Dish antenna alignment

[tcpuccio1]

So I have a system that is on a huge fence post and over time the post has settled in the ground and I'm noticing that the signal strength may not be a good as it should. I have the big oval antenna is shows up on my Geni shows it as a SL5 LNB With a SWM Module. What satellites need to have the highest signal strength of al the ones listed.
101 93%
110 74%
119 96%
99ca 68%
99s not acquired
103 not acquired
103 ca 82%
103cb 82%


Now today it's pretty cloudy overcast here so the signals are degraded a bit.

What I have noticed more now then ever that I will ge a pixelated jacked up signal intermittently on different channels but the big thing now more then ever before bad weather hits I get the 771 signal message. It seems to happen way sooner. It use to be bad weather would be just at our door step before it would effect the signal not any more it can be 5-10 minutes out before we get the message I have a clean clear line of sight to the southwest no trees or obstructions what so ever.


I know that you can never get 100% on every satellite but what ones are the most important? 110,119?
Thank in advance guys

 

[raoul5788]

They are all important, but you start with 101 when you align a dish. You would be best off to sink a 2" pole instead of a fence post that I'm assuming is wood. Make sure it's plumb! You may find you only need to adjust the azimuth to get good signal strength on all of the satellites. You should be able to get upper 90s on 101 and mid 90s on the others. Don't worry about 119 since those are all spot beams and you won't get high numbers unless it's the beam for your area. It's the same for 99s and 103s. Those are spot beam satellites, too.

 

[Jimbo]

Ok, if your gonna start over and put a pole in, thats one thing, but if your just want to adjust what you have to get better numbers ....

With someone watching the signal meter on the TV, go out and gently place a little pressure on one side or the other of the dish, see what happen to the numbers, if you go to far you'll lose signal all together, just take pressure off and it will bounce back.
Then do the same with the up and down portion ... this way you'll know where to adjust .
Loosen the corresponding nut and adjust SLIGHTLY and re tighten.

The 101 is the one you want as high as you can and the 99 and 103 should fall into place.
Those 3 should have the majority of the numbers from about 85 to 100.

 

[tcpuccio1]

yes just want to tweak the signals that's it. It's on a 8' X 8" post that is sunk in the ground 4' it's taken about 7 years for it to move "some" I'm not starting over just need to fine tune it a bit was looking for which one need to be adjusted a bit more. thanks guys... I kind of figured the ones that are low where the culprits. just wasn't sure which ones were throw a ways and which one the majority of programming comes in on.

 

[Claude Greiner]

The 103/99 generally should be 89 or in the low 90’s

But signal strength will vary between regions

 

[tcpuccio1]

Thank for replies guys I got a chance to tweak it today just about 5 degrees sideways brought everything up into the 90% range for signals I have this thread for reference again. All is good will see how the overall performance changes.

 

[Jimbo]

Thank for replies guys I got a chance to tweak it today just about 5 degrees sideways brought everything up into the 90% range for signals I have this thread for reference again. All is good will see how the overall performance changes.

If your now in the 90's, you'll be fine !

 

[Inclined Orbit]

You can download the manual for a Slimline dish to understand the alignment procedure and bounce between 101 and 119 on your receiver doing the same alignment a DTV tech would using his AIM meter. Its cumbersome, but once you get it close so you have readings on all sats it can be done.