Finding 110 & 119 W

[1577bonnie]

OK, I'll admit to being a newby and also not technically gifted, but this I don't understand. We subscribe to Dish Network 500 at home. We also have a second home about 100 miles north. I purchased a Dish 500 receiver w/ dual LNB and installed it at our second home. I was hoping that I would be able to move one of my receivers between here and the other house. I followed all of the directions in the manual and set up the dish based upon the coordinates provided. The only satellite I can receive when I aim the dish in that direction is 129W. I cannot pull in 110 & 119 no matter what I do. I notice that my neighbor across the street has a dish 1000 receiver , but the neighbor immediately next door has a dish identical to mine - and lives in the same area as me year-round. They do not subscribe in that area, but they are able to get reception. I do not have a telephone in the
2nd home. I'm guessing that this might be the problem, but I'm not sure.
Any suggestions how I can get 110& 119 there? Thanks.

 

[korsjs]

make sure your skew and coordinates are correct for your second home. if you are hitting 129, then you are off aiming by a little bit. welcome to the site.

 

[garys]

Make sure the arm the dish is mounted on is completely level. Double check your numbers (especially the skew). Then try aiming a hair lower and to the left of where you found 129.

 

[aaronhoes]

Don't worry about the phone line, it won't affect your setup at all. If you are getting some signal but it is for the wrong satellite I agree with what garys & korsjs said, make sure the mast is plumb.

 

[1577bonnie]

Thanks for the information guys! I'll try it when I go up there next week.

 

[1577bonnie]

I spent an entire day last week messing with the dish. I was able to locate 119, but not 110. I made sure that the mast was level and I followed the coordinates exactly. The check switch was showing that switch # 1 was receiving 129 and switch # 2 was receiving 119. I tried moving the dish a little lower and to the left as garys suggested. When I did that, I lost contact with the satellites altogether. No matter what I did, I was unable to establish contact with 110. Could Dish be instructing to me to point at 129 in error? When I follow the coordinates they give me, I hit 129 dead-on every time! I'm really getting frustrated!

 

[rdinkel]

Also, you need to know that Dish considers it necessary to have separate accounts for your two homes. They do not permit moving receivers to other locations than where your home account is---unless you have an RV waiver.

 

[1577bonnie]

That's not what we were told when trying to decide whether to dump cable and switch to Dish. The sales rep assured us that moving the receiver back and forth would not be a problem. That tune seemed to change after they locked us into a 2 year agreement. The technician would not even discuss the subject. We are already paying significantly more than we were lead to believe it would cost. They certainly will not get any more of my money in any case. If there is some technical restriction that is preventing me from getting service from that loc., I guess I have no options. From what I am readihg on this site, this is done all the time.

 

[Mr Tony]

dont worry about the people who feel the need to say it "by the book" or something like that.

You can take it to your other house. Just make sure to bring it back when you come back home. We have done it for 7 years now with no issues.

 

[SmityWhity]

On moving a little to the left, maybe it's your other left (as they say in boot camp) ha ha.

For me it's easier to just go outside and set the dish up than explaining it, but I'll try.

When you are behind the dish facing the same direction as the dish is pointing, you either have two LNBF's, or one Twin LNBF (not a dual) on the other side of the dish from you. Up in the sky, the 119 satellite is on your right and the 110 satellite is on your left; but for the LNBF, the one for 119 is on your left, and the one for 110 is on your right. You are picking up 129 and 119, so you need to swing a very (very) little to your left.

Getting back to basics, it may be easier to cover your right LNBF that says 110 and then try to find 119. When you do, the receiver should show 119 on switch 1. Then remove the cover from 110 and see if the receiver has it. If so, peak the elevation and azimuth. If not, you should not have to move it very much to find 110.

 

[wobbie]

Maybe look in the phone book and see if a local guy would come out and set the dish for you. Could save you alot of time and head ache.

 

[Nyth]

That should be HIGHER and to the left. Where I am located (central WI) the 129 is at an elevation of about 25deg, the 119 is about 30deg and the 110 is about 35deg. On a 500 dish I set the elevation to 34d and swing the dish in toe signal every time. You also shouldmake sure that your mast is PLUMB. If Yous have your dish locked onto the 129/119, raise the elevation by about 5 degrees then swing left about 10 degrees.

 

[SimpleSimon]

SmityWhity has it right. You should be getting 119 in Column 1, and 110 in #2.

Having 129/119 means you're 9-10 degrees too far west. And yes, HIGHER and to the east, NOT lower. Nyth is right in saying PLUMB the mast, then use the numbers for the correct zip code to set elevation and skew - do NOT try resetting azimuth as at the moment you KNOW you're 9 degrees off, and many compsses and eyeballs will steer you wrong more than that.

As for two locations, do NOT plug the receiver into a phone line at location #2, and ALWAYS bring it home and plug it in to a sat feed so you an pass an audit.

 

[Beckhamfam]

Buying a satellite finder off E-bay help me a lot. You can get them for about $12.

 

[1577bonnie]

I covered the 110 LNB with aluminum foil and pulled in the 119 signal by aiming slightly higher as recommended. According to the set-up, I was still not accessing the 110 satellite after I removed the foil. The check switch was showing that I was accessing both satellites on the correct LNB's. Somehow I was able to access all of my channels. The only thing that was kind of bizarre was that some of the programs were different than what was being displayed on the menu - even though the time, channel, etc were all correct. I guess it could just be a fluke. Anyway, I'll take it! Thanks to everybody for all of the helpful advice.

 

[SPAWNREBORN]

Hello all,new to the forums

We have an installer here in Northern Maine that is having the same issue,can get in 119 but no 110,and seems to be locking on 129. I agree it sounds like an aimg issue, we use the Dish500 up here,we was told that the SuperDish as of right now will not work.
Our aiming here is as fallows:

119 is at 259o AZmith, 21o Elavation, and Skew is 124o.
we pick 119 up at 259o Azmith,17o elavation
we pick 110 up at 251o Azmith,23o elevation.

So as stated by everyone, its an aiming issue,i just dont know where 129 is located in our area compared to 119 and 110.
Any Ideas on how close it is to 119 or 110??

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[SmityWhity]

Bonnie,
I agree with your assumption about a possible fluke. Each time you unplug your receiver for awhile and then plug it back in, and possibly at different geographical locations, you may need to download a new program guide.

You may be able to just do a check switch after re-installing it each time and hopefully the receiver will go and download the new program guide. If not, you can set the time for sometime in a couple of minutes, then turn off the receiver and it will download in a few minutes. Then you'll be ready to go.

Glad you got it working.

Spawnreborn,

I agree it's an aiming issue. The Dish 500 was designed to pick up 2 birds 9 degrees apart, at 110 and 119. However, 119 and 129 are 10 degrees apart, but it is close enough that you could generally pick them both up, but probably 119/129 signals would not be as strong as the 110/119 signals.

How close? The width of a single Dual LNBF, or half of a Twin LNBF.
In other words, the 119 LNBF is receiving the 129 signal, while the 110 LNBF is receiving the 119 signal.
Therefore, you need to move it just enough to the east so that the 119 LNBF (westside) picks up the 119 sat instead of the 129 sat. This is done easiest by placing foil over the 110 LNBF so that your receiver only picks up signals (right or wrong) using the 119 LNBF.

Although you are slightly off on the azimuth (side to side), you are probably a little off on the elevation and skew.

I would do the following for Ashland, ME, zip code 04732:
Dish 500 for 119 and 110 Satellites:
...(1) Ensure mast is plumb in all directions.
...(2) Set skew to 124.
...(3) Set elevation to 20.
...(4) Set azimuth to 255M +/-.
With the 110 covered, you should be able to pick up at least a weak signal on 119.
If not, adjust the elevation slightly and try the azimuth again.
If still nothing, try the elevation slightly in the opposite direction, and then try azimuth again.

Back to how close? If I was up there and wanted to try to use a Dish 500 to receive 119 and 129, here are the estimates I would use, but again, the signals would not be the best.
Dish 500 for 129 and 119
Skew = 127.7 (or 128)
Elevation = 14.5
Azimuth = 263

Now if you are using a separate dish for each Satellite at 119 and 110, then the following settings would be correct.

119
Skew = Dish 300 = N/A; Dish 500 = 90 (which is 0 degrees)
Elevation = 17
Azimuth = 259

110
Skew = Dish 300 = N/A; Dish 500 = 90 (which is 0 degrees)
Elevation = 23
Azimuth = 251

EDIT: On the last two settings, if using a Dish 500 with the I-Bracket, the azimuth would be close, but if using the standard Y-Bracket you need to adjust the azimuth by another 4 1/2 degrees one way or the other to compensate for the offset.