CASPER
New member
How to re-aim your BEV dish to receive DishNet.
First, a word about safety. Winter is probably the worse time of the year to be climbing on your roof. If you absolutely have to then please, please use all the safety precautions you can. A ground man to hold the ladder, perhaps a safety line to keep you from slipping on the ice/snow/bird droppings etc. We do not want to lose you as a member. Thanks Dash for reminding me.
In a nutshell you will have to move your dish to the west and locate the sat or sats you want. Then you will have to set up your antenna settings pages for the proper satellites. Then scan the satellite(s). Auto scan is preferable. Read this entire procedure before starting.
DishNet uses satellites at 110w and 119w for their core Non-HD programming. From what I understand Bell Express View uses their satellite at 91w for the core Non-HD programming and 82w for mostly HD.
Many Bell subscribers only have a dish with one lnb therefore remember; if you have one lnb you can get only 1 satellite at a time. For those who have a two lnb system for 91 and 82 you will be able to get both 110 and 119.
Which one should you aim your dish to? It’s your choice. Most of the PPV (all except 2) are on satellite 110w however, most of the premium channels (HBO, SHOW, STARZ) are on 119w
Where are these satellites? Satellites are commonly referred by their location i.e. longitude. Bells Nimiq2 is at longitude 82west, Nimiq1 is at longitude 91west. DN EchoStar8/10 is at 110w and Echostar7 is at 119w.
For those inexperienced in aiming dishes, this procedure will get you there. Just use common sense, don’t rush, don’t try using shortcuts.
We will be using this satellite locator program. It is the most updated one I know of and is extremely accurate and is good for all of North America and then some. This post is not a satcaculator primer. The program is very user friendly and only takes a little common sense to use it.
http://satcalculator.freehostia.com/
To keep this as short as possible we will be assuming you have 1 dish with 1 lnb aimed to 1 satellite, Nimiq 1 at 91w. We will run through an example using 2 locations. We will use Toronto (T) for the east coast and Vancouver (V) on the west coast. (Yes I know Toronto is not on the coast but it's close enough for our purpose).
First, to get a reference, use the sat calculator to see where your dish is aimed now (91w).
T Azimuth = 207m (magnetic), Elevation 38
V Azimuth = 122m (magnetic), Elevation 26
Now we use the sat calcualtor to find out where we will find satellite EchoStar 8 at 110w
T Azimuth = 231m, Elevation = 31
V Azimuth = 144m, Elevation = 32
Now this is what we have to do using the above data. It’s important to adjust the elevation first. It will be easier to find the satellite. Play with your compass a little to see what 20 degrees looks like. It may help to reference a distant object as a starting point.
Mark your post/bracket so that if things go wrong you can easily return the dish to it’s home position of 91w
Connect the receiver and find 110 on the antenna set up page so that you can see signal level and quality. The settings for 110 should be the same as 91 as they are both circular satellites and both use transponder 12224 (tp1) as general broadcast. When you have your settings correct it’s time to make the commitment.
T Lower your dish by 7 degrees then sweep the dish to the west approx 24 degrees
V Raise your dish 6 degrees then sweep it towards the west 22 degrees.
If done correctly you should get a hit as you move the dish to the 110 position. On some receivers you will see a spike in the level just before you see the increase in quality. Once you see green quality pause for a few seconds to let the receiver identify the satellite. If it said 110 then peak for best signal and lock the dish down.
If you don’t find 110 continue past the suspected location by 10 degrees or so. If by some reason you didn’t get a hit go back to the starting position and check your numbers and your settings. You may have to move the dish up or down a little and sweep again.
Once you have found 110 mark the post/bracket so that you can return to it easier next time.
What if I want both 110 and 119 and have 82 and 91 now. This is where the skew comes in handy on the sat calculator program.
If you already have a dish for both satellites then your dish skew is set for 82/91. When going from 82/91 to 110/119 your skew will change as much as 20 degrees and your azimuth and elevation will be a little different with dual sat systems. Use the correct method for your system. Skew for a BEV dish on the east coast is almost none because 91 is almost due south from the east coast.
What if I only have one lnb and want to get both 110 and 119. In this case you will need another lnb and a switch. With the main lnb aimed to 110 you can strap another lnb to the east side of the 110. Since the single sat dish won’t have skew you will need to raise the 119lnb (or lower for the west coast) approx 3/8 of an inch or so until 119 comes in. Use transponder 2 on 119 for signal peaking.
One last note. You may live too far north to effectively get DishNet channels on your small BEV dishes. In those cases a larger dish would be in order. How far north is too far? I have no idea but I would like some input.
Another last note. For signal checking on satellite 119 you should change the TP1 (12224) to TP2 (12239). TP1 is beamed to only parts of us/ca but TP2 is full coverage.
Have fun and watch TV ...
First, a word about safety. Winter is probably the worse time of the year to be climbing on your roof. If you absolutely have to then please, please use all the safety precautions you can. A ground man to hold the ladder, perhaps a safety line to keep you from slipping on the ice/snow/bird droppings etc. We do not want to lose you as a member. Thanks Dash for reminding me.
In a nutshell you will have to move your dish to the west and locate the sat or sats you want. Then you will have to set up your antenna settings pages for the proper satellites. Then scan the satellite(s). Auto scan is preferable. Read this entire procedure before starting.
DishNet uses satellites at 110w and 119w for their core Non-HD programming. From what I understand Bell Express View uses their satellite at 91w for the core Non-HD programming and 82w for mostly HD.
Many Bell subscribers only have a dish with one lnb therefore remember; if you have one lnb you can get only 1 satellite at a time. For those who have a two lnb system for 91 and 82 you will be able to get both 110 and 119.
Which one should you aim your dish to? It’s your choice. Most of the PPV (all except 2) are on satellite 110w however, most of the premium channels (HBO, SHOW, STARZ) are on 119w
Where are these satellites? Satellites are commonly referred by their location i.e. longitude. Bells Nimiq2 is at longitude 82west, Nimiq1 is at longitude 91west. DN EchoStar8/10 is at 110w and Echostar7 is at 119w.
For those inexperienced in aiming dishes, this procedure will get you there. Just use common sense, don’t rush, don’t try using shortcuts.
We will be using this satellite locator program. It is the most updated one I know of and is extremely accurate and is good for all of North America and then some. This post is not a satcaculator primer. The program is very user friendly and only takes a little common sense to use it.
http://satcalculator.freehostia.com/
To keep this as short as possible we will be assuming you have 1 dish with 1 lnb aimed to 1 satellite, Nimiq 1 at 91w. We will run through an example using 2 locations. We will use Toronto (T) for the east coast and Vancouver (V) on the west coast. (Yes I know Toronto is not on the coast but it's close enough for our purpose).
First, to get a reference, use the sat calculator to see where your dish is aimed now (91w).
T Azimuth = 207m (magnetic), Elevation 38
V Azimuth = 122m (magnetic), Elevation 26
Now we use the sat calcualtor to find out where we will find satellite EchoStar 8 at 110w
T Azimuth = 231m, Elevation = 31
V Azimuth = 144m, Elevation = 32
Now this is what we have to do using the above data. It’s important to adjust the elevation first. It will be easier to find the satellite. Play with your compass a little to see what 20 degrees looks like. It may help to reference a distant object as a starting point.
Mark your post/bracket so that if things go wrong you can easily return the dish to it’s home position of 91w
Connect the receiver and find 110 on the antenna set up page so that you can see signal level and quality. The settings for 110 should be the same as 91 as they are both circular satellites and both use transponder 12224 (tp1) as general broadcast. When you have your settings correct it’s time to make the commitment.
T Lower your dish by 7 degrees then sweep the dish to the west approx 24 degrees
V Raise your dish 6 degrees then sweep it towards the west 22 degrees.
If done correctly you should get a hit as you move the dish to the 110 position. On some receivers you will see a spike in the level just before you see the increase in quality. Once you see green quality pause for a few seconds to let the receiver identify the satellite. If it said 110 then peak for best signal and lock the dish down.
If you don’t find 110 continue past the suspected location by 10 degrees or so. If by some reason you didn’t get a hit go back to the starting position and check your numbers and your settings. You may have to move the dish up or down a little and sweep again.
Once you have found 110 mark the post/bracket so that you can return to it easier next time.
What if I want both 110 and 119 and have 82 and 91 now. This is where the skew comes in handy on the sat calculator program.
If you already have a dish for both satellites then your dish skew is set for 82/91. When going from 82/91 to 110/119 your skew will change as much as 20 degrees and your azimuth and elevation will be a little different with dual sat systems. Use the correct method for your system. Skew for a BEV dish on the east coast is almost none because 91 is almost due south from the east coast.
What if I only have one lnb and want to get both 110 and 119. In this case you will need another lnb and a switch. With the main lnb aimed to 110 you can strap another lnb to the east side of the 110. Since the single sat dish won’t have skew you will need to raise the 119lnb (or lower for the west coast) approx 3/8 of an inch or so until 119 comes in. Use transponder 2 on 119 for signal peaking.
One last note. You may live too far north to effectively get DishNet channels on your small BEV dishes. In those cases a larger dish would be in order. How far north is too far? I have no idea but I would like some input.
Another last note. For signal checking on satellite 119 you should change the TP1 (12224) to TP2 (12239). TP1 is beamed to only parts of us/ca but TP2 is full coverage.
Have fun and watch TV ...