In the past years since we first bought a Dish Satellite setup for the RV it has taken as much as 3 days to get the tripod, dish and cabling hooked up and a good signal to the receiver. On a good day it usually takes 30 minutes to get setup and a good signal. I'm proud to say on July 6th it took less than 10 minutes.
I put together the tripod, plumbed and leveled it, attached the satellite dish and pointed it in the direction I thought 162° would be. When I went in the RV to check the signal it showed a strength of 39 and locked... I went back out and moved the dish 1/4 of an inch to the right and the signal jumped to 70 and locked. I tightened everything down while I had a big smile on my face.
By the way the 3 day nightmare took place in Quartzite, we had a clear shot with no obstructions anywhere near the RV. No matter where I placed the dish, I couldn't get a signal. I walked over to other RVers to see if thay had had problems.... No was the answer. For 3 days in between assisting customers at our booth I would try to get a signal. I finally moved the sat dish closer to a chain link fence and boom the signal locked. Not being a sat expert, I'm guessing somehow the fence was interfering with the signal and I was finally able to get the dish past the point where the interference was occurring by moving really close to it. The dish was always a few inches higher than the top of the fence so I never considered the fence as a problem.
lindy said
11:48 PM Jul 10, 2013
After trying to aim a Dish dish 3 or 4 times, I said the heck with this and bought the dish Tailgater system. Set the dish in place point the handle north, plug in and run the switch check on the receiver and then wait for the system/programing to down load. Never easier!!!!
Rob_Fla said
04:22 AM Jul 11, 2013
We still use a TriPod and aim it manually.
Typically takes about 5 minutes.
I use the DishPointer App on my I Phone and a AccuTek III Meter so I can peak all 3 satellite for HD Service.
We move every couple of weeks or so, took a few times to get proficient, but now no big deal.
Have about 60' of cable on the dish so I can move it around when trees are in the way.
Bill and Linda said
03:42 PM Jul 11, 2013
Yep, the secret to dish pointing, if you want to call it that, is a perfectly plumb tripod such that you can put in the elevation number based on your location and then elevation will be real close.But that only works if the tripod is perfectly plumb.Then finding the azimuth based on a compass heading becomes much easier.A signal meter at the dish, IMO, is also a real big help as opposed to the DW yelling out the window. :)
TXRVr said
03:14 PM Jul 15, 2013
Depending on which part of the US one typically travels, the two adjustments will not need to be changed much. As an example, I've been in the mid-west this summer and when moving those two have been in a range of 48-53 degrees elevation and 185 - 210 side to side. I always start with elevation since it is a much narrower range to get locked in.
I'm going to open a can of worms, but I'd like some suggestions as to the best satellite signal finder - preferable under $25. I lost my headset type signal generator. It was a 30 second breeze to get a lock on the signal with that, but unfortunately I can find no one who makes them any longer.
Terry and Jo said
07:00 PM Jul 15, 2013
Rick,
I don't know what you had before, so this is a shot in the dark.
I have a Dish Tailgator.....old style with remotes so .....run outside put it down ...handle north....go inside set sattalite....done.....and Fine adjustments can be done from inside!!
Terry> Although it had a headset instead of the ear bud the Sat Beeper is what I had that worked exceptionally well. I assumed that they were no longer being made. Thank you, thank you. You are now in my will!!!
Lucky> It would be nice, but I'm way too cheap to buy that.
Terry and Jo said
07:42 PM Jul 20, 2013
Rick,
You are quite welcome. It is always a pleasure to be able to exercise my "Google-fu" to find a product or service that helps people out. I'd say that I've not broken out in a sweat doing all this, but we do have one air conditioner that isn't working at the moment. Fortunately, the temps are only in the low 90's outside.
As for being in your will, don't bother, unless it involves firearms and ammunition. Then I'll accept it.
Terry
TXRVr said
09:40 PM Jul 20, 2013
Terry> I order two of the sat beepers today in case I get another senior moment and lose another one.
No problem on most of the guns and ammo, but you can't have the 8mm German Mouser that my Dad took off a battle field prisoner nor the late 1700's cap and ball Navy revolver my grandfather gave me.
Sorry to hear about your a.c. issue. I will offer a temp fix suggestion. This came from a similar problem I had a couple years ago. I bought a 5000 BTU, $100 window unit from Wally World and put it in a slide out window. It was red neck engineering but worked like a charm for the two months that we were in one location. I sold it after we got home for a bit more than half what I paid for it.
Rich
Terry and Jo said
12:42 AM Jul 21, 2013
Rick,
I wouldn't give up those firearms either. While I don't have any hand-me-downs from family, I do have an old cap and ball muzzle loader in a "carbine-style" that I picked up in Afghanistan back in the '60's. I bought the rifle, some tools, a powder scale, a powder horn, a shield and a saber for about $10 U.S. money. Lots of the guys were taking three day passes and going to Kabul to get stuff.
As for the A/C, we decided to go to Home Depot and buy a portable air conditioner. It cost around $300, but I don't have to find a way to install it in a window or jerry-rig a vent system for it. It comes with a vent system. When we were out to get it, our pickup's thermometer said it was 97 outside. The new A/C has cooled us down to about 86 degrees in the living/kitchen/dining room area. Alicia and Slade with Rolling Retreats in Elk City will be through tomorrow or Monday and Slade will check out the roof mounted Dometic then.
Who knows, we may keep this portable A/C, at least until we finally retire here and maybe travel to where we don't even need an air conditioner.
Terry
The Bear II said
11:49 PM Jul 23, 2013
Update: That's what I get for Bragging
That sat system worked great for about a week and then died. I was back at home and my DW was stuck at the RV with no QVC, HSN, Reality Shows...etc. A friend tried to revive the setup but couldn't get a signal from the dish. He made sure the setup was plumb, correct azimuth and elevation but no signal.
I eneded up having to make the trip down to San Diego to try and fix the sat plus the bottom hinge on the door for the fridge broke off. I tried for a couple of hours but couldn't get a signal. I was able to fix the door.
I went back home and got the sat dish and receiver from the house (known working setup) and took it back down to San Diego. Set it up and no signal.....that's weird. I gave up and went to the nearby Dish supplier and bought a Tailgater Antenna. Put it on the roof and within 5 minutes had sat tv again. She sadi "You can fix anything...." yeah right if you throw money at a problem it can be fixed.
So the next day I got angry and worked on the original dish, after about 45 minutes I finally got a signal by just moving it from side to side and then up and down and then side and up then side and down. Eventhough I and my friend both had double and triple checked the dish to make sure we had it plumb and adjusted correctly no signal. I really don't know what worked. It was too dark by the time I got a signal to look at how far off I was from the adjustments.
Anyway, I wished I hadn't bragged about how quick the original setup was....Murphy struck me down.
RVRon said
04:20 PM Jul 24, 2013
Heaping difficulty on myself I use a Dish Network 1000.2 antenna. Of course I want HD everything so I need to pick up 3 satellites at the same time. Like others have said the secret is to set up the tripod perfectly plumb and be very accurate with the dish settings. I have to not only have direction (azimuth) but also elevation and skew. After about 100 setups I have it down to the point where I can get the whole thing operational in about 15 minutes. If you have the direction nailed and have the elevation accurate it should only be necessary to rotate the dish side to side to peak the signal. I use a simple signal strength meter for this. If they ever come out with a Tailgater type of setup that is priced economically AND will pick up more than one satellite at a time I might consider it.
Racerguy said
03:00 PM Jul 25, 2013
I had mine down pat also except for the last couple months we were on the road I had an exceptionally hard time getting it dialed in.I just wrote it off that I was not not feeling well caused the problem.When I hired someone to install it on our condo here in Arizona he worked with it for a while and finally asked me.Have you dropped this a few times or something? I told him the wind had blown it over a few times.He said you must have been lucky finding a signal because the arm was bent several degrees out of whack.It wasn't visible to the naked eye but when we compared a new one side by side you could see a big difference.So long story short if you are having trouble and have no visible obstructions in the way stop and ask yourself if you have ever dropped it or had the wind blow it over. It was the 1000.2 which made it harder.
-- Edited by Racerguy on Thursday 25th of July 2013 03:01:36 PM
RVRon said
11:10 PM Jul 25, 2013
Racerguy, we had a similar situation with our dish setup. After trying to set up the dish at 3 different campgrounds with a clear view of the sky I could only get 2 of the 3 satellites that I needed. I could move the dish to get any 2 of the 3 but not all 3 at the same time. I finally gave up and called a local technician. He at first thought either the dish or the arm was bent but that wasn't the case. What it turned out to be was that one of the receiver horns (LNB) wasn't working so I was only receiving a signal from the other two. Looking closely I saw some red paint scrapes on the side of the LNB. Since we have nothing red anywhere on our RV I finally figured that it was probably someone mowing the lawn somewhere that had whacked the antenna. It cost about $100 to replace that LNB so now that I know how fragile they are I disassemble the dish from the arm and "Ellen B." rides comfy and protected on the bed when we move!
cpaulsen said
11:44 AM Jul 27, 2013
RVRon wrote:
Racerguy, we had a similar situation with our dish setup. After trying to set up the dish at 3 different campgrounds with a clear view of the sky I could only get 2 of the 3 satellites that I needed. I could move the dish to get any 2 of the 3 but not all 3 at the same time. I finally gave up and called a local technician. He at first thought either the dish or the arm was bent but that wasn't the case. What it turned out to be was that one of the receiver horns (LNB) wasn't working so I was only receiving a signal from the other two. Looking closely I saw some red paint scrapes on the side of the LNB. Since we have nothing red anywhere on our RV I finally figured that it was probably someone mowing the lawn somewhere that had whacked the antenna. It cost about $100 to replace that LNB so now that I know how fragile they are I disassemble the dish from the arm and "Ellen B." rides comfy and protected on the bed when we move!
That is an expensive LNB. I just got a free Dish 1000.4 with the 3 LNB's. I was ready to buy one for 30.00 for the whole setup from a Dish dealer till this one showed up.
RVRon said
03:54 PM Jul 27, 2013
cpaulsen wrote:
RVRon wrote:
Racerguy, we had a similar situation with our dish setup. After trying to set up the dish at 3 different campgrounds with a clear view of the sky I could only get 2 of the 3 satellites that I needed. I could move the dish to get any 2 of the 3 but not all 3 at the same time. I finally gave up and called a local technician. He at first thought either the dish or the arm was bent but that wasn't the case. What it turned out to be was that one of the receiver horns (LNB) wasn't working so I was only receiving a signal from the other two. Looking closely I saw some red paint scrapes on the side of the LNB. Since we have nothing red anywhere on our RV I finally figured that it was probably someone mowing the lawn somewhere that had whacked the antenna. It cost about $100 to replace that LNB so now that I know how fragile they are I disassemble the dish from the arm and "Ellen B." rides comfy and protected on the bed when we move!
That is an expensive LNB. I just got a free Dish 1000.4 with the 3 LNB's. I was ready to buy one for 30.00 for the whole setup from a Dish dealer till this one showed up.
Oh yeah... I think I paid less than $50 for the entire dish setup, used from a guy on Craigslist. It's a lot more expensive when you have a technician come to your campsite, diagnose the problem and supply the parts.
Frac999 said
04:02 AM Aug 2, 2013
I solved my dish setup problem and went out and had a traveler installed on top the 5th wheel. Just push the button
In the past years since we first bought a Dish Satellite setup for the RV it has taken as much as 3 days to get the tripod, dish and cabling hooked up and a good signal to the receiver. On a good day it usually takes 30 minutes to get setup and a good signal. I'm proud to say on July 6th it took less than 10 minutes.
I put together the tripod, plumbed and leveled it, attached the satellite dish and pointed it in the direction I thought 162° would be. When I went in the RV to check the signal it showed a strength of 39 and locked... I went back out and moved the dish 1/4 of an inch to the right and the signal jumped to 70 and locked. I tightened everything down while I had a big smile on my face.
By the way the 3 day nightmare took place in Quartzite, we had a clear shot with no obstructions anywhere near the RV. No matter where I placed the dish, I couldn't get a signal. I walked over to other RVers to see if thay had had problems.... No was the answer. For 3 days in between assisting customers at our booth I would try to get a signal. I finally moved the sat dish closer to a chain link fence and boom the signal locked. Not being a sat expert, I'm guessing somehow the fence was interfering with the signal and I was finally able to get the dish past the point where the interference was occurring by moving really close to it. The dish was always a few inches higher than the top of the fence so I never considered the fence as a problem.
Typically takes about 5 minutes.
I use the DishPointer App on my I Phone and a AccuTek III Meter so I can peak all 3 satellite for HD Service.
We move every couple of weeks or so, took a few times to get proficient, but now no big deal.
Have about 60' of cable on the dish so I can move it around when trees are in the way.
Yep, the secret to dish pointing, if you want to call it that, is a perfectly plumb tripod such that you can put in the elevation number based on your location and then elevation will be real close. But that only works if the tripod is perfectly plumb. Then finding the azimuth based on a compass heading becomes much easier. A signal meter at the dish, IMO, is also a real big help as opposed to the DW yelling out the window. :)
I'm going to open a can of worms, but I'd like some suggestions as to the best satellite signal finder - preferable under $25. I lost my headset type signal generator. It was a 30 second breeze to get a lock on the signal with that, but unfortunately I can find no one who makes them any longer.
Rick,
I don't know what you had before, so this is a shot in the dark.
Bestway Satellite Finder with free Accessories
Not sure about this one as it doesn't have a meter, just an audible tone.
Bestway Sat Beeper
Bestways Homepage
Terry
Terry> Although it had a headset instead of the ear bud the Sat Beeper is what I had that worked exceptionally well. I assumed that they were no longer being made. Thank you, thank you. You are now in my will!!!
Lucky> It would be nice, but I'm way too cheap to buy that.
Rick,
You are quite welcome. It is always a pleasure to be able to exercise my "Google-fu" to find a product or service that helps people out. I'd say that I've not broken out in a sweat doing all this, but we do have one air conditioner that isn't working at the moment. Fortunately, the temps are only in the low 90's outside.
As for being in your will, don't bother, unless it involves firearms and ammunition. Then I'll accept it.
Terry
Terry> I order two of the sat beepers today in case I get another senior moment and lose another one.
No problem on most of the guns and ammo, but you can't have the 8mm German Mouser that my Dad took off a battle field prisoner nor the late 1700's cap and ball Navy revolver my grandfather gave me.
Sorry to hear about your a.c. issue. I will offer a temp fix suggestion. This came from a similar problem I had a couple years ago. I bought a 5000 BTU, $100 window unit from Wally World and put it in a slide out window. It was red neck engineering but worked like a charm for the two months that we were in one location. I sold it after we got home for a bit more than half what I paid for it.
Rich
Rick,
I wouldn't give up those firearms either. While I don't have any hand-me-downs from family, I do have an old cap and ball muzzle loader in a "carbine-style" that I picked up in Afghanistan back in the '60's. I bought the rifle, some tools, a powder scale, a powder horn, a shield and a saber for about $10 U.S. money. Lots of the guys were taking three day passes and going to Kabul to get stuff.
As for the A/C, we decided to go to Home Depot and buy a portable air conditioner. It cost around $300, but I don't have to find a way to install it in a window or jerry-rig a vent system for it. It comes with a vent system. When we were out to get it, our pickup's thermometer said it was 97 outside. The new A/C has cooled us down to about 86 degrees in the living/kitchen/dining room area. Alicia and Slade with Rolling Retreats in Elk City will be through tomorrow or Monday and Slade will check out the roof mounted Dometic then.
Who knows, we may keep this portable A/C, at least until we finally retire here and maybe travel to where we don't even need an air conditioner.
Terry
That sat system worked great for about a week and then died. I was back at home and my DW was stuck at the RV with no QVC, HSN, Reality Shows...etc. A friend tried to revive the setup but couldn't get a signal from the dish. He made sure the setup was plumb, correct azimuth and elevation but no signal.
I eneded up having to make the trip down to San Diego to try and fix the sat plus the bottom hinge on the door for the fridge broke off. I tried for a couple of hours but couldn't get a signal. I was able to fix the door.
I went back home and got the sat dish and receiver from the house (known working setup) and took it back down to San Diego. Set it up and no signal.....that's weird. I gave up and went to the nearby Dish supplier and bought a Tailgater Antenna. Put it on the roof and within 5 minutes had sat tv again. She sadi "You can fix anything...." yeah right if you throw money at a problem it can be fixed.
So the next day I got angry and worked on the original dish, after about 45 minutes I finally got a signal by just moving it from side to side and then up and down and then side and up then side and down. Eventhough I and my friend both had double and triple checked the dish to make sure we had it plumb and adjusted correctly no signal. I really don't know what worked. It was too dark by the time I got a signal to look at how far off I was from the adjustments.
Anyway, I wished I hadn't bragged about how quick the original setup was....Murphy struck me down.
Heaping difficulty on myself I use a Dish Network 1000.2 antenna. Of course I want HD everything so I need to pick up 3 satellites at the same time. Like others have said the secret is to set up the tripod perfectly plumb and be very accurate with the dish settings. I have to not only have direction (azimuth) but also elevation and skew. After about 100 setups I have it down to the point where I can get the whole thing operational in about 15 minutes. If you have the direction nailed and have the elevation accurate it should only be necessary to rotate the dish side to side to peak the signal. I use a simple signal strength meter for this. If they ever come out with a Tailgater type of setup that is priced economically AND will pick up more than one satellite at a time I might consider it.
I had mine down pat also except for the last couple months we were on the road I had an exceptionally hard time getting it dialed in.I just wrote it off that I was not not feeling well caused the problem.When I hired someone to install it on our condo here in Arizona he worked with it for a while and finally asked me.Have you dropped this a few times or something? I told him the wind had blown it over a few times.He said you must have been lucky finding a signal because the arm was bent several degrees out of whack.It wasn't visible to the naked eye but when we compared a new one side by side you could see a big difference.So long story short if you are having trouble and have no visible obstructions in the way stop and ask yourself if you have ever dropped it or had the wind blow it over. It was the 1000.2 which made it harder.
-- Edited by Racerguy on Thursday 25th of July 2013 03:01:36 PM
Racerguy, we had a similar situation with our dish setup. After trying to set up the dish at 3 different campgrounds with a clear view of the sky I could only get 2 of the 3 satellites that I needed. I could move the dish to get any 2 of the 3 but not all 3 at the same time. I finally gave up and called a local technician. He at first thought either the dish or the arm was bent but that wasn't the case. What it turned out to be was that one of the receiver horns (LNB) wasn't working so I was only receiving a signal from the other two. Looking closely I saw some red paint scrapes on the side of the LNB. Since we have nothing red anywhere on our RV I finally figured that it was probably someone mowing the lawn somewhere that had whacked the antenna. It cost about $100 to replace that LNB so now that I know how fragile they are I disassemble the dish from the arm and "Ellen B." rides comfy and protected on the bed when we move!
That is an expensive LNB. I just got a free Dish 1000.4 with the 3 LNB's. I was ready to buy one for 30.00 for the whole setup from a Dish dealer till this one showed up.
Oh yeah... I think I paid less than $50 for the entire dish setup, used from a guy on Craigslist. It's a lot more expensive when you have a technician come to your campsite, diagnose the problem and supply the parts.