Doing the Dish
Satellite television has changed the face of tailgating. Look at any lot across this country and you will find televisions tuned into sporting events. I have been taking my satellite along with me to tailgates for some time now. Even though I have an RV, I did not plop down an extra $3,000 for a tracking satellite. Call me a cheapskate if you must.
When I setup for a game, I not only have my satellite television, I have high-definition and a 42″ LCD TV. As I stated previously, I am a gadget geek. I currently use DirecTV and an “older” Tivo HD satellite receiver that only gets about 12 HD channels. Today began a new era. I just received a SlimLine HD satellite dish. I bought it from eBay. My plan is to slowly change over to the newer DirecTV HD receiver that offers 92+ HD channels. I will be prepared for next football season.
The real point of this article is to talk about setting up a dish for a tailgate. I would classify myself as an expert on setting up a satellite dish. It’s not that I think I’m smart, it’s just that I have had a ton of practice. There are three very important things you need to setup your dish.
- Satellite dish. (duh)
- Tripod for the dish.
- Weight
The very first thing you need to do is find a spot to place the dish. If you have a good tripod, then the ground does not need to be level. However, you must make sure you have a clear view of the southwestern sky (DirecTV customers). Next, get the tripod level and place the weight to hold it down. I use a brick with an eye-bolt and a bungie cord. I make sure I can rotate the dish in the tripod. This all assumes you already have your dish locked to the proper angles.
Once the dish is sitting level in the tripod, I hook up the television, receiver, and cables to the dish. Crank it all up and go to the satellite strength page of the setup. This is usually shows you one or two meter bars for the satellite signal strength. Now, we are ready to lock it in.
You should have a general idea of where North and South are located by this time. I rotate my dish to South, then start slow rotating it toward the West. If you have done everything properly, then you should see a signal on the meter bars on the television when you hit the sweet spot.
I generally run through each of the different satellites to make sure they are all getting a good signal. If you don’t have a great signal on one of the other satellites, then check another transponder on that same satellite. You will notice in the satellite signal test page, there is a satellite selection and a transponder selection. So, just change the transponder setting.
That’s it. That’s how I roll.
September 25th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Curious as to how you are dialing in the satellites to get HD signal. Have been debating on whether to make cutover to HD using over the air signal or try to dial HD signal on Direct. If you ever get near North Campus Parking deck on gameday.. swing by. Go Dawgs!
September 26th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Hey Matt,
The process for locking in the HD channels is about the same as a normal round dish. I have the newer slimline HD dish at my house, but the old elliptical dish in my RV. Both work with the receiver, the only problem is that you can’t get all the HD channels on the elliptical dish in the RV. However, I still get the major networks and ESPN when tailgating and that’s really all that matters.
As I was saying, there is really no problem trying to dial in the satellites. I always make sure the elevation and tilt are at the proper settings. Once you have that squared away, then you just rotate the dish until you hit paydirt. With HD, you do have 3 satellites to worry about instead of just 1 but if the elevation and tilt are proper it is rather easy.
Good luck and Go Dawgs. I am on my way to Athens today. Staying out at Bulldog Park this weekend, but I usually stay in the upper Oconee lot by the Hodgson Oil building.
Jake