How to Aim Your Satellite Dish

This instruction is for a single satellite system.

You may have purchased a new satellite system for your home or maybe yours was moved by accident. If you have to wait for a service person to realign your dish it could be the next day or two before you can watch TV. If you follow these instructions you can be watching TV in no time. First thing you need to know is who is your provider? Common providers are Dish Network, Direct TV, Etc. The quickest route would be to call your satellite provider and let the technical support person tell you the azimuth and elevation that you will need. Azimuth and elevation are the directions you will need to aim your dish. If a technical support person is unavailable the documentation that came with your satellite system can tell you which satellite you are using and there location in the sky. Azimuth is the numbers on the dial of a compass and elevation is the degrees that the dish points up or down.

If you are installing a new satellite system at this time you will need to either install a pole in the ground or a mounting arm to your home, porch Etc. Either one will work fine but they need to be level pointing straight up.

If this is a new installation your satellite dish needs to be connected to your system. Follow the instructions that came with your system on how to connect the wires. Caution do not turn on your system power until all wires are connected! Failure to follow this procedure can damage components.

To set the elevation the dish will have graduated marks on the back of the mounting brackets with numbers on it just loosen the bolts and move the dish up or down until the pointer mark is on the elevation number you need. For example if your elevation is 50 then align the pointer with the number 50 and tighten the bolts.

Next is to find the azimuth. Holding a compass in your hand turn the compass until the pointer which always points north is aligned with the “N. Now if you look at the numbers around the dial of the compass look for your azimuth number. This will tell you which way to turn and point your dish. If your azimuth is 150 then your dish should be turned so that it points to 150 as well.

If your dish was just accidentally moved then probably the azimuth is all you need to set. The elevation is bolted tight so usually it would not accidentally move.

At this time turn on your system and using the remote go to the satellite signal page. Your system instructions should tell you how to get there. It will be helpful at this point to have two people. One can turn the dish while the other watches the signal strength indicator on your system.

Turn the dish until you can reach the highest signal strength. Above 80 is your goal with 100 being the best. If trees or buildings are in the way your signal will be weak and you may need to think about locating the dish some where else.

The signal to the dish from the satellite comes from higher in the sky than most people realize. The documents with your system may show an example of how the signal reaches your dish.

When you are sure your alignment is right exit from your signal strength page on your system and check your TV! If all is aligned right your done. Now if you could only get paid like the service person would.