Thanks again for all the advice everyone give with my seemingly dead dish. No, I've not fixed it yet and that's where I still could use some assistance. Basically, given the Washington Heat and Humidity and the very healthy flora around my dish, I don't like the idea of bringing my 12" monitor and 317 receiver out just to check signal levels and as per your advice, I think it's time I invest in my own signal meter, be it inline and/or self-powered. I've looked around a bit but it seems that most devices are oriented toward either the Dish / DirecTV market or the European market (heck, and my second choice after Canada would have been to get New Zealand Prime!) Anyway, so what I've found as AFAICT, most of what Kusat has are REALLY high-end stuff in the multiple grand range and that's a bit more than I'd like to spend, no matter how cool it'd be to have my very own spectrum analyzer!
Instead, I've been looking at the following units:
DIGISAT III PLUS
A very simple unit but it looks to be specifically for single-satellite satellite dishes and not therefore too good for a Shaw Direct 75E oval dish.
Accutrac 22 Pro finds two satellite signals simulatenously
A dual meter, but I think more oriented to 2 single-satellite satellite dishes combined to form one signal, as in one dish at 111.1 and the other at 107.3. I'm not going to set that up at this time because I don't have enough mounting points, so I don't know if it can do the oval or will tune the Anik satellites.
Super Buddy makes satellite tuning a breeze
or
Applied Instruments - Dual Buddy Satellite Meter
This seems like a really nice unit which apparently helps you orient your dish by suggesting azimuth and elevation adjustments. The Dual Buddy seems to be similar to the Accutra22Pro and may not support the range finder features of the SuperBuddy and it is unclear if either would tune both Shaw Direct satellites at the same time; I've sent e-mail to appliedin.com with these questions and hope to get a reply by tomorrow.
Maxpeak signal finder
I'm reading the manual for this small unit and it seems very easy to use and supports dual-satellite single-dish configurations like for DirecTV and Dish Network, but it's unclear if it will support or has available firmware for a Shaw Direct configuration.
As I said, Kusat looks too pricey for me; no doubt the Promax analyzers are out of the budgetary question, though since I need to buy a spare LNB anyway, I'll ask them about the Unaohm units to see if they are affordable since it's pretty likely that a Canadian Satellite instruments provider will have equipment that supports Shaw Direct satellite alignment and I like them.
Anyway, does anyone have any experience with any of these units, or can anyone suggest anything else?
Thanks in advance!
Jeffrey.
Instead, I've been looking at the following units:
DIGISAT III PLUS
A very simple unit but it looks to be specifically for single-satellite satellite dishes and not therefore too good for a Shaw Direct 75E oval dish.
Accutrac 22 Pro finds two satellite signals simulatenously
A dual meter, but I think more oriented to 2 single-satellite satellite dishes combined to form one signal, as in one dish at 111.1 and the other at 107.3. I'm not going to set that up at this time because I don't have enough mounting points, so I don't know if it can do the oval or will tune the Anik satellites.
Super Buddy makes satellite tuning a breeze
or
Applied Instruments - Dual Buddy Satellite Meter
This seems like a really nice unit which apparently helps you orient your dish by suggesting azimuth and elevation adjustments. The Dual Buddy seems to be similar to the Accutra22Pro and may not support the range finder features of the SuperBuddy and it is unclear if either would tune both Shaw Direct satellites at the same time; I've sent e-mail to appliedin.com with these questions and hope to get a reply by tomorrow.
Maxpeak signal finder
I'm reading the manual for this small unit and it seems very easy to use and supports dual-satellite single-dish configurations like for DirecTV and Dish Network, but it's unclear if it will support or has available firmware for a Shaw Direct configuration.
As I said, Kusat looks too pricey for me; no doubt the Promax analyzers are out of the budgetary question, though since I need to buy a spare LNB anyway, I'll ask them about the Unaohm units to see if they are affordable since it's pretty likely that a Canadian Satellite instruments provider will have equipment that supports Shaw Direct satellite alignment and I like them.
Anyway, does anyone have any experience with any of these units, or can anyone suggest anything else?
Thanks in advance!
Jeffrey.
