line of sight aiming

[skip46]

Is there a line of sight aiming tool for direct tv dishes. I am in the woods and need to shoot thru some trees. I hope to find something like a rifle scope.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Is there a line of sight aiming tool for direct tv dishes. I am in the woods and need to shoot thru some trees. I hope to find something like a rifle scope.

Well.................

I have been criteized for this before but still I persist.

You CANNOT shoot through trees! but you can SHOOT the trees. OR you can hire guys to cut the limbs. This may help.

DTV publishes AZ (azimuth.......a compass line)
EL (elevation......up / down...you know)
TILT (don't play with the published value too much)

Go to DTV.com & enter your zip.

You should see sky when you look up from the compass line at around as high as you lift your arm without pain (45 degrees)

Do you own a shotgun?.............buy some buck shot & some BB for pruning.

Report back.

Joe

 

[Jared Twomey]

inclinometer

 

[binil]

Yes you can get an Inclinometer but I wouldnt recomend he do that because they are expensive and he would only be using it once... What I recomend is calling direct tv and requesting a pre Line of sight.. I know we do that here.Or try to catch a DTV tech at a gas station somewheres..lol.

Or you can do this you can call for an install and once the tech comes out just pretend you have to leave for an emergencie.. Its pretty terrible but it will work.

 

[jdspencer]

The first thing to do is go to Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com.
Enter your address and select the correct DirecTV dish type in the drop down box.

It will show you a Google map view with a line showing the azimuth for aiming. On the map you can move the point around to see if it helps getting around obstacles. You can also identify potential problems.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the angle the signal comes down is higher than what the dish looks like its pointing at.

 

[cfb]

The signal does come down higher than where the dish is pointed, but thats dependent on where you're located. If you're in the northern area of the US, its more of a straight shot than if you're in texas, isnt it?

 

[jdspencer]

Right. My dish elevation setting is 35 degrees, hardly a straight shot. The actual angle down from the sat is around 50 degrees.

 

[Joe Diamond]

It is a parabolic dish. The signal is bounced from the dish to the LNB (thing on the end of the arm).
The elevation setting is not the same as the direction the arm is pointed. The signal is focused in a line between the top of the dish and the center of the LNB. In the north the elevations are low and as you move further south they point more up toward the satellite, which is in orbit above the equator.

Joe