That's why the dishes are elliptical.

To the OP. Rather than opening up all satellites, click only on the sats you're looking for. Try that and see if it works better. I have no problem finding all DirecTVs birds...........Dennis

Ok. I set mine to Directv and sometimes just sat 4s. I have found that app almost useless anyway as the birds are a good 15* off where my dish actually points.