Attaining line-of-sight

To get a rough visualization of my line-of-sight to Galaxy 18, I used the SatellitePointer iOS app.

Make sure you have no buildings, trees, or structures within 30 degrees of your line-of-sight. An example of a good line-of-sight:

The better and less-obstructed line-of-sight you have, the better your signal will be:

Setting your dish’s azimuth and elevation

Once you have determined an area with good line-of-sight, you can begin setting the azimuth (side-to-side movement) and elevation (up and down angle) of your dish. The dish used in this guide is known as an “offset” dish. What that means to us is to use the dish’s own angle measurement to set the elevation versus relying on a protractor or smartphone app.

The quality of signal you will receive is very sensitive to the angle of elevation, so make sure you are setting it as accurately as possible.

Once you believe you have accurately set the dish’s elevation, move on to setting the LNB polarity.