Shaw Direct Satellite Signal and Dish Alignment questions - Page 20 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

Bayguy · 2012-05-01, 01:31 AM

Jim i doubt that the sun is out at Danny's house at night.

Anyway its almost May now so no sun tranits.

Jimsathome · 2012-05-01, 02:13 AM

Yea, I thought it was stupid when I posted it, but I'm not sure of the effects that far north.

Danny001 · 2012-05-01, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bayguy

Jim i doubt that the sun is out at Danny's house at night.

Anyway its almost May now so no sun tranits.

actually the Sun is out 24 hours a day now until September

...... I woke up this morning and the receivers still have no signal. The only thing I could think of was the Switch lost power, but it still has the red light on it outside.

gzink · 2012-05-01, 03:31 PM

Is everything away from the snow/moisture?

Danny001 · 2012-05-01, 08:06 PM

found out that I thought the light was on on the switch but turns out it wasn't. In the process of figuring this out, I also broke the the pin off the power supply cord that plugs into the switch, so now I need a new Cord. Any idea if I can buy just a cord or do I have to buy a whole new switch?

Sirius Guy · 2012-05-01, 09:18 PM

you should be able to use a piece of rg6 cable with male ends , screw one end on the switch the other onto the ac adaptor f81 connector.

Danny001 · 2012-05-01, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirius Guy

you should be able to use a piece of rg6 cable with male ends , screw one end on the switch the other onto the ac adaptor f81 connector.

genius lol, never thought of that for some reason....must be all this sun light!

mitigator · 2012-05-04, 05:59 PM

My neice's Shaw Dish which we set up for her in Oct on the Friends & Family setup has gone out of alignment due to high winds and they are getting a lot of Pixelization and lost HD channels on Shaw Direct.

My question is I have used a Craftsman Multi-function Digital level in the past to measure Inclination and Declination on my Big Mesh Dish. Does anyone know if this Magnetic Level will work or is valid for measuring the required 31.64 Dish Elevation for Winnipeg if it is placed under the arm out to the Shaw Quad LNB on my neice's 60 cm Shaw Dish? We could then adjust for the required 33 degrees but I'm not sure if this works or applies for a small Dish. Any replies would be very much appreciated.

majortom · 2012-05-04, 06:45 PM

I'm just guessing, your Big Dish is probably a prime focus antenna.
The smaller Ku band dishes are typically Offset feed antennas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_dish_antenna

http://www.shawdirect.ca/english/doc...Manual_Eng.pdf

Just use the elevation marks as indicated on page 6 of their installation manual document. Then once ya know ya got a signal, use the diagnostics of the STB to peak up the signal while ur fine tuning that setting to get the best signal quality. Once peaked up the best ya can get, tighten it down. Once locked down make sure it didn't change on ya.

I would definitely use the level on all sides of the pipe mount, to make sure it's perfectly plumb prior to adjusting anything.

Simonizer · 2012-05-04, 09:14 PM

FWIW, I have my own motorized FTA setup, using an elliptical 33" by 30" dish. I get a 97 signal strength, with a 10.4 db rating. So it can be done on your own.

I like talking to Shaw employees about my own setup... they think I've done a great job in setting things up properly, and they give me tons of praise!

Sirius Guy · 2012-05-04, 09:53 PM

if you got a picture and just a low signal causing trouble, we are talking very minor adjustments are needed.
Pull up the signal meter on the tv and before you loosen anything simply push or pull the dish , left/right and up and down (eg push dish to the left and hold - does signal drop or increase -will tell you which way the dish needs to go. Push up and hold - same thing will tell you if dish needs an elevation adjustment.

mitigator · 2012-05-05, 04:05 AM

Thanks for the info Majortom & guys. We had mounted the Shaw Dish on a 8 Ft Tripod and anchored it using Sidewalk Blocks with screws through them. So maybe there was some shifting over the winter. We will definately check for Plumb (level) before any adjustments, which hopefully should be minor. Hope to find out tomorrow.

Majortom my Big Dish is a 12 Ft Unimesh - got it from a guy on Kijiji 5 years ago, and I use the Sears Digital Level to fine tune the Adjustments for Inclination & Declination which equals 6.6 degrees (57.2 - 50.6 = 6.6) when I am on Sat 97.0W - my true South Sat for Winnipeg.

classicsat · 2012-05-06, 09:31 AM

You only need the level to set the plumb of the pole. Elevation and Skew are set to the scales on the dish.

Jimsathome · 2012-05-06, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirius Guy

if you got a picture and just a low signal causing trouble, we are talking very minor adjustments are needed.
Pull up the signal meter on the tv and before you loosen anything simply push or pull the dish , left/right and up and down (eg push dish to the left and hold - does signal drop or increase -will tell you which way the dish needs to go. Push up and hold - same thing will tell you if dish needs an elevation adjustment.

I'm with Sirius Guy on this. Normally I'd too would make the vertical mount 100% plumb but in your case it's probably only out a degree or so in either, or both, planes. So I doubt I'd bother.

First take a Sharpie and mark the adjustments on the pole so you can get back there in case you it get messed up and need to start over. I'd start with asimuth. Just flex the dish in one direction and hold it there while you read the Signal Strength & Ecbno values on the worst channel that you get a picture. (Takes about 10 seconds to stabilize each time you adjust). If it improves, loosen the bolts so you can move it that direction a degree (or so) at a time while monitoring the Signal Strength & Ecbno values on the STB (set top box). If it goes down push the dish in the opposite direction. Once you peak out the asimuth, then lock down those fasteners for now.

Then flex the elevation up or down on the same channel while you continue to read the Signal Strength & Ecbno values on the STB. The procedure is the same. If the signal goes up...

Once both are tweaked then go back and check the asimuth again for final adjustments. And again on the elevation - just to max them out.

Once you've got that done sit back and enjoy!

mitigator · 2012-05-06, 06:06 PM

Got it resolved, Tree Branch just above the Dish. When I got there my Neice said there was no picture at all & signal level was down to 49% on channel 299. Pole plumb level was 88.8 degrees instead of the objective of 90 degrees. So we tried Skew and slight East an West adjustments and brought Signal Level back to 79%. Nothing more would help improve the Signal Level. The best we could get last Oct was 82%. Just a note we had to place the dish and tripod right at the back of her yard last Oct because there is an big high appartment block next door, and the only decent shot to the Horizon was way at the back of the yard near some trees.

So I noticed a small tree branch that was above the 60 cm Dish, as they had cleared & trimmed everything else. So I said lets cut that branch off as well. Now this branch was NOT in the direct line of site - it was definately just above the Dish, so we cut it off - and Bang Reception instantly went up to 97!! Checked channel 700 and reception level was also 97!!

Problem resolved, but still trying to figure out how a small tree branch now with greenery on it and above the Dish can affect reception that much ie 20 points, - but it sure did. Thanks guys for the help and I hope this experience helps others.

2012-05-01, 02:13 AM	#287
Jimsathome Join Date: May 2009 Location: West Coast of Canada - God's Country Posts: 413	Yea, I thought it was stupid when I posted it, but I'm not sure of the effects that far north. __________________ Regards, Jim

2012-05-04, 05:59 PM	#293
mitigator Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 80	Measuring Dish Elevation with Digital Level Question My neice's Shaw Dish which we set up for her in Oct on the Friends & Family setup has gone out of alignment due to high winds and they are getting a lot of Pixelization and lost HD channels on Shaw Direct. My question is I have used a Craftsman Multi-function Digital level in the past to measure Inclination and Declination on my Big Mesh Dish. Does anyone know if this Magnetic Level will work or is valid for measuring the required 31.64 Dish Elevation for Winnipeg if it is placed under the arm out to the Shaw Quad LNB on my neice's 60 cm Shaw Dish? We could then adjust for the required 33 degrees but I'm not sure if this works or applies for a small Dish. Any replies would be very much appreciated.

2012-05-04, 06:45 PM	#294
majortom Veteran Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 2,564	I'm just guessing, your Big Dish is probably a prime focus antenna. The smaller Ku band dishes are typically Offset feed antennas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_dish_antenna http://www.shawdirect.ca/english/doc...Manual_Eng.pdf Just use the elevation marks as indicated on page 6 of their installation manual document. Then once ya know ya got a signal, use the diagnostics of the STB to peak up the signal while ur fine tuning that setting to get the best signal quality. Once peaked up the best ya can get, tighten it down. Once locked down make sure it didn't change on ya. I would definitely use the level on all sides of the pipe mount, to make sure it's perfectly plumb prior to adjusting anything. __________________ uhf/vhf combo rotor chimney mount homebrew vhf hi hpf ap-8700 preamp 4way split lg lcd dtt901 pctuner mythtv

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2012-05-01, 01:31 AM	#286
Bayguy Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Baja BC Posts: 430	Jim i doubt that the sun is out at Danny's house at night. Anyway its almost May now so no sun tranits.

2012-05-01, 03:31 PM	#289
gzink Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 912	Is everything away from the snow/moisture?

2012-05-01, 08:06 PM	#290
Danny001 Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 334	found out that I thought the light was on on the switch but turns out it wasn't. In the process of figuring this out, I also broke the the pin off the power supply cord that plugs into the switch, so now I need a new Cord. Any idea if I can buy just a cord or do I have to buy a whole new switch?

2012-05-01, 09:18 PM	#291
Sirius Guy Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 638	you should be able to use a piece of rg6 cable with male ends , screw one end on the switch the other onto the ac adaptor f81 connector.

2012-05-04, 09:14 PM	#295
Simonizer Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 306	FWIW, I have my own motorized FTA setup, using an elliptical 33" by 30" dish. I get a 97 signal strength, with a 10.4 db rating. So it can be done on your own. I like talking to Shaw employees about my own setup... they think I've done a great job in setting things up properly, and they give me tons of praise!

2012-05-04, 09:53 PM	#296
Sirius Guy Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 638	if you got a picture and just a low signal causing trouble, we are talking very minor adjustments are needed. Pull up the signal meter on the tv and before you loosen anything simply push or pull the dish , left/right and up and down (eg push dish to the left and hold - does signal drop or increase -will tell you which way the dish needs to go. Push up and hold - same thing will tell you if dish needs an elevation adjustment.

2012-05-05, 04:05 AM	#297
mitigator Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 80	Thanks for the info Majortom & guys. We had mounted the Shaw Dish on a 8 Ft Tripod and anchored it using Sidewalk Blocks with screws through them. So maybe there was some shifting over the winter. We will definately check for Plumb (level) before any adjustments, which hopefully should be minor. Hope to find out tomorrow. Majortom my Big Dish is a 12 Ft Unimesh - got it from a guy on Kijiji 5 years ago, and I use the Sears Digital Level to fine tune the Adjustments for Inclination & Declination which equals 6.6 degrees (57.2 - 50.6 = 6.6) when I am on Sat 97.0W - my true South Sat for Winnipeg.

2012-05-06, 09:31 AM	#298
classicsat Veteran Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Kincardine ON. Posts: 3,945	You only need the level to set the plumb of the pole. Elevation and Skew are set to the scales on the dish.

2012-05-06, 06:06 PM	#300
mitigator Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 80	Got it resolved, Tree Branch just above the Dish. When I got there my Neice said there was no picture at all & signal level was down to 49% on channel 299. Pole plumb level was 88.8 degrees instead of the objective of 90 degrees. So we tried Skew and slight East an West adjustments and brought Signal Level back to 79%. Nothing more would help improve the Signal Level. The best we could get last Oct was 82%. Just a note we had to place the dish and tripod right at the back of her yard last Oct because there is an big high appartment block next door, and the only decent shot to the Horizon was way at the back of the yard near some trees. So I noticed a small tree branch that was above the 60 cm Dish, as they had cleared & trimmed everything else. So I said lets cut that branch off as well. Now this branch was NOT in the direct line of site - it was definately just above the Dish, so we cut it off - and Bang Reception instantly went up to 97!! Checked channel 700 and reception level was also 97!! Problem resolved, but still trying to figure out how a small tree branch now with greenery on it and above the Dish can affect reception that much ie 20 points, - but it sure did. Thanks guys for the help and I hope this experience helps others.