Fine tuning the dish question

[pinkcookies26]

I am living in a camper in Kalispell, MT for a while and I purchased the SWM SL3S, I set it up and began to point the dish. I tuned into sat 101 to get my best signal and hoped to fine tune into 99 and 103. My main worry are the Sunday Ticket channels, very in and out today. Dtv say 146* and 33* Dishpointer says 162* / 149*. Here are my numbers
Sat 101 Sat 99cb Sat 103cb
1-8 85 86 86 0 84 86 85 86 1-8 34 33 28 33 33 34 30 35 1-8 55 55 51 49 52 52 53 49
9-16 82 85 83 0 83 85 85 85 9-16 33 39 29 34 33 33 n/a n/a 9-16 54 56 51 58 55 n/a n/a
17-24 85 0 86 0 84 86 86 85 Sat 103ca 17-24 n/a
25-32 85 0 86 0 85 86 86 86 1-8 44 34 41 33 42 33 42 32 25-32 n/a
Sat 99 ca 9-16 44 33 42 24 42 32 33 24
9-16 0 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 7-24 37 27 0 23 31 27 36 18
17-24 0 17 17 0 0 0 0 16 25-32 n/a Sat 99s
Sat103s 1-8 0 0 - - - - -
1-8 n/a 9-16 n/a
9-16 n/a 17-24 - - - - - - - -
17-24 0 0 51 51 0 0 0 0 25-32 n/a Azimuth 146* Elevation 33*
25-32 n/a

 

[Jimbo]

I am living in a camper in Kalispell, MT for a while and I purchased the SWM SL3S, I set it up and began to point the dish. I tuned into sat 101 to get my best signal and hoped to fine tune into 99 and 103. My main worry are the Sunday Ticket channels, very in and out today. Dtv say 146* and 33* Dishpointer says 162* / 149*. Here are my numbers
Sat 101 Sat 99cb Sat 103cb
1-8 85 86 86 0 84 86 85 86 1-8 34 33 28 33 33 34 30 35 1-8 55 55 51 49 52 52 53 49
9-16 82 85 83 0 83 85 85 85 9-16 33 39 29 34 33 33 n/a n/a 9-16 54 56 51 58 55 n/a n/a
17-24 85 0 86 0 84 86 86 85 Sat 103ca 17-24 n/a
25-32 85 0 86 0 85 86 86 86 1-8 44 34 41 33 42 33 42 32 25-32 n/a
Sat 99 ca 9-16 44 33 42 24 42 32 33 24
9-16 0 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 7-24 37 27 0 23 31 27 36 18
17-24 0 17 17 0 0 0 0 16 25-32 n/a Sat 99s
Sat103s 1-8 0 0 - - - - -
1-8 n/a 9-16 n/a
9-16 n/a 17-24 - - - - - - - -
17-24 0 0 51 51 0 0 0 0 25-32 n/a Azimuth 146* Elevation 33*
25-32 n/a

What about your Skew ?

 

[pinkcookies26]

What about your Skew ?

Would that be the tilt? If so it's at 101*

 

[Jimbo]

Would that be the tilt? If so it's at 101*

Normally, the skew (Tilt) goes from 0-99, iirc.
Edit, I am wrong, I never looked at what you can't see on the part because its behind my set up (I'm around 78*)
Anyways, it looks like the setting start around 30* and goes all the way to 140-150 ish ....
This would be the first time I have seen a Tilt Over 100.

So what happens when you put your tilt at 101* ?

Is 101 where your at now with those numbers ?

 

[pinkcookies26]

Normally, the skew (Tilt) goes from 0-99, iirc.
Edit, I am wrong, I never looked at what you can't see on the part because its behind my set up (I'm around 78*)
Anyways, it looks like the setting start around 30* and goes all the way to 140-150 ish ....
This would be the first time I have seen a Tilt Over 100.

So what happens when you put your tilt at 101* ?

Is 101 where your at now with those numbers ?

It says on the dish setup page to tilt 101* I get about an 86 on Sat 101 and can"t seem to get higher and I"ve messed with the dials on back of the dish but they just seem to lower the signal strength.

 

[pinkcookies26]

Normally, the skew (Tilt) goes from 0-99, iirc.
Edit, I am wrong, I never looked at what you can't see on the part because its behind my set up (I'm around 78*)
Anyways, it looks like the setting start around 30* and goes all the way to 140-150 ish ....
This would be the first time I have seen a Tilt Over 100.

So what happens when you put your tilt at 101* ?

Is 101 where your at now with those numbers ?

yes

 

[Jimbo]

It says on the dish setup page to tilt 101* I get about an 86 on Sat 101 and can"t seem to get higher and I"ve messed with the dials on back of the dish but they just seem to lower the signal strength.

Next time your messing with the dish, just for the hell of it, adjust the skew to 99* and see if that helps or hurts your numbers.

Usually, if you can't get any better and they are much lower than your expecting, your looking at the wrong Sat.

Another thing you can do, if you have someone to look at your numbers on the TV ...
place light pressure on each side of the dish and up and down and see which way the numbers go, that should tell you which direction you need to go.

 

[arlo]

I'm not a dish or dtv guy but have setup a few triple lnbf dishes and helped tweak them in.
Last time I put the image up I got stuff like "I never had to tweak my skew". Well, you do. If you want the best signal from the outer satellites the dish is aimed at.
Get your center sat. dialed in for max signal.
Then receive signals from the outer ones.
Slightly tweak your skew for the best and hopefully equal signal level from both of the outer sats.
Re-check your center sat signal level and see if moving (aka twisting left/right. up/down) the dish rim gets a higher signal. Make the adjustments if needed.
Then go back to the outer sats and make slight skew adjustments to peak and signal balance them.
That's about it. If the dish itself hasn't been bent or twisted, the lnbf arm is aiming the lnbf properly. It is what it is.

 

[CLASSICDIRECTV]

From the numbers, you could get way better signal(unless your surrounded by trees or objects That would get in the way of CLOS-clear line of sight-) and if you arent surrounded you should be trying to get up to 100 on 101 or atleast 90-100

 

[pinkcookies26]

Thank you for the info everyone, I will mess with the skew tomorrow. There are trees behind a pond but they are aout 150 yards away so I wouldn't think they are interfering.

 

[Inclined Orbit]

The original Slimline alignment instructions had you peak on 101 then go to 119 and peak skew, which would fix any mistakes or misalignment of skew, but now we don't have 119 to play with. I would make sure the mast is perfectly plumb then set the skew for your zip code and do the basic alignment for 101 which should include the so called "dither" adjustment with the numbered dials. When its all done you can test how good the peak is by going to a 101 sat then gently pull back on the upper, lower, left and right side of the dish and it should go down in signal level when the dish is gently bent in any direction. Then do the same at 99 and 103. If the signal level goes up on 99 or 103 when you bend the dish then the skew might be off slightly.

I have the old original alignment instructions if you need them.