Hi,
I have Directv for the Sunday Ticket, and recently upgraded to an HDTV. I want to install the new triple lnb dish on my old dish pole. Are there any special considerations when doing this, such as aiming at a different satelite, etc.
Thanks for any help.

Well, yes, as you're now aiming at three satellites. It's definitely not something to explain how to do in a forum. Mayhaps someone knows of a good site for help.

Is this not something that comes with a free "standard installation"? That would at least include aiming the new dish.

This is very easy to do, even for the layman. Mark the "general" direction of the existing dish on the mast with a pencil, just to give you an idea of where to start with the new dish. Turn off the receiver and disconnect the RG6 from the current dish, remove it from the mast. Connect the RG6 feed to the integrated triple lnb/multiswitch and run it down the arm. Connect the lnb to the arm with the bolts and mount the dish assembly on the mast....loosely, don't tighten anything yet.

Go downstairs to the receiver and switch it on. I assume you have a new HD receiver or of course you will not receive the HD channels! Go into your setup menu and installation, then dish setup. Choose oval 3 as dish type, then select dish location and enter your zipcode. You can also use lat/log if you know them. The setup menu will give you a "skew", an "elevation", and an "azimuth" setting. Write these down and take them to the location of your sat dish.

The skew setting is the amount of "twist" in degrees by which the dish needs to be adjusted for your area. You will see the bolts to do this on the back of the dish; loosen them and adjust to the correct setting before tightening the bolts back down. Now, adjust the elevation (the angle the dish looks "up" into the sky) according to what you got from the setup menu. Tighten that bolt down and set the dish loosely on the mast, aligning the arm to the approximate position of your pencil mark.

Now, you can use the azimuth setting and a compass to find the final side-to-side position of the dish, but usually with DTV the signal is so strong you can just use the signal meter in the setup menu of your receiver. Just turn up the volume on the TV and make sure you are in the installation menu at the point where you can select "source". At this point, you should see a signal meter on the screen and hear a slow beep. If you are close to the correct position the beeping will be faster and the signal meter will stretch most of the way from left to right. Don't worry which sat source you are locked on to - if you get a good signal on 101 you will have a good signal on 110 and 119, which you need for your HD channels. Peak the signal by (very!) slowly rotating the dish around the vertical axis until you get a maximum for your signal. Go past the signal a bit until it drops off, then come back until you hit the peak. Once you are satisfied, tighten the remaining two bolts on the dish and go downstairs.

Get out of the installation menu and the receiver should commence downloading the channel guide. Open a beer and watch TV!

;-)

I just upgraded my dish. DirecTV gave me the dish and bigger multiswitch and installation for free. Now, the installation was an ordeal since they sent out a newbie without the proper tools, but it was free. And now it's done properly, although it took 2 days.

2 days...??? Man, I should go work for those guys....(ha-ha!) Assuming the existing mast is in the right position (i.e. you don't have to physically move the dish) you should be able to do this procedure in 30 minutes or so. An installer should be able to peak the signal up on the roof using a signal meter. The big issue with the installs I've done for people (for free, I'm just an amateur) is the site survey, trying to determine exactly where you should install the dish for the best view of the sats.

Yeah, I know. It took me less than 2 hours to switch from a Dish dish to a DirecTV dish several years ago. And that was the first time I'd ever installed anything related to a dish, or pointed one. This guy took 6 hours and didn't have the signal meter to point it. I was livid. I considered just going up there and pointing it by trial n error, but wasn't in the mood at 9pm.

BUT, it was free and I didn't have to do it, which is my point for this thread. A couple days later I was able to look back and laugh. I ranted about it as it was going on over at the Spot.

Thanks for the info. Sounds a lot like my original aiming and installation. What kind of beer?!
:-)

Which beer....?? The coldest one in the icebox always works for me......

:-9

Just want to point out the obvious, an 18'' dish can take 5 minute to point as opposed to a Dish 500, Dish 1000, Superdish or DirecTV Triple LNB, as there is no skew...

I set up the new dish myself. It took awhile. There's a trick I used that seemed to work. Set up the dish so that the A LNB is working (and with a signal strength greater than 88). Then just start tilting the dish to the left until the other 2 start working. You want to tilt it to where your degrees decrease. Remember, your dish has to be almost perfectly precise. You're not aligning 1 LNB, you're aligning 3 and it can be a nightmare. I do recommend getting a professional to install it becuase not everyone will get lucky like I did.

Huh? Tilt is up & down, not left & right. Which degrees are you talking about?


You must be very lucky, did you buy a lottery ticket that day?

If the installation is free, use that. If it's not, and the price is out of your range, go ahead and try it your self. My tip... make sure the mounting post is plumb (straight up and down), and not angled front/back or left/right.

After that, follow the directions in the book.

Definately use a level on the mount, and a compass helps to get a general idea of where to point the dish also, I have gotten lucky twice and pointed the dish in exactly the right place. But most of the time you just have to work it into place.

Try the free install when possible, just baby sit the installer. Know where you want to put the dish and how you want the wires run. We do this from time to time, just schedule a day of work while Directs install comes along. Just be very specific though.