Aiming problems / Can't get one satellite to lock

[raklet]

Dish 500 with DPP LNB.

Can someone give me some aiming tips? From my zip code, Dish tells me that my angles should be

90 - skew
164 - azimuth
41 - elevation

I have fussed with the dish every which direction (except skew) and can get a strong signal of 60-70 on both 110 and 119, but I can't get 119 to lock. 110 will lock with a green status bar, but 119 remains red. This is causing loss of channels.

Also, why do independent satellite look angle calculators give me different aiming coordinates than Dish? One site (Satellite look-angle results for) tells me that my angles should be as follows:

azimuth - 180
elevation - 41
skew - 90.5

 

[Dah-Henny]

What's your zip? And I'm assuming that you are targeting both satellites with the 500?

 

[Dah-Henny]

EXAMPLE

Dish 500 for 110/119

For Boise:
EL 39
AZ 160
SK 88

 

[raklet]

What's your zip? And I'm assuming that you are targeting both satellites with the 500?

My zip is 83346, and yes, I am trying to target both with the 500.

 

[Dah-Henny]

My calculator shows:
SK 90
EL 40
AZ 164

Your first set of numbers are pretty good. It is possible that you're getting 110 on the wrong lnb. You might try covering the 119 lnb with foil until you lock 110. I think, looking at the dish from behind it, 119 is the one on the left.

 

[dsp81]

Are you feeding this into a 1000.4 or just running the 500 alone?

I had this problem the other day. I ran a check switch after I'd sighted in 110 and 119 then the problems went away. I then could tweak the dish using 110 and 119.

Also, I've used Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com for aiming with good results.

 

[raklet]

Are you feeding this into a 1000.4 or just running the 500 alone?

I had this problem the other day. I ran a check switch after I'd sighted in 110 and 119 then the problems went away. I then could tweak the dish using 110 and 119.

Also, I've used Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com for aiming with good results.

Just the 500 alone. I'm going to try covering an lnb with foil and see where that gets me.

 

[Jim5506]

Are you sure you are seeing 110 and 119 and not 119 and 129?

 

[CowboyDren]

More likely 110 and 101, isn't it?

 

[cogkev]

switch check

You must do a check switch test after tuning when using a DPP.

 

[bross]

If you're getting signal strengths of 60 - 70 on both satellites, it's not an alignment problem. It should lock with signals in the 20's. Try running "check switch". Sometimes you have to run it twice.