Tuning a DirecTV dish with a Channel Master Meter?

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I have been recently having problems with DirecTV reception on a few
channels so I decided to buy a Meter to fine tune the dish and see if that
is the problem. The meter is a Channel master 1008IFD dual LNB meter. The
problem is I have no Idea how to properly use the meter. I am not an
installer but have a good grasp of electric equipment but I'm clueless with
this meter. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I have been getting some degraded signal strength on some of the
transponsders, which relate directly to certain channels. In my situation,
the HD receiver is the one with low strength, where another non HD receiver
gets a good signal. For example, on some transponders the strength is
around 40 and others it goes to 100. On the non HD (newer) box, the same
transponders go from 85 to 100. I have assumed, because of some tests I
ran, that I have a weak HD receiver. If anyone has another take on this,
please let me know.

Clark
Hughes HIRD-E86

"Brad Houser" <bradDOThouser@intel.com> wrote in message
news:cfto5l$5ra$1@news01.intel.com...
>
> "RA" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:_aSSc.550$O72.234@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...
> > I have been recently having problems with DirecTV reception on a few
> > channels so I decided to buy a Meter to fine tune the dish and see if
that
> > is the problem. The meter is a Channel master 1008IFD dual LNB meter.
The
> > problem is I have no Idea how to properly use the meter. I am not an
> > installer but have a good grasp of electric equipment but I'm clueless
> with
> > this meter. Any help would be greatly appreciated
> >
>
> Did you RTFM? http://www.channelmaster.com/pdf/1008IFDmanual.pdf
>
> It tells you how to hook it up. You need to roughly aim using a compass
and
> elevation estimate. When you power it on and press the level and tone
> switches, you move the dish around until you get the highest reading. Or
am
> I missing something?
>
> Brad H
>
>

First thing:
Especially for HD, you have to have good cable. If you have any thin rg-59 cable in line, get rid of it. Put rg-6. If you have any barrel connectors in the line then make sure they have a blue insert inside otherwise they are not rated high enough to push some of the frequencies thru. Make sure you have good connectors on the ends, not those cheap twist-on ones that you get at home depot that the builders like to use. If there's any splitters at all coming in to the receiver - get rid of them. Splitters are bad! Going out is fine (like to 2 tv's), but anything splitting the line coming from the dish is very very bad.
Second:
If you have the new KA/KU slimline dish then you should have a little filter on the back of the receiver in line with the satellite cable in. This is a broadband converter that is needed for some HD channels. If you dont have one of these then theres prolly channels that you arent getting that you didnt even know you had.
Third:
The protection plan is only 5.99 a month! I'm a tech and I have it! It protects everything. If your receiver fries a service call is $75 to replace it. If you have 1 single problem that they have to come out for in a year, then you've saved money. (6 x 12 months = $72). I've seen a lot of hackers out there too. I always recommend it.

Unless your going to be moving around in a RV then you dont really need a meter. Make DTV fix it. Thats what us techs are here for ... YOU!
Oh ya, and if you have an RV = they have self tracking units for them, they're called trac-vision.

Hope this helps!
Good luck!