Sat Finder Question for Professional Installers

[JG2]

Hi all - I'm a Newbie here...please take it easy on me.

I hope I'm in the correct forum for this - please excuse me if I am not.

I'm wondering what type of satellite finders you guys who do installations for a living prefer. I understand there are "professional" models out there that will tell you which satellite you are picking up and give you a decent idea of the signal strength as opposed to just giving you a tone when you get a signal (the really cheap ones).

Any of you guys willing to share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences on this? Looking for something like I've described above that won't totally break the bank, though I realize you get what you pay for in most cases.

If you are curious, I'm beginning a new career in installs and have not seen anyone using a finder like I described above but it seems to me to be a good idea. I'm in Western Canada if that matters.

Feel free to pass on any other advice, tips, or tricks you feel would be valuable to someone in my situation, and thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Well for the whole time I have installed I have used a Channel Master 1008. This is not one of those meter that tells you what satellite you are locked onto, but is not a cheap one either. I have found this to be the easiest meter to use.

I have tried the Biddog and the CM 1009. Both can only be used on 1 LNB at a time and cost about $350 - 400. There is another meter out there I think it was made by Applied Telecom and it ran about $1100. Was a nice unit but the 1008 works just fine for me.

Once you know where that sats are in the sky in your area, you will know when you are pointed at the right one.

 

[korsjs]

welcome to the site jg2. hope to see you around.

 

[Texanmutt]

I have the dual buddy. Build like a tank compared to my last meter, a digisat (digishit). The best thing about them is their replace barrels. Costs about $250. You will not find anbody doing residential installs with the $1100 meter.
http://www.appliedin.com/signallevelmeters/dualbuddy.html

There is a single input version that is $50 cheaper-
http://www.appliedin.com/signallevelmeters/satbuddy2.html

 

[NiFi]

Used to use an AcuTrac Pro, Now wouldnt do it without my Birdog.

 

[Jared Twomey]

i use a channel master 1006, a digisat 2, and a cheap $10 meter also... honestly i use the cheapo meter way more than the other two powered meters, it is quick and easy to use, and i can peak the signal as well or better with it than with the other two.

 

[Michael-Berlin]

http://forum.dxtv.de/wbb/thread.php?threadid=2090

 

[sksatellite]

For DBS I use the $100 accure trak and for FTA I still using my 14 years old Satlock II, just need to replace the battery pack after all these year if I intend still working on this field.

 

[mbarnes]

Most of my satellite work is non-DBS, so I usually use a Bulz-I meter from Dawn Satellite. I don't know if they still make them or not. Plus I use an Avcomm PSA-37D spectrum analyzer. On the higher powered DBS stuff, I sometimes use a Birdog. The Birdog is nice, since it will identify the satellite, but does not do too well on the weaker birds. Plus, I have a $5 compass from Wal Mart and an inclinometer from Sears. To know where to look, I have a Garmin eTrex GPS and I found a little satellite calculator for my PDA. For the common satellites I use, I find a good, easy to identify signal and take a digital picture of it on the spectrum analyzer. I keep copies in the SA bag as well as on my PDA. Makes setup a breeze.

 

[Texanmutt]

Most of my satellite work is non-DBS, so I usually use a Bulz-I meter from Dawn Satellite. I don't know if they still make them or not. Plus I use an Avcomm PSA-37D spectrum analyzer. On the higher powered DBS stuff, I sometimes use a Birdog. The Birdog is nice, since it will identify the satellite, but does not do too well on the weaker birds. Plus, I have a $5 compass from Wal Mart and an inclinometer from Sears. To know where to look, I have a Garmin eTrex GPS and I found a little satellite calculator for my PDA. For the common satellites I use, I find a good, easy to identify signal and take a digital picture of it on the spectrum analyzer. I keep copies in the SA bag as well as on my PDA. Makes setup a breeze.

What type of sat work do you do ?

 

[itlfly2]

Hi Guys,
I'm trying to find a manual 'focal point finder' for my 10 ft dish. Skyvision has a laser one for $139 but I don't want it that bad.

 

[HCI]

if you are doing just direct or dish the accutrac works best for the money. I have had one for about 2 years now but use a birdog mainly for direcway. The nice thing about the accutrac is you can identify wires in a prewired situation.

 

[Technojunky]

The Birdog is nice, since it will identify the satellite, but does not do too well on the weaker birds.

I found this to be true today , the first day I used a brand new Birdog. I started by trying to find 82W, it could not find it on a 36" dish with a .3 lnb I then moved to 87W and could gte found, but 0% quality, no matter what. After 2 hours of trying to find something good about the Birdog, I went inside and pulled out my trusty Fortec Ultra and 9" TV set. I quickly found 82W, and 87W
The next test I did was with the Fortec locked onto a bird, then I piggy backed the Birdog on the output port of the Fortec. The Fortec would read 80% on quality and the Birdog would read 0%. I called Perfect 10 support for the Birdog and they had me change the reading on the meter. I cou;d get 20% at that point, but I wanted to know why the receiver was reading 80% when the Birdog read 20%. They said that tyhe meter wasn't working right and I should exchange it, but I told them that it was only 2 days old and this is the first time I used it. I am going to ask Sadoun to take it back. Joe

 

[HCI]

I found this to be true today , the first day I used a brand new Birdog. I started by trying to find 82W, it could not find it on a 36" dish with a .3 lnb I then moved to 87W and could gte found, but 0% quality, no matter what. After 2 hours of trying to find something good about the Birdog, I went inside and pulled out my trusty Fortec Ultra and 9" TV set. I quickly found 82W, and 87W
The next test I did was with the Fortec locked onto a bird, then I piggy backed the Birdog on the output port of the Fortec. The Fortec would read 80% on quality and the Birdog would read 0%. I called Perfect 10 support for the Birdog and they had me change the reading on the meter. I cou;d get 20% at that point, but I wanted to know why the receiver was reading 80% when the Birdog read 20%. They said that tyhe meter wasn't working right and I should exchange it, but I told them that it was only 2 days old and this is the first time I used it. I am going to ask Sadoun to take it back. Joe

Why spend 2 hours wasted. That is how the birdog works it will indentify the satellite but not always give you a good reading on the bird. Like on IA8 it will only show 30 but the signal will be 80 inside. Its just like any other meter you have to get use to it.

 

[dishjockey]

acutrac 22 pro for sale 50 bucks. I no longer use it.

 

[Technojunky]

You might think it is supposed to work like that, nut the Tech support people didn't think so.

Why spend 2 hours wasted. That is how the birdog works it will indentify the satellite but not always give you a good reading on the bird. Like on IA8 it will only show 30 but the signal will be 80 inside. Its just like any other meter you have to get use to it.

 

[HCI]

You might think it is supposed to work like that, nut the Tech support people didn't think so.

We have 8 guys in our company that all use birdogs everyday. They all work just the same you are not going to get the same type of reading on every satellite. When I do a directv the birdog reads 100%. When I am doing direcway it reads different depending on which satellite I am pointing at. I know how it works, so dont try to call me out on this.

 

[TheDishNetworkInstaller]

Tate is right.

The bird dog reads the signals differently then a receiver. I had a Dual Input Blue Digi Stat meter and a Bird Dog. I spent a few hours one day comparing there reading on various birds. It seems the bird dog actually reads the data stream and displays the quality of it where a Digi Stat just displays the signal power. Same way with most receivers.

Unless you actually called/e-mailed Horizon meters over in the UK you didn't talk to a tech support guy for the meter. Perfect 10 tech is just a bunch or script readers like there sales people.

But maybe this will help you understand the meter you purchased.
http://www.birdog.tv/Manuals/BirDog_manual_ver1_5.pdf

Also just so you know Sadoun bought the meter from Perfect 10 which has an Exclusive distribution contract with Horizon. They will not take the meter back unless its defective which it isn't. Also food for though was the battery charged to the point it went into trickle charge mode? If not then it wasn't fully charged as nicad battery need a trickle charge to come up to full performance and in cold weather (32 or lower) the nicad battery will lose 60% of it capacity if not kept charged and warn between uses.

 

[Technojunky]

I live in a warm climate, Florida is pretty warm this time of the year comapred to most states. I charged the battery for 24 hours without turning the meter on. I downloaded a new configuration prior to using the meter because I wanted to add a few satellites to the deafult configuration. The Birdog would not get more than 70% on 82W, and never found it. It got the same on 87W, said found, but never displayed any quality, no matter what. The only way I could read quality on a bird, was to stick it on a .3 LNB point at 110W on a 36" dish, and that was not a very good quality report, not until I put a receiver on it and saw that it put that meter at a constant 99% quality. The 82W that I could not find with the Birdog, came in very well on the receiver 82% quality. The 2.5 version meter I have can control a Diseq and a 22 khz switch, but it needs to see the birds I want to tune first. Joe

 

[moccasin]

SatBuddy2

I understand there are "professional" models out there that will tell you which satellite you are picking up and give you a decent idea of the signal strength as opposed to just giving you a tone when you get a signal (the really cheap ones).
Any of you guys willing to share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences on this?


I have been an installer for Dish Network for several years and my favorite satellite finder is the SatBuddy2 by Applied Instruments, Indianapolis, IN 800-244-2976. I like the unit because it has BIG bright red 'bars' that displays the information and the tone is nice and LOUD too. You can also change the coax junction barrels on the unit so that they will be fresher as they get worn out from repeated use. The device costs a bit over 200 dollars so it is roughly twice as much as several types that installers commonly use. Remember that you are also getting a voltmeter with these devices, so it is easy to check if you have a hot line that is connected to the receiver.

My recent experience with the SatBuddy2 is that it had to be sent back to the manufacturer for a firmware upgrade because it does not easily recognize the DishProPlus LNB. They charged 30 dollars to do the upgrade which seems reasonable considering that I have had the unit over a year. I expect that their latest models do not have the problem that mine did which was that the meter would still peak on the visual scale although not very sensitive...but the tone which is very indicative of signal strength and acquiring would not go to fast tone and then solid tone when the alignment was on target.

I am anxiously awaiting the return of my satbuddy from the manufacturer because it is very much my favorite tool. Mostly I like it because people who are curious about dish alignment will often go WOW what is that?..... because that puppy has loud tones and really really bright red and big bars on the readout. That may be a silly reason for liking this meter but it really reeks of being heavy duty.

Maybe humans are just like birds huh, we seem to like shiny things. Well, shiny people can be annoying though, lol. note to applied instruments, are you coming out with any models that have multi colored shiny readouts? and what about strength tones that are like ring tones that i can change? haaaaa i will be like the guy on tv with the 'just a good old boy' ring tone.

Scott in Phoenix