Satellite installation in the US

[Clever_Iggy]

CPers: Recently my parents were down visiting my wife and I and brought a Canadian receiver and dish down with them. I went home early from work yesterday all ready to watch Canada v. Norway on NBC as I hadn't hooked up my dish yet. Alas, NBC did not show the hockey game but rather cut to regularly scheduled programming.

That got me motivated. So I went out, bought the necessary mounting equipment and hooked everything up to the TV. I got to the stage where I needed to align the dish with the satellite. After 30+ minutes, I couldn't get the meter to read higher than 16%.

I have a clear line of sight to the sky, I'm supposed to aim it at approx. 156 degrees along the azimuth and 44.6 degrees vertically. I used online tools to help guide me, and despite my best efforts, 16%.

My goal is to have this thing ready to go for Canada's next game or at least the Sunday game against the USA. Any tips? I can see the TV while I'm installing so I know when I getting a better/worse feed... I'm just hoping someone has advice beyond, "Just keep moving it around until you get a signal."

[Flacker]

Bell's satellite footprint does not cover the entire US as it is intended for Canadian customers. I suspect the same would apply to Shaw Direct.

Edit: looking at the coverage map you should be okay as long as you aren't on the west coast, or deep south. If you are you will likely struggle to get signal with a standard 18" dish.

[Clever_Iggy]

Admittedly, I don't know which company we're with. I believe it's Starchoice.

I'm on the West Coast (SF Bay Area).

I'm so out of the loop on these types of things, any advice would be helpful.

[kermitology]

Based on his location of city by the bay, I'm thinking you're in California, so you're outside the Bell footprint.

[Flacker]

You will need to know what provider you are with. How to you know what satellite to point at if you don't know the provider?

If it is indeed Bell TV and you are in SF, you will need a BUD (Big Ugly Dish) 24"+

I know jack about Shaw Direct/Starchoice.

[Clever_Iggy]

The receiver is Starchoice and therefore I've been aiming the dish at one of the two satellites AFIK 1 and 2.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy

The receiver is Starchoice and therefore I've been aiming the dish at one of the two satellites AFIK 1 and 2.

Sounds like you are on the right track, I know that Starchoice uses different LNBs than Bell, and DishNetwork. I am assuming you are using a Starchoice dish? If so and you can't get any better quality then it may be a bad LNB/LNBs on the dish.

Good luck! Dish pointing can be a bit frustrating but worth the effort to do it right.

[Clever_Iggy]

Flacker:

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