Dish 1000 install times

gowick

New Member
Original poster
Apr 25, 2004
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Hey All. Theoretical question here.

Some of my installers seem to be struggling with install times on the new 1000. What are you all seeing in comparison to what the 500 and superdish was.

Just looking for generalities

Thank you.
 
Re '1000.

Dallas/Ft.Worth area

No big deal. Read the book. Set up is simple if they follow the instructions and pay attention to different skew and Az adjustments. I found it easier to assemble cables before putting the "Y" onto the post. Lay each cable into the lower half, put the lid on and attach the LNB. In some areas the alt. adjust needs to be dropped after peaking on the '119' to get bring up the signal for the third sat.
 
gowick said:
Hey All. Theoretical question here.

Some of my installers seem to be struggling with install times on the new 1000. What are you all seeing in comparison to what the 500 and superdish was.

Just looking for generalities

Thank you.


DISH1000s are cake. It should not take an installer any longer than a 500 dish.

My situation is this: I aim with a DP Dual. If you are familiar with the Sat Buddy when you lock onto a satellite it beeps fast, and you can see the signal on the meter climb just like any other meter.

Only on 119/110/101 does the meter go to a solid sound when it climbs above 75%. 129 never does because it is too low, but the meter can still identify it by the beeps. So I know what is 119/110/101 and what is not and their distance relation to those slots. (I would love to have a Bird Dog)

When I pan from west to east I have the DP Dual on the 119 slot of the W-bracket, I see it pass by 129 and next is 119 with a solid tone. Fine tune it, lock it down some and then move the dual over to 110 and 129 for quick 4-point checks and their ALL pegged. Finish tightening down the dish - Done.

This is just the way I've come accustomed to. We all have our own way of doing it. Some look for 110 first, or 129 first. It doesn't matter as long as the installer ends up with the final result. Once your guys monkey around with the dish and meter long enough and understand where all three orbital slots are in relation to the dish alignment it is as easy as DISH500s. This is not difficult. Same goes for Superdish.

I learned all sorts of ways to aim in dishes when I had free time and just played around with the dish and meter. I wish every installer could/would do this.
 
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My first one took 5 hours because I had to tear down and redo the existing installation to incorporate this new thing called grounding. I also had to install 2 new recievers, AND play musical dish 1000 (LOS issues+ nobody could tell me the proper elevation for a wing dish hitting 129. They kept spouting dish 1000 numbers. I had to monkey around and come up with that info on my own).

2nd took 3 hours. Again, I had to spec out a self install, convince the customer that the dish 1000 was NOT the answer (again, los issues) AND get him approved for a DPP44 to run 4 orbital locations to 1 lonely 622.

I don't know that I'll do anymore. I found out that we don't get any consideration on the reciever swap out end. That is to say, we get paid the same to do a dish 1000 upgrade with a 622 swap out, as we do for a dish 500 upgrade. Its not really worth my time to do all that AND haggle with customers who have dreams of a 1 dish utopian solution. Then again, if I got some customers who didn't live way out in the woods, I might have had an easier time.
 
Dish1000's are fairly easy (a lot easier than the SuperDishes that is for sure). What makes them hard in some cases is the fact that 129 has such a low look angle that it may not be possible to get 129 in. Another thing is that when trying to get a signal in and the beeping is going on it starts to all of a sudden saying "searching for new satellites" and you have to wait until that goes away before you can fine tune your dish again. If you are tuning in a dish and that starts coming up then you move it a little too much and did not catch it doing that in time then you have to wait until that goes away before you can try to get a signal in again and keep going through that over and over. A lot of the receivers (at least the ones I have) did not have 129 in the Dish Point signal strength screen and this is what happens as a result. What a pain this is. A signal meter sure does help you figure out if you are getting the signal in though.

If 119 comes in then 110 and 129 should come in as well if the mast/pole is plumb and the skew and elevation numbers are set correctly.
 
I totally agree with Stargazer. If everything is plum and set right, all 3 birds will come in. It only takes a few extra minutes to assemble the D1000 vs. D500. Hardest part seems to be LOS issues concerning the 129 portion
 
Here in Colorado (an easy LOS for 129), it's an extra 5 minutes to peak 129 - the crap about JUST peaking 119 is a sure way to get a service callback. :cool:

Note that for SOME zipcodes, the aiming numbers in the D1000 manual are off.

Find what works for YOUR service area, and make sure the guys know it.
 
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