Meter rentel in twin cities

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SATire

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 8, 2010
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Twin Cities
I need a meter to set up my new dish and wondering if there is somewhere which rents those in the twin cities.

I want to buy my own but I don't want to rush into purchasing something that won't last me so prefer taking my time. Yet, need to get my install done :).

Catch 22... everything is.
 
Satire,
Meters are OK, but not needed. If your setup is near a window in your house, you can set the signal "meter" in your sat menu to "beep" and when everyone is out of the house, turn up the TV and listen for the change in pitch that tells you you're peaked. If your set up is not near a window, I have in the past used walkie-talkies with 1 set on VOX near the TV speaker so it will transmit the beep to the other 1 I have with me. Then my favorite is taking my receiver and monitor [TV] on site for setup and peaking. Yep, it can be a pain, but I like to be able to see it while I'm setting up. Oh yeah, I have 3 meters, but normally don't use any of them.
Sky
 
>Meters are OK, but not needed. If your setup is near a window in your house, >you can set the signal "meter" in your sat menu to "beep" and when everyone

I know, I've done that before and that does work fine. I could even take the receiver and tiny TFT monitor out back but I felt it was time to get a meter so that I can better know what the heck I'm looking at.

Just bought a maxpeak SAM which should help me from now on. I almost got sucked into a meter with TFT monitor built in but since I'm not doing regular installs for a living, that didn't make much sense.

>walkie-talkies with 1 set on VOX near the TV speaker so it will transmit the >beep to the other 1 I have with me. Then my favorite is taking my receiver

Haha, great idea! In our case, I've been out there with a cell phone and headset so that I can be hands free and my wife is watching the signal.

Mike
 
SATire said:
Just bought a maxpeak SAM which should help me from now on.
Click to expand...

The MaxPeak SAM requires that you must rely on a company to provide you a transponder list for a given satellite. It is rather "old School" that you are unable add transponders in the field.

I would suggest that if you are going to spend the bigger $$$$ that you consider a Super SatBuddy. Many guys have found lightly used Super SatBuddy meters for very low prices.
 
>MaxPeak SAM requires that you must rely on a company to provide you a >transponder list for a given satellite. It is rather "old School" that you
>are unable add transponders in the field.

Do you mean it's of little use? I thought the satellite ID was going to come from the bird itself. I also didn't think about having to enter any satellite's into it, just need the basic FTA ones that are out there.
 
SATire said:
Do you mean it's of little use? I thought the satellite ID was going to come from the bird itself. I also didn't think about having to enter any satellite's into it, just need the basic FTA ones that are out there.
Click to expand...

This is a basic satellite id meter will identify when the dish with a specific LNBF type is aimed at the satellite that you have selected from the preloaded list of satellites and transponders. The Satellite ID is not scanned from the satellite, it is determined from a list. This meter seems to be targeting Dish Network and DirecTV installers.

Other satellite id meters (like the Super SatBuddy) also allow the operator to blind scan a satellite signal to determine what satellite the dish is aimed at and other tests like LNBF LO drift and field programmable.
 
So are we saying that the meter I bought is pretty much of no use or just too old for someone who would be doing regular installs? In my case, I just want to more easily find the regular fta birds.
 
For a hundred bucks, it will be a useful tool. You will just be dependent on the company for providing current satellite, transponder lists and regularly download them into the meter. The weakness of the meter will be the lack of ability to input your own custom transponders, LNBF types and switch configurations.
 
I usually just look at lyngsat so as long as the unit would at least have long time TP's from each satellite, is that not all I need? I just want to know that I'm hitting a satellite, those little $10.00 signal meters are quite useless.
 
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SATire said:
those little $10.00 signal meters are quite useless.
Click to expand...

i find them very useful...i have used digital meters and the analog (10 dollar type)...in my opinion they both do the same thing really...except the analog wont tell you what bird your on...i just verify that by looking at the tv...then go back out and fine tune...
 
I would do that cept everything is in the basement and the new dish is out in the yard. The small meters seem to pick up all sorts of stuff that never seems to end up being satellites. I just want something that will at least confirm I'm in fact tuning into a satellite.
 
SATire said:
I usually just look at lyngsat so as long as the unit would at least have long time TP's from each satellite, is that not all I need? I just want to know that I'm hitting a satellite, those little $10.00 signal meters are quite useless.
Click to expand...

Looking at the meter's website, it appears that they provide one horizontal / left and one vertical / right polarization TP programmed per satellite. You don't have an option to choose a specific TP of a list of TPs.
 
That should be ok no? Don't you just need one TP on any given satellite for signal anyhow? The point of the tool, I thought, is to help find the right satellite, then fine tune into it.
 
SATire said:
That should be ok no? Don't you just need one TP on any given satellite for signal anyhow? The point of the tool, I thought, is to help find the right satellite, then fine tune into it.
Click to expand...

One TP is adequate to locate, but not always to optimize. Several transponders usually are helpful to fine tune a satellite. Usually you use a strong transponder to locate and a weaker to optimize.

Reliance on a manufacturer generated list is the weakness, but hey..... It's only a hundred dollar meter! Enjoy! I'm sure that it will be fine!
 
>Several transponders usually are helpful to fine tune a satellite. Usually you
>use a strong transponder to locate and a weaker to optimize.

I usually look at lyngsat, pick a TP that has F's on it, pick it or enter it into my receiver, then tune it in best I can, then scan for more TP's. In other words, I've so far always and only used the strongest one.

Makes sense as you say to use a weaker one to fine tune.
Something learned :).

>Reliance on a manufacturer generated list is the weakness, but hey..... It's
>only a hundred dollar meter! Enjoy! I'm sure that it will be fine![/QUOTE]

Well, it's only a hundred bucks plus, I'm not an installer that's going to do this regularly. I just need a better way than the little signal meter that picks up false signal.

Right now, I only have the 6' I'm trying to set up and will be replacing the DTV dish I've recently turned off with another 90cm offset so that tool is going to come in handy. If I find I'm doing this more regularly, I've already decided it's going to be a Trimax.

Mike
 
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