Plumbing The Mast

[henw]

I have the 5 lnb slimline dish that I set up on a tripod for travel. I live in Fla., and no matter the location here, 119 reads about 25 points less on my signal meter than 101. 45(119), 70(101) is the best I can line up with the suggested methods.
The HR21 reciever, however, tells me that my switch strength is is 97-98% pretty much across the board and my reception is fine.
I am worried that in a rain storm that I will experience satellite fade at those meter readings. Should I trust the reciever or the satellite meter?
The tech who initially put the dish together just went at it with a wrench. . I know that on the older 5 lnb dish they talk about plumbing the mast. I'm not sure if this suppopse to be done with the slimline. I suspect that the difference I am getting between 101 and 119 is due to mast or lnb alignment. If that's a possibility, how would I determine such?
Also, does the slimline have slots for " zone" alignment like the older equipment?

Tom

[RobertE]

I have the 5 lnb slimline dish that I set up on a tripod for travel. I live in Fla., and no matter the location here, 119 reads about 25 points less on my signal meter than 101. 45(119), 70(101) is the best I can line up with the suggested methods.
The HR21 reciever, however, tells me that my switch strength is is 97-98% pretty much across the board and my reception is fine.
I am worried that in a rain storm that I will experience satellite fade at those meter readings. Should I trust the reciever or the satellite meter?
The tech who initially put the dish together just went at it with a wrench. . I know that on the older 5 lnb dish they talk about plumbing the mast. I'm not sure if this suppopse to be done with the slimline. I suspect that the difference I am getting between 101 and 119 is due to mast or lnb alignment. If that's a possibility, how would I determine such?
Also, does the slimline have slots for " zone" alignment like the older equipment?

Tom

No zone settings on the slimline.

As for the different readings. Not an issue. The reading on the meter does not have to equal the reading on the receiver. They use different scales. Just like my birdog, I can set the RF reading to either Linear or Log, same with BER (Bit Error Rate). Kidna like a metric vs imperial units.

[K4SMX]

......I know that on the older 5 lnb dish they talk about plumbing the mast. I'm not sure if this suppopse to be done with the slimline. I suspect that the difference I am getting between 101 and 119 is due to mast or lnb alignment. If that's a possibility, how would I determine such?.....
Agree with Robert on the other issues he covered, but I don't know how you can travel around and re-aim your dish in a repeatable manner without making sure your tripod is plumb with respect to the ground it's sitting on before you re-aim it.

[Ext 721]

Agree with Robert on the other issues he covered, but I don't know how you can travel around and re-aim your dish in a repeatable manner without making sure your tripod is plumb with respect to the ground it's sitting on before you re-aim it.

Many signal meters measure, for lack of a better term, the "force" of radio waves, often of a specific frequency range.

Since the 101 is "full" with transponders in the standard range most meters measure, and the 119 is not as "full" you may experience what you describe no matter what.

Ultimately, the measure that matters is on the receiver. I can get a great signal strength on a "dual buddy" meter....with a feed from comcast digital cable!!!!

Does that mean anything as far as hooking a directv unit to that cable?

[lukep10]

Agree with Robert on the other issues he covered, but I don't know how you can travel around and re-aim your dish in a repeatable manner without making sure your tripod is plumb with respect to the ground it's sitting on before you re-aim it.

home depot sellls those little plumb levels that are magnetic and if your tripod has extensions on the legs you could use those to adjust back to plumb