New Slimline KA/KU dish

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kakukoo

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Jan 16, 2007
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I have been doing Directv for a long time and often have found signal before I even pulled my meter out. But we just started doing upgrades and the KA/KU's are becoming a big pain in the #*%. SO I picked up a couple of Birdog's but haven't tried them out yet.

Does anyone know the easiest way to align these dishes with a Birdog? I don't want the tech's spending half the day aligning this dish.
 
Birdog and 5lnb dish

The key is to get 101 aimed with the highest possible signal strength, as the birdog does not see the ka birds just the noise level on ka. Use the dither and elevation fine adjust screws to fine tune the 101 and the ka' s shoulkd come in just fine.
 
Birddog works great for the at9 and au9, as suggested, get your 101 maxed out, then flip to the 119 and do a very fine tune which will boost it up some, change back to 101 and make sure it didnt suffer any, which it shouldnt.
 
The title of this thread has me commenting here...

Was walking the pooch today and had my first sighting of a "Slimline" dish. I was very curious as I am very much considering swithcing to D* and in fact have a "Slimline" on it's way to me.

My first impression was "that thing is a monster!" Seems "Slimline" is a bit of a misnomer. Much bigger than my nice little compact Dish 1000. I will have to mount this huge dish on the roof. Fortunately I have two monopoles coming with the dish. My main concern is with snow. My Dish 1000 is placed on the side of my house near a window where I can easily reach out and clean the snow off of it.

My concern is that having to mount the so-called "Slimline" on the roof, I won't be able to access it. Since this dish is pretty big, is it reasonably resistant to rain/snow fade? Is the size of the reflector designed so as to get very strong signals, or is its size neccessary just for the purpose of receiving the 5 orbital slots?

On a more ignorant level on my part, it looked like the arm supporting the LNBF assembley is offset from the reflector. I understand that this is an offset focal point dish. I thought that the placement of the LNBFs (all on one side of the assembly) accomplished this. Are my eyes deceiving me (not the greatest eyesight)? Is this another adjustment or is the LNBF assembly relative to the reflector already fixed when I put this thing together?

I will probably have an installer do the aiming, after giving it a go myself. Either way, I definitly will mount it myself. Which inexpensive sat signal meter is recommended so I can at least try to aim it myself? I do not particularly need advice on how to aim it, as I have seen the instructions and am pretty good at following directions.

Thanks in advance for any input, comment, personal experience, or suggestions!
 
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Last February I had the AT-9 installed at my house in CT (before I moved). The day after the installation we got 26 inches of snow; I wasn't going on the roof to clean the dish, and didn't have the time anyway due to snow-blowing all day. Didn't matter, I never lost signal.

If you're really concerned about snow, you can spray PAM (spray shortening) on the dish surface (not the LNB's). Don't worry about the snow; I had more issues with weather when using the smaller dishes than the big ones.
 
Last February I had the AT-9 installed at my house in CT (before I moved). The day after the installation we got 26 inches of snow; I wasn't going on the roof to clean the dish, and didn't have the time anyway due to snow-blowing all day. Didn't matter, I never lost signal.

If you're really concerned about snow, you can spray PAM (spray shortening) on the dish surface (not the LNB's). Don't worry about the snow; I had more issues with weather when using the smaller dishes than the big ones.


That is encouraging info, TY. I am really interested in info/experiences with the Slimline (AU-9) rather than the AT-9.
 
My AT-9 also made it through a recent ice storm. All signals were down a bit and one transponder on 110 was weak enough to not get a lock but that was it. Even the Ka stuff worked OK.
 
That is encouraging info, TY. I am really interested in info/experiences with the Slimline (AU-9) rather than the AT-9.

The point is that the AT-9 has more surface area (can collect more snow), and the LNB's are more exposed (prone to ice collection). I would expect the AU-9 to out-perform the AT-9 wrt snow/ice.
 
well to answer the preliminary question, the slim line is much like the older kaku dishes and it really depends on which back assembly you use. some are made from cal amp and some are made from wnc. both have unique tuning techniques, wnc is better cause its easier but both get the job done. you also have to make sure if ur using a bird dog to have 101 ka band and 119 ka band and set the meter to linear rf ( u can do this by holding the off button while its off and accessing the menu, you can also turn on the back light doing this.). once all said is done, put the dish together like you would normally. tune in the 101 til its maxed, keep in mind your not looking at the signal but at the linear as well ( top bar ). the higher the number the better. make sure depending on which back assembly your using because each has its own way of tuning. the cal amp ( should have dithering screw on back and elevation fine tune adjustment on inside of bracket, bolts are usually gold ) and the wnc ( has no dithering screw but has elevation fine tune on outside and az fine tune underneath).

Cal amp-make sure the left elevation bolt is tighten down but the right is loose ( if the right is tighten down in process, you will damage the plate ). turn the el fine tune either direction to better tune the signal on the top bar.

wnc- only tighten the inside bolt for the el fine tune and leave the side bolts loose. turn the el fine tune either direction to better tune the signal on the top bar.

once that is acheived, lock down the az bolts. switch over to 119 and adjust the skew accordingly ( keep in mind your looking at the top bar ). go back to 101 after locking down skew.

Cal amp- check and make sure that only the right bolt is loose. turn dial to 0. turn your el fine tune counter clockwise twice. check the signal on the top bar. now turn it clockwise counting your turns til you match that same signal (keep in mind if you land on 6 its not 6 but 4 past 0). once youve done that, take the number of turns and divide by two. once youve figured the math, take that number and turn it counter clockwise that amount. make sure your signal is still peaked and lock down the right bolt. this method is done. now, loosen the bolts on the bottom, should be 3. loosen the dithering screw all the way. slide the back to the left and to the right. both sides should match on the top bar. its not going to be your peaked signal, but you have to make sure its matched on each side. ex. peak is 216, left is 214 and right is 214. if doesnt match, go to the low side and turn your az fine tune to get the numbers to match, sometimes it takes a awhile but average time is usually 1 minute. once your done lock down the bottom bolts.

wnc- this one is easier because there is no dithering involved. make sure your side bolts are loose and the only thing that is tight is the fine ele bolt on the inside. adjust your 101 and check your 119 following the same procedure above. once u go back to 101, turn the el fine tune counter clockwise 3 times and match it clockwise, take the amount of turns clockwise and divide by 2. turn counter clockwise the amount of turns you figured. tighten both side bolts. loosen the bottom bolts ( should be 2 towards the front) do the same exact thing on the az fine tune.

hope this helps.
 
Thanks! Very helpful replies. I am expecting the latest version, with the switch built-in, hopefully Winegard.
 
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Well, it's here!

Looks like I got the WNC AU9 revision 1B LNBF assembly. Kewl!

Could someone tell me, will I need to use one or two outputs for a dual tuner HR20 receiver?:confused:
 
Well, it's here!

Looks like I got the WNC AU9 revision 1B LNBF assembly. Kewl!

Could someone tell me, will I need to use one or two outputs for a dual tuner HR20 receiver?:confused:


You need two outputs until D* releases the FTM module that would allow for one cable run.
 
You need two outputs until D* releases the FTM module that would allow for one cable run.

Perfect Answer! Was wondering about that FTM thing. Saw that in the User's manual for the HR20 on the D* site. When is that expected? Is that similar to the DPP separator, or something else? I would like to avoid having to pre-wire using the WB68 switch if at all possible. Thanks!
 
Perfect Answer! Was wondering about that FTM thing. Saw that in the User's manual for the HR20 on the D* site. When is that expected? Is that similar to the DPP separator, or something else? I would like to avoid having to pre-wire using the WB68 switch if at all possible. Thanks!

Earl over at DBSTalk 'hints' that it will be coming hopefully 1/2 half this year but isn't going into a lot of detail on what he knows. Sorry, can't answer about if it's like the DPP stuff since I dumped E* after I got my 811.
 
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