Manually aiming a sat dish

[adarius10]

I am moving and due to the housing rules, I removed the Direct TV dish from the property. I am now trying to figure out how to aim the dish for Direct TV and see if I'll keep this dish for the RV. It is a slimline dish and the box from the house.
Wheee can I find aiming information for Direct TV and how do I decide which satellites to use?
Thanks for your assistance.

[msturtz]

Originally Posted by adarius10

I am moving and due to the housing rules, I removed the Direct TV dish from the property. I am now trying to figure out how to aim the dish for Direct TV and see if I'll keep this dish for the RV. It is a slimline dish and the box from the house.
Where can I find aiming information for Direct TV and how do I decide which satellites to use?
Thanks for your assistance.

As a general rule satellite antennas may not be prohibited by any local regulations, HOA, condo association, landlord etc. https://www.fcc.gov/media/over-air-r...n-devices-rule
if you removed it as a result of such a rule as you indicated above that rule is illegal under federal law. The FCC can and does issue significant fines for violations. In general satellite dishes may not be prohibited. Usually it is sufficient to notify the HOA or authority of the FCC rule and they will back down. As to aiming, in general a home antenna is very frustrating to aim for mobile use. The pole must be perfectly vertical and the skew must be perfect and finally the elevation angle must be perfect. This must be done in the correct sequence for best results. This must be done every time you move.

[adarius10]

It is removed because the property manager requires its removal when you leave. Authorized when you are living there.
Where can I find the data required to try and adjust it for the RV? Worse case scenario, I get frustrated and toss it in the trash. Best case, I get sat tv in the trailer.
Thanks for any assistance.

[Clay L]

I would go to the TV4RV site and take a look. They have tripods and info about setting up dishes.

[adarius10]

Thank

[powderman]

Although not the easiest thing to do, it is not rocket science. There are web sites that for a given zip code will give you the skew and elevation. These can be set before mounting on the pole. Although it helps to be close on the settings, it does not require it to be exact.

If you have a smart phone you can get a free app called AR sat. With it running and set to show what satellites you want, in your case Derectv, you can hold the phone skyward and see the SATs superimposed on the screen. This will give you a good idea where to aim and also show if there are any obstructions.

Although I have only done Dish Network, the principle is the same. I got so good at it that many times I could aim where I thought it should be, and when turning the receiver on I would get a lock of 60 or 70 percent.

It takes a little patience but the reward is great. If you don't have much patience, its much easier to use a carryout. Even with the carryout I suggest you get the phone app as it lowers the frustration level. Good luck

[Mich F]

I have a slimline dish at home, but have been using a round dish in various RVs since 1995. The slimline dish would be a little more involved in setting up than a round dish, but plenty of people do it.
When you turn on your receiver, you would go to menu, then setup and it will walk you through setting up the dish, after putting in whatever zip code you're at (or lat. and long.).


I hadn't seen powderman's post before I posted, but he brings up some good points. I have a couple of apps for finding the satellites on my phone, but haven't quite figured out how to use them. One of the apps list a bunch of different Direct TV satellites, and I've yet to find the "right" ones. I normally just use a regular small, round compass, or a compass app I have on my phone. I also can sometimes aim towards roughly where it should be pointing, go inside to set the signal meter on the TV screen and it has already found the satellite and may or may not need more dish aiming.

[DGBPokes]

I had a slim line Direct TV dish on a tripod for use in our old RV a few years ago. It was the most frustrating thing I ever owned. I spent hours and hours trying to get it working. I could get it to work one weekend, then the next three or four it wouldn't work. One night the wind blew it over and bent it. I smiled as I left it in the trash bin.

Since that time, I've learned a lot;
1. The mounting post must be level...perfectly.
2. Log on to setup input your zip code it will tell you heading, azimuth, elevation.
3. With a compass point it at the heading and estimate the elevation.
4. With the controller turned on, someone on the inside telling you outside the signal strength as you make small manual adjustments

My mistakes related to the set up configuration I started with. I had a working system in the house, and was taking the dvr box from,the house to the RV. My RV dish I bought off eBay, it "looked" like the one on the house, it wasn't. The house was SWM, the RV was multi switch. The dish type set up selection was different to, and I was always guessing what it should be.

I am on my second Wineguard Travler, sold the first one when I sold the old coach, love it. Push the button, go outside and watch it do its thing, and smile.

You must know those settings before you start to aim the thing.

[TexasTom]

It's not hard to aim once you get a good idea how it all works. It generally takes me 15-20 min. There are some good videos on YouTube that will do a nice job of explaining

[adarius10]

I seem to have not taken the SWM. It keeps looking for the switch, I have the power supply. I'll see if a local store has on and give it a shot in a couple of days.
Thank you for all your assistance.

[DGBPokes]

Originally Posted by adarius10

I seem to have not taken the SWM. It keeps looking for the switch, I have the power supply. I'll see if a local store has on and give it a shot in a couple of days.
Thank you for all your assistance.

When on screen, just select multi switch. You don't have to have the SWM

[RangerRick]

If you are going to be moving around and setting up your dish in various locations get yourself a sat finder meter. Many come as a kit with meter, level and compass. They are not expensive and are easy to use. The next thing you should do is bookmark `geosatfinder.com``. That website and others like it will give you the settings for your current location. Your current location can be entered by your physical address or the best way is to go you your GPS and get the coordinates from there. As for actually doing the alignment, there are several you tube videos that go through the process. I hope this helps. When you get the hang of it, it only takes a few minutes.

[adarius10]

I haven't tried since initially writing this post. I'm working 12 hour days and it is too dark to mess with it. I plan on taking these hints and working on it tomorrow.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

For the settings of where to aim, dishpointer.com is the place to go. Enter where you are and, very important, select the "All Satellites | Motorized Systems | Multi-LNB Setups: " that is the dish you are aiming.