What is the best way to aim a satellite dish?

Question

My satellite dish was hit by a piece of wood in a bad storm. It knocked the azimuth off. The skew and elevation oesnt seem to be changed. What is the best way to get the azimuth back to the correct setting. I called Dish Network and they said it would cost almost seventy dollors for a tech to come out. Cant afford that right now. Help?

Answer 1

I've been down this road - and its not a good one. I tried using the on-screen signal meter while aligning the dish and its miserable - and just doesn't work!!! You really have to have a signal meter to do this correctly - and I know you can't get that for $70 - unless you can find a used one on Ebay - but even that is not an immediate solution because you would still have to wait to get it... this is what I did... I opened my yellow pages and found a local sat installer and told them I needed my dish aligned. The guy told me for $40 he would come do it.. and he showed up within an hour, hooked his signal meter inline - aligned the dish within 3 mins - and off he went. That is my suggestion.

Answer 2

Select the setup menu for you Dish Network and either position the TV so you can see the screen or get a friend to assist you. Slightly loosen the azimuth adjustment and while watching the signal strength meter, make small adjustments and wait for about 10-20 secs to see if there is any movement to the signal strength indicator. It is important to wait to see if the signal strength meter moves so don't try and make large adjustments. Also if your dish has been up for awhile you may be able to get really close to the original setup by looking to see where the adjustment bolts WAS positioned.

Answer 3

Trial and error,allway point te dish toward the South. Move it a bit then check your tv pic and keep doing it a little at a time untill you get all you tv channels looking good again.

Answer 4

Unfortunately you will need to have a installer come out. Or purchase the needed meter. see link below

Answer 5

See this webpage. http://columbiaisa.freespaces.com/tv_sat_zipcode.htm