Interesting discussion, especially about the differences in where a receiver will lock on and display a weak signal. Makes me very glad I bought a Pansat 3500SD to begin with. When I think of all the times I pointed dishes and hand-held LNBs (and even hand-held 60e dishes!) searching for a glimmer of a signal, I would hate to think of how I would have missed that first indication of being in the right area if I had been using a different receiver that wouldn't display anything until it got a lot stronger signal.
Perhaps that is why some people have more trouble aiming their first dish than others, they may pass right by it because of their receiver's threshold.
Linuxman, what size dish are you using that you get 45% on the National Labs test card? I get the same signal quality on my 80cm (and my LNB is 6 degrees off-centre, and it is 9 degrees away from the top of my arc).
Perhaps that is why some people have more trouble aiming their first dish than others, they may pass right by it because of their receiver's threshold.
Linuxman, what size dish are you using that you get 45% on the National Labs test card? I get the same signal quality on my 80cm (and my LNB is 6 degrees off-centre, and it is 9 degrees away from the top of my arc).