Tweaking 99c

[jrmichael]

Had an issue where I needed to realign my dish. I'm getting high 90's on 101,110, and 119 and low 90's on 103c however 99c is in mid 80's. What's the fine tuning adjustment (tilt, AZ, or EL) to raise 99c? I'm guessing it would be a tilt adjustment.

[litzdog911]

There's nothing wrong with 99º(c) in the "mid-80s". I would leave it alone.

[jdspencer]

Right! Leave well enough alone unless you start getting dropouts.

If you want to fiddle, I'd try very small adjustments to tilt first. And then the elevation. Leave azimuth alone.

[jrmichael]

There's nothing wrong with 99º(c) in the "mid-80s". I would leave it alone.

Yeah, I know mid 80's are acceptable but I was curious what the adjustment would be. I'm thinking it must be tilt since AZ and EL must be really close for all other sat's to be in 90's.

[jdspencer]

Since the Ku alignment isn't quite as critical, the elevation could be tweaked a little and possibly not affect the Ku sats. Leave Azimuth alone.

[joe diamond]

Just because it is not broken is no reason to not fix it!

Those numbers are fine. IF you do nothing they will change with atmospheric conditions.

IF you decide to screw around with your settings:

Verify the mast is plumb now. You can check it again from time to time to make sure the whole rig is not pulling from it's mount.

DO mark where your settings are now...use a sharpie or similar to make marks so you can get back to the current settings.

As others have noted...do not screw with the azimuth....but do mark it in case someone bumps it in the future.

Get a 1/2 inch wrench and check all nuts for firm tightness...don't break 'em.

Joe

[dracozny]

unless you have an accurate meter I would leave it be just make sure your bolts are snug(if your hddvr or hd reciever or sd r22 is hooked up to the internet the reciever will diagnose and order a serice call for you if needed, a csr will call you to schedule an apointment).

!!!!in my opinion as a tech it is ill advised for you to attempt to do the following procedure. !!!!

!!!!do not just try to peg out the meter as high as you can this will result in a bad alignment for atleast one orbital slot if not all of them!!!!

!!!!if you have a swm install the single wire multiswitch life will be very difficult and it must be done with a bird dog or superbuddy, all recievers must be disconnected from the system and you must have the power inserter plugged in, and use a power passing splitter to tune the system. bird dog and superbuddy must have the 101swm and 119swm satelite orbits programmed!!!!

if you do have a meter preferably a digital one, (i as a tech can do it with an aspen eagle meter but i have done this for a long time)
the process is to loosen the two bolts on the side for elevation(NOT the one that has the black dither mechanism!!!!) and the two bolts on the front of the back assembly that lock the azimuth in place.

!!!!do not attempt to loosen any odd ball looking nut these are glued and are usually pentagon shaped!!!!

turn the black dials to "0" ont the one facing away from the rear of the dish turn the bolt with a 1/2" driver two complete turns clock wise. write down your reading from the meter for satelite 101. now count the number of turns counter clockwise until you get close to the number you read, from there count the number of ticks on the dial until it reads the same number, (often i find this is somewhere between 3.5 to 4.2 turns) divide that number in half and turn clock wise that number. repeat this process with the other dial.
you will need to do a similar process to peak the 119 sat using the tilt adjustment if you have a kaku/5 in my area the tilt is aprox 110 degrees and fine adjusted from there, I do a similar process for tuning this since in my area the 119 will peg out the meter. afterwards tighten all bolts and check your signal strength.

[jcamp]

Not true that you need a special meter to align the SWM. I use the receiver and put it on signal strength and I can get high 80's to high 90's on 101, 103 and 99. Works like a champ. Thanks to Joe Diamond for helping me become an expert.

[joe diamond]

Not true that you need a special meter to align the SWM. I use the receiver and put it on signal strength and I can get high 80's to high 90's on 101, 103 and 99. Works like a champ. Thanks to Joe Diamond for helping me become an expert.

Glad to help.

Just don't push the red button...it launches the missiles.

Joe

[texasbrit]

Glad to help.

Just don't push the red button...it launches the missiles.

Joe

...to launch the missiles you need the secret code...02468...