Direct TV 18 in. Dish and H24 Receiver Capability

[dclark1946]

What is the latest on Satellite 101? Read the post back in Dec. 2019. Is SD still available or has the switch to HD happened? Is my analog signal meter still useful for peaking signal to aim the dish? Have a spring campout coming up mid March and curious if my equipment is still useful.

[Bill_Satellite]

DTV satellites are so close together that the skew only becomes important in the far E or far W. In most of the central US the skew needed is minimal. Do not attempt this if you are a DISH customer!

[2oldman]

dclark1946 wrote:
Well the skew is part of the problem. When I actually had it all working the one time I thought I had the skew set correctly for our location but when I took down the dish and tripod and checked the skew dial I found I was off several degrees.

Sometimes the correct skew setting is irrelevant. I've had times where I just left the dish at 90° and got all channels just fine.

[GKAbbott]

I found the easiest way for me to aim my slim ant was to use the audio function on the receiver. Any audio gets you close to the correct azimuth and elevation. Then fine tune for maximum signal. Most times, it took about 5 minutes to get it locked in. YMMV

[dclark1946]

2oldman wrote:

dclark1946 wrote:
T even using a digital signal meter to verify all transponders were working.

Not sure why you need to do that. Shoot the 101 to 90% or better, set your skew and that should suffice.

Well the skew is part of the problem. When I actually had it all working the one time I thought I had the skew set correctly for our location but when I took down the dish and tripod and checked the skew dial I found I was off several degrees. I had to play with the dish setup a lot to get all the channels we get in our fixed home dish mount system.

[2oldman]

dclark1946 wrote:
T even using a digital signal meter to verify all transponders were working.

Not sure why you need to do that. Shoot the 101 to 90% or better, set your skew and that should suffice.

[dclark1946]

Thanks for the prompt responses. I now know what to expect when I do a trial setup before our upcoming trip. I have a slim dish and a hefty tripod to mount it on and have actually had it working one time in our back yard with all satellites required for HD and local channels but it was tedious to set up even using a digital signal meter to verify all transponders were working. I certainly did not feel very confident that we were ready for taking it to the field.

[southernsky]

You're good to go. We have Direct and use the H24 reciever with a King Quest. All works, just in SD no HD

[Retired_JSO]

Lots of talk within board of directors for AT&T to unload Directv.
Here an article

[Lwiddis]

Why wait until the end? Switch now.

[Bill_Satellite]

Nothing has changed as of today. Tomorrow or next month? No one can say.