Patent ID: 8112779

Claim:
A method of confirming alignment of an antenna with at least one satellite, comprising: securing an antenna on a mounting surface; distributing signals from the antenna to a receiver/decoder medium; physically moving the antenna without removing the antenna from the mounting surface until an indicator signals that the antenna is aligned with the at least one satellite by a measured signal strength; storing the measured signal strength on the receiver/decoder medium; communicating the measured signal strength measured at the receiver/decoder medium to a data processing facility at a broadcast provider via a communications link other than the satellite when the alignment is performed; and using the communicated signal strength to confirm proper alignment of the antenna with the at least one satellite by comparing, at the data processing facility, the measured signal strength with an expected calculated signal strength at the location of the antenna, wherein the expected calculated signal strength is calculated through averaging signal strength information over time and historical trending of the signal strength information, the expected calculated signal strength being stored at the broadcast provider.