portable dish

[vh3201]

We are traveling in a RV for a few weeks and have a portable dish500 and tripod. I am taking a 6000 receiver and am curious if there are any tools that would make aiming the portable dish easy. I have seen the "inline" signal strength meters but they dont tell you what sat you are receiving. I know the info screen gives elev. and azmuth for a zip code, but after that rough setting what tools or techniques would simplify the task.
In the future I might upgrade to a portable dish 1000 but I'm concerned about the ability to aim at 3 sats.

[Beardedbosn]

I have used a portable dish with our RV since 1995. The inline meter is a must as far as I'm concerned. A plumb mount is a must so your tools should include a meter, magnetic compass and a level. I prefer an analog meter rather then a digital meter because I feel the needle reacts faster. I start by adjusting the needle to the lower half of the scale.

The meter will not tell you which bird you are on but as soon as you have a strong signal you can check the TV screen to see what you readings are. Sometimes I have had to remove the meter to view the signal on the screen. If it tells you you are on the wrong satellite just turn the dish a little right or left. After getting the birds, tweek the elevation for the strongest signal. The more often you do it the easier it gets. My slideout has a flat edge so I mount the dish on a piece of PVC electrical conduit and clamp it to the slideout. This way, with the trailer level, the dish mount
is level. I only use a ground mount if I have to duck around trees.

Safe Travels :jump3:

Chris

[vh3201]

Thanks, I'll get a meter. Do you have a dish 500 or dish 1000? Is the 1000 any harder to aim, picking up 3sats instead of 2??



I have used a portable dish with our RV since 1995. The inline meter is a must as far as I'm concerned. A plumb mount is a must so your tools should include a meter, magnetic compass and a level. I prefer an analog meter rather then a digital meter because I feel the needle reacts faster. I start by adjusting the needle to the lower half of the scale.

The meter will not tell you which bird you are on but as soon as you have a strong signal you can check the TV screen to see what you readings are. Sometimes I have had to remove the meter to view the signal on the screen. If it tells you you are on the wrong satellite just turn the dish a little right or left. After getting the birds, tweek the elevation for the strongest signal. The more often you do it the easier it gets. My slideout has a flat edge so I mount the dish on a piece of PVC electrical conduit and clamp it to the slideout. This way, with the trailer level, the dish mount
is level. I only use a ground mount if I have to duck around trees.

Safe Travels :jump3:

Chris

[Beardedbosn]

Thanks, I'll get a meter. Do you have a dish 500 or dish 1000? Is the 1000 any harder to aim, picking up 3sats instead of 2??

I have a dish 500 so I am looking at only two satellites; I cannot address the 3 bird issue. I suspect that the basic procedure will be the same. Usually once you are receiving a signal on the correct LNB the others should fall in place but you may have to tweek it to get the best signal.

If you have a chance to rig the portable at home you can do some practicing before hitting the road.

Safe Travels

Chris

[BaldEagle]

I've not found a meter to be of much use. I have better luck just using the on screen meter with the sound turned up on the TV. The higher the tone and faster it beeps the better the signal. Installed a dish one time where the TV was on the other side of my home and still could hear it fine with the window open where the dish went.

The key to finding a good signal as mentioned above is having the dish plumb. I've help a few others having problems finding the satellite and every time the reason they were having a hard time was because of an out of plumb dish.

It has never taken me more than a few minutes to get a strong signal using only the on screen meter and a simple compass.