Using meter to align dish...

[rover7]

I am going to align a slimline 5lnb dish with the help of signal meter. Once I assemble the dish and attach the lnbs, I know I am not supposed to disconnect the lnbs after the dish is aligned. Therefore I will have to run a short 2ft piece of rg6 out of the lnb so I can put my meter inline between the lnb and the receiver. Once the dish is aligned, I will then put a coaxial splice connector in place of the meter. My question is...Will this work? I know you can't use a splitter to split the signal, but will a simple splice connector have any negative effect?

[houskamp]

The dish alignment won't change if you just pull the 2 screws holding the lnb.. just align it pop the lnb and hook up cables..

[rover7]

Good to know. Thanks.

[rover7]

I just noticed that the meter I have is good for 950mhz - 2050mhz
Is this going to work for aligning the slimline 5lnb?
According to instructions, it looks like I am only really using the meter to get signals on the 101 and 119 sats. Will this meter be okay?

[lwilli201]

I am going to align a slimline 5lnb dish with the help of signal meter. Once I assemble the dish and attach the lnbs, I know I am not supposed to disconnect the lnbs after the dish is aligned. Therefore I will have to run a short 2ft piece of rg6 out of the lnb so I can put my meter inline between the lnb and the receiver. Once the dish is aligned, I will then put a coaxial splice connector in place of the meter. My question is...Will this work? I know you can't use a splitter to split the signal, but will a simple splice connector have any negative effect?

I have 4 short cables from the LNB. My Phase II with the 110 LNB kit was attached to the house. I put the AT9 on a pole just a few feet away. With the short wires I could align the dish with an older receiver and a small tv before I even disconnected the other dish. When the dish was aligned I just moved the cables and was set to go. Having those splices does not appear to have any negative effect on my signal strength. Used good quality compression connectors. I get high 80's and 90's.

[glennb]

The dish alignment won't change if you just pull the 2 screws holding the lnb.. just align it pop the lnb and hook up cables..

That's funny because the set-up and alignment instructions for the dish say - Don't remove the LNBs after the alignment is completed. It even says to use a short jumper to connect the meter to.

[Matt9876]

Just use cell phone or two way radio and the meter built into the HD box.

Suggestion: For the best HD fine tune 103(b) for highest numbers.:)

[rover7]

Just use cell phone or two way radio and the meter built into the HD box.

Suggestion: For the best HD fine tune 103(b) for highest numbers.:)

so you're saying that i could align the dish just as easy by using the meter in the receiver instead of my inline meter? that was what i was originally going to do, but my friend had this sat meter so i figured that might be easier.

[Matt9876]

Yes, If your box won't show 103(b) in the signal meters align to 101 and allow box to download it's new software "5-30 mins to start and about 10 mins to download and restart". After that fine tune on 103(b) for highest numbers.

[joe diamond]

You want to get both the 101 and 119 about even. The Three phase and others are centered on the 110 satellite. The Slimline is centered on the 101. This accounts for the difference in azimuth........Tune the 101 and the 119 then check the 103a (or B). All should be there.

The published coordinates are pretty close........Tilt will not need an adjustment. Do the az first with the bolts snug enough the prevent the dish from rocking but loose enough to allow movement. Peat the az and then peak the el. Tighten all bolts gradually without moving the dish & check the signal again. Tightening the az bolts could effect the el slightly so you may have to repeak the el the first several hundred times you do this.

Joe

[houskamp]

That's funny because the set-up and alignment instructions for the dish say - Don't remove the LNBs after the alignment is completed. It even says to use a short jumper to connect the meter to.
Yep.. and every installer will connect short cable, set dish, pull lnb and connect main cables.. I have had mine off a few times during testing, never seen any signal difference from the R&R...

[K4SMX]

I just noticed that the meter I have is good for 950mhz - 2050mhz
Is this going to work for aligning the slimline 5lnb?
According to instructions, it looks like I am only really using the meter to get signals on the 101 and 119 sats. Will this meter be okay?
Probably 90% of professional installers use a 101/119 signal meter. Here (http://retailer.directv.com/dws/content/TRN_Slimline_backassembly_20107.wmv) is DirecTV's 2006 5 LNB Installation Video which describes how they do it. You should check your 103(b) or 103(c) (depending on your software version) signal strengths on your receiver to see if additional tweaking is necessary to achieve mostly all 90's on this satellite, which carries the new mpeg4 HD national channels as well as the HD locals (and some SD) for many DMA's.

[TigersFanJJ]

That's funny because the set-up and alignment instructions for the dish say - Don't remove the LNBs after the alignment is completed. It even says to use a short jumper to connect the meter to.

On the sidecar dish, you were supposed to realign if the LNBs were removed. You don't have to worry about it with the slimline.