How To Set Your Directv Satellite Dish

Download Article

Rather if you have Dish, AT&T, or cablevision and you are planning on getting satellite service for your home, you don't demand to call a professional installer. Even if you don't have much construction experience, y'all tin fix a satellite dish. Once you lot find an exact spot for your dish, mount it in place. Receive a satellite bespeak by pointing the dish up to the sky. With proper wiring, you lot can then transfer the signal to a receiver and your TV.

1
Select a flat spot on or around your habitation. Detect a level place that is accessible if yous need to clean off or adjust the satellite dish later. If you have space, the safest place for a satellite dish is on the basis. It will have enough of room to signal northward or due south, depending on where you lot alive. Also, keep the dish away from falling snowfall or water ice, such every bit from your roof or nearby trees.^[ane]
- Remember where the TVs are in your home. Endeavor to find a spot close to them to brand the wiring process easier.
- If you lot mount the dish on the ground, you volition need to dig a trench to run its cables to your home safely.
two
Check for any obstructions blocking the dish's view of the heaven. Stand where yous programme on installing the dish. Look up to the sky. If you run into buildings, trees, or even clotheslines in the mode, then find another spot. These obstacles cease the dish from receiving a articulate signal, affecting your picture quality.^[two]
- One of the best ways to set up a dish is past anchoring a metal pole in the ground with concrete, then mounting the dish on top of it. The rod gives the dish more than height without it needing to be on the roof.
- Satellite dish installers well-nigh automatically go for the roof to guarantee the satellite isn't obstructed. You may need to do this, too, if you can't discover an exact spot elsewhere.
- If you're in the northern hemisphere, the dish needs to point s to receive a signal. If you're in the southern hemisphere, it needs to betoken north, so keep that in mind when looking for obstacles.
Advertizing
iii
Hold the dish's mount to your home and marking the screw positions. The dish'south back up is an L-shaped rod with a base plate that fastens to your home. Position the base plate flat against the wall or roof in the location you chose. Look for a series of holes on the plate for bolts. So, use a permanent marker to notation the position of these holes on the roof.^[iii]
- If yous're attaching the satellite to the side of your home, make sure the holes align with a wall stud or some other sturdy structure. Don't endeavour to anchor it to siding since it won't hold.
4
Calculate the size of the pilot holes needed to secure the mount. The holes' exact size and depth depend on the dish you're installing, so reference the components that came with the satellite. Generally, you will need to make a series of iv holes about ¹⁄₂ in (1.3 cm) in diameter. Estimate the holes needed to be well-nigh {convert|ii+1/2|in|cm|abbr=on}} deep, although this will too vary a little from installation to installation.^[iv]
- Check the metallic fixings that came with your satellite for a number engraved on them. That number will tell you how wide the holes demand to be.
- To find the depth the holes need to be on your detail installation, add about ^two⁄_ten in (0.51 cm) to the length of the metallic fixings meant to plug into the holes.
v
Create the airplane pilot holes using a drill bit the same size as the mounting bolts. Employ a masonry drill scrap to break through rock and other rigid surfaces without damaging your drill. The bit needs to create holes that are the perfect size for the bolts. Drill into the spots yous marked earlier once you lot are ready. Make sure the holes you create are straight, then the mounting bolts fit properly.^[v]
- If the holes are as well big, the bolts volition fall out. If they are likewise small, the bolts won't fit.
- Erring on the side of caution is better when drilling. Yous tin can always widen a small hole.
6
Identify the mount'southward metal plugs into the holes you drilled. Your dish volition come with a set of metal plugs that serve as wall anchors. 1 cease of each plug will take a bolt hole in it. Flip the plugs, so the openings face toward you rather than the wall. Y'all demand those openings to secure the mountain.^[6]
- The contrary ends of each plug will look like a divide tail. When you bolt the wall mount in place, the tails open upwardly, making the plugs harder to remove.
vii
Secure the plugs into the wall with a hammer and chisel. Place the tip of a chisel against one of the bolts. Give the chisel'south handle a couple of good whacks to push the bolt into the wall. Go on hammering until the commodities is affluent with the wall. Then, echo this with the remaining bolts.
- Make sure the bolts are level with the wall, or else the dish'southward mountain won't anchor properly.
8
Place the metallic plugs and hammer them into the wall. Your dish will come with a ready of plugs that serve as wall anchors. Position them, so their open end faces out from the wall. That opening is for bolting the wall mount in identify. Subsequently pushing the plugs into the holes, tap them in with a hammer and chisel.^[seven]
- Make sure the plugins are firmly positioned inside the wall. They are what anchors the mount to the wall or ceiling. If they are loose, your dish could terminate up crashing to the basis!
9
Bolt the mount onto the plugs in the wall. Position the mount dorsum on the wall, lining up the plate'southward holes with the pilot holes you drilled. Observe the bolts that came with your dish, normally ⁱ⁄₂ in (1.three cm) lag bolts. Fasten the bolts past using a cordless screwdriver. Make sure the mount feels secure in the wall before you movement on.^[viii]
- If the mount wobbles when yous touch information technology, try tightening the bolts a little more. If you're certain they are in correctly, take them out and recheck the plugs.
10
Cap each bolt with a metal washer and locking nut. These components forestall the bolts from coming back out of the wall. Slide the washers on starting time, which are flat metal disks that help the nuts work properly. Then, add the nuts and plow them clockwise with a wrench until they feel tight and no longer move.
- Be careful not to overtighten the nuts. End twisting them when they become hard to move. As long equally they are non loose, the mountain will also stay in place.
Advertisement

1
Attach the antenna subclass to the low noise block (LNB) arm. Your dish will virtually likely come with a flat metal plate to connect the satellite dish to the 50-shaped LNB arm and other components. Position the plate, and then the prongs are on the left and right, facing you. Hold the LNB arm betwixt the prongs with the tail end extending out past the plate's reverse side. Place some ³⁄₄ in (1.9 cm) lag bolts through the arm and into the plate, tightening them clockwise with a wrench.^[9]
- Remember to put a metal washer and locking nut on the ends of the bolts to ensure they can't come up loose.
- The exact installation process, including the bolts' size, may vary a little depending on the dish you have. Refer to the owner's manual for more specific instructions.
2
Clip the antenna aligning panel over the plate's prongs. The panel will look like a square box with ane cease open. The console'due south sides fit over the plate's prongs and attach with more ³⁄₄ in (1.9 cm) lag bolts. Add together a washer and nut on the end of each bolt afterward tightening them.^[10]
- The aligning panel has a curved slot on it. This slot is what you employ to point the satellite up or down.
3
Fit the U-shaped rod inside the adjustment panel. Your dish volition take a bent metallic rod that fits into one of the slots on the aligning panel. Sideslip the rod inside, sliding its prongs through the holes. Ensure the prongs point toward you rather than the tail end of the LNB rod you connected earlier. Fit a small clamp over it, followed by a washer and nut on each prong.^[11]
- The clamp is piffling more than than a flat piece of metal meant to hold the U-shaped rod in place.
- The aligning panel has 3 unlike slots. Employ the slots to reposition the satellite dish. In most cases, the middle slot is best for setting the dish at the proper bending.
4
Bolt the antenna subclass to the dorsum of the satellite dish. You take a couple more bolts to add to terminate the majority of the assembly, and this is one of the easiest parts to finish. Line upwards the holes on the plate with the holes on the back of the dish. Stick the longest bolts you have, usually ii to 3 in (five.1 to vii.six cm) in length, through the front end of the dish. Then, identify a washer and nut on the end of each commodities, tightening it with your wrench.^[12]
- Make sure all of the components stay bolted together. If they feel shaky, carefully dissever them and tighten the bolts.
5
Install the LNB on the end of the LNB arm. One terminal component, the LNB, controls the dish'south functionality. First, slide the handle of the LNB onto the open up stop of the arm. Secure it with nuts and bolts, and so accept the LNB out of the box. It looks almost like a round speaker or flashlight. Position it on the handle, facing it toward the dish before bolting information technology in place.^[thirteen]
- Some more robust satellites have upward to iii LNBs designed to feed a stronger satellite indicate into your home.
- You may demand to loosen the LNB later to readjust it and improve the signal quality.
six
Connect the adjustment console on the dish to the wall mount. Fit the dish onto the open end of the back up. If everything is attached correctly, it will fit inside or behind the adjustment console. Yous can and then add the i or two remaining bolts to fasten these pieces together. If the dish looks good, then you're fix to position it to communicate with a satellite.^[fourteen]
- These parts can attach in a diverseness of dissimilar ways depending on what satellite you have, then exist sure to refer to the owner'south manual.
- If the mountain is meant to adhere to the back of the console, your satellite will also come up with a pair of clips. Position them behind the back up, and so add the screws through them to bind the parts together.
Advertizing

1
Select a satellite yous wish to connect to. Pick a satellite that is in range of your particular dish. There are numerous satellites out there, but dishes cannot get signals from all of them. If you bought your dish from a Television set service, for case, y'all might have a hard time connecting to their competitor's satellites. Search for available satellites at https://www.lyngsat.com/.^[15]
- To differentiate between satellites, look at the names listed along with the coordinates. Tracking sites list the names, which usually include the owning company or the service they provide.
- If you lot bought a satellite service, it is possible to receive satellite signals exterior that service. Since you normally need to supersede several parts, information technology's easier to become a new satellite instead.
- Try to selection a satellite close to your surface area. If you subscribe to a particular TV service, you will need to apply the company's satellites. The biggest providers have multiple satellites.
2
Find the satellite's location earlier positioning the dish. You're going to need to point the dish in the right management, then angle information technology upwards at the sky. This isn't piece of cake to exercise if you don't know the satellite's positioning. Fortunately, satellites don't move much, so you can use a positioning database to conform your dish. Apply a site similar https://www.dishpointer.com/.^[16]
- Type in your address and choose a satellite you wish to connect to. The site volition give you lot the precise positioning needed for your dish to receive the signal.
- Y'all won't exist able to receive a betoken from a distant satellite. Don't look to reach a Chinese satellite if you're in North America, for instance.
three
Employ the azimuth number to rotate the satellite. Have a compass handy and locate true north first. Then, look at the azimuth number and find where that is on the compass. North is considered 0 degrees, due east is ninety degrees, south is 180 degrees, and west is 270 degrees. Rotate the satellite dish horizontally until information technology points in the right management.^[17]
- For example, if you need to indicate the dish to 225 degrees, discover north first. Then, turn the satellite southwest from in that location.
4
Move the dish vertically to adjust its elevation. Once you know the height needed to reach the satellite, go behind the dish. Examine the stop of the mountain where it connects to the dish. You will see a bolt inside a slot labeled past degrees, ordinarily ten to lx. Loosen the bolt past twisting it counterclockwise, then reposition the dish to the proper acme.^[18]
- Adjusting the tiptop is usually pretty like shooting fish in a barrel because of the labeled slot. Moving the bolt along the slot raises or lowers the dish.
- For instance, if the dish requires a 53-caste top, it will point upwards into the sky almost equally much as it possibly can. Slide the loosened bolt back toward the 60-caste marker.
5
Suit the dish'southward polarization until you get a articulate signal. The final function that needs to be adapted is LNB, responsible for receiving and sending the bespeak into your abode. It is usually an arm on the front end that points toward the dish. Test out the signal quality by hooking the dish up to the receiver and a TV, then loosen the connecting nut on the arm by turning it counterclockwise with a wrench. Gradually move the arm about ^ane⁄₂ in (1.3 cm) at a fourth dimension until the bespeak quality is perfect.^[19]
- This part is easier if you can set up a TV close to the dish. If the TV is far away, have someone else stand virtually it and requite you feedback.
- You may need to wait to adjust the LNB until you're done with the wiring. Take care of information technology before then, if yous're able, so you don't accept to keep climbing on the roof to make adjustments.
- The LNB can sometimes be controlled by turning a mountain part on the back of the dish left or right.
Advertizement

ane
Drill a ^ane⁄₂ in (1.three cm) hole in the roof if you need one. Check your home first for a previously-used cable opening. The dish's cablevision needs its ain piffling infinite to enter your domicile and claw upwardly to your Television set. Unless your home is in the process of being built, drilling a single hole is the easiest way to practise this. Position your Boob tube and the satellite receiver nearby to gear up for the connection.^[20]
- If you lot're installing the satellite on the basis, dig a trench to bury the cable, so it doesn't go damaged. Information technology needs to be below the frost line, the lowest point that freezes in winter, which is about 3 in (7.6 cm) deep.
two
Run a coaxial cable from the LNB to the receiver. Become a bones RG6 coaxial cable and look for a slot on the LNB. Plug it in, then plug the opposite end into the "Sat in" port on your receiver. Make sure the receiver is positioned shut to the satellite to ensure the cable can reach it.^[21]
- Y'all can buy a cable online, from hardware stores, and too from electronics suppliers. Television service providers will also requite you one when you buy a satellite from them.
- The coaxial cable sometimes connects to the back of the satellite. Usually, though, it plugs directly into the LNB.
3
Connect an HDMI cablevision to the receiver and your Telly. Plug one stop of the HDMI cable into the receiver'southward back, then stretch it to the TV. Most mod TVs have a couple of HDMI slots, and so choose whichever one you prefer. One time the cord is in identify, your Tv will exist able to receive the satellite indicate. Plough on the Telly to encounter if it works.^[22]
- Some satellites and receivers don't connect this way. The receiver may plug directly into the TV instead.
- Consult a wiring guide for specific instructions on how to connect the satellite, receiver, and your Television. If you bought the satellite from a Television set service provider, they would also provide a wiring guide.
iv
Turn on the Tv to examination the signal. Press the satellite button if your remote has i or navigate to the settings menu. You should exist able to get a moving-picture show right abroad. If the signal quality is poor, make sure yous positioned the satellite dish correctly. Adjust information technology to go the clearest possible signal!^[23]
- You can bank check the settings menu to go an thought of where the satellite dish is.Delight notation the azimuth, elevation, and LNB numbers and compare them to the satellite'southward location.
Advertisement

Inquire a Question

200 characters left

Include your electronic mail address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Ask Television set service providers for an install. Many of them offering free installations every bit long as yous purchase a subscription for their service.
Find spots to hide loose cables in your home. If the satellite dish'southward cable is exposed, put furniture and other decorations in forepart of it.
Every satellite receiver needs a split coaxial cable. You lot can't dissever the cable, then y'all will demand to find ways to route the cables all the style to the extra TVs you plan on setting up.
If you're running a coaxial cable outdoors along the ground, consider installing a grounding cake and wire to protect the cablevision from static.

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

Be very careful when climbing onto the roof to install a dish. Avoid dangerous falls by wearing a harness and working on a warm, articulate day.

Things Y'all'll Need

Satellite
Satellite mountain
Satellite LNB
Compass
Wrench
Hammer
Chisel
Lag bolts
Washers
Locking nuts
RG6 coaxial cable
HDMI cablevision
Drill (optional)
¹⁄₂ in (i.iii cm) drill bits (optional)

About This Article

Thanks to all authors for creating a folio that has been read 77,359 times.

Is this article up to engagement?