Best Android app for aiming sat dish

Satellite AR does need cell service to work, 'satellite director' does not.

The Android app mentioned doesn't need cell service. It only needs to be GPS enabled (or whatever it's called... my phone doesn't, my wife's does and that's where the app is installed).

Phil

Here in lies the problem,
I get NO signals for a phone, radio or computer etc out here in NV............

So how does a person find the correct directions to set up/aim a sat dish. :?

Tia,
Don

2oldman wrote:

Fisherguy wrote:
Ya well what's the zip code when you're camped in the middle of the bush?.

You can also use coordinates. And, as mentioned, zip of a city within 100 miles.

Actually, I never use SatelliteAR. It's just another app I tried but never stuck with, because, another tool is much handier: Dishpointer.com on your computer.

PennyPA wrote:
This is the way the Direct guy installed it. I moved the setup you see there to the frame holding the dish but I guess the ground wire won't make a hill of beans difference if the dish is on the plastic-footed tripod, huh?

You are correct. The only benefit I can see from shield grounding might be if you had some equipment that radiated EMF that could get picked up by your coax.

Phil

This is the way the Direct guy installed it. I moved the setup you see there to the frame holding the dish but I guess the ground wire won't make a hill of beans difference if the dish is on the plastic-footed tripod, huh?

Ok, it just looks like the shielding is grounded. Mine isn't. It's never made a difference that I know of. I would just have a barrel connector in place of your grounding bracket that is shown in the pic.

I think if you try it without the ground hooked to anything it'll work fine.

A Dish tech "installed" our RV dish the first time and he didn't ground the shielding. He's also the person that showed me the Android pointing app.


Phil

I'll get one from Lowe's today. Thanks 2oldman.

Phil, there is a coax coming down (inside) the LNB arm and that connects to a splitter. Part of that cable has a ground wire pulled away from it in 2 places. One gets connected to the splitter and the other WAS in a screw on the flat frame I was set up with. The coax that comes to my RV connection is connected at the other end to the splitter. On the picture (that I hope attaches correctly), the cable on the left comes from the LNB and the cable on the right goes to the RV outlet. The LNB cable has 2 sections of ground wire stripped from it. One you can see in the picture and the other end was screwed to the frame. I don't know what to do with the other end.

And I apologize for the HUGE picture. Don't know how to make it smaller.

PennyPA wrote:
Can I just drive a 10" stake into the ground and attach it there?

I'd make it 12".

PennyPA wrote:
Ed and Phil: I, too, got the tv4rv tripod and, even though we've not set it up yet, think we're going to like it. Anyway, my question: Currently my dish is set up on a metal frame on the ground with 4 cement blocks in the corners. There are 2 ground wires...one goes to the "splitter" that was attached to the frame and the other was on a self-tapping screw on the frame. They both come off the LNB cable. In preparation for when we can use the tripod, I've moved the splitter to the back and installed it on the thing that holds the dish on. That is where the one ground wire is going to go but where do I attach the other one since there will be no metal from the tripod touching the ground. Can I just drive a 10" stake into the ground and attach it there?

I don't have any grounds when I use the dish so I'm not understanding your question.

We have a 3-LNB dish, with two coax connections from them --- one to my receiver and one to my brother's when he vacations with us. I hook nothing more up to the dish.

Phil

legolas wrote:

edatlanta wrote:
I use Dishpointer Pro to verify there are no obstructions between my dish location and the satellite. My dish is a Slimline 3LNB SWM mounted on a tripod from tv4rv.com. I use a wireless baby monitor to aim the dish after setting up the tripod. I aim the camera at the tv screen so I can see the signal strength from outside using the remote. The DirecTV Genie HR44 brought back the audible tone when using their signal strength screen. When I hear the signal from outside on the baby monitor remote I can look at the screen for fine tuning.

I do this frequently and it literally takes me minutes.

I use an app from my phone, GPS Status, to give me lat/long. I have seen several degrees difference when using lat/long vs zip code when getting the sat settings from DirecTV's aiming menu. Lat/long is obviously more exact.

does this Dishpointer app work for DirecTv?

It does work with Direct TV.You do need to know which sats you are looking for.(There is "a bunch" of them up there!)