In PA, I had a 18" dish and upgraded to the SWM3 power injected Slimline Dish and SL3 LNB. I currently aimed the dish using the built in signal meter D12-100 non HD receiver (power injector in the unit died) with a small tv and receiver at the dish at 101W, but I cannot get channels 11 or 5 right now. I was able to find a used Orbital Tracker Light meter, OTM 500 3.0 to assist with the aiming. My question is this, where can I find the up to date frequency, SR, LO, LNB 13 or 18 and 22Khz on or off data to enter manually into the meters database? I would like to tweak the settings to maximize the quality bars on the OTM 500. Does the data I need get changed from time to time and what website would have it listed and up to date? I probably have to dither the signal once I know I have the correct settings in the meter for 101W
Slimline SWM3 alignment using Orbital Tracker Light OTM500 3.0 meter
- Thread starter jcy110
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Your using a SL3 LNB ...
No Real need for an expensive meter .
Look up your numbers from the recvr Sat section, point at the 101* Sat, dial that in solid and the rest should fal into place.
I typically will pre set the Skew, then put the dish on .... adjust the dish slowly allowing time for it to lock in.
Very small movement make a huge difference, your pointing at a space 23,000 miles up, the size of a bus.
My question , that others may hop in and answer is, Pointing the SWM3 should be good, but can you use the Old D12 to do it, is the D12 compatible to see the SWM ?
Sorry JCY, I hadn't noticed that you are new here till now ....
Welcome to the site !
Have you set up a SWM dish before ?
You will have to have the Power Inserter in line between the LNB and the recvr or you won't get the correct info, may not get anything, don't remember.
Thanks Jimbo, I have setup the standard 18" round, not SWM but I have a SWM at another location and when I hook up the power inserted D12 there I get all the channels. I am only missing a few channels where I am trying to hook it up now. When I bring it home it gets all the channels. I have the same setup in 2 locations about 250 miles apart.
If your not upgrading your D12, I would drop the SWM3 and go back to the Non SWM one, as a SWM needs the Power Insertor, but the previous one don't.
Again, I'm not sure how a Non SWM recvr would work with a SWM set up, but I would think it would work ...
You say everything works except a few channels ?
Are those channels Local channels or Sat channels ?
250 miles apart, you may not get the locals, depending on where the Sat footprint covers.
The built in power inserter in the D12 does not work. But the D12 works on my SWM at home, and if I call to have it replaced, they will not if it "works" on the home system. I did get all the channels including the locals with the 18" round so I should also with the slimline. Right now I think its an alignment issue with the 99 and 103 that may be causing my problems at the moment.
When they stop supporting the D12, is there a standalone HD receiver I can get to use at home and at camp?
The D12 does not have a "built in power inserter". Your home setup must have a power inserter, if it doesn't it either has an HR54 or H44 (which has one built in) or uses a SWM switch rather than SWM LNB which does not require one on the receiver side.
jcy,
What is in your set up at home ?
What recvrs and what LNB if you know.
Btw, if those numbers you showed on the signal meter are current, I'd say your looking pretty good on the 101.
What is in your set up at home ?
What recvrs and what LNB if you know.
Btw, if those numbers you showed on the signal meter are current, I'd say your looking pretty good on the 101.
With a SWM LNB there is no 13v, or 18v or 22KHz, the SWM stacks 8 different transponders on fixed L-band frequencies and each frequency could be 99 or 101 or 103 or whatever. If my memory is intact, when you power one up from scratch it goes into alignment mode with 101, 99, 103 and the old 119 slots on specific frequencies for the DirecTV AIM to align the dish. If you pick one of the random 8 frequencies within the L-band and try to align with another type of meter you will not know what satellite or orbital slot they are unless you have a specific list and I don't know where to get that list. And you don't want to accidently align the dish on just 99 or 103.
All I can tell you is that when I had theD12 and 18" dish at camp one time all I got was 0's for signal strength and couldn't complete setup. When I took the D12 home it worked fine. Whatever was powering the 18" round dish in the D12 was no longer powering it. Since it worked at home all I wanted to do was mimic the home setup at camp. That is why I duplicated all the parts at camp because I knew I needed to power the SL3 LNB.
However, at home there IS a SWM Power Insertor somewhere and probably a D* splitter as well (if you have more than 1 recvr)
Again, what is your set up at home ?
Recvrs and LNB ?
At home I have a Genie HD+DVR and 3 HD genie mini's and the D12 in the basement, Slimline Dish, SL3 LNB, power injector and the distribution block for the receivers..... That was the signal meter readings. My concern is that the quality on the 18v was very low on the OTM 500 meter and I would like to dither to raise it. But I am concerned that the data inputed in the meter may not be up to date and that is why the quality reading is low
The 18" dish is no longer used, slimline dish at both locations, power injector at both locations along with the same LNB at both locations. It works in both locations except for not getting a few channels.....at camp.
Wait a minute ... I'm thinking one of the Sats is a bit off, but doesn't the D12 ONLY see the 101 Sat ?
What channels are you Not getting ?
Like I mentioned before, Locals or Sat delivered ?
If its local channels, it could be that your too far away from your home footprint.
If its Sat delivered, thats something else.
Hook up your D12 at the lake or wherever it is your talking about and then give us the Sat Signal numbers of All Sats available (it could be just the 101.)
I'm wondering if the PI is plugged in at the lake (is the green light on ?)
Or the Dish may need slight adjustments. (you could be pointed at the wrong Sat, that happens, because unless you have a meter that identifies the Sat, you don't know, till you check your numbers.)
You should be able to use the receiver as a crude signal meter if you can display the 101 signal strengths if you can get a long cable from the receiver to a TV monitor on the roof or take the receiver and monitor to the roof. Use the dither procedure to detune slightly off one side of the peak maybe five whole numbers lower than the rough peak, set the dials on the dish to zero then count the turns needed to get the same degraded five numbers down from peak then divide the number of turns in half and turn the dial back toward peak by that amount. I've done this many years ago as a test and it worked, but not as accurately as using a meter.
Meters work great as long as you KNOW what they are telling you ...
For a person that sets up a dish once in awhile, theres really no need for one .
If your setting them up for work, using them regularly, yes.
