Ventured into the satellite world and so far a bit disappointed

porthole

Retired
What are you using to find the satellite?
I just upgraded to the SWM and the installer told me that the sat finders will not work with the SWM. You must use a non SWM LNB with your sat finder to lock onto sat 101.

Dave - maybe a power inserter is in your future, see above.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Well, since DTV no longer used the 110° or the 119° my $10 meter will find the 101° just as well as the $150 finder.
I don't need no steenking power inserter.
It would be nice if they were able to find the 99° and 103°.
Did you ever get your Genie working in your Cyclone? I got mine going in the BH yesterday.

Peace
Dave
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Dan, using meters with SWM's require power to the LNB. There is at least one commercially available meter that supplies the proper voltage to the LNB for satellite searching. 21 volts is the number IIRC
I think some of the meters only output 18 volts, so they don't work properly with the newest systems.

Some other meters are sold with a power inserter and splitter to allow powering and searching with only a a single tool (a meter).

Your Tracker Plus should work as long as you add a power inserter.
Scroll ddown about half way of this page:

http://www.satpro.tv/tracker-light-meter.aspx

Duane,

I have the predecessor to the tracker-light and it came with the power-passing splitter. But the meter still doesn't work correctly with the SWM LNB. I suspect the meter was being designed and test in the early days of SWM and that something changed slightly with SWM after the meter was finalized.
 

porthole

Retired
It would be nice if they were able to find the 99° and 103°.
Did you ever get your Genie working in your Cyclone? I got mine going in the BH yesterday.

Dave - it is my understanding if you find 101, 99 and 103 are just a proper skew away.

No to the Genie. I gave up and put the antenna away. Will try when we get home. There were enough cable channels here to not miss it too much, just all the DVR stuff that wasn't DVR'd
 

porthole

Retired
Duane,

I have the predecessor to the tracker-light and it came with the power-passing splitter. But the meter still doesn't work correctly with the SWM LNB. I suspect the meter was being designed and test in the early days of SWM and that something changed slightly with SWM after the meter was finalized.

Dan, from what I have learned, the meters "may" not supply sufficient voltage ,especially the older variants. They output 18 volts. The SWM's apparently need 21 volts. That is the reason for using the power inserter and splitter that I linked too.

Although, since I have neither, I may just be talking out my hat :rolleyes:
 

Vtxkid

Well-known member
Dan, from what I have learned, the meters "may" not supply sufficient voltage ,especially the older variants. They output 18 volts. The SWM's apparently need 21 volts. That is the reason for using the power inserter and splitter that I linked too.

Although, since I have neither, I may just be talking out my hat :rolleyes:

Duane, your correct. The meters don't have the power to supply the dish w/ SWM properly. 21 volts is required which has to come from the inserter. I complete the wiring hook-up from the dish to the inserter inside the basement then I add the meter in-line by way of a second splitter and then I lock onto the signal... Once locked on to the signal, I remove the splitter and meter and power up the DVR's afterwards...



Sent from my DROID BIONIC
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Duane, your correct. The meters don't have the power to supply the dish w/ SWM properly. 21 volts is required which has to come from the inserter. I complete the wiring hook-up from the dish to the inserter inside the basement then I add the meter in-line by way of a second splitter and then I lock onto the signal... Once locked on to the signal, I remove the splitter and meter and power up the DVR's afterwards...



Sent from my DROID BIONIC
With the Tracker Plus reading the SWM LNB, the power comes from the power inserter (not from the meter), through the power-passing splitter that came with the meter, and it still doesn't work. There's some other problem.
 

Vtxkid

Well-known member
With the Tracker Plus reading the SWM LNB, the power comes from the power inserter (not from the meter), through the power-passing splitter that came with the meter, and it still doesn't work. There's some other problem.

The RG-6 cable must attach to the power passing splitters to the "in" port and the inserter must be in line on the power side of the splitter also or you will not get enough of a signal for the receivers to operate properly. After all you hardware is setup right, go into each received and identify the proper dish (SWM) afterwards, reboot your receiver and if you picked up a strong signal on your meter, all should be good. Remember, their are different specs for the meter to locking onto a SWM 101sattelite then for a regular setup.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC
 

porthole

Retired
Along with Jerry's comments, the power passing splitter is marked with red ports. The dish goes to the red port on the single port side and the power inserter to the red port on the multi port side.

And the SAT TV experts recommend capping the the second port on the inserter.
 

porthole

Retired
So - we got home from New York. Great trip with a sad ending for us.

But - I used the trailer's SAT cable and plugged itno the house's rooftop dish. All 96-100 readings from 32 transponders on the 101 satellite.
That eliminated everything but my portable antenna.

Swapped out the portable dish's LNB and still had great signals. So it is not my wiring.

I then spent the next hour or so trying to get a signal. Just as I was about to give up I got a full lock of 95-100's on all 32.

Repeatability was at best, a bit difficult. I think I will get a meter. At least that way I can see what I am doing.
 
Last edited:

Vtxkid

Well-known member
The meter takes out the guess work all together and makes it an easy task especially if your doing it by yourself!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC
 

murry135

New York Chapter Leaders - retired
Hey Duane,
Sorry for your friend and your loss. Such a same. However glad to see your wiring was good I know you worked hard on this and it is frustrating when you can't lock in on anything. It took us awhile to figure out how to setup our basic system but once you get practice it works a lot easier. Like know how the meter works for you so keep us appraised.
 

porthole

Retired
Jerry - your first strike is the the "L" series, newest version that gives you real 3 digit azimuth readings?

That is the meter I am considering. When I wired the trialer I ended up with a 4 way splitter, so # 4 went to the unused basement wall plate.
Now figuring on just using a jumper coax from the the meter to the LNB and my main SAT cable from the basement wall plate to power the meter. Have to run that coax out anyway, may as well get double duty from it.

I know several on the forum think the meters are a waste - but if you saw us at the NY rally - the frustration level was growing................

And that was with folks that are regulars with the systems.

I also now see the benefit of the survey tripods most are switching too. They are aluminun, which means you can level and aim your tripod without any magnetic interference from the steel tripods. Once leveled and the azimuth set, the rest should be easier.
 

Vtxkid

Well-known member
Jerry - your first strike is the the "L" series, newest version that gives you real 3 digit azimuth readings?

That is the meter I am considering. When I wired the trialer I ended up with a 4 way splitter, so # 4 went to the unused basement wall plate.
Now figuring on just using a jumper coax from the the meter to the LNB and my main SAT cable from the basement wall plate to power the meter. Have to run that coax out anyway, may as well get double duty from it.

I know several on the forum think the meters are a waste - but if you saw us at the NY rally - the frustration level was growing................

And that was with folks that are regulars with the systems.

I also now see the benefit of the survey tripods most are switching too. They are aluminun, which means you can level and aim your tripod without any magnetic interference from the steel tripods. Once leveled and the azimuth set, the rest should be easier.

Duane, your correct on the "L" series First Strike. Great meter once you get familiar with it. Remember to input the specs for a SWM setup as they are different then the standard program. The other thing to remember is to "cap off" any splitter unused connections so you don't have a power loss. It took me all but 10 minutes to setup my tripod assembly with a strong signal today. Easy once you've done it a couple of times.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC
 

porthole

Retired
Well today is the day - I try once again to get a SAT signal while at camp.

I have a couple new tools in my iPhone for locating and a First Strike meter to lock on to a bird.

I have the Winegard tripod I bought from a member at Goshen to use, but yesterday I ordered to adapter kit to mount the dish on my transit tripod.

That tripod is much better suited for initial setup. For one, it is aluminum, so the compass doesn't swing around when you get near it.
 

porthole

Retired
So, Out in the sticks of NE PA where there is no OTA TV we are finally able to see SAT TV!
This is the third trip trying to get SAT TV to work in the trailer.

Bit of a challenge where we are with the trees, but with a couple of tools we are up.
 
Last edited:

porthole

Retired
Some iPhone apps.

Dish align. This one gives some detailed SAT info for data input and visual aiming.
For all of these apps I am using DirecTV SAT 101.0 W





Duane
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834198.013842.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834198.013842.jpg
    124.1 KB · Views: 73
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834220.722347.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834220.722347.jpg
    32.8 KB · Views: 56
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834231.923624.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834231.923624.jpg
    66.5 KB · Views: 58
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834242.443666.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834242.443666.jpg
    51.4 KB · Views: 57

porthole

Retired
Satellite Director

1st page gives detailed LAT, LON and altitude
2nd page allows input of the SAT you want to locate and and computes location
3rd page gives a live direction finder.



Duane
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834469.301068.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834469.301068.jpg
    63.3 KB · Views: 42
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834478.271293.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834478.271293.jpg
    41 KB · Views: 40
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834486.687807.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834486.687807.jpg
    52.1 KB · Views: 41

porthole

Retired
Satellite locator
This uses the phones camera and you use it to scan the sky to find your SAT.

In this pic I located DirecTV 101W SAT
The app allows you to walk around and look for an opening.

As you can see I do not have a clear view.




Duane
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834701.033731.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk HD1377834701.033731.jpg
    128 KB · Views: 60
Top