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Old 12-30-2012, 09:00 AM   #1
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Easy (cheap) Way To Aim Satellite Dish

This is a picture of a baby monitor receiver that my daughter gave me after she no longer needed it. The camera is aimed at my television screen which is tuned to the signal strength screen in the DirecTV receiver satellite set up section. I checked reception on the remote receiver as far as 150' around my 5'er and it worked fine.

This is much cheaper than the expensive meters, especially the ones that work with SWM which I have.

This is nice and works great.
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Old 12-30-2012, 09:08 AM   #2
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Now, that is cool.

Thanks, Ed.
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Old 12-30-2012, 09:56 AM   #3
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Kool idea... till now I have just been taking my bedroom TV and DVR outside and aiming with them sitting on my truck tailgate...
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Old 12-30-2012, 11:12 AM   #4
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Neat idea Ed.

When setting up our Dish a few days ago here in Tennessee I had the hardest time aiming using my Accutek III Meter that I have had in quite some time.

Lots of trees, mountains when I was aiming there were lots of clouds, it took me a longer (about 15 minutes) than usual but I got it.
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Old 12-30-2012, 12:16 PM   #5
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Neat idea Ed.

When setting up our Dish a few days ago here in Tennessee I had the hardest time aiming using my Accutek III Meter that I have had in quite some time.

Lots of trees, mountains when I was aiming there were lots of clouds, it took me a longer (about 15 minutes) than usual but I got it.
When it comes to trees I think the best gadget made is the align-a-site.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...e-finder/31690
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Old 12-31-2012, 04:57 AM   #6
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I use DishPointerPro on my smart phone to find that hole in trees.
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Old 12-31-2012, 09:31 AM   #7
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The biggest problem I found in aligning a dish occurs in heavy tree cover when trying to find a line of sight to the required satellites. I've used a Suunto Tandem for this purpose for a couple of years. It's easily portable while you are dodging tree limbs looking for the LOS, and has no need for a cell phone signal. Like several of the solutions, it is easy but not especially cheap. The Suunto Tandem is a combination compass and clinometer. You use it by sighting on an object at the appropriate azimuth and then sighting on the appropriate elevation; it's pretty easy to see if the "hole" in the tree cover is large enough (or not).
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Old 12-31-2012, 11:24 AM   #8
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I use DishPointerPro on my smart phone to find that hole in trees.
Same for me on my iPhone. This app probably save my marriage as the DW would watch the TV and yell signal strength readings out the window. Not a good way to settle into a campsite!

I have a $10 inline signal strength meter which is of some minor help. But I like edatlanta's idea of using a small monitor outdoors, too! Another marriage saving idea!!

I also find the app Dish align to be of some help.
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Old 12-31-2012, 12:15 PM   #9
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I use walkee-talkee's, which also come in handy when backing into a site. If your're by yourself, I like Ed's idea.
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Old 12-31-2012, 08:17 PM   #10
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Being the tight wad I am, I bit the bullet and bought the Accutek III meter about a year ago for about $130, it powers the dish without the need for connecting the reciever.

As much as we move, it makes setup and getting all 3 satellites peaked pretty easy, for me it was money well spent.
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Old 12-31-2012, 08:49 PM   #11
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X2 on the Acutrac III meter; it works well.

It's probably worth noting that the Acutrac III works best with a non-SWM LNB - the kind with 4 outputs as it can see signal readings from 101 and 99 and 103. But with a SWM LNB - the kind with 1 output - the Acutrac III can only see signal readings from 101 making it somewhat harder to align 99 and 103. Of course, if all you are interested in is the SD channels on 101, 99 and 103 don't really matter.
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Old 01-01-2013, 09:51 AM   #12
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The Align-A-Site is the best. It gives you a visual shot at that spot you need between the trees, limbs and leaves. Signal meters won't spot that hole except through trial and error. Once the satellite is found I just listen to the beeps to fine tune it.
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Old 01-08-2013, 02:50 AM   #13
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When your using ota antenna , I found a app called Tower Radar that works excellent for scanning to find the local towers. You can turn on a satellite map that actually shows a picture of the actual tower if you zero in on the dot on the map. The price was just a few bucks for this timesaver.
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