Slimline 3 alignment - tried everything I really need help

Status
Please reply by conversation.
I have a non-swm setup at our cabin in Blue Ridge, ~50 north of Payson. Your coordinates look close. I used google earth to get the lat/long at the junction of rt 87/260 and plugged them into dishpointer.com for the 101 satellite. Your skew looks OK at 104.7° vs 105°, azimuth 151.3° (magnetic) vs 151° but elevation may be slightly high. Dishpointer shows 48.7° vs 50°. I did help a friend setup her swm system. For the meter to work the LNB has to be powered. I used a splitter that passes power on one path. Seems like I bought it at Home Depot for another project. The power inserter was connected to this leg that passes power. The meter to the other and the single outlet to the LNB. You should be able to align the 101 satellite by slowly sweeping either side of 151°. Move the elevation slightly and redo until you get a signal. Once 101 is locked in then you can do the fine tuning for the other satellites. Make sure there's no magnetic interference making the compass give a false reading. Have you confirmed the power inserter is OK, like substitude it in your home system.
 
Ok, I see you have the dish aimed. I put this on as a help to you. I did not notice the three additional pages until I was done. I am editing this post. Congratulations on getting the job done. What I originally posted was....


Date will not correct itself until activated. As to the aiming of the dish you can adjust the elevation one degree at a time and slowly swing through the azimuth while trying to acquire signal. I find moving it off of channel 1 may help. Move the dish left and right trying to get signal. If none, adjust another degree and try again. If you don't find a signal try adjusting elevation the other way one degree at a time. You should eventually stumble onto it.

You can also hire a installer to come over and get it aligned. Make your offer and see if he will come over.

Now, I will say this. I had a customer hire me to aim his dish. I got to the location he had the mount installed. He had told me it was level but could not find the satellite. When I got there level was nowhere to be found on the mast. It was so off level and badly mounted to the building that trying to find a signal would have been almost impossible. I am not saying you have done this but having a plumb mount is 90 percent of the success of finding signal. The mast area where the dish slide onto has to be level. I use a torpedo level at two points 90 degrees from each other to check the level. I then put on the support rods. the short one goes down to the roof. It is mounted below the elbow of the mount. If the mount is on a wall the support goes above the elbow and back to the wall. The long support rod goes above the elbow of the mount and off to the side and is mounted to the roof. If on a wall, it still goes off to the side and into the wall. Tighten everything down and shake it. Any give, then tighten a bit more. No give, then put the dish on and begin aiming.

The elevation marker is a starting point. It could be off so you have to try the one degree up or down method to try to get the first signal. Try 51, then 52, then 53-54-55. If nothing go to 49, then 48, then 47-46. At some point you should get indication of signal on the signal meter screen. Once you get the first indication of signal peak it as best you can. Now tighten the mount down with the collar bolts. You can now use the micro adjustment bolts to get best signal. The bolt on the micro adjuster should be the only bolt that is tight. The two side elevation bolts should be loose still. The bottom azimuth bolts should also be loose. This allows the micro adjuster bolts to move the dish up down, left right with very small movement to get the best alignment. Once you have that alignment you should have the dish aimed properly and get your service.

Good luck. Oh and RVers do this stuff every day on tripods and such, so you should be able to get this done. It isn't as easy as the old 18 inch dish, but it is doable.
 
Last edited:
I spoke with bizzaro on the phone. He really wanted to try peaking in his SWM slimline dish using the 18" option on the setup screen. ;)

He'll be fine, as long he can get the mast level and those settings right. Like mr_tv said, RVers do this stuff every day in a few minutes at most. It sure is fun seeing those signals pop in and maxing them out. :D
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.