DirecTV dish install?

[TerryW]

How hard is the dish/antenna install?  Do I need a signal meter for proper reception?

 

Thanks in advance..

 

Tw

[TripleDigitRide]

When I installed my father's, it was pretty simple. He turned the box to a channel/setting that showed the signal strength, while I pointed the dish in the general direct (southwest?) of the satellite. I slowly moved the dish around until we found the optimal position. The tuning didn't take more than five or ten minutes, and he hasn't experienced any issues. Edited December 18, 2015 by TripleDigitRide

[Garufa]

When I installed my father's, it was pretty simple. He turned the box to a channel/setting that showed the signal strength, while I pointed the dish in the general direct (southwest?) of the satellite. I slowly moved the dish around until we found the optimal position. The tuning didn't take more than five or ten minutes, and he hasn't experienced any issues.

 

That's about all there is to it.  It does help if two people are involved otherwise it just take longer running in and out of the house to check every little adjustment.  Just make sure you have a clear line of sight between the dish and space.

 

There are website that will tell you the general angle to point to get started....or just look at other dishes in the area.

[TripleDigitRide]

That's about all there is to it. It does help if two people are involved otherwise it just take longer running in and out of the house to check every little adjustment. Just make sure you have a clear line of sight between the dish and space.

There are website that will tell you the general angle to point to get started....or just look at other dishes in the area.

Yes, two people is almost a must. One person at the dish, the other person at the TV.

[nightrunner]

I worked for Dish and while you might get lucky and get it ok, you will need both a signal meter( thousands of dollars) and a special compass type thing, I can't remember what it's called. You have to get your horizontal and vertical planes pretty close and then dial it in with the signal meter. If you can get it to work for you great, but a professional can get it to where it won't go out unless it's raining so hard you can't see your hand in front of you.

And with dish when I left we were using up to 3 separate satellites combined to get all the programming for system. So you might get one sat and not the others. Edited December 18, 2015 by nightrunner

[TerryW]

Thank you guys.  I'll see if I can find a cash installer with the meter and compass thingy..

[peejman]

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/customer/dishPointer.jsp

 

And there's an app for that... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ftl.satellitedishpointer.sdp

[TerryW]

Thanks!  I may have to get courage up enough to try it.

[glowdotGlock]

You don't need all that equipment. I drive a truck and used to carry a dish with me and would stop and put my dish out on the mirror of my truck and watch it every night. Just open the signal meter menu on the receiver and point it southwest. There several degrees of play where it will still work. Every night I would get a 95% or better signal just in a couple mins of moving it around. I even mounted at spare on my parent's house and it's done fine for years. Not hard to do at all my friend. Edited December 18, 2015 by glowdotGlock

[NextExit]

Been awhile since I had one of those "pizza dish" systems but don't they have a tone that goes with the signal meter? (higher signal strength, higher tone)  Crank the volume on the tv, open a door/window so you can hear it and align the dish.

[Ron_TN]

Why are you guys installing it yourself...Directv installed mine free?

[glowdotGlock]

Why are you guys installing it yourself...Directv installed mine free?

Because some installations DirecTV needs not to know about..

[deadeye111]

The HD Direct TV dishes (elliptical) are harder to set properly getting signal from multiple satellites than the old round dish that only used one satellite.

[Ron_TN]

huh....ya all lost me.....you must have bought a new dish......and that of course would be up to you to install.

 

How hard is the dish/antenna install?  Do I need a signal meter for proper reception?

 

Thanks in advance..

 

Tw

All you have to do is go to "you tube"....there you can find out how to do brain surgery.  Just do a seach on "how to install a directv dish".

[runco]

About 16 years ago, when Walmart sold the Direct tv dish and receivers, I remember installing mine by myself, with the windows open and the tone thingy.  Never experienced any reception issue whatsoever for years.  Well until I cut the cord, and started racking up extra gun hobby money. 

[glowdotGlock]

The HD Direct TV dishes (elliptical) are harder to set properly getting signal from multiple satellites than the old round dish that only used one satellite.

This is true. I've done 1 of the HD dishes. You do it the same way but it has to be more precise when "hitting the spot."

[analog_kidd]

Ours was installed on our roof, and we had the roof redone. The roof installers just put the dish back up, and not in the same place it was, so the signal was all jacked up. I was able to find a site from Google to tell me what the angles were supposed to be. There are three different adjustments: 1. directional angle from North, 2. Angle from the horizon, 3. Twist of the dish.  I figured the twist was correct since it was mounted to the frame, so I just needed to get the other two correct. I got out my GPS to find the angle from North, and a protractor and level to find the angle from the horizon. Worked perfectly.

[peejman]

Ours was installed on our roof, and we had the roof redone. The roof installers just put the dish back up, and not in the same place it was, so the signal was all jacked up. I was able to find a site from Google to tell me what the angles were supposed to be. There are three different adjustments: 1. directional angle from North, 2. Angle from the horizon, 3. Twist of the dish. I figured the twist was correct since it was mounted to the frame, so I just needed to get the other two correct. I got out my GPS to find the angle from North, and a protractor and level to find the angle from the horizon. Worked perfectly.

Same here, except I called the dish folks and said, "it's screwed up, come fix it." And the next day they did.

[analog_kidd]

Same here, except I called the dish folks and said, "it's screwed up, come fix it." And the next day they did.

 

Yeah, I think I did the same thing too, now that I think about it. But, at that time they told me it would be several days to a week before they could get there. My wife said to me something along the lines of "That is unacceptable. Get your butt up on the roof and fix my TV!"

 

I just needed the proper motivation.  :rofl:

[TerryW]

The "new" install is on the in-laws second home.  They could get DTV to install they dish but it would require an separate account for a house they use only a few times a year.

[peejman]

Yeah, I think I did the same thing too, now that I think about it. But, at that time they told me it would be several days to a week before they could get there. My wife said to me something along the lines of "That is unacceptable. Get your butt up on the roof and fix my TV!"

I just needed the proper motivation. :rofl:

Several days my arse... When they tell me that I tell them, "fine, I'll deduct several days service from the next bill." My local retailer/installer has always been really prompt.