[Grentz]

So I had been wanting to repeak my dish as it had fallen into the low/mid 80s for the 103 and the 101 was in the low 90s high 80s. Not an issue right now, but I know when winter comes along I need all the signal strength I can get for snow storms.

Only issue is I do not have a meter that I could use besides my receiver. So after some searching around the house I came up with about 60ft of RCA extenders that I linked together to make a video line for my portable DVD player.

Ran the cord from my HR21, out the window, up the side of the house, and finally up along the roof line to the peak where my dish is. Then I pearched myself up there with a portable DVD player, some tools, and my RF remote and was able to realign the dish, plus control my receiver from the roof!

Must have been a funny sight, but my 101 is now high 90s as are the 110 and 119, and my 103 and 99 are low - mid 90s with a few high 80s.

Moral of the story? RF rules as do RCA video extenders :lol:


On a side note, its amazing how picky the Ka signals are, I could affect them by a good 5% just lightly pushing against the edge of the dish with my finger!

 

[houskamp]

not any crazier than standing on the roof with a laptop (slingbox)

 

[Greg Alsobrook]

not any crazier than standing on the roof with a laptop (slingbox)

are you speaking from experience?? :lol:

 

[Grentz]

lol, true. I thought about doing that, but I dont have a slingbox and didnt feel like setting up a streaming computer just for this one day. A slingbox would have been much easier though!

Plus the battery on the portable dvd player died so I had an extension cord going up on the roof too!

Must look funny seeing someone sitting on the roof with a portable dvd player/laptop or whatever though

 

[jodyguercio]

not any crazier than standing on the roof with a laptop (slingbox)

what you mean thats not the approved method for re-alignment? :lol:

 

[houskamp]

are you speaking from experience?? :lol:

Yep .. and aligning antenna 45' up :eek2:

 

[onan38]

A couple of years ago i packed a table 27 inch tv directv box and chair to my(what i had at the time)3 lnb dish which was only 5 feet on the side of the house.Neighbor came over to see what i was doing.I got signals tweeked into the 90's he went a got a chair and we sat there for hours watching tv.His wife thought we were crazy being outside watching tv the funny thing was they had cable tv at the time and the following week i saw a new Directv dish on the side of their house!

 

[Mertzen]

Call me lazy but I'll take my birdog

 

[richlife]

A couple of years ago i packed a table 27 inch tv directv box and chair to my(what i had at the time)3 lnb dish which was only 5 feet on the side of the house.Neighbor came over to see what i was doing.I got signals tweeked into the 90's he went a got a chair and we sat there for hours watching tv.His wife thought we were crazy being outside watching tv the funny thing was they had cable tv at the time and the following week i saw a new Directv dish on the side of their house!

Watching tv outside -- reminds me... When much younger (way before satellite tv) I ran a long extension cord outside behind our apartment building, set up rabbit ears for a somewhat snowy picture (for you younger readers, "snowy" is the kind of interference you get with weaker analog signals) to watch some football game (??) on a nice early winter day. Before long, I was joined by all the men in the apartment complex, bundled up for the chilly weather, toting lawn chairs and providing all the beer I could handle. Our wives all thought we were nuts, but it's still one of the best experiences I ever had.

 

[MrMojoJojo]

The ingenuity of it all does have a certain charm... but a birdog probably would have been much easier if you or anyone you knew had one.

 

[texasbrit]

I can't find my first post on this but when DirecTV10 first started transmitting (seems a long time ago now) I posted that this was the technique I used for alignment. I use a small portable TV, and an RF modulator as described by grentz, with a cable from the modulator to the TV. Works fine.

 

[Grentz]

Nope, dont know anyone with one and thus it was either spend hundreds on a meter or use stuff I already own with a bit of DIY

 

[Grentz]

I had a quick question to others installing their dishes/looking on their receivers.

Anyone elses receivers take quite a while to tune to the 103 and 99 signals? Mine would sit for quite a while many times and take a long time to get a reading. Sometimes going to the signal meters and changing TPs would get it to finally come on and sometimes I had to switch back to 101 for awhile and then go back to get a reading after awhile.

I have no issues changing between channels (and satellites) for watching TV, just in the signal meters.

 

[houskamp]

I had a quick question to others installing their dishes/looking on their receivers.

Anyone elses receivers take quite a while to tune to the 103 and 99 signals? Mine would sit for quite a while many times and take a long time to get a reading. Sometimes going to the signal meters and changing TPs would get it to finally come on and sometimes I had to switch back to 101 for awhile and then go back to get a reading after awhile.

I have no issues changing between channels (and satellites) for watching TV, just in the signal meters.

"s" or "c" meters? the "s" ones are always slow since they are spotbeams and many aren't your spot..

 

[joe diamond]

So I had been wanting to repeak my dish as it had fallen into the low/mid 80s for the 103 and the 101 was in the low 90s high 80s. Not an issue right now, but I know when winter comes along I need all the signal strength I can get for snow storms.

Only issue is I do not have a meter that I could use besides my receiver. So after some searching around the house I came up with about 60ft of RCA extenders that I linked together to make a video line for my portable DVD player.

Ran the cord from my HR21, out the window, up the side of the house, and finally up along the roof line to the peak where my dish is. Then I pearched myself up there with a portable DVD player, some tools, and my RF remote and was able to realign the dish, plus control my receiver from the roof!

Must have been a funny sight, but my 101 is now high 90s as are the 110 and 119, and my 103 and 99 are low - mid 90s with a few high 80s.

Moral of the story? RF rules as do RCA video extenders :lol:

On a side note, its amazing how picky the Ka signals are, I could affect them by a good 5% just lightly pushing against the edge of the dish with my finger!

Grentz,

Youdaman!

Next time plant a trusted confederate in front of the TV with instructions how to check signals on the meter on the receiver AND a cell phone or landline phone. When you get to the dish with a 1/2 and a 7/16 wrench call your pal and check he readings as you adjust SLOWLY.

Joe

 

[joe diamond]

The ingenuity of it all does have a certain charm... but a birdog probably would have been much easier if you or anyone you knew had one.

Mr Mojo,
Birdogs do have a certain charm and are excellent tools. However, when the whole HD deal was rolled out including the need for a certain $500.00 charm I decided I was out of the "industry." The day is coming when DTV and the HSPs are going to run out of applicants who will work for ......FREE.

Of course these things work but how many installs do you have to do to buy a Birdog?

Joe

 

[Grentz]

"s" or "c" meters? the "s" ones are always slow since they are spotbeams and many aren't your spot..

Both, either one takes a bit to even start scanning, and sometimes wont start at all until I move to another then go back. Its only on the 99 and 103 (s and c) though, 119, 110, and 101 come in almost right away.

Grentz,

Youdaman!

Next time plant a trusted confederate in front of the TV with instructions how to check signals on the meter on the receiver AND a cell phone or landline phone. When you get to the dish with a 1/2 and a 7/16 wrench call your pal and check he readings as you adjust SLOWLY.

Joe

Have done that many times in the past :lol:

The problem is it is easier to get a realtime read out so you can see exactly what you are doing instead of someone reading the numbers which tends to always induce a bit of delay.

 

[joe diamond]

Both, either one takes a bit to even start scanning, and sometimes wont start at all until I move to another then go back. Its only on the 99 and 103 (s and c) though, 119, 110, and 101 come in almost right away.

Have done that many times in the past :lol:

The problem is it is easier to get a realtime read out so you can see exactly what you are doing instead of someone reading the numbers which tends to always induce a bit of delay.

Yup,

Actually if I can hear the signal meter it works better if they just watch and listen. Also....once you get the 101 a small push west gives you the 103c .

I just can't get around the price of a meter v.s. what is offered to do an installation.

Joe

 

[kroche22]

About 8 years ago I had already installed my dish and had it working before the installer came. I wanted him to come thinking he could fine tune the signals. He didn't have a meter. Luckily I had two phone lines in my house. He went on the roof with a portable phone and called me on the other line and I watched the signal strength on the TV. I'm not quite sure how he would have done this if I didn't have two phone lines. He didn't have a cell phone. He only had a 20 foot ladder and had to use my ladder. A real bonehead.

 

[tonyd79]

not any crazier than standing on the roof with a laptop (slingbox)

Oh, sling box. I was going to turn my bedroom TV toward the window (the dish is outside that window) but the sling box will be that much easier to work with. Nice shelf to put my laptop on right next to the dish.

I need to get it tweaked for 99 and want to know if I have any obstacles to move it.