Aiming Dish Western arc

[billr]

We run a Hopper on Dish with traveler and Dph42. in RV. All good parked here. 

Moved into house and set up and aimed manual dish first time. 

Set up in house for summer and can’t get thru trees for EA but good sky to WA. 
I bought proper WA Dish with Hybrid three LNBs. Mounted on house. 

110, 119, 129 signal is tad low. 45 and down to 35 some times on all three. tried for higher but had to balance 

We are located in UP Michigan Sault Ste Marie 

All programming comes in and guide builds. Locals come in good. 
Have 110 and 119 with green on diagnostics page other is redX. All three show locked. 

Issue is several channels only come in SD  like NBCSN and a Fox sports ESPN, HGTV  and more 

Locals are in SD because we are on WA  HD on locals are on EA   We did get all programming In HD except locals on the traveler. Signal was around the same.  

is there a certain sat I should focus on to get these in HD? It’s a battle to get more signal on one and not loose on others  

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by billr

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

You are pretty far north for 129.  I never worried about how much signal strength I had, only if I received all three satellites.  I found that satellite reception is more on-off than a quality of signal issue.

Signal strength does not determine if Locals are in HD, the Arc does.  Quite a few of the DMA have one Arc in SD and the other in HD.

So if you want the locals in HD, then it will be getting the EA somehow.  As for NBCSN, Fox Sports, HgTv, etc they are usually on 129.

[billr]

Thanks Mark

I have. Lock on 129 but no green check. It’s red x. 
 

signal 35

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by billr

[remoandiris]

Do you have a smartphone?  If so, use it and go to the Play store.  Download the free "Winegard" Satellite Pointer app.  It is one app with antenna and sat pointer.

Once it is installed, select the WA Dish network on the app, then go outside and point your phone at the sky.  You will see on the screen where the birds are.  Line it up as best you can with the dish and look for the birds again.  If you can see them with the phone app, your dish should be able to see them.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

A red X Is not going to make it.

Since the Upper Peninsula is so far north, it  becomes difficult to get the Elevation low enough. Depending on your mount, the dish sometimes hits the mount.  When I was in the UP, I was always using the EA which has higher Elevations.  When I was in Prince Edward  Island and had to use the WA, I had to put the tripod on a picnic table and had to tip the tripod down in front to get the Elevation to where I could get 129 in.

A visual tool is not going to help that much as you are getting close to the satelites.  Visual tools when the problem is trees or other obstructions. 

Remember the dish arm does not point at the satelites.  The signal beam path is 15 degrees of the dish surface and rotated to the right depending on the Skew.  You might recheck the possibility of the EA.

[Dutch_12078]

I've dialed in all three WA sats from NY's northern border where the elevation is 22 degrees with signal levels in the 50+ range. The farthest northern point in the UP without getting your feet wet has a 27.7 degree elevation for the WA, so 129 should be pretty easy to hit from there as well unless obstructions are in the way. 

[billr]

Thanks 

I have tried some more and still not getting green check on 129

Signal locked. Around 45-50. 
 

I am using phone app to get close and got all three but 129 still a problem. Trees blocking me on EA but I’ll have to maybe get creative. 
 

 

[billr]

On 6/7/2020 at 9:17 PM, Dutch_12078 said:

I've dialed in all three WA sats from NY's northern border where the elevation is 22 degrees with signal levels in the 50+ range. The farthest northern point in the UP without getting your feet wet has a 27.7 degree elevation for the WA, so 129 should be pretty easy to hit from there as well unless obstructions are in the way. 

Thanks.  It’s really bugging me I can’t seem to get this in. I have elev avail to adjust it gets signal. 
 It’s not skewed very much. I tried to do more but loose other sats. 
 

I’m sure it’s me the rookie. 🤦‍♂️

[Dutch_12078]

20 minutes ago, billr said:

Thanks.  It’s really bugging me I can’t seem to get this in. I have elev avail to adjust it gets signal. 
 It’s not skewed very much. I tried to do more but loose other sats. 
 

I’m sure it’s me the rookie. 🤦‍♂️

For Sault Ste Marie, your settings should be:

Elevation:  26.7°

Azimuth (true):  223.6°

Azimuth (magn.):  231.1°

Dish Skew:  118.4° 

And make sure your mounting post is dead level. Cover the two outer LNB's with foil and peak on the 119 sat on the center LNB. When aiming the azimuth, use the side plates of the mount for your sight line, not the LNB arm. With 119 peaked, 110 and 129 should lock in when the foil's removed with signals that may be improved some using only the elevation to fine tune them. Do not mess with the skew once it's set using the triangle pointer. 

[billr]

15 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

For Sault Ste Marie, your settings should be:

Elevation:  26.7°

Azimuth (true):  223.6°

Azimuth (magn.):  231.1°

Dish Skew:  118.4° 

And make sure your mounting post is dead level. Cover the two outer LNB's with foil and peak on the 119 sat on the center LNB. When aiming the azimuth, use the side plates of the mount for your sight line, not the LNB arm. With 119 peaked, 110 and 129 should lock in when the foil's removed with signals that may be improved some using only the elevation to fine tune them. Do not mess with the skew once it's set using the triangle pointer. 

Thanks I’ll give that a go! 

[Dutch_12078]

5 hours ago, billr said:

Thanks I’ll give that a go! 

Let us know how it goes!

[Zulu]

The Hopper 3 / DPH42 switch combo can be problematic. After moving and setting up I often get a "missing" (red X) sat in the Diagnostics screen, though it's typically 110.

Try the Nuclear Option.

[chuckbear]

After you tune in your dish, go into to settings. Open Diagnostics and scroll down to Dish. Click in the Test Installation box in the right hand corner by using select on the remote. Wait for the process to run and you should see all sats with green checkmarks. Chuck