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is called the signal’s “peak.” The process of locating the exact azimuth and elevation angle at which
the maximum signal strength can be found is called “peaking.”
It is similar to looking at a lighted lamp through a straw. The lamp represents the satellite and the
straw is your satellite dish. As the straw points closer to the lamp, more light is visible through the
straw. When the straw points directly at the center of the lamp, the most light is visible through the
straw, and you have found the peak of the lamp’s “signal.”
Pointing at the signal’s peak gives you the best possible reception in all weather conditions.
4.10 Automatic Satellite Signal Acquisition and Peaking
Satellite signal location and peaking is fully automatic. No action on your part is necessary. The rest
of this section describes what to expect during the acquisition and peaking process.
Your receiver is tuned to a channel, a message, “Searching for satellite signal,” appears. The status
light on the antenna control unit will blink on and off evenly about once per second.
When a signal has been located, your receiver will begin displaying the programming for the selected
channel and the DBS-30500 will automatically begin finding the exact center of the satellite signal, or
peak.
When the system has located the signal peak, the status light will be on solidly, not flashing. The
peaking process will usually take less than one minute. More time may be required during adverse
weather conditions or if the signal is partially obstructed.
After a picture appears on your TV screen, an attention message may appear indicating that optimum
reception was located at an elevation angle different than the one entered on the Elevation Angle
Selector of the ACU. This message is an instruction to set the Elevation Angle Selector on the ACU
to the specified value. This message will not be displayed if the proper angle has already been entered
on the Antenna Control Unit.
You may find that even though you have entered the correct number on the Elevation Angle Selector,
the attention message still appears. This may be because your vehicle is not level or the antenna is not
mounted level to the vehicle. This is not a problem, and the displayed angle value is simply a
correction for the misleveling.
The advantage of entering the correct elevation angle is that the system is virtually guaranteed to
locate the satellite signal on its first azimuth sweep and to peak up on the signal more quickly.
However, even with elevation angles several degrees from the correct value, the system will still
