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What meter with SWM dish?


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Hubby is looking online for a satellite meter for our SWM dish. So far, everything he's looked at says NOT to use it with SWM.

What are you guys using?

Thanks!!

Christine

It's all fine and dandy until someone's marshmallow catches fire!

2015 Ford F-250 6.2L (She ain't diesel but she hauls ass!)

2012 Jayco Pinnacle 36KPTS

Http://www.5thwheelgypsy.blogspot.com

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There's not an inexpensive meter for SWM. The only one available is $500. Consider getting the TV4RV tripod as it will make aiming a whole lot easier. On our new Genie receiver it makes a beeping sound as you hit the satellite and also has signal strength indication. Our old receiver didn't make a sound. What we did was to use a couple of radios to communicate or place the dish where you can see your TV thru a window so you can see the signal strength.

Full time since August 2010

2002 Itasca Horizon

 

One fur kid - a Shih-Tsu rescue

Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd

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We do pretty much the same as Horizon 36 does. I go to dishpointer.com for the skew, elevation and azimuth. I preset the skew, and elevation of the dish and then put it on the leveled tripod. The fact that the tripod has to be level cant be stressed enough. I then aim the dish at the approximate azimuth while I have the Genie receiver set on "signal strength". If I cant hear the signal because of the location of the dish, we then use walkie talkies so I know when we have achieved maximum signal strength. It did take a little practice, but now we can usually have the dish set up in about 5 or 10 minutes.

 

Paul

2005 Winnebago Voyage 38J

 

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TV4RV tripod and mostly what everone has already said, but I use a baby monitor also. Turn on the signal strength screen on your receiver. I have a Genie also, but the baby monitor will work even if you don't have a receiver with an audible tone. Aim the monitor camera at the correct park of your TV screen, take the remote outside with you and aim away. Works great and is a lot cheaper than a $500 meter. In my case I asked my daughter for her old monitor when the grandchildren were older.

Ed

KM4STL

2006 GMC 2500HD CCSB 4x4 Duramax/Allison, Titan 52 gallon fuel tank, Prodigy Controller, B&W Companion Hitch
2010 Jayco Designer 35RLTS, RV Flex Armor Roof

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5thwheelgypsy,

Do you move a lot or tend to stay in one place for quite a time? Or, maybe more appropriately, how many times do you move a year? If you only do a few setups a year it is really hard to cost justify a meter capable of supporting the DirecTV SWM technology. A few years ago there were some reasonably priced alternatives for aiming these dishes. But, most of those meters are gone (I can't even buy a replacement battery for mine anymore). The "official" DirecTV meter is the AIM Meter (which uses DirecTV proprietary methods for reading KA band information). These cost a tad more than $450. There is a "Bird Dog" meter available for around $400. So, as you can see, unless you do a lot of setups, it is really difficult to cost justify one of these meters.

 

And the "best" meter is really the one in your receiver. So, using this for your original aiming is a great idea.

 

As for the values for aiming your dish, a lot of folks like to change the zip code in the receiver to get the dish settings. I find this a regal pain in the rear. You can get all your settings from a site called dishpointer.com. Just enter your zip code in the first entry line. For the second line enter either "101 DIRECTV 4S .." or scroll down for the list of "Multi-LNBs" and select "DirecTV SL3 (99W, 101W, 103W)". Return to the top line and click on the "GO" button. You will see the settings right below the picture of your location. To me, this is so much easier than changing the settings in your receiver.

 

Bob

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We plan on a few moves a year. My husband found some kind of meter on EBay he says will work. We went with a portable tripod from the TV4RV site. Direct TV is coming out to our trailer next week after we move into it. We're still in our house til this weekend.

It's all fine and dandy until someone's marshmallow catches fire!

2015 Ford F-250 6.2L (She ain't diesel but she hauls ass!)

2012 Jayco Pinnacle 36KPTS

Http://www.5thwheelgypsy.blogspot.com

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