MP1 & Directv D12-700

[lizmcmillan]

We have spent forever trying to get our MP1 to work with our receiver. I have pointed it every direction under the sun and still get 0 response on all transponders. When I try with the Satellite Finder, it doesn't change anything no matter what direction we point it. Is there something we are doing wrong? The MP1 is our friends and he let us borrow it to decide if we want to buy one for ourselves. We are gone for the summer and when I call Direct they say because we aren't at our service address they can't send anyone to help us. I'm very frustrated and don't know what to do. Could the dish be broken or something?

[Bill Adams]

You are correct that DirecTV cannot send anyone to help. You are not in a house and you are not having an antenna professionally installed. You have entered the "Twilight Zone". Welcome to the RVing community. If you don't have someone to show you how things work, you are going to have to struggle through this on your own. That's not meant to sound mean or sound like you are facing an impossible challenge. It's only meant to convey that it's not necessarily a walk in the park getting a manual antenna setup the first few times.
Winegard has several venues of help. The first is here:
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/gm ... -start.pdf
The second is ensuring that you have your DirecTV receiver setup properly before you begin your search.
http://www.winegard.com/receivers/setup ... =image_mp1
Let us know how it goes and how we may be of assistance if things still do not go well.

[lizmcmillan]

I have followed those instructions completely. I have turned the dish and tried all different angles. I went from trying like 3 degrees at a time within like 15 degrees of what my receiver requested it should be and still got nothing. I tried hooking the satellite finder and tried in 360 degrees and it never caught one satellite. That doesn't make any sense to me at all.

[Winegard Tech Help]

lizmcmillan,

When the satellite finder was connected, did it ever react at all?

[lizmcmillan]

No... I could make it squeal when I turned the sensitivity up so I know it was connected properly but it made no movements other than me adjusting the sensitivity.

[Winegard Tech Help]

lizmcmillan,

If that is the case, the antenna is working properly. The only way that meter can react is if the LNB is providing noise throughout, which infers it is working and is getting powered.

You will need to keep trying to aim in your area and hopefully you will find the signal.

[lizmcmillan]

It does nothing if it isn't connected to the receiver. Is that the way its supposed to be?

[Winegard Tech Help]

lizmcmillan,

Correct. The receiver provides 12 volts down the coaxial cable to power both the meter and the LNB of the satellite antenna. Without being hooked up to a receiver (and in DirecTV's case, it must be properly configured) there will be no power for the LNB to read or the meter to run.

[lizmcmillan]

I am at a total loss. I have the meter hooked up and the sensitivity set where its reading between 3-4 and I can hear it so I know its all hooked up right and powering. I can turn the satellite dish any direction for 360 degrees and it never adjusts or changes from where it is when I initially start trying to adjust. This doesn't make any sense.