Directv Slimline Alignment

[chadwi]

I attempted to help my father in law align his Directv slimline dish this weekend with mixed luck.  We had the 101 & 119 satellites giving us 90-98 signal strengths but didn't have anything on the 103 satellite.  The HD DVR was able to download new software but gave us a 771 error.  Can anyone recommend where I went wrong and what may help us lock in the 103 satellite.  Do I need to fine tune the elevation/azimuth/tilt?  From what I understand without all the satellites locked in we won't get a picture.  Luckily he still had the 3 LNB dish mounted and we switched the cables to that and had it aligned in 2 minutes.  He gets all the channels but liimited HD.  Thanks for any help you can provide!

[foxeng]

The receiver meter isn't accurate enough to peak the 99 and 103 birds. You need a sat signal meter to do that. You can buy one off the net for about $25 or $30. I bought one for $15 at a hamfest. Worked just fine when aligning my Slimeline.

[chadwi]

We were using the accutrac but it didnt mention even aligning to the 99 and 103, only the 101 and 119.  Should the 99 and 103 align auto if we do the others right?

[foxeng]

No. The beamwidth on the 99 and 103 sats are much narrower than the 101/110/119, you can have a good signal on those sats and nothing on the 99 and 103, that is why you need a meter and once you get a peak on the meter for the 101, you should be seeing something from the 99 and 103 sats and then fine tune them in.

[Stanley Kritzik]

I think I did my SlimLine-5 with an Accutrac about 1 1/2 years ago -- in Summer.  I followed the instructions to a "T", using the dither method, etc.  While I've had my challenges since (with SWM-8, etc.), my dish has been "spot on", with mostly 80s and 90s across the board -- even with about a good 100 ft. of solid copper RG6 from the dish to the SWM-8.  It really pays to start with a well-aimed dish -- the better the signal is to start with, the easier the rest of it becomes!

Stan

[AA9VI]

Since I have a ham license, I just had 2 portable radios. Wife was in the house watching the signal meter, I was on the roof adjusting the dish.  If you don't have a license, you can use some other kind of walkie talkie.  I started with the settings on the directv.com website.  I then aligned the azimuth and elevation for for the 101 satellite.  Easy.  I then tweeked the tilt for the 119 satellite. I fine tuned the azimuth and elevation for 119 for maximum signal strength. I have signals in the upper 80s and upper 90s, even with trees in the way.  My impression from D* was that 119 has much more narrow bandwidth than 101 so if you can peak 119, you're good.  It worked for me.

[Talos4]

Nextels work great for that too!

[chadwi]

Does anyone know if there is a place to pick up a Accutrac 22 locally in Milwaukee?  My father in laws would not charge so he returned it.   Thanks.