Install A Satellite Dish the Easy Way

A few years ago, I decided that satellite TV was the way to go. I found a great deal on a dish and figured I'd save a hundered bucks on the install and do it myself. I mean, how hard could it be? Okay, that was probably one of the stupidest questions I 've ever asked (if you don't count me asking the judge "You talkin' to me?", while doing my best Travis Bickle impersonation).

Anyway, if you've ever hooked up a satellite dish, you realize that finding a signal requires a college degree and a lot of shouting from to the roof to a 12 year old engineer in the front room. The dialogue consists of a lot of:

"What's the signal strength?"

"Huh?"

"Is it doing anything?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want me to come down there and ....?"

"Huh?"

All that's followed by a lot of cussing (by the 12 year old, of course) and an olympic-type slip and fall performance off of the roof (by me, of course).

Anyway we're back on cable now. If I ever decide to install satellite again (yeah, right!), I'll be sure to do it the smart way like Danny over at Mavromatic.com:

I’ve installed a few Satellite Dishes for friends, family, and myself — I really hate it. Most of the installs I have done involved setting the Dish up on a roof or far from the receiver, thus rendering the tone and display generated from the Dish Setup screen useless. I have bought all the standard setup tools… the digital compass and inline satellite signal meter, but those tools still don’t make it a 15-minute setup job. Solution, use an old Realistic PocketVision 22. I think my pocket TV is circa 1989, but any pocket TV with miniplug antenna port will work — I’ve seen these things as cheap as $10 used.

A little TV on the roof? Why the hell didn't I think of that? Oh well, at least now I know how to tuck and roll after a 12 foot swandive. Be sure to read the complete tutorial:

HOW TO: Setup A Satellite Dish In 15 Minutes at Mavoratic.com

January 11, 2006

Install A Satellite Dish the Easy Way