[cjob68]

What is the Amazing Magnet-Mirror Trick?

 

[Jeffy]

Repost:

If you're wondering if your dish does (or doesn't) have a clear shot to the satellites - here is a simple trick that you might like to try. This trick is applicable AFTER you have found the satellites and aligned the dish, but you're still concerned about trees, or maybe a roof overhang, partially blocking the view and reducing the signal strength.

It is like a final check. It can also be used if you think that the trees have grown taller since it was installed.

Make a small flat magnet-mirror:

Find (or cut-out*) a small flat mirror about 1-inch square. Find a flexible fridge magnet and cut out a square slightly larger than the mirror. Glue the mirror to the magnet (opposite from the fridge side) - crazy glue usually works. Don't use gobs of glue - you want the mirror parallel to the magnet's surface. Now you have a small flat magnet-mirror that you can stick to your dish.

(*Watch out the the sharp edges. Do not eat. Your mileage may vary. Sit up straight. Eat your vegetables.)

In use:

Now stick the magnet-mirror to the reflecting surface of your dish in various locations (very top edge, sides, middle, etc) and peek at the mirror from where the LNBFs are mounted. Just rest the side of your head against the LNBFs, each side, and close the other eye - usually close enough. If you need to be more accurate, then pull off the LNBFs for a few minutes and use your eyeballs where the feeds are normally installed.

If you see nothing but blue sky = good. If you see trees, or the underside of your roof = bad.

-end-

PS: DO NOT USE THIS TRICK WITH 2-way Internet systems (Xplornet, Wild Blue, others...) unless you totally unplug them. Three watts of 30GHz microwave (for example) up your eyeball might not be healthy. TV systems are receive only.

 

[Spidinator]

How much to adjust dish to get sat 91 and 82

I am wondering how much the dish has to be moved to pick up both satellites. Currently only recieve sat 91 but the installer is coming out on sunday to install the new dish for the 9200. Where the old dish is we get about 87% signal but this is through a very small opening between two trees off in the distance maybe about 10 -15 feet across.

will the dish have to be pointed much differently than it is now ( will there be enough room between those two trees) or should i be prepared to cut down some timber to be able to get sat 82 as well?

And if he cant get sat 82 is there a way to hook up the 9200 to just sat 91 until i have cleared a path to get 82?

thanks for any info

 

[kandkt]

I am wondering how much the dish has to be moved to pick up both satellites.

The dish itself will not move much. The new dish will have a "skew" that allows the dish to tilt to pick up both satellites. The satellites are 9 degrees apart from each other, so if you were close to not getting the signal with the 91 bird, you may run into problems.

When the installer sets up the new dish, he should set up the skew angle first, then find the 91 bird. Once you find the 91 bird with the skew angle set up, all you have to do is add on the second LNB to pick up the 82 bird. If you can't get a signal on the 82 bird at this point, break out the chainsaw.

The 9200 receiver will work fine on just the 91 bird, but you will not receive any HD channels as they are all on the 82 bird.

 

[buckweed]

I am in a remote area and I need to use a bigger dish. i gave up trying to find the both of them on the 20' they gave me so i jsut got a 3foot dish and got the 91 sat.. now i have to work on getting the 82.. is it hard to pick up just the 82???

 

[WestCDA]

I am in a remote area ...

Without a location in your profile, I'm placing you somewhere between Peru and the Orion Nebula.

Satellites have a fixed footprint of coverage (on our globe, not sure about yours ) Depending on location, your reception may vary. The strength on 82 has increased considerably here (Calgary) after some sat adjustments.

If by 'remote' you mean northern Canada coverage is pretty good. Skew is the big factor on dish adjustment when doing 2 sats at once.

 

[QueBall]

I am in a remote area and I need to use a bigger dish. i gave up trying to find the both of them on the 20' they gave me so i jsut got a 3foot dish and got the 91 sat.. now i have to work on getting the 82.. is it hard to pick up just the 82???

If your location requires a larger dish you can setup two separate dishes. One for each satellite if you cannot get the signal with the smaller supplied dish.

 

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

Where the old dish is we get about 87% signal ...

I am wondering how much the dish has to be moved to pick up both satellites. ...

And if he cant get sat 82 is there a way to hook up the 9200 to just sat 91 until i have cleared a path to get 82?

That signal strength may be a bit low for the 9200. I had partial tree blockage and it caused problems.

If it is a 20" dish and it was installed correctly, it should need no adjustment. Just add the 82 LNB and extra cabling to the SW44. The 20" dish is pointed 4.5° east from the 18" dish.

And... Just do a check switch. The HD channels will be missing. You may have problems getting the rest of the channels after the 82 LNB is working. The 9200 will lock those out and will not authorize them. You will need to reset the receiver and do another check switch at the very least. You may also need to call EV to reauthorize the missing channels.

is it hard to pick up just the 82

No. Point the dish 9° east with slightly different elevation. Some areas of the southern US have problems with 82 but anywhere else is ok.

 

[Spidinator]

well after knocking down some trees and relocating the dish to a more secure spot we seem to have better signal on 91 around 90% and 82 seems to vary from 78% down to 55% from transponder to transponder. I asked the dish guy to come back out and see if he can adjust the dish a bit more to get better signal for 82 so i guess we will see what happens. He figured once the trees were out of the way the signal would just come through and it did but i wonder if it couldnt be better? Thanks for your advice all

 

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

The signal readings for 82 are low. You should be able to do about as good as 91. Anything below 75 will cause serious problems with a 9200. 85 and above on all transponders is needed to eliminate frequent problems due to rain fade.

 

[MKam]

I'm in Kamloops as well and get between a high of 87% and a low of 68% (transp 23) right now on sat 82. You should be able to get better than 78 and 55 if you have a good view. I think I had a couple of % better last fall, so I may have to get out and tweak it again. My 91 numbers are between 97% and 77%. I *think* that out west our numbers are lower for 82 simply because of where we are in relation to the satellites...

I haven't had any problems with drop outs, but rain fade isn't much of an issue since we are the second driest city in the country! http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/weather/winners/intro-e.html

 

[Aero101Octaveus]

What To Do If You Cannot Locate Sat. 82 - Discussion

Need a little help on aimming the dish....

I have a BEV 6100 and am hooking it up for HDTV. I can get the 91 signal fine (about 94%) and the 82 signal fine (85%) however having real trouble getting them in both at the same time.

Is there a common sense way to aim the dish that i'm missing? sonething like get the 91 signal in first, and then rotate the skew until the 82 signal comes in?....

I'm having a heck of a time with this.

Can someone tell me a good rule of thumb to work with?

(p.s. i live in edmonton)

 

[ctown6412]

First off lets confirm a few things
1.is your mast PERFECTLY vertical?
2.are your lnb's tight and properly seated?
3.did preset your scew to -15.7?
4.did preset your elevation at 25.5?
5.is your AZ set to about 137?(this must be right if your getting 91 strong)

#1 and 2 are VERY important when you are trying to get both signals in strong at the same time. Or it could also end up being you have one weaker LNB causing the problem. If all else fails jsut call a pro installer and it should only be $50 for them to peak it for you.

 

[kandkt]

Here is how I set up a dish:

• Find out roughly where the dish is going to have to aim ... make sure there is nothing in the way to block to signal from either satellite
• Install the mast and ensure that it is plum (level) ... if you don't get this step right, you will have problems
• Set the skew angle on the dish (according to my manual, it should be set at 72.2 degrees for Edmonton)
• Set the vertical elevation to 23.8 degrees (again, according to my manual)
• Find the 91 satellite on transponder 11 and find tune it to as close to 100% as possible, should be in the 90's for sure
• Lock in the dish
• Add the 82 LNB ... you should automatically be receiving the 82 satellite. You may have to do a little fine tuning, but the signal should be there.

At this point, if you do not get both satellites, you may have another problem. I would suggest looking at:

• Confirm that both LNB's are working ... swich them around and see if you get the same result
• Check to make sure there is no damage to the dish itself ... is the mounting arm bent? ... are the Y adapter/LNB's install properly?
• Check to make sure there is no problems with your cabling

I hope this helps you out.

Kevin

 

[New.Sat.Guy2]

A few additional points. I just did one very recently, and learned them the hard way.

1. LBN for 91 must be on the rightside of the Y feed when facing the dish;
2. LBN for 91 must connect to input 1 on the switch
3. run a switch check whenever you change the wires (this maybe a bit over kill, but a sure safe way)

Once you have the 91 locked on 1st (rightside facing dish) LBN, tight up screws on direction and elevation control. Slowly rotate the dish (on skew) while keep the single strong until the single start getting weak. Connect the 2nd LBN to input 2 on the switch, you should have 82 dead on.

Good luck.

In my case, i had 82 locked first. took me almost 8 hours to get 91 coming in.

 

[moonman]

Have you thought about just adding a second dish?
I did that about a Month ago. I could get a strong signal on 91, then 82 would be weak, and vise-a-versa. When I aimed so that both where not bad. I only got about 70 on each. A heavy rain would wash them both out. Now I'm getting about 95 on both.

 

[bluereef]

Can't Find 82

I am a sledege hammer away from taking this to the extreme.

Have a new 6100 with 2 dish 500's. Last week I was getting both sat 91 and 82 off 1 dish. Bought a 2nd dish 500 to peak 82 better and installed in the following manner. Stupid me moved the dish forward along the same roof shingle line away from the side of the house...

I located 91 with a level of 81-92 % on all transponders, locked the dish down and removed the lnb's to use to install the 2nd dish.

Installed the 2nd dish and realigned the 2nd dish and used 91 to lock a signal. The tried to locate 82 NOTHING. No signal at all. I am bypassing the switch all together when doing this. Tried unplugging receiver to reset, did a resert with the power button. Called Bell and asked them, no clue, stated my software was up to date.

Seem no matter how I move the dish, elevation, skew no signal what so ever on 82. 91 goes up and down with each move, even tried a happy medium of a lower signal on 91 since 82 is somewhat of a challange....still nothing..

Ran multiple CHECH SWITCHES on each when connected by themselves, picks up 91, odd an even, but nothing on 82.

You would think that 91 is locked then with minor adjustements 82 would be close.

Switched lnb's from left to right along with cable to rule out lnb problem. bOTH LNBS are PICKING UP CHANNELS BOTH ODD AND EVEN when installed on the 91 side.

WHEN RUNNING A CHECK SWITCH WITH A SW-21, both lnb connected, IT ONLY SHOWS 1 SAT CONNECTED - 91.

I'm beginning to feel that the problem might be the reciever. Has anyone else had this problem.

I am in central Florida with nothing blocking the sat. line of sight...

2 new legacy lnbs and new sw-21 purchsed last week..

 

[barter]

You should of used a TWIN or Quad LNB, no switches or breaks in your cable, just run it to the receiver. I put a Quad on my 20" pan (Dish 500) today and got high 80's 90's% on most of 82 transponders.(Was previuosly set up by for 91 only, but already skewed.).

I don't know how adding a second dish 500 is going to tweak your signal, should of got a bigger dish

 

[spoonky]

u need to lower your dish a bit and move it to the right to recieve sat 82 .its a few degrees lower than 91.if u find 91 lower the dish a few degrees andmove it to the right.in order to get 82 make sure that no switch is on your reciever by taking the switch off and retest it 2 times.u need to retest it 2 times to make it work properly.once u find 82 and locked in then put both on the switch and and test 2 times to get them to be reconized.

 

[YOYOJim]

I've seen a lot of requests about people having trouble getting signal from SAT 82 and I have recently been challenged with the same problem. Reading through all of the threads you will eventually find all of the clues needed to finally get the HD programming we all crave and I thank everyone who has contributed to them. I would however like to save someone some time by explaining what worked for me.
If you have a good signal from SAT 91, but when you look at SAT 82 and you see messages like WRONG SAT with a power level in red, this means that the LNB positioned for SAT 82 is actually locked onto 91 and you will therefore NEVER get 82 even if you are pointing directly at it with no obstruction.
Fortunately the fix is very simple but when you call BEV help line, they don't seem to know what that fix is.
Simply disconnect the 82 LNB cabling from the switch you are using. In my case it was the SW44, so I removed inputs 2a and 2B.
When you do this, you will likely notice that SAT 91 is no longer visible! The reason for this I believe is that both LNBs were sharing power from SAT 91 and because the dish was designed to receive 2 Sat signals, you are actually pointing slightly west of where SAT 91 actually is.
Now you need to go back onto your roof for the second last time. Find Sat 91 and lock it in when you get the best possible signal. Again, it will be east of where it was before you disconnected SAT 82 from the switch.
Now it wouldn't hurt to do a check switch, but I don't believe it is necassary at this point.
Reconnect SAT 82 LNB cables to inputs 2a and 2b. Check switch again.
Unless there is a cabling issue, hardware problem, or an obstruction, I'll bet you now see a signal from SAT 82.
You can now go back and fine-tune the dish to maximize both 91 and 82 signals. I only needed to adjust the SKEW to get them both into the mid to high 80s.
I hope this helps someone quicker than the 3 days it took me to figure it out.