New Installation

[DarkHorse]

Hi,
New member here, but not new to DirecTV. I've had DirecTV recievers since "Year One" and have always installed my own (Electronics Tech. for 25yrs and Ham (KU4QB)). Just got an HR20+DVR and the dish will arrive tomorrow. I have a couple of questions... My HR20+ came with two FTMs, do I assume that the second one is for a second reciever? Also, the manual seems to discourage self install and says a signal meter is mandatory. I've noticed that DirecTV is really focussed on "Professional Installation" these days so I'm assuming this is mostly hype? What pitfalls should I watch for in setting up this (Slimline) dish and reciever?
Thanks! Bill

[SolidSignal_Mike]

The FTM's go on each of the two inputs for HR20. Currently these are not being used by DirecTV, but in the future will enable you to run one line to your DVR instead of two.

The Slimline is a lot easier than the original MPEG-4 dish, the AT9, and the allginment process is nearly identical. We have a video on the installation, if you want to see what your getting into. The biggest difference between the older DTV dishes and the 5 LNBS is that a meter is absolutely required. Most of our customers are just buying the Accutrac Pro and doing themselves. One thing that a lot of people seem to over look is making sure the mast is perpendicular, it if is not, all other adjustments are off. There is a bubble level in side the mast so it's not that hard.

-Mike

[DarkHorse]

Thanks Mike,
I've spent a little time with the hardware, studied the manual and I can see that the signal meter in the reciever probably wouldn't cut it. I ordered the meter, heck it might make things faster when setting up the old oval dish when I go camping. ;-}
Regs! Bill

[HDTVED]

Horse: I just setup an AU9 and H20 recently. I am not a professional and the install was a piece of cake. Just follow the manual and you should have no problems. I found the slimline was actually easier to setup than my previous AT9 and it performs like a champ, I'm really pleased with reception on all channels including locals. You can do it. Oh, yes, I used an accutrac Pro 22 meter. Highly recommended for us un-professional installers.

[ldiorio]

just installed the slimline multisat w/intergarted Ka/Ku lnb's but sem to be having trouble
also have a HR20
the dish physically has 3 lnb's so what dish type do i select on the HR20
slimline 3,slimeline 5, slimline swm, slimline 5s and di i need the B-con verters---i have 4 cables and need to feed ( 2for the HR20 and 1 ea for 2 other receivers)--do i need a WB68 switch--

[SolidSignal_Darrel]

You would definately need the b-converters with the WB68. In all honesty, your best bet with tthe slimline is to use the SWM-8.

[pcnerdman]

My 2 cents,

For $100, if you setup or change dishes more than twice a year, you should have a meter, but, it is NOT necessary. I just upgraded my system to the slimline and used the meters from the receiver. I set the dish up on a tripod, ran a cable to the receiver and setup a portable TV next to it. It was not necessary to activate the receiver until I had the dish getting the best signal on all the sat's, especially 103c.

And on the ground, tweaking the dish this way was easy. Like I said, I got 103 dialed in to the 90's. Make sure you start level and plumb. After I had it all set and tweaked, I tightened all the bolts and remounted the dish permanently on the wall, adjusting east/west again for best signal. Very easy and a lot of fun fine tuning for MAXIMUM signal.

Lastly, even though the slimline looks like it has only 3 LNB's out front, two of the units have two lnb's inside, so all slimline unit users should select the 5 LNB option. The b block converters are required for the high def channels on the 103 sat. If you don't want the $9.99 HD package forget the b block converters.