Signal meters, what do they look for?

[Speedwagon]

Ok, I haven't seen a signal meter. I'm getting my first sat install on monday. But I'm just curious, what do the signal meters look for? Are they tuned to a certain frequency(like a beacon freq)? Or do they just average the strength they get from a freq range? Or something else entirely?

If they do check the strength for a specific freq, anyone know what freq that would be?

 

[Wayd Wolf]

Peaking meters for installers simply look at aggregate signal strength in the satellite IF band from the LNB(s) and for DirecTV may have the option of the 22Khz tone to switch to another satellite and maybe up the voltage to change polarization. Some have a voltage pass through to allow the receiver to change the polarization.

Then you've got higher end meters which can actually read the digital identifier which tells the meter or satellite box what satellite it is looking at so you don't accidentally peak on the wrong birds. Channel Master, Bird Dog, and Promax come to mind.

Truly high end meters will choose specific transponders to look at.

A dual LNB peaker is ideal because then you can peak two at once. If you get maximum on both 101 and 119 with DirecTV, then you know 110 right between them will be fine, simple matter of geometery. Just remember to take legacy LNBs with you for Dish as those with built-in switches won't work with most meters as they don't generally have the ability to give the digital signals that tell their system to change to another satellite unlike DirecTV which uses the 22Khz signal.

Sonora Designs has a PDF file with a frequency break-down of transponders which with a spectrum analyzer would allow you to check for what any given transponder is doing.

 

[Speedwagon]

Holy crap, that was very informative! Thanx!

 

[Wantolearn]

2 Cheap Meters With Dual LNB

Just wondering if you can use a cheap ($10-$15 Powered by coax) peaking meter in each LNB line of a dual sat feed for say Dish Net IE 500 dish pro for 110 and 119? That way you could peak both at same time. It seems I read somewhere you could not do it and or had to put it on just one of the sat LNB. How about it GURUS
Thanks
Wantolearn

 

[Wayd Wolf]

Just wondering if you can use a cheap ($10-$15 Powered by coax) peaking meter in each LNB line of a dual sat feed for say Dish Net IE 500 dish pro for 110 and 119? That way you could peak both at same time. It seems I read somewhere you could not do it and or had to put it on just one of the sat LNB. How about it GURUS
Thanks
Wantolearn

Hmmm... If by this question you mean a meter solely receiving power through the coax from a live receiver, then you can use two separate legacy LNBs to give separate 110 and 119 signals and to get power to both of the cheap meters, you'd need a DBS splitter which passes voltage on BOTH ports.

Maybe. The split might not produce enough juice for the meter or it might.

I HIGHLY recommend a dual meter with rechargeable battery pack. It simplifies things greatly. Just remember that they tend to run down very quickly and you should get a car charger to go with it. But of course using the power from the receiver will give the most oomph.

 

[Wantolearn]

I'll have to give it a try and see if it works as is

Thanks
Ron