moving a DP301 to hunting camp

[catg]

Please help. We know nothing about dishes, satillites, etc., but the husband HAS to have the Dallas games or I won't be able to hunt on game day!
We tried to take one of our old DP301 receivers, an old dish (no clue what type-it doesn't have any info on it) and set it up in front of our trailer at camp. We got perfect signal on 119 but absolutely no 110 sat signal. This gave us all our normal channels, but no locals. One of our other hunters did the same thing with his equipment (newer than ours) and just plopped that dish on the ground and lucked out on everything the first time.

I realize this is very little info, so I will just start off with a couple of quick questions.

1. At home one of the three receivers has a Dpp44 attached. When we tried to take that rcvr with us, we lost sat through out the house. So we took one of the others. (Q). If we are just trying to set up one tv at the ranch, do we need any switches?

2. Since the DP301 has a DISH 500 smart card, is a dish 500 dish the only type I can use?

3. Since we are not getting our local channels, does this mean that they are on 110 sat? And if so, does the dish have to be a dual to receive two sat signals and need two cables run from it to something ( a switch? ) that will combine them to go into the single catv-in post at he back of the rcvr?

I hope someone will take the time to educate us and eleminate some stupidity in the world.

Thanks a bunch!

[Steakface]

lot of work to do here... lol...

First... bring a receiver that doesnt knock out all your TV's at your home. A DP301 is fine...

Second... you need a DISH 500 antenna aka dish.

Third... your skew and elevation on that dish depending on where you live must be correct to pick up two sat feeds... ie. 110 and 119...

Forth... i live in illinois and the skew and elevation here are roughly 120 skew setting and 40 degree elevation...

Fifth... the LNB (the eye on the dish) must be a DP model. you will know it is a DP model if the LNB says in bold print DP on it.


When you have confirmed all of this info... set up your dish so you have a clear line of sight to the southwest.... the clearer the better... stay away from trees as much as possible... your dish is trying to receive from a certain elevation to get both satellites.. if your view is not clear it will give you nothing but problem

You will not need a switch if you are only running one receiver..

you should have ONE coax line running from the LNB to the receiver... only one.. It should run from the left side of the LNB (the 119) side to your receiver... there can be no splitter in the line... nothing... straight shot from your LNB to your receiver... then youll want to pull up your signal strength screen... this can be acheived by pressing MENU on your remote then 6-1-1

your signal will show on the bottom ... try to get it as high as possible for best reception... then run a "CHECK SWITCH" this will relay info from your receiver to your DISH... once check switch is complete and it says 110 and 119 are "OK" you can cancel out of the menu and wait for it to acquire satellite ie (1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc...) once it goes to 5 of 5 it will automatically download program info.. once that is complete youll have TV...

Hope this helps... any questions just comment back

C-note

[catg]

Steakface, Thanks for answering!

We now have a DISH 500 to work with and everything you recommended. We have been able to lock onto 119W OR 110W but never both at the same time.

Could there be an lnbf malfunction or should we KEEP PUSHING THE DISH AROUND?

We are supposed to be: skew 113, az 199, and ele 52 for the 78873 zip code in Texas.
Does a sat locator (or whatever the installation tool is for pointing your dish called) really make a difference in this process or should we just KEEP PUSHING THE DISH AROUND?

Can you suggest an approximate distance and direction to move the dish, once we have locked onto 119W, that will help grab 110W, also? Or should we just KEEP PUSHING THE DISH AROUND?
(Can you tell the signal strength tones are starting to get to me? I think I hear them in my sleep!)

The two sats are supposed to have the same locations. We have gotten locked onto 119W at over 90 sig strength. Shouldn't the switch test have picked up 110W, also?

Thanks, catg

[Steakface]

Hey there CATG...

Well could be a few issues here... and by the way. being a dish network technician you hear those signal strength noises everyday all day.. hahaha... anyway

First,.. it could be your LNB... as a tech... i have seen that before... where did u get the LNB? hopefully its not... but make sure your connections are good..as long as it is A DP model it should work

Second... unscrew your connections and look down into them to make sure there is nothing touching the copper stinger... if there is anything touching it like what we call "braid" that will cause issues... "braid" is very thin woven metal around the coax it self.... most likely that not an issue... but it is something u want to make sure isnt touching the copper in the connector..

Next...having a signal meter does make things easier,, but it isnt needed... as a tech i have to have one... (so i dont hear those tones alllllllllll dayy ) haha..

If you have locked on to 119... normally if your dish is set up correctly you should automatically pick up both 119 and 110... are there any trees in the way??? make sure there are not... double check your skew and elevation.. maybe drop it down some... when you are messing with the dish normally what i do is... find my azimuth... i normally turn my dish WEST then slowly turn it to the south until my 119 is as high as it will get on my signal strength screen... once it is a high as possible i lock it down in that position... then i loosen my elevation and go up a few degrees and down a few degrees to make sure my elevation is correct... other than that.. if it is pegged out as high as possible that is where your dish should be pointing...

I would then do a "hard reset" unplug your receiver for 2 min then plug back in. and go to menu 6-1-1 when on that signal strength screen go to sat 119 and see how high your signal is... then go to sat 110 and see what that is.. your should receive signals on both sats... then run another check switch.. when running a check switch it should say "running check switch test" 1 of 2,, then 2 of 2.. and u should get both sats..... if your check switch is only going to 1 of 1... it could be the LNB problem or could be your receiver. i doubt its the receiver,,, most likely if your check switch is only going to 1 of 1 then its your LNB.

it sounds like your dish is set up correctly... we point our dishes southwest... sounds like you have it correctly..

in my opinion if those things are all correct... then you should be ok... other than that the only other thing which is hard to tell is that you dish is that your dish may be bent somewhere... this is rare but it does happen..

hopefully this helps and isnt toooo confusing... happy thanksgiving... hope you all have a nice one... ill probably be back on later today... gotta get some of that lovely turkey and a nap so i can forget the sweet tones of the signal strength screens... LOL... take care

C-note