TV4RV OCTOBER NEWSLETTER
Vol. 6 - No.10

ADJUSTING THE ELEVATION

TIP OF THE MONTH:

When adjusting the elevation of your dish it is important that the mast be perfectly plumb.  Keep in mind that different dish manufacturers use different reference points when setting the elevation.  See the figures below for examples.

Elev1.jpg (81886 bytes)

In the example above you would set the mark that is to the left of the hex nut to the correct elevation setting.

 

Elev2.jpg (68656 bytes)

In the example above, the adjustment hex nut has a pointed washer reference mark used to set the elevation.  Similar styles don't use the pointed washer and you would simply use the center of the hex nut as the reference point.

Check to be sure you are using the correct elevation adjustment point.

DirecTV's Slimline dish, Dish Network's 1000.4 dish, and some of the newer Canadian Shaw dishes all have built-in micro adjustment hardware to make it easy to fine tune the elevation setting.  If your dish does not have this feature, you might consider adding our Satellite Dish Conversion Kit.  This kit adds an elevation adjustment fixture to your dish that lets you dial in the elevation setting one degree at a time.  In addition, it changes all the hex nuts to wing nuts so you won't need to use a wrench every time you adjust your dish.

Website changes:

It's hard to believe that our current website and shopping cart are over 3 years old.  Like most of today's technology, they need to be changed and updated.  At present it's difficult  to navigate our site using a tablet, iPad, iPhone etc.  That will all change shortly.  We have instructed Susan, our web expert at A Street Web Design, to give our website a complete makeover and bring it into the 21st Century.  Susan does GREAT work and we highly recommend her for your website work.  She can be reached by email or by telephone at 541-582-0597.   Give her a try.

Loose Mast Fix:

We have received several reports of the 2" sleeve on the tripod mast coming loose and causing a side movement of the dish.   The 2" sleeve is held in place by two small Phillips head screws, which can't be seen when the dish is mounted.  We believe that excessive vibration during transit may be causing these screws to come loose.  They can't come out entirely because the dish clamp covers the holes.  Check your dish for side movement when mounted on the tripod.  The dish should not move at all.  If movement is detected follow the instructions below to correct the problem.

If movement of the 2" sleeve is detected, remove the dish from the mast.  Be careful not to lose the two screws when removing the dish, as they may fall out.  When re-installing the screws, put a drop of blue thread locker on each screw before replacing it.  This should help prevent them from coming loose again.  (Don't use the RED thread locker if you have the need to remove the screws in the future.)

After re-installing the dish, you will need to orient it to the mast again as you did when first installed.

Editor's note:

Last month I went into a rant about my experience with Dish Network's Hopper receiver and I may have given my readers the wrong idea.  While I quickly learned that some of the Hopper features were not for me, that doesn't mean it is not a suitable unit for other users.  The Hopper has many fine qualities and should not be ruled out simply because I didn't prefer it.