I use elbow grease; ladders; regular grease; various hand tools; meters are for new installs and dish programming; when no work has been done already. and then how to remember or push the parts together into a new working system. Keeping a system working after the work has already been done on equipment is really a test; because it already is working and these type adjustments are only needed to install new toys to the assembled and working system; the satellite dish is very high maintenance; and has many new types and brands to add to them; mpeg 4 or h.264 are just some of them. I always say; go bigger in dish size until you can go no bigger!
Once you need to test a system that is or is not working; then a knack for electricity and how meter's work; and causes for something to need a "fix" or "repair" like receiver needs reset/programming or the tree that grew 2 feet got in the way; that is what the cause is in repair; is what needs fixing usually is needed to be found (like water in cabling; or water in lnbf; or snow on dish; or ice from roof fell onto dish) I use many types of meters; from basic signal to ohm meter and digital DVB-S/S2 meter; and spectrum analyzer's and USB cable/laptop/internet and so many other tools; like welders/ but of course; I also use my hands on my computer at the bench the most these days.
These days; if the dish moves even 1/4 inch from where it was since new; the system quits working or performing its required duty (my house sways to the wind more than this every day of the week; but continues to stay on the property) are the most common problem a satellite dish has; let alone other weather phenom's; like car wrecks, dog jumps and bends little dish or eats the remote; or other daily events (hard rain) that occur every day of the week...Fires in S. Cal ;;;neighbor shoots dish with shotgun/multiple times; car plows through fence into dish and home;;The alien spaceship broke into our property and stole the dish;;;; water running into house through cable hole;connector needs replacement; connector loose on receiver/switch; lnbf broken; you really need a pro to do the work to make it last a while; and after about 5 years of doing all this work daily; you will amass what I call "the touch" and have gained "the feel" and professional ethics with the required tools and safety protocol and procedures to do a very detailed effort in satellite tv; let alone how long it lasts depending on it. What you perform as a daily chore is the practiced pro stuff you can and do at your home; for your home; and you have practiced until it is second nature. Any plans, add-ons; need the proper practices to be performed; and it is this work that needs the proper tools to be used perfectly every time to accomplish them; then what is not in the instructions (details, details, details) that the feeling is, planned, practiced, then done!