Social Feed

I don't care about the hd channels. I just want the dvr to work. winegard and direct rep all say dvr will still work. I have been at this for 2 weeks. I am totally out of patience lol.

NiterunnrH said:

I don't care about the hd channels. I just want the dvr to work. winegard and direct rep all say dvr will still work. I have been at this for 2 weeks. I am totally out of patience lol.

Click to expand...

Might want to also make sure the Carry out also has 2 Inputs for the dvr, remember, its not a SWM set up so you'll need 2 lines it you want to record one thing and watch sonething else.

Btw, I have nothing against this unit, just making sure it does what you want before purchsing.

I really wish they had one that does both Ka and Ku bands in that size and price point area.

Jimbo said:

Might want to also make sure the Carry out also has 2 Inputs for the dvr, remember, its not a SWM set up so you'll need 2 lines it you want to record one thing and watch sonething else.

Click to expand...

All of the current Carryout models support two SD tuners for DIRECTV, DISH and Bell.

Let's kind of back up a bit here. It seems to be common on this and another forum to assume that the dish is bent when you have trouble aligning the dish. If it looks OK I seriously doubt that it is bad enough to stop you getting all the SD 101. So let's proceed on the basis that we need to get this first part right.

Step One is to get your mounting pole absolutely vertical. I use a "pole level" from Home Depot to get this first step right. You cannot trust the bubble that comes with the J bar mount. The first couple of times you do this it will take a bit of time to get this right. But, if you don't have the mounting pole really vertical you can spend hours doing the other steps and nothing will work right. When you have everything vertical make sure that whatever base you are using (tripod, skid plate, etc) is firmly attached to the ground so that your dish will not move if there is a wind.

Next, get your settings from www.dishpointer.com. They have recently revised their site, so finding the "base" satellite is a bit more difficult. In the line "All Satellites | Motorized Systems | Multi-LNB Setups:" find the entry for "DirecTV 5 LNB (99, 101, 103, 110, 119)". Enter your zip code in the first box where they ask for location. This will give you the proper magnetic azimuth, elevation and tilt you need for your setup. Part of the revised site is to give you the actual tilt setting rather than the "offset" from 90 as they did before. (I would help you more here, but I need a zip code to get the settings you need. I tried to confirm you 185 setting but the Wi-Fi in this RV park is too slow to get a working number.)

Now, take your arm (before you put the dish on it) and do the settings for elevation and tilt before you put it on the pole. You need to set the elevation based on the inside slot in your base. There is usually a red or white line that marks the side you are supposed to use. Do not use any of the outer sides of the flange for this setting. Leave the two bolts one the flange a bit loose and tighten the nut on the long screw that has the top with all the numbers on a black dial. This dial is used for "dithering" when a professional installer installs the dish but is really not necessary for RV use. Anyway, you want the nut that goes to the flange rather tight since this is all that holds the elevation for the setup.

Next set the tilt. Again, just use the number that is given on the dishpointer.com site. This does it for the basic setup.

Now slip the arm assembly on the pole. Be careful that you do not do anything that knocks the pole out of vertical. Once you have the arm on the pole, set the dish on the arm and use the arm to hold up the dish while you insert the four bolts that hold the dish on the back assembly. Make sure that the bolts that hold the dish are tight so that nothing comes loose if there is a wind. Using a compass, set the arm in the direction indicated on the dishpointer website.

A couple of notes here. 1) Give that meter you are using to someone who has a non-SWM setup. It is worthless for a SWM setup. 2) Get yourself a REAL COMPASS. Do NOT trust your smart phone. I have done figure eights until I am blue in the face and still had the compass on my phone give me a phony reading. You cannot trust the compass on your phone.

Now, unless you can see your TV from where you are installing your dish, you will need a friend to relay to you the values on the receiver meter. So, you want to put your power inserter in line between your dish and your receiver. It is usually best to put it close to the receiver. Just make sure that the "to IRD" side goes to your receiver and the "Power to SWM" side goes to your dish. (Although it sounds like you have done this since you got the 29 volt reading on the dish end of your coax. Although this is the wrong power inserter, it seems to work just fine with the integrated SWM head assemblies. The proper inserter for the integrated SWM head is 21 volts.)

After the receiver boots up press the menu key and select the signal meters entry. Confirm that the selection for satellite is set to 101. You should see two meter bars. If you setup everything as I have outlined, you may see some indication of a signal. (I am usually not that lucky at this point.) Slowly move the dish up to about 10 degrees to the left (East). If you get no indication of a signal, slowly move the dish to the right until you get an indication of a signal. Again, if you have the elevation setting correct, YOU WILL SEE A POSITIVE SIGNAL LEVEL ON YOUR RECEIVER'S METER when you are lined up on Satellite 101. Adjust back and forth for the best signal.

Now, for RV purposes (and I am on the road right now) if I get a signal strength of 96 or better, I just tighten things down and call it good. I do double check the signals for 99 and 103, but I have never had an issue with signal strength on those birds just using the settings on dishpointer. You can fiddle around to get a better signal but since I am usually only setting up for a week or two this is enough. If you do not have a signal strength of 96, you need to loosen the nut on the elevation bolt and move the dish slowly up and down for the best signal. When you have the best signal for the elevation, recheck your azimuth for the best setting here. Again, once you have the best setting tighten the elevation bolts on the side of the bracket and make sure at least two of the three bolts that hold the bracket to your poll are tight.

I know this may sound a bit complicated. But, after you do it a couple of times it gets easy.

Hope this helps.