The signal strength meter is not really important, since it includes noise. That's why no matter which direction you point your dish at, the signal meter does not really react. The signal strength only jumps up when you are close to hit a satellite.
The advantage of using the signal meter is that each satellite has its own freq, meaning if you use a freq on AMC5 which is not availabe on other closeby one, once you get lock, you are 100% sure your dish hits AMC5. In contrast, the external meter only shows you the dish hits on a satellite, no indication on which sat you lock on. There are other expensive portable signal meter which can tell you what sat the dish locks on. These are for professional
installer.
Below is a list of active transponders on AMC5:
11742 V 11110
11808 H 4146
12182 H 23000.
Few things to double check:
Lnbf power: On.
Double click at LO universal: Low 9750, high 10600.
Don't place the compass close to the dish. It will show you wrong direction.
This might be silly but still worth checking: make sure the cable connected to the "sat in" or "signal in". There are 2 ports, one is signal in, the other is signal out.
That's all I can think off. If you live in N.California (Bay Area), let me know. I might be able to come over to tune the dish for you.
Michael