Locate Satellites
While the location of satellites during dish installation is often left to professionals, it is quite possible to perform this location procedure at your own home without any expert knowledge. While it can be an incremental process that requires significant concentration and the help of a friend, satellite location can be performed with minimum tools--just a standard satellite receiver and a wrench. With these tools on hand and some patience, satellite programming can be acquired in short order.
Instructions
1. Check the mounting area around your new satellite dish. Before proceeding with locating the satellite above, make sure your dish is safely mounted in an area free of obstruction. Also, check the skies around. Are there any obstructions, such as trees or power lines? Finally, once a mounting area for the dish is selected and the dish in place, use a hand-held level to ensure your dish is evenly mounted.
2. Point your satellite to the general southern sky initially, just to get the dish in the same vicinity as the satellite above. These satellites are always found generally in the southern sky.
3. Hook up the receiver that came with your satellite dish to your television inside. Doing so requires the use of the standard A/V cables that come with the receiver, which feature two sets of red, white and yellow prongs (optionally, you may upgrade to more advanced A/V cables). Note that there are connectors on the back/side of your TV and on the back of the satellite receiver that are color-coded to coincide with the prongs. Make all these connections securely by plugging in the prongs to their color-matching ports.
4. Bring up the signal meter screen on your TV once you power on your receiver. This screen will provide measurements that will allow you to locate the satellite. The signal meter option will be selectable from the menu that pops up on the TV once the receiver is powered up. Have someone remain inside with the receiver as you return outside to the dish.
5. Adjust the elevation of your satellite dish. Use a wrench to loosen the nuts around the elevation bolts on the dish's mast. The exact location of these nuts will depend on your dish type/model, so refer to your manual. With the nuts loose, make subtle up/down movements to adjust the elevation, waiting for reports from your friend at the signal meter screen. Based upon these reports, make further adjustments as required.
6. Change the azimuth of your dish, which is the left/right movement. First, loosen the LNB dish arm nuts with your wrench (again, check your manual to locate these for your device). Make the left/right adjustments and wait for signal meter reports. Continue making elevation and azimuth adjustments until you receive an optimal signal, which will be listed between 70 and 80 on the signal meter screen. This will indicate you have located the satellite.
