Satellite meter

[SDM]

I have Direct tv at home and are going to take with us in RV. First of all have to have a dish to get Direct TV HD. Do I need a meter to help find the satellites. Also can I use our receiver box from home and not have to pay another fee, beings will not be using it at 2 locations at the same time. Had a problem at home and had to have dish realigned and he use a meter. He said it was better but not necessary. How do do find the satellites on your set up?

Thanks

[Belgique]

2oldman wrote:
I'm not holding my breath that DTV will ever put the beeps back in.

My Genie HR 44-200 beeps.

[donn0128]

Do you need a meter? NO! You do not need a meter.
Now, to get a good signal in a reasonable amount of time a meter like the latest one that Direct installers use is invaluable. But you can do nearly the same thing with a couple of tools.
Personally, I use DishPointer Pro to find a good place for the dish. I also use an Align A Site that allows me to drop the tripod nearly anywhere and use the bubbles on the align a site to level the dish. Once I have the dish placed and pointed to the right place in the sky I use the built in signal meter on the HR44 receiver to fine tune the dish.
The cheap 15 dollar beeper like RoyB has pictured are really worthless as they do not tell you if your on the right bird or not. That is the one thing nothing short of the Direct meter can do that for you. No matter what you choose practice at home first until you are commfortable you can do it easily and quickly.
And YES you can take the receiver from home. We have the HR44 Genie, and mini Genies, so when we get packed I grab the genie, a mini and the video bridge. My trailer is wired so all I have to do is connect a couple of pieces and ready to go.

[2oldman]

This camera and the signal strength meter that's already in the receiver. Some folks use a baby monitor. You'll need a Slimline dish and a good tripod.

I'm not holding my breath that DTV will ever put the beeps back in.

[RoyB]

When i was doing this back in 2009 I used one of these meter made by WINEGARD model SF1000...



This produces a tone and you keep backing off on the scale as you keep peaking up on the signal...

This 'BIRD' meter goes inline with RG cable feeding the portable dish/ You have to be sure and get the DIRECTV bird and not the Dish bird... The DISH bird is due south of San Diego CA and the DirecTV bird is due south of Texas in the southern skies...

Worked pretty good for me...

Roy Ken

[SDM]

What meter do you use?

[CA_Traveler]

A meter can be a huge help.

We take our DTV receiver with us in the MH. One receiver, one account, two dishes.

[SDM]

Probably mean a meter to help get the best signal possible and to help find the satellites.