Dish Self-Installation

[coozieman]

Want to install Dish at our summer house and currently have an old DirecTV dish mounted on a pole in our side yard. I have a Dish500 and a 322 receiver that was given to me. Is pointing the dish an "easy" scenario or am I asking for trouble?

Can it be done with just a compass or ...?

Thanks.

 

[TNGTony]

It can certainly be done by anyone with a compass, ability to operate a drill and/or rachet; ability to read and follow instructions and lots and lots of patience especially the first time.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) make absolutely certain that when you install the mast to hold the dish it is perfectly plumb and level.

2) remember the signal actually comes from about 22º ABOVE where the dish appears to point. This mans that a dish could look like it's pointing at a tree, but it's really pointing over the tree.. Or it looks like it's pointing under an eve of a house when it's really blocked by the eve.

3) Once you set your "skew" and "elevation" angles on the dish and you know its right according to the point-dish screen on the receiver, DON'T TRY TO TWEAK them. Just adjust the azimuth.

4) If you are using the receiver's point dish signal meter during installation, once you have done the rough aiming on the dish and are ready to peak signal (or find it), move the dish just a little bit and wait 10 seconds for the receiver to react. Then move it again slightly.

Good luck!

See ya
Tony

 

[coozieman]

Thanks Tony!

 

[vegassatellite]

Try to get 119 with the DirecTV dish first. Then try moving it to 110. If you get good at that, then you ought to ready to try a multi sat dish such as the Dish 500.

 

[FredC]

Tell you what, the best $20 I ever spent was on a cheapy signal meter. Use it at the NASCAR races when we RV. Takes me all of about 5 mins. to set the dish. Look around for one. I think one of the sponser companies (maybe Sadoun) has one. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!