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How to properly align your satellite dish - Discussion and Tips (See Post 1)

918K views 1K replies 306 participants last post by  ExDilbert 
#1 ·
I have installed my new 20 inch dish and have a perfect signal on satellite 91 but cant for the life of me find satellite 82. Any suggestions? Why is it so difficult?

Edit by @57: Some Tips to note from @jsaun88:

Check your mast for 90 degree vertical on ALL sides of the pipe - do this before anything else.

Do not rely on an iPhone/Android to provide compass settings - they get messed very easily. Use a decent compass. The iPhone/Andriod do however provide decent 'Level' settings.

Do not rely on the azimuth, skew, and elevation markings on your dish. They are a close guess at best. Get them close and then tweak as necessary.

VERY SMALL MOVEMENTS and PATIENCE are your friend. Make a very tiny adjust upwards, sideways, etc, hold and WAIT. It takes a few seconds before the point-dish-signal thing on the TV responds
And @Allan B if you're only getting one satellite:

My guess is that you are hitting the 91 bird with the 82 side of the LNBF. So I would suggest covering the 82 side of the LNBF with Aluminum Foil.

Then start from the beginning.

Ensure Mast is 100% Vertical.

Set Skew based on your location, once set, this should not need adjusting again.

Then peak signal levels on the 91 bird, using only the 91 side of the LNBF.

Once peaked, remove the foil, run a check switch and watch TV.

Run a Check switch on all other receivers.
It's helpful having a portable TV & Receiver on the roof, or someone in the room with the TV and two-way communication to that person. Or check out the following per @Lowggy:

Use two iPads (or iPhone) and do a FaceTime. Put one ipad facing your tv with the options set to show the satellite signal bars. Use the other iPad on your roof and do your alignment while looking and listening to the bar strength. If you own two ipad that are on the same network and you use the same email address just use your iCloud address to make the call.
Also use SatFinder or Dishpointer apps.
 
#4 ·
Also make sure you have the 91 and 82 LNBs on the correct side of the dish. Check you manual and it will tell you where it belongs. If they are correct, make sure you connections are solid. Did you run a switch test?
 
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#6 ·
fxkid said:
I have installed my new 20 inch dish and have a perfect signal on satellite 91 but cant for the life of me find satellite 82. Any suggestions? Why is it so difficult?
I had the same problem and screwed around with it over a week, then I just gave up - locked it with 90% on 91 and went in the house. I check the receiver and bam 82 is locked. If you are locked strong on 91 and you think you have it positioned correctly to get 82 then you might want to go in the house and just do a switch check/test to see if it picks it up. My experience was that it was very fussy. Also check your cables to make sure the center wire is long enough to make a connection with the switch, this is a huge problem with those switches.

I never came so close to killing myself in frustration before in my life as I did when trying to upgrade my dish.
 
#7 ·
i ran into the same problem at my brother-inlaws place installing his dish and like somebody said earlier, i finally got it when i moved the dish slightly upwards.
 
#8 ·
Help! no sat 82 on 6100!

just got my 6100 system, i have a 3100 system that was previously installed professionally...now i just removed the coax cable from the 3100 and connected the 6100....problem is i cant see satellite 82 on the 6100, i then reconnected the 3100 and i can see both sats 82 and 91....what should i do to see both satellites on the 6100?? the HD channels look awful, pretty much like SD channels. could it be because im only getting feed from one satellite?...i have a toshiba 52hmx84 DLP by the way...
 
#11 ·
If it said satellite signal verified then it must have found 82? On the status screen does it show and odd and even on 82? If so, what makes you think you have no signal on 82? Check signal strength on Sat 82 TP 11 and tell me what you have.
 
#12 ·
Diamond said:
If it said satellite signal verified then it must have found 82? On the status screen does it show and odd and even on 82? If so, what makes you think you have no signal on 82? Check signal strength on Sat 82 TP 11 and tell me what you have.
yes it showed odd and even on 82....but signal strength of sat 82 is 0% on TP 11, and around 87% signal strength for sat 91 on TP 11. i noticed there are no signals for sat 82 on TP 7, 8 and 9 too. but on some TP numbers, signal strength is not bad for sat 82. how come? wat are transponders? what is its purpose??

and i was fiddling around the options, and under the HDTV setup, theres an for off-air, cable, hrc and irc...which was should i choose?

i find the HD channels to be just so-so...guess i expected too much...or is there something wrong with my set-up? any thing that can be done to better the PQ?
 
#13 ·
zeicht said:
just got my 6100 system, i have a 3100 system that was previously installed professionally...now i just removed the coax cable from the 3100 and connected the 6100....problem is i cant see satellite 82 on the 6100, i then reconnected the 3100 and i can see both sats 82 and 91....what should i do to see both satellites on the 6100?? the HD channels look awful, pretty much like SD channels. could it be because im only getting feed from one satellite?...i have a toshiba 52hmx84 DLP by the way...
Sounds to me that since you didn't mention that you just got a 6120 system, that you are possibly not using a dual LNB with your dish.

Transponders are the individual transmitters on the satellite, and the setting for satellite reception is "off-air". I think that since you mentioned you formerly had a 3100 system with no mention of changing the dish setup, that this is what is wrong with your set up.
 
#14 ·
i noticed there are no signals for sat 82 on TP 7, 8 and 9 too. but on some TP numbers, signal strength is not bad for sat 82.
Not all transponders are functioning on N2 (82) due to a hardware failure. As long as you are getting (East/West) Global, CTV, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, plus WGN, SNET, 4 PPV and all other subscribed HD channels you are ok. You should also get all the SD channels you get on your 3100. If some of the channels are missing, you may need to call EV and ask for the receiver channel authorization to be sent again. Not all programming is in HD. Only selected prime time programming, movies, sports and special events are produced in HD at this time.
 
#15 ·
Can't get 82

I just had a new dual sat dish installed along with a 6100 receiver and can't get 82. When the receiver is hooked to the SW21 it reports the 91 Sat as green with a strong signal and the 82 as "Wrong Sat" with a strong 91 Sat signal as well. The switch test shows odd and even for 91 and X X for 82.

There are two SW21s on the roof and both give the same results. I used an RCA feed thru/in-line connector to bypass the SW21 and hook the single cable going into the house directly to the cable labeled 82. The receiver now reports zero signal strength, and of course no switch. Do I need to tell the receiver that there is no longer a switch for it to see the 82 Sat this way?

I have an SW44 coming that I will mount where it's easier to get to, but I wonder if my 82 LNB could just be bad or if the dish needs to be re-pointed?
 
#16 ·
once you have your reciever set for a switch you must run check switch again to clear the switch in order to use sat 82 wire by its self.try transformer 1 for the signal strenght cause it is the one with the stongest power.if you get nothing then adjust your dish. if you get something around 90 then hook both lines threw the switch and preform check switch again.when done it should say 91 odd 91 even 82 odd and 82 even. if you get this then evething is fine.not all transformers work on 82 at this time.as for hd picture are you sure that you have the hd box hooked to the right componment on your tv. make sure that it is hooked to the hd componment or you will not get a true hd picture
 
#17 ·
Hi Everyone,
I can't or I should say I beleive the night mares a lot of you are having out there with BEV, to much wrong info be given out by staff, I had three out of my recievers hooked up for the last six years installed everything myself and maintaned it now I go with a 6100 it's cost me a arm and a leg with all the different add on.

Like some of you I have had trouble finding 82, now I can find any other sat but not 82 as a tech I have tried every fault finding technec in the book and it still does not work, tried technec's that some you have tried and have worked; So now I have called BEV and spoke with a lev 1 tech and now with a lev 2 tech he says I probbley know more than him and that there is nothing else he can tell me to try other than they send a tech round the only thing I can see wrong is the dish not set correctley, but hay I've set it up the way it says in the book and the way they say at BEV for the Toronto area, they also say that my 2700's and 4700 will see 82 but none of them do.

Like most of you I have many diffrent sat's and have had no trouble locateing them' so I have to wait a week now.

Also about being able to buy a 6120 has a BEV customer;the manager I am dealing with at BEV Head office says he has never heard anything about this I forward him a a statement from another forum showing the release date and page # that BEV Customers could buy a 6120, He said he would look in to it and let me know; I will keep on at him abought this I have spent close to $800 and I want some of it back if we are intitaled to have the 6120 setup.


BB :cool:
 
#18 · (Edited)
http://www.canadian-tv.com/forums/s...=177973&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=2

Getting wrong sat messages in red with 80% and above connections when connected with the SW21s?
What is the software version of the problem receivers?

If it's the original that was on the receiver when you bought it there's a good chance that's the problem. You must download and install the latest software version from BEV by connecting directly to sat 91 only for it to work correctly. Once this is done, reboot and do the checkswitch again.
 
#19 ·
The software version of my 6100 is E472. After setting up the dish correctly (or so I thought) it said it was downloading a software update as soon as I powered it up. I called and activated programming after that, but it still only lists about 1/3 of the channels in the guide (all red except for 198 and about three others though). Even with just a 91 sat signal it should still get all it's programming that isn't on 82...
 
#21 ·
Okay, this thread really caught my eye.

I already have a FTA Dish/LNB (w/dual feed) installed and I am planning to buy a 6120 receiver, but I do not want to use BEV's dual LNBs, since I still want to be able to move my dish with the FTA dish positioner.

The main purpose of me buying the 6120 is just to receive the HD channels. So, my question is, will I be able to setup the 6120 just using 1 LNB? I hope the downloaded software does not force me to use a dual LNB system.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
#22 ·
f13dfx said:
The main purpose of me buying the 6120 is just to receive the HD channels. So, my question is, will I be able to setup the 6120 just using 1 LNB? I hope the downloaded software does not force me to use a dual LNB system.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
I don't think they would do that. If the "Check Switch" routine cannot establish contact with the second (or first) LNB, the receiver just doesn't use the missing sat anymore.
Anyway, you will be much better off to run a second cable to the 6120 and keep it separate from your FTA stuff.
 
#26 ·
82 on wrong satellite

Hi,
I've been trying to get my 82 connected and have had no luck. I disconnected my 82 and hooked up only the 91. ( it's the left LNB on the Y if you are facing the LNB with your back to the dish ) . I can get signal on the 91 and peaked it. I then hook up the 82 and check the 82 on transponder 11 and it says "wrong satellite 91".
If I move the dish more to the left ( when my back is facing the dish ) the 91 says "wrong satellite 82". This makes me believe that maybe I have the 91 and 82 in the wrong place on the Y adapter. Can anyone confirm the correct position of the 82 & 91 ?

Thanks In Advance
Jason
 
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