he didnt know how we could get ca tv in the us
There should be no problem with getting Shaw at your location UNLESS there is some object (tree, building, etc.) blocking your line of sight.
said that the us guys were just bad installers
He was right.
I'm presuming that they were at least good enough to determine if you have a clear line of sight to the Anik satellites and that they have the dish mounted, and that they ensured that the antenna mast is plumb. Is that correct? (NOTE: If the mast isn't plumb, you'll never find the satellites because your elevation and skew will be incorrect, even if they appear correct on the back of the dish. But even a bad installer should have known that)
It sounds like you're gonna try another installer, so hopefully he'll be better than the first two. It also sounds like you purchased from a well-known Montreal company......they have an excellent tutorial on doing your own install on ther website, or you can get help from this forum. Just be very specific as to how far you've gotten and where you're getting hung up.
You can use the signal strength meter in your receiver (it's in the options menu, but I forget the sequence....see your manual). As was stated above, you have to be patient, as it takes a few seconds for the meter to react to a movement of the dish. Your receiver should be set to channel 299. You must be tuned to this channel for finding the signal even if you receiver is not yet authorized.
Keep the questions coming....