Satelite dish which direction?

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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OK I finally got the system, now I have it mounted on my roof and can't figure out which way to point the darn thing.

We were up on the roof spinning it and no signal at all.

Can anybody tell me what the Azimuth should be from Santiago to get Direct TV transponder 2?
 
MrMike

I am not sure this will help but, position of DTV's 3 Hughes satellites make up the DIRECTV system's primary orbital slot (location in space). The three satellites are so close together in space that the 18 inch DIRECTV satellite dish doesn't have to move in order to pick up the signals from all 3 satellites. In addition to their primary orbital slot located at 101? over the equator, the DIRECTV system has two more orbital slots. The additional orbital slots are at 110? and 119? over the equator. The added satellites provide additional local TV channels to those available on the primary orbital slot, they also have Spanish programming and HDTV channels.

My manual says that they hang in orbit generally over the area of Houston, Texas.
 

MrMike

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OK, sort of got it.

It was a much better idea to try to do this in the daytime, I was able to get a signal almost right away - by spotting three other dishes in my neighborhood and more or less copying their angle.

Now the problem is I only get about 12 stations or so. The rest are "looking for signal" indefinitely. I am having some guys come over and try to do some fine tuning later so maybe they will be able to fix that. I never got the signal strength over 76% and it goes down as low as 46% so I probably just need someone who knows what they are doing to align the dish properly.
 

Robert

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MrMike said:
Now the problem is I only get about 12 stations or so.

I have been told you also need the small dish to get all the stations.
They align it a little differently.

The 3-4 setups I have seen here in SD all have the small dish as well as the larger dish and they some how combine the single.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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"Combine the signals" Robert

Combine the Signals!!

Mike you got to excuse Robert, he is not really English....

Please let us know how your set works out buddy!

HB :D:D:D
 

Robert

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Hillbilly said:
Combine the Signals!!

Mike you got to excuse Robert, he is not really English....

Please let us know how your set works out buddy!

HB :D:D:D

Yep, they combine the feeds (LNB's in each dish) into a switch so that you only need one receiver.
 

MrMike

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Success!!!

Finally got that sucker adjusted. It is going to be a great weekend. Already my wife has threatened to leave me if I watch one more Classic Rock documentary. My connection with current First World culture, which as of the beginning of the week was almost completely severed is beginning to grow strong again.

Rocky, Hillbilly, Chris, AZB, Robert, Pib, Anna, Bush Baby, AdrianB and any of my friends I forgot to mention: I am not a sports fan at all, but if any of you are and there is some game you are just dying to catch send me a PM or call me and come on over. (I may require that you bring refreshmnents depending on how I am stocked at the moment) I don't get Pay-per View so no UFC.

If I get really bored with the game I will wander upstairs to my new grill and grill you all some of my new low-carb hotwing recipe.
 

Chris

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MrMike said:
Finally got that sucker adjusted. It is going to be a great weekend. Already my wife has threatened to leave me if I watch one more Classic Rock documentary. My connection with current First World culture, which as of the beginning of the week was almost completely severed is beginning to grow strong again.

Rocky, Hillbilly, Chris, AZB, Robert, Pib, Anna, Bush Baby, AdrianB and any of my friends I forgot to mention: I am not a sports fan at all, but if any of you are and there is some game you are just dying to catch send me a PM or call me and come on over. (I may require that you bring refreshmnents depending on how I am stocked at the moment) I don't get Pay-per View so no UFC.

If I get really bored with the game I will wander upstairs to my new grill and grill you all some of my new low-carb hotwing recipe.

So, now -- why don't you set a date, make a 'refreshments and food list' for each of us to bring, and invite us all for an afternoon of barbecuing and getting in touch with the first world via DirectTV? :nervous: I'll watch some classic rock with ya!
 

Robert

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Chris said:
So, now -- why don't you set a date, make a 'refreshments and food list' for each of us to bring, and invite us all for an afternoon of barbecuing and getting in touch with the first world via DirectTV? :nervous: I'll watch some classic rock with ya!

I'll vote for that! And make sure your wife invites all her friends :)
 

El Maestro 23

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Sep 23, 2004
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Price

What is the price for Direct TV in DR? And do they include all the packages they have in teh States ? If by any chance any of you have the packages + price i would appreciate the Info. Oh by the way you were able to setup your equipment but you never told us what direction was pointing ??? NW, W, N ??? Please reply.
 

Paulino

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Jan 4, 2002
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El Maestro 23 said:
What is the price for Direct TV in DR? And do they include all the packages they have in teh States ? If by any chance any of you have the packages + price i would appreciate the Info. Oh by the way you were able to setup your equipment but you never told us what direction was pointing ??? NW, W, N ??? Please reply.

Any dish located north of the Equator should point to the south, be it straight south, southeast or southwest, as all the satellites are located along the so-called clarke belt, looking straight down at the equator line from a distance of - I'm not exactly sure - around 37,000 kms out in space. There is an excellent program which can be downloaded from www.smw.se which calculates your dish's azimuth and elevation, if you know the position of the satellite you're trying to point your dish at (e.g. 110 degrees west) and your own latitude/longitude.
 

MrMike

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I got my stuff pointed the right way, but never really figured out which direction it was exactly - but it was more or less NWW. I figured it out by looking at my neighbors dishes and more or less copying the angle. The transponder is just south of Houston over the gulf, but that information did not help me when I was trying to point my dish - Houston is hard to see from here.
 

Gregg

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Apr 26, 2004
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Data access?

El Maestro 23 said:
What is the price for Direct TV in DR? And do they include all the packages they have in teh States ? If by any chance any of you have the packages + price i would appreciate the Info. Oh by the way you were able to setup your equipment but you never told us what direction was pointing ??? NW, W, N ??? Please reply.

i'm interested in this information as well. also, are you using the bi-directional data option for internet? or do you know about the price etc... for this option?
thanks.
 

CyaBye3015

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Jan 8, 2003
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MrMike said:
I got my stuff pointed the right way, but never really figured out which direction it was exactly - but it was more or less NWW. I figured it out by looking at my neighbors dishes and more or less copying the angle. The transponder is just south of Houston over the gulf, but that information did not help me when I was trying to point my dish - Houston is hard to see from here.

MrMike, you need a new compass.
 

Paulino

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Jan 4, 2002
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MrMike said:
I got my stuff pointed the right way, but never really figured out which direction it was exactly - but it was more or less NWW. I figured it out by looking at my neighbors dishes and more or less copying the angle. The transponder is just south of Houston over the gulf, but that information did not help me when I was trying to point my dish - Houston is hard to see from here.

How can a (satellite?) transponder be over the Gulf of Mexico just south of Houston, if all (geostationary) satellites are straight above the equator? Houston must be at 30 degrees northern latitude, more or less. This is beyond me.
 

MrMike

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Well I don't know, that's what they tell people who live in the states. Maybe they word the instructions that way to confuse people who live in other places. All I can say for sure is that I have a kickass satellite setup now.