I'm a little slow Joe... Could you expand a little? Thanks..
Consider books on a shelf. The Directv SD satellites are positioned nine degrees apart at 101, 110 & 119 west longitude & 32,000 miles out (in the Clarke Belt). There are also two other sats one on each side of the 101 at 99 & 103 degrees west longitude. These are the Directv HD sats.....recently added to the "fleet". They just sit ; count the dots:
99...101...103......110.........119. The 99 is three degrees left/east of the 101 and the 103 is three degrees west / right of the 101. Tune for the 101 and find the others.
Directv engineers have developed a system that will receive a signal from all five sats IF needed using a single dish. So as you tune your multisat system you are monitoring the signal from one to five sats and accepting a compromise level from each that will give you adequate signal to run your rig. The important thing to know is that every time you touch the dish it has an effect on the signal that is received by all five (5) of the LNBs (the thing on the end of the arm........Low noise Block Down Converter...one for each sat)
So what we are planning is getting you into the same library...on the same shelf and looking at the books you will need to get a picture. Once you hit the 101 sat you are at that point.
What.....JD.... was referring to is the fact that these sats are on a single plane and more advanced dishes than the 18" round one have a tilt or skew setting to allow the dish to "see" the SD & HD sats. But you can use your old Hughes meter to point you at the 101. As JD correctly stated..after hitting the 101 you need to set the tilt and perhaps tune the elevation on your Slimline dish...called... tweaking...possibly using the "dither" system.
USING A PLUMB MAST..and going into setup FIRST in your Hughes use Round dish Tune your Hughes on the 101 sat meter...turn up the volume so you can hear it....then to tune your Slimline...connect the new HD receiver to the rig & disconnect the Hughes. ...run SET UP with the HD receiver...when asked enter your zip code and write down the az, el & tilt. Do those settings on your Slimline dish. T.THEN...after changing to the new HD receiver....select (on the receiver in setup the 103 meter. See what you get...tweak the 99 & 103. by getting similar readings.
You will need another person on a cell while tuning the 103 to report highest signal as you slowly move the dish west (2 degrees from the 101...not a big move)...push to the right from behind the dish very little. THEN see if moving the elevation will improve the 99 or 103. This depends on your location. Know that there will probably NOT be any sound on the new receiver...signal meter because Directv does not support what you plan to do.
The last tuning is EZ with the $500.00 meter,,,working slowly with this procedure will give the same result with your Hughes..a helper & a cell phone. You will need a 1/2 " wrench for this....if you use the "dither" wheels you will need a 1/2" nut driver...most important is to loosen the lock nuts before moving any dither equipment or you will strip it until it will not work.
Adjust the dish settings for the tilt that is presented for your zip code in setup. Use the published elevation setting. Tune from there after you hit the best signal from the 1o1 sat.
Set the tilt & el. Swing through the compass line...lock that down...then move the el until it is at a peak. The tilt will probably not need tuning...check the signal on the 119 if needed and peak that with the tilt adjustment.
Report success,
Joe
