i read the viewsat ultra signal and quality meter isnt that great. and i know the DTV box can be used.. so should i use the DTV box? it cant be any worse than the ultra can it?
alright then listen i will trade you 2 of my dtv receivers(high signal just like you say) for your weak signal ultra you know what make that 3 dtv receivers Well do you except ???
yea i answsered my own question because another forum had someone that knew what he was talking about and verifid that the DAVE box has a more precise signal meter and just becase im going to cleverly use a dave box to fine-tune the dish doesnt mean im dumb enough to assume it has a high signal whatever that means... laffffffter
Here you get the benefit of learning from my many mistakes. I have pointed several dishes in the last few days and thought I would give something back to the community. I recommend that you use standard DTV 18" dishes The ones I have ran across lateley (remember the wallmart DRD420RE p4 sales ) all have standard LNB's. If you have any doubt about your dish and or LNB there are many references to what works. The bad part about the standard dishses that you have multiple dishes mounted on your roof-pole-backyard-doghouse?? If that doesn't bother you, mount away.
When you mount the dish, use a level to get the top of the mount as level as possible. Don't even think about handholding a dish and trying to find a signal. Mount the thing as flush as possible. Track down a satellite finding program available at better web sites everywhere . Print out the location of the satellites that you want to find in relation to where you live. For this example, lets assume that you want to find the 110 (Echo6/8) and the 119 (echo 7).
Turn the receiver off. They are sensative so anytime you disconncect a satellite or re-connect make sure the receiver is off by unplugging it or flipping the power switch in the back. Lets start with the 110 sat. Get the dish mounted with the screws loose enough so you can turn the satellite but it will stay when you turn it. Connect only the satellite directly to the receiver. A barrel connector makes this easy work. Radio shack has em for a few bucks. Alternately you can use a sat finder as a go between your receiver and LNB. You could run the long cable from your receiver directly to the lnb, but then you would have to re-wire it once you find the satellite and put the DISEQC switch in place. The sat finder is the best solution and a SF-95 is pretty cheap on e-bay.
So we have one dish that is connected and ready to find the 110 satellite. A single cable connects it to the receiver.
Ok, Receiver prep work. My experience is with a Pansat 2500A. I would imagine that this tutorial will work with any receiver, but my references will be aimed at the 2500A. Grab a late bin file floating around for the 2500a. Flash the receiver and wait for it to reboot. Next grab a late version of the channel guide. You use gtools to edit and upload the channel guide. When you open the channel list on the left pane all the satellites are listed. Delete all satellites except the 110 and 119 satellite. Upload the guide and wait for the reboot.
In the receiver
- Go to parental control (Password all zeros) and turn key code on. - Go to the Installation menu - antenna setup You should only see the 119 and 110 satellites - Remove the check box from one satellite to turn it off (the 119 because we are tying to find the 110 satellite) - Now select the other satellite (110) and make the LNB is standard and turn DiSEQC off -exit and save - Exit all the way back to the channels which should say scrambled or bad - Hit the SAT key on the remoted and select the 110 sat - Only the 110 channels are displayed and select a channel (this ensures we are on the 110 sat) - Hit the SIG key on the remote and check out the cool sig meter. ooooo
The cool thing about sig meters is that they find satellites. The bad thing is that they find ANY satellite that they come close to. What we have done by setting up the receiver to view a 110 channel is that as soon as we find the satellite we want, picture and sound will show up and we are GUARANTEED to be on the corrcect satellite. Us dummies need this as fool proof as possible ya know ?
If your dish is mounted as flat as possible, crank it up to the correct angle for your state/provience (maybe just a tad under to start) and slowly rotate the dish in the general area of the satellite using your compasss and earlier print out of magnetic north as a guide. I find standing direcly under the dish while holding the compass is the easiest way to find the correct heading. All satellites have degree indicators on them, some work better than others which is why I suggest starting a little under your proper angle.
You can have a friend helping you that can see the tv and yell when a channel comes in or turn the tv up loud so you can hear it. A sat finder is great here if you can not hear the tv or are all alone. The thing will squeal when it comes close to a satellite and you can fine tune it to be more sensative when you are trying to dial it in. Just remember that it will find ANY satellite that it comes close to, so when it starts to squeal loud, run in the house and see if you have TV.
So there you have it, my many and I mean many hours of frustration complied into easy reading. Feel free to print and distibute.
