Newbee Slimline 5 Install

[Theater Guy]

Ok, not entirely a newbie, I did work for Dish Network for 4 years. Here's my problem. I now work for a local Home Theater/Automation company and they sell DirecTv. I havent installed Direct in years.

Im curious if there are any tricks of the trade to the slimline 5. I know there were some tricks when I used to install the bigger oval Dish Network dishes for combined HD and/or foreign progamming, like peaking on one satellite (119) right off the dish with the meter and if your settings were spot on, most of the time all the other satellites would fall inline.

Does that go for the DirecTv slimline 5? If so, does one particular port on the 4-port LNB output one particular satellite and if so, which satellite should I be peaking on?

Thanks!

 

[MikeinBaja]

Absolutely nail the signal of 110 using AZ/EL only (preset the skew to your location before you begin), then skew only to peak 119. Double check that 110 is still good. That should bring everything in.

 

[Theater Guy]

Thanks Mike. One thing, which port is which on the LNB?

 

[MikeinBaja]

Doesn't matter - built in switch - they are all the same.

By the way, if you aren't going to use all of the available ports, I save old cut off connectors to install as blanks. Helps keep the moisture out of the LNB.

 

[Theater Guy]

You said to peak on 110. If the LNB's output all sats which is understandable, then I cant use a meter to peak off the dish, I should just use the sat meter on the receiver to peak 110, then adjust the skew to peak 119. Then double check 110 again.

Thanks! :up

 

[MikeinBaja]

You said to peak on 110. If the LNB's output all sats which is understandable, then I cant use a meter to peak off the dish, I should just use the sat meter on the receiver to peak 110, then adjust the skew to peak 119. Then double check 110 again.

Thanks! :up

If you are just using an in-line meter, then yes - use the receiver set to 110 then 119 set to a known strong transponder. I use an old Birdog which lets you ID which sat you are on. Remember that there is a time lag when using the receiver meter, so wait a minute between adjustments for the meter to settle down.

 

[joseph.hero]

Can I use those blank caps on the LNB to seal in from moistuer?

 

[MikeinBaja]

Can I use those blank caps on the LNB to seal in from moistuer?

You can, but for me they just don't seal as well. I reuse old cut off connectors (with the O ring in them) as they seem to seal better.

The caps would certainly be better than leaving them open though.

 

[Theater Guy]

Mike, we nailed it today. I aligned the dish with the meter (which doesnt tell me what sat Im on) just to get a starting point, removed my meter, hooked receiver up to it,then set the receiver on 110, peaked it, then checked 119 and the signal was at 100%. Sounds good to me!

Also about those blank caps. Ive used them but I would slide on an o-ring first, that seems to seal it and keep the caps on.

 

[MikeinBaja]

Mike, we nailed it today. I aligned the dish with the meter (which doesnt tell me what sat Im on) just to get a starting point, removed my meter, hooked receiver up to it,then set the receiver on 110, peaked it, then checked 119 and the signal was at 100%. Sounds good to me!

Also about those blank caps. Ive used them but I would slide on an o-ring first, that seems to seal it and keep the caps on.

Congrats on nailing your install! :up

Remember to go back over all the bolts and make sure that puppy is tight. See you are in FL - if you are anywhere close to the ocean take some heavy grease (like auto axle grease) and smear some on all of the nuts - otherwise you won't be able to get them lose if you need to do any maintenance in the future.

The cut off "F" connectors are trash for me anyway - so they are easy to use.

 

[Theater Guy]

Woa! Heavy grease huh? Good idea. Yep, we service alot of the area near Patrick AFB thats on an island between the main land and Cocoa Beach, so alot of sea salt flyin around!

 

[MikeinBaja]

Woa! Heavy grease huh? Good idea. Yep, we service alot of the area near Patrick AFB thats on an island between the main land and Cocoa Beach, so alot of sea salt flyin around!

Know Patrick AFB very well from my USAF days - you should definitely grease the nuts in that salt air environment. I live on the ocean (west coast) and came up with the grease treatment through trial and error. It works, is cheap and if you are neat with it really doesn't show at all. Makes life MUCH easier later on.

You did use monopoles - right?

 

[Theater Guy]

Yep, Patrick is still here and running. I think they have a very important wing of anti-terrorism here now since 9/11. Monopoles I try to use every time due to just the weight of the dish.