Abstract: A satellite receiver for digitally encoded television signals includes apparatus for generating a signal indicating the alignment of the receiving antenna which is responsive to the number of errors contained in the digitally encoded television signals. The antenna alignment signal has the form of an audio signal which is coupled to sound reproducing device associated with the satellite receiver. The audio signal corresponds to a continuous tone when the number of errors is less than a predetermined threshold indicating that error correction is possible. The elevation of the antenna is set according with the location of the receiving site. Thereafter, the azimuth of the antenna is coarsely aligned by first rotating the antenna in small increments so locate a region in which the continuous tone is produced. During this coarse alignment procedure, the tuner of the satellite receiver attempts to locate a tuning frequency at which and demodulation and error correction is possible.

Abstract: A satellite receiver for digitally encoded television signals includes apparatus for aligning the receiving antenna which is responsive to the number of errors contained in the digitally encoded television signals. Error correction is possible if the number of errors is below a threshold and not possible if the number of errors is above the threshold. The elevation of the antenna is set according to the location of the receiving site. Thereafter, the azimuth of the antenna is coarsely aligned by first rotating the antenna in small increments to locate a region in which error correction is possible. During this coarse alignment procedure, the tuner of the satellite receiver attempts to locate a tuning frequency at which and demodulation and error correction is possible. If no appropriate frequency is found after a range of frequencies have been searched, the antenna is rotated by a small increment.