Hi there,
After being a member since a couple of weeks, I finally got all my equipment together and hooked everything up.
Wow, satellite TV after almost 2 years of cable... sweet.
Last Tuesday I started the whole process.
Checklist: Dish, LNB, Receiver, RG-6 Cable, Connectors, Crimp-Tool, Coax Stripper, Cable Cutter, Motor, DiSEqC Switch... ok, let's start!
First problem: How to mount the dish. Where was out of question. But the patio deck is just thin plywood and the aluminum anchors delivered with the dish don’t look like they are made for wood mount. I went into my garage and found 2 pieces of 2”x4”x12”. GOOD! I screwed these against the bottom of my patio deck, pre-drilled from the top and screwed the stand with 3x3/8. That’s much better than these “factory” screws. I had to use some washers under the stand to compensate the declination of the deck and the ability NOT to compensate it with the stand.
So far so good, the stand is mounted.
Back to the dish, a sheet of paper with a funny looking picture trying to explain how to assemble the dish… After a while I figured out which screw has to go where.
LNB on one end, motor on the other end.
Some nice wind picked up… Yeah… Staying on the edge of the deck with a 39” dish in one hand trying to lift the brackets of the motor over the stand with the other hand, that’s fun!!!
Wow, I got it done!
Well… not one cable connected. It’s getting dark and VERY windy. So I just tightened the dish to the pole and postponed everything until the next day.
Next day, next challenge… Never used this RG-6 “press-on” connectors before. Not a problem, after I screwed up the first one, I figured out how it works. Cables are done and connected.
Ok, how about some signals into my receiver? Ok, went downstairs picked up the TV, receiver, beer and whatever it takes to spend some time on a patio deck.
Dish/Motor combination aligned by Rule of thumb and visual judgment… looking for SatMex6 or Anik-F2, at least something that gives me some signal on the “S“-Scale. My true south is 112.1.
There we go!!! Signal!!! I bet I had a big grin on my face.
Ok, not knowing which one of these two I got, let’s start a blind scan. After some time I had my first channel list, with some weird and unexpected names…
Oh… 97W
Well, it looks like I’m a little bit off, just 15 degrees. No problem. At least I had a starting point for further alignment. Went into satellite settings, changed the current satellite to G25, the dish moved and the signal was gone. A little twist to the right and the signal came back, at least the motor direction was good now. Some more ups and downs with motor and dish and after 2 hours the mission was COMPLETED.
I still have to get some cable ties and some grounding equipment, but it is finally working.
After being a member since a couple of weeks, I finally got all my equipment together and hooked everything up.
Wow, satellite TV after almost 2 years of cable... sweet.
Last Tuesday I started the whole process.
Checklist: Dish, LNB, Receiver, RG-6 Cable, Connectors, Crimp-Tool, Coax Stripper, Cable Cutter, Motor, DiSEqC Switch... ok, let's start!
First problem: How to mount the dish. Where was out of question. But the patio deck is just thin plywood and the aluminum anchors delivered with the dish don’t look like they are made for wood mount. I went into my garage and found 2 pieces of 2”x4”x12”. GOOD! I screwed these against the bottom of my patio deck, pre-drilled from the top and screwed the stand with 3x3/8. That’s much better than these “factory” screws. I had to use some washers under the stand to compensate the declination of the deck and the ability NOT to compensate it with the stand.
So far so good, the stand is mounted.
Back to the dish, a sheet of paper with a funny looking picture trying to explain how to assemble the dish… After a while I figured out which screw has to go where.
LNB on one end, motor on the other end.
Some nice wind picked up… Yeah… Staying on the edge of the deck with a 39” dish in one hand trying to lift the brackets of the motor over the stand with the other hand, that’s fun!!!
Wow, I got it done!
Well… not one cable connected. It’s getting dark and VERY windy. So I just tightened the dish to the pole and postponed everything until the next day.
Next day, next challenge… Never used this RG-6 “press-on” connectors before. Not a problem, after I screwed up the first one, I figured out how it works. Cables are done and connected.
Ok, how about some signals into my receiver? Ok, went downstairs picked up the TV, receiver, beer and whatever it takes to spend some time on a patio deck.
Dish/Motor combination aligned by Rule of thumb and visual judgment… looking for SatMex6 or Anik-F2, at least something that gives me some signal on the “S“-Scale. My true south is 112.1.
There we go!!! Signal!!! I bet I had a big grin on my face.
Ok, not knowing which one of these two I got, let’s start a blind scan. After some time I had my first channel list, with some weird and unexpected names…
Oh… 97W
Well, it looks like I’m a little bit off, just 15 degrees. No problem. At least I had a starting point for further alignment. Went into satellite settings, changed the current satellite to G25, the dish moved and the signal was gone. A little twist to the right and the signal came back, at least the motor direction was good now. Some more ups and downs with motor and dish and after 2 hours the mission was COMPLETED.
I still have to get some cable ties and some grounding equipment, but it is finally working.
