Direct TV-Clear View of the Sky?

[CacheClone]

We have Direct TV with a Winegard Trav'ler roof-mounted dish. We are new to the RV/Direct TV thing, so I have never had to manually aim a dish.

When everything is working correctly, the control box for the dish inside the camper reads "*101 *110 *119". I'm assuming those are the longitudes of where in the sky the satellites are located, with 110 being the center one.

When we pull into a campsite, I try to keep track of which way is south. However, when we get set up, I sometimes find that I have misjudged, and an open area of the sky is in the wrong place.

I dug out my old Boy Scout compass to be a little more scientific, but now I'm not sure what I need to do.

Assuming I'm in the midwest, longitude 93-ish. Where on the compass do I need the open area of the sky do be? And now wide?

My guess is that since 110 degrees (the middle satellite) is 17 degrees west of where I am, I would need to add 17 degrees to 180 (due south) on the compass and make sure the area at 197 degrees (southwest) is clear plus 9 degrees on either side for two outlying satellites.

Does this make sense, or am I doing this wrong? Making it too complicated?

Thanks for your help.

[CA_Traveler]

Dish Pointer AR Pro phone app

Select the birds and walk around until you have a clear view. This was at my daughter's house for the 3 DTV HD birds.

[Acampingwewillg]

I just picked up one of those align-a-site gizmo's for the times I'm aiming my portable dish...got it at a garage sale for 5 buck..it's just missing the dealie-bob that attaches it to the dish. I like that I can hold it in my hand, set azimuth and elevation and walk around to look for a clear line of site.(of course I'm still old school on Standard Def-101 Sat). 🙂

[Bill_Satellite]

Seneca 35GS wrote:
You guy's get way to technical. When I pull into a park I just look where the other RV's have their Direct Dish pointed and then I park accordingly, keeping away from trees. Work's every time.

Not every time. How do you know whether they are pointing toward Dish or DirecTV satellites? What if everyone there is using a dome style antenna? What if no one is using satellite TV at all? What if you come in and the guy next door tells you that you just need to point "this direction" when in reality it is the exact opposite direction?
I have run into every one of these scenarios over my many years of full timing and I find that an app is some much better than any of these other options.

[2oldman]

Seneca 35GS wrote:
You guy's get way to technical. When I pull into a park I just look where the other RV's have their Direct Dish pointed and then I park accordingly, keeping away from trees. Work's every time.

Now why didn't we think of that?

Work's great accept when your alone. Or you have HD.

[Seneca_35GS]

You guy's get way to technical. When I pull into a park I just look where the other RV's have their Direct Dish pointed and then I park accordingly, keeping away from trees. Work's every time.

[lryrob9301]

Go here Dishpointer.com and enter your location then select DirecTV sat 101 and it will give you the exact heading and elevation. Generally in the Midwest you will be pointing approximately 190+ degrees.

[Bill_Satellite]

CacheClone wrote:
Sorry, I should have been more clear.

This is an HD, auto-aiming dish. I just have to push a button and wait until it's done. We have used it lots of times on our last four-week trip and it works great.

I just meant that, after seeing people manually aiming a tripod-mounted dish, they seem to know much more than I do about where to point the thing, or which part of the sky needs to be open.

For your DTV Trav'ler, all you really need to concern yourself with is the location of the 101 satellite (the 99 and 103 satellites are located on either side). The 101 satellite is along a longitude that runs through Central TX. If you have an idea of where that is you can get a general idea of where you need a clear sky. However, the best is to add an app to your smartphone (assumption) like Dish Pointer (or Pro) which is by far my favorite. It will ensure you are not only clear in the correct direction but also whether trees or other obstructions are too tall. You can actually "see" the satellites in the app. It's just not accurate enough to be used if you are simply looking for a small hole in a forest of trees.

[2oldman]

I don't know how the 119 or the 110 fits in this discussion.

The 3 birds I receive with my Slimline dish are DTV 99,101 and 103. Does the Travlee get something different?

[YC_1]

A compass really won't get near the finess that you need for satellite. A small opening is all you need in the trees or bushes or a small palm tree trunk to block one of the satellites. I have a travler too and it works great. However there are occassions that it will not receive all three birds. You can look at the readout and there will not be a * next to it. I had plenty of times traveling the East Coast where 119 was just to low on the horizon because of the tall trees.

I highly recommend an app on a smart phone if you have one. For $20 the phone camera becomes an absolute open site to the birds. You check mark the birds you want to look at and it will keep those ready to be used each time. Hold the phone up and find the birds. Often moving the RV a foot or two makes the difference between signal and none.

If you travel a lot I recommend a home made portable dish. On the occasions we just could not get a signal but were staying for a day or two we just used the over the air antenna or sometimes park cable if available. We went four months this summer and never dug out the portable.

When we bought new phones my app would not reload so I spent the money again because it is such a valuable tool.

[Bill_Satellite]

dbbls wrote:
110,119 etc are satellite numbers, not location. 110 and 119 are Dish satellites,not direct. On Dish I can go into the menu to setup and find the compass bearing to point the antenna.

Not really correct. DirecTV and Dish shared orbital location at 110 and 119. DTV no longer uses 110 but still has foreign language and some specialty programming coming from 119. Additionally, the poster was simply stating what the Winegard controller was displaying and he is correct about that information as well.

[donn0128]

Angle and elevation are dependent on location. Apps like dish pointer will show you where to aim and by using your phones camera show you if you have a clear shot to the birds.

[CacheClone]

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

This is an HD, auto-aiming dish. I just have to push a button and wait until it's done. We have used it lots of times on our last four-week trip and it works great.

I just meant that, after seeing people manually aiming a tripod-mounted dish, they seem to know much more than I do about where to point the thing, or which part of the sky needs to be open.

[dbbls]

110,119 etc are satellite numbers, not location. 110 and 119 are Dish satellites,not direct. On Dish I can go into the menu to setup and find the compass bearing to point the antenna.

[Hiker_01]

Try this website as it might make life a bit simpler

http://www.dishpointer.com/

One of the problems with using just a plain compass reading is you also have to take into account magnetic north versus true north. This site does provide both measurements for you.

[donn0128]

You cannot manually setup a travler. If your in the trees and the dish does not find 110 sat it will park and shut down. Your only option is a ground based dish for those times.