sattelite signal finder

mobilcastle

Well-known member
For those of you who are in the know about sattelite tv, I am getting ready to set up Direct TV for my home and RV(HD service). Is their a signal finder out there for $100 or less that is worth buying to help set up the dish when I am on the road? I do not want an auto dish.
Thanks for your info.
Steve
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi Steve,

A lot of people aim their dish with analog meters that cost between $10 and $80. I've used a couple ranging in price from $10 to $30. I'm not sure if there's any real value in the additional price. The major problem with these meters is that you can tune and get a great reading from the wrong satellite. Then you go inside and - nothing. You may be able to mitigate this by using a smartphone app that shows you a view from the phone's camera, and overlays the satellites, so you can get a preliminary position.

I never had a lot of success with those apps, so I went with a more expensive meter. I think it was $180 from satpro.tv. When the meter says I have good signal, the receiver is always good to go.

I see they have advanced meters starting around $150 now. You might give them a call to discuss which meter would best fit what you're doing.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I use the DTV receiver to get the coordinates and set the skew and elevation on the dish before putting it on the post. I use a tripod from tvforrv and in my opinion, it is the best out there for the slimline dish. With the tri pod set up and the post plumb mount the dish and aim towards your azimuth. I also have a free app on my droid called SatelliteAR. You can use this app to find the DTV sats.
I use the signal meter on the receiver/tv for fine tuning. Once you get used to it, it's very easy.

If you can't find the sats on the first try, change the elevation setting by a degree and try again. It may be frustrating at first but once you get used to it, you'll be fine.
 

dglatta

Active Member
I agree with Ray that the tv4rv tripod and a smart phone app is the way to go. Rather than trying to aim a bulky dish, you aim the tripod using a compass setting and info from the phone. Once you have the tripod aimed and leveled you install the dish and most times you are done.
 

codycarver

Founding Wyoming Chapter Leader-retired
I also have the TV4RV set up and like it a lot. I use a signal meter but as stated it lets you know if you are on A satellite but necessarily the correct one. Trees can drive you crazy!!! last weekend I tried several placements but could only pick up one of three satellites. Fortunately it rained that night and by morning enough leaves had come off the tree to give me the second one. Never did get the HD satellite though.
 

hapjack

Member
We also had a tri-pod!!!! After three days of trying to locate a sattelite in New Mexico to save our marriage (48 years) we took Rv to Tucson and had winegard Auto installed.:):angel:.Ps My Dw. is now a happy camper. Now (50 years)
 

davebennington

Senior Member
While we do not have an HD receiver, I used a birdog sat finder. They can be had on Ebay sometimes around $100.00. Be sure you get one that is 2.5 version or greater. The birddog can find a sat quickly if you have a clear shot at the SW sky.



dave
 

Gaffer

Well-known member
I just go to here http://www.dishpointer.com/ (I am on the 101 Direct west sat) to get my elevation and magnetic azimuth. I don't worry about skew because I have a round dish with one LNB. After getting the mast on the tripod plumb, I set the elevation using the marks on the dish and use a compass to aim. With the reciever set to show signal strength, DW gives me feed back on the signal over the FRS radio or cell phone while I fine tune the adjustments. Works pretty fast for us.
 

simsfmly

Ohio Chapter Leaders-retired
I use a little bit of all what people have said. I have a slimline DirecTV dish, two HD receivers, TV4RV tripod, use both dishpointer.com and the coordinates from the HD receiver. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the http://www.alignasite.com/ which is terrific if you do have tree problems. Signal meter on the receiver has been spot on, and just use that.
In my opinion, the big dish has been 10x easier to align than the small round one that I only had to find one bird. Lock in 110 & 119 and the others will fall right in line for you.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
I use a little bit of all what people have said. I have a slimline DirecTV dish, two HD receivers, TV4RV tripod, use both dishpointer.com and the coordinates from the HD receiver. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the http://www.alignasite.com/ which is terrific if you do have tree problems. Signal meter on the receiver has been spot on, and just use that.
In my opinion, the big dish has been 10x easier to align than the small round one that I only had to find one bird. Lock in 110 & 119 and the others will fall right in line for you.

Here's a FREE elevation scope you can make from a piece of paper and a string; use it with a magnetic compass and you are good to go.
http://www.virtualmaths.org/activities/topic_shapes/theod2/resources/clinometer.pdf
 

CTD2005

Active Member
I use the tv4rv tripod, dishpointer.com and the meter that's built into the receiver and it only takes a few minutes to get setup. Works great. I love the tv4rv tripod, it makes setting up the slimline dish very easy.
 

mobilcastle

Well-known member
Thank you all for your answers. I have one other question. Has anyone used the app SatFinder or Satfinder Pro apps for iphone. I was wondering how well they work since I have an iPhone.
Steve
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
If you are going to use a tripod, remember, a tripod from TV4RV.com, will make life a whole lot easier.
From reading previous, you can see that they are popular.
They make setting the azimuth very easy. An important step.
The one poster that said, "We also had a tripod", was not successful using it.
As for your latest question, I use either SatelliteAR or SatFinder. Both are free apps. Although I am using Andriod, I think they are available for the iPhone.

Peace
Dave

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 

robnmo

Well-known member
We don't have HD Direct just reg Direct.............wow, is there that much difference? I go to Direct TV website, type in the zip code of the park we're in, and have a 9.00 compass from Bass Pro, our receivers are from home, (no RV package) and our dish is from a friend and on a PVC frame I made that stores in a folding chair bag when in transit, but less than 2 minutes we've got Direct TV. Thought about going HD, but if it's that much hassle, maybe I'll just stay with regular Direct TV and watch HD over the air programming. ;)
 
Top