Dish Network Installation

Aiming the Dish

After mounting the dish it needs to be adjusted for alignment, which includes azimuth and Elevation. Once the elevations is set you can sweep the sky in the expected azimuth area until you acquire the signal. Be sure you know the receivers signal acquisition time. Some digital receivers may take 20 seconds or more to lock onto the signal once they "see" it. If your first elevation setting is unsuccessful lower or raise the dish by about a half degree and try again, continue doing this until the signal is successfully locked in. Once you have found the signal move the dish several degrees to either side to ensure you are not tuned to a side lobe. A side lobe signal will appear to work but ultimately be subject to interference from adjacent satellites. If the signal is acquired at three points choose the middle one. If no sidelobes are detected then use the one point you have found.

Running Cable to LNB

Picking coax cable for your dish is an important decision. The distance from your dish to receiver and the type of cable you use will directly affect the amount of signal that is delivered to your receiver. Typical cable choice for an LNB is RG-59, RG-6 or RG-11.

RG-59 is typically the cheapest but also suffers the most loss over a given distance. RG-11 is usually the most expensive but has much less loss.

Cable type Loss per 100' at 1000 MHz

RG-59   12 dB
RG-6    9.8 dB
RG-11   7.8 dB

Attention should be paid to the installation of the cable. Connectors not crimped and weatherproofed properly are certain to cause future problems. If routing the cable underground be sure to use conduit. If you use a splitter be sure it is of the correct type. A splitter from the hardware store will not work. These "consumer" splitters are designed for TV frequencies and will not pass the higher satellite range. Purchase a splitter designed specifically for your situation.