DirectTV Slimline dish

We no longer use our Direct TV Slimline dish so I took my portable Dreamcatcher board with a portable power pack and just hand pointed the LNB at the dish and was able to see a +7db signal at times. Maybe
if I removed the Direct TV LNB assemble I could have done better. I had some Left over 2020 series
extrusion and brackets and put together a LNB adjustment bracket. I also had a FTA LNB Mount from
another project. With this setup I get about a +5 db signal.

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I did a similar experiment with an old satellite TV dish given to me, with similar results. However it was not really worth the trouble because I can receive an adequate signal with the LNB and a foil-covered plastic cup. A condominium bylaw prohibits dishes attached to the outside balconies, so I received a complaint. No complaints yet about just the small LNB attached to the balcony railing. I have a second Dreamcatcher and LNB for portable operation.

I have not tried the cone yet. I was going to use a large plastic soft drink cup and line it with aluminum foil.
Just using the LNB and pointing it at the satellite gave me around a -12.8 db signal here in Southern California. It was enough to get the unit to download data but not enough for the radio app. About 6 months ago I could just point it thru the bedroom window with a -9db signal and it worked fine. For some reason the signal strength deteriorated on me. I had a spare LNB but that did not make any difference.

The Direct TV Dish sits just outside my window and was not being used. Yes I agree its probably overkill and the signal reading is so strong on the graph its off the scale.

Here’s a couple of ideas some of us have tried - -

Ken