T&T: Aiming TV Dish (Was DirecTV Dish)

[veiner@juno.com]

Keith,

Without knowing your brand and model of dish, for your Direct TV, I
cannot give you specific information. Each provider uses several
different brands and models.

For example, with Dish TV, the brand/model may be a Dishpro 500. On
these dishes, there is a very light mark to the left of the adjusting
nut for elevation. On some dishes, this mark looks as if it were
highlighted in faded nail polish. If there are no discernable marks,
then use the centerline of the bolt as a starting point.

Heed Pascal. You start with the given Azimuth, Elevation, and Skew, for
your lat and lon (or zipcode - which won't work out at sea). I use a
program called Sat Pointer, which I will be happy to send off line.
Then tune for the strongest signal. For example, if you push up on the
dish and the signal improves, your elevation is set too low. Vice
versa, if you rest your hand on the bottom rim of the dish and the
signal improves, your elevation is set too high.

Replacing the zinc bolts and nuts with SS is a good idea. I would still
put Neverseize on them for the salt water environment. Another hint I
tried a few years ago was putting hand-adjustable wing nuts on instead
of the standard nuts that come with the dish. It sounded like a good
idea, but in practice, you don't have the finger pressure needed to
secure the dish.

Finally, there is no place on a sat dish that you should be using a
crescent wrench. That's equivalent to going into surgery with a meat
cleaver. Use a 1/4" drive socket set, or 3/8" if you don't have the
smaller size. You can overtighten the fittings and distort the dish
with improper tools. That is why you stripped the nut when you were
trying to loosen it. Only use the minimum torque necessary to secure
the dish from moving.

Lastly, although I do not have a Follow-Me-TV or Aztrax system, both of
which require manual adjustment of elevation setting, my understanding
is that you don't have to change elevation very often. It only requires
changing when you have travelled 60 miles or more in latitude. That's
the good news. So, once elevation is set, you should not have to deal
with it again unless you are moving directly north or south as on the ICW.

I don't have satellite tracking on my trawler, but I hope to get one
soon. I continue to postpone the decision to buy a system because I
feel they are over priced, based on the very limited numbers sold. Yes,
they are low-priced compared to a KVH system! It could be that the next
dish tracking system for boats will come from the truckers or RV world,
as those systems are produced in greater numbers.

In summary, if you spend some time learning to aim your sat dish, you
will discover that you can always get a signal no matter where you are
as long as you have a clear view.

Martin Veiner
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