# Old Direct TV Satellite Dish How to test



## jbl (Dec 25, 2009)

Newb here. First off Merry Christmas to all. 

Great forum and I've been searching for over an hour now with no help. 

I need help for my travel trailer set up which Im trying to get working here at home before my trip. I pulled an 8 year old dish off my sister's house that she is no longer using (went with Verizon). I made a solid tripod to mount it on and have did my best to line up the azimuth and elevation. I pulled my kid's box which is a Samsung SIR-S60. I have the tv/box 10 feet away from dish so I can see it while im adjusting dish. I can pull up the screen to do initial set-up and when I get to the screen for signal strength I get zero. I am using RG6 coax and I have tried for over an hour to get any signal strength but no luck. I move the azimuth 1 notch and wait 3-5 seconds before moving again and same with elevation. Still nothing. My home set-up is both HD and regular if that helps and have a digital reciever for my plasma. Do You think the dish is faulty? Or is it that critical to find the satellite??


----------



## boba (May 23, 2003)

Both you are looking for a satellite the size of a van 22,300 miles away and after 8 years of exposure and non use the electronics on the dish could easily br bad.


----------



## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

When you set the elevation, be absolutely sure the pole the dish/tripod is mounted on is perfectly plumb. If its only 5 degrees off plumb, that will change your elevation setting. Assuming its plumb, when you set your elevation, use the bracket inside the screw slot, not the bolt itself. Sometimes its hard to see the actual plate through the slot you need to use to set the elevation. Also make sure you are on an active transponder. Some 101 transponders are spot beams.
Hopefully, your electronics are ok on the dish...if not, you should be able to find lots of old LNBs around town.

Im assuming you are trying to aim a ONE LNB 18" dish. If you are using an oval 3 LNB dish, you need to be looking at the satellite at 110 to aim it.


----------



## jimisham (Jun 24, 2003)

This might help you.
http://www.dishpointer.com/
You can position the green pointer right over your house.


----------



## Tim Godsil (Dec 4, 2007)

boba said:


> Both you are looking for a satellite the size of a van 22,300 miles away and after 8 years of exposure and non use the electronics on the dish could easily br bad.


Im not going to point at the lnb being bad. Heck I used to have a LNB on my C-band dish that was 25 years old and worked fine.

The main thing is your not going to be able find the satellite just moving the dish arround. It took my hours to find it blindly the 1st time I've ever had satellite TV.

If your going to be tailgating or what not, and you have a tripod for your dish, the best thing you could get is a signal meter. They run for about 15 dollars shipped on Ebay.

Simply set the dish for the elevation (making sure its level) and move it while using the signal meter.

Directv at 101'W is the strongest satellite in space. So picking it up should be easy.

Or you can do like I did and drag a portable TV and Directv Receiver outside and find a signal. However using a meter can give you a much more acurate signal.

Some things to check thought if the dish has sat outside is if there is any dirt in the RF connector. That will hurt the signal. Also check if water somehow got inside the connector. The LNB itself is waterproof and sealed.


----------



## joe diamond (Feb 28, 2007)

JBL,

Everything suggested is valid. Probably the dish is ok if it is not bent. Probably the LNB is ok unless it failed and your sister dropped DTV for that reason. Both the dish and LNB are probably ok but there may be a ding in the cable or fittings....check these.

You are attempting to resurrect junk when new junk can be had for less than $50.00.

At some point you will need new junk to verify the operation of the old junk.

Joe

AFTERTHOUGHT: connect the Samsung SIR to your home system. Any line will work...verify that that receiver does work....run the meter and make sure that aspect of the old box functions..do a reset....get a picture..view channel 100.....then proceed.

Joe again!


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Be sure the receiver is set to "18" round dish". Then be careful that you set the signal meter to a transponder that is ONLY available on the 101 since you could aim at the 110 or 119 and get a signal reading but no picture or a "this channel isn't subscribed-721" message!

Also, just aiming the dish in the general direction of the satellite won't work. You need to get the mast perfectly vertical and then follow the aiming instructions provided by DirecTV (check out their website for PDF files on this).


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

"_You need to get the mast *perfectly* vertical"_ - not that important if you aiming just one LNBF 18" round dish.


----------



## joe diamond (Feb 28, 2007)

P Smith said:


> "_You need to get the mast *perfectly* vertical"_ - not that important if you aiming just one LNBF 18" round dish.


You are correct.

It is just much easier for a newbie without a meter to follow the drill. It eliminates guessing what the elevation actually is set at and allows tuning the az only.

I have received service calls...picture and signal just fine..."dish looks funny because the mast isn't vertical"
Dishes can be installed upsid down if you can work out the line.

Joe


----------

