Installing Your Satellite Dish System

So you want to put up your own satellite dish? Well, having done dozens of them, I can tell you that it is a lot easier than you might expect.

Open the box with the dish and mounting hardware and separate everything. Check your packing list or illustrations to see that everything is present. And go ahead and do a pre assembly by placing the dish mounting brackett onto the back of the dish. And for right now, hold off on any further assembly.

I am going to assume that you have a clear view to the south west at your location. And by a clear view, I mean no trees or buildings in the way of a view of the sky at about 35 to 42 degrees from the horizon. This is where the satellite is located in the sky. Way out there at about 22,300 miles in geosynchronous orbit. Assuming you have a clear view of that patch of sky you want to take your dish mounting pole and find a spot to place it. Usually the side of a house or the eave of the roof will do. This pole has to be perfectly vertical. And you can assure this by using a short spirit level. Place the level on the mounting bracket where it meets the wall of the house for example...and tweak and bump the bracket until the fluid level is exactly even...and either put a bolt in a hole on either side of the bracket or mark the spots for later tightening.

Once the mounting is secured you can bring out the dish and slide it over the mounting pole. Dont tighten anything down yet however. Just let it sit there. Right now you want to route your cable. Route the cable exactly the way you want it. It has to go into the house at some point and this will mean drilling a hole or two, but get that cable from the dish to the televison, hang it so it is not in the way before you proceed any further. Once the cable is routed, you want to afix the connectors at either end. I use crimp connectors as they wont pull off later and are much superior to the solderless connectors. It also at this point that you want to attach the dish receiver box to the tv as well.

So, we have the pole mounted and the dish on the pole. We have the cable routed and we are ready to tune the dish in to the satellite. If you look closely at the mounting hardware you will see a scale of degrees to aid you in aiming the dish. This is a rough guide and not accurate. It's only purpose is to put you in the general area. In my area the correct degree to set the adjustment is about 40 degrees. I snug up all the bolts of the dish clamp so that I am able to move it, but it will stay where I put it. I place the LNA ( low noise amplifier/blocker ) on the dish and connect the cables connectors. I go back in to the tv and dish receiver and set it up for tuning, usually, this will produce a steady beeping sound. Turn it up loud so you can hear it outside. As the beeps come and go, s-l-o-w-l-y sweep the dish side to side. If you dont hear a change in the beeping, drop the dish one degree and repeat the sweep.

At some point, you will notice a change in the beeping of the receiver..it will steadily increase in frequency until a steady tone is heard and the tv screen will give you a percentage of signal. You want as close to 100 % as you can get, so sweep left and right to maximise the signal...and then up and down to again maximise the signal. Once no further signal increase is realized, you can lock down the clamps and the dish is aimed.

Most dish systems require a telephone hookup so the system can call in and report if you have purchased any movies so you will want to arrange a hook up for this. Also, it is a wise idea to run a heavy duty ground wire to the grounding wire at you electrical meter from the dish mounting as well for the purposes of safety.

If you have multiple television sets you will have to run cable to them as well. You can do this as you initially run cable or wait until the dish is up and aimed. Either way works. Some items you will need are going to be signal splitters, extra receiver boxes and remotes etc. Some dishes even have dual LNA's and you will have to route two sets of cables. So plan out a whole afternoon if you are looking at a mulitple tv setup.