How do you know if your dish needs to be realigned?

I live in Hickory, NC (north of Charlotte) and have a Dish 1000, and a 622 DVR. I have been getting occasional picture pixilization in good weather. Lots of picture problems and brief dropouts in bad weather. More bothersome is that on certain channels the sound will have very brief pauses, just enough to notice. The sound issue is not connected with a bad picture.

Is there a way to check whether my satellite has moved slightly out of alignment? I am assuming that a tech visit is going to cost (how much?) so I don't want to just call Dish.

Thanks

Has this just recently happened or has it always been like that? Do you have a clear unobstructed path to the sat (no trees)? What is your signal strengths on the channels? Does it say locked for the most part or does it fluctuate a bunch? If signal strenth is weak and or fluctuates a bunch, a realignment may be in order. Heavy wind over time can knock it out of wack a bit over time. You can try yourself or have them come out. It may be something other than the dish alignment that is causing this.

OTA only, or all channels?

From your "symptoms" it sounds exactly like you need a better alignment on your dish.

I live in Hickory, NC (north of Charlotte) and have a Dish 1000, and a 622 DVR. I have been getting occasional picture pixilization in good weather. Lots of picture problems and brief dropouts in bad weather. More bothersome is that on certain channels the sound will have very brief pauses, just enough to notice. The sound issue is not connected with a bad picture.

Is there a way to check whether my satellite has moved slightly out of alignment? I am assuming that a tech visit is going to cost (how much?) so I don't want to just call Dish.

Thanks
Do you have a dish 1000,1000.2 or 1000+ if your locals are from Charolotte you may need a new dish, HD local channels are on 61.5 and 118