This week I received and put together the 1m dish. Going to install it during the week.
Regarding the install, I plan to install it on the shed roof (back end of the shed to eleminate the neighbours from seeing it and complaining about it).
Should I install it using the J-mount and support legs the dish came with, or use a pole driven into the ground?
My concern about the ground pole is all wires in this suburb are underground and the last thing I need is to cut phone, cable and/or power to the block.
Amen to the OneCall, as its known here in south Arkansas. Having that ID # from them has saved me more than a few times. ( we do some excavation work from time to time), If i hit unmarked underground utilities, and I have, Im not responsible for the cost to repair, or any damages.
First off: is it normal to pick up different signals from different satellites from one location? Am getting signals from all over I have no idea if am at 97, 83 or anywhere in between.
2nd: can someone confirm the true south satellite for my location is indeed AMC6 (72w) ? Other searches say its AMC5 (79w)? lat 45 // long 73
It is important to initial aim and set ot TS, or will any sat do?
Your true south satellite is the satellite at the same longitude as your location. It looks like you're in South Shore Quebec which is at longitude of 73, in that case the closest satellite would be 72.
To answer your first question; you should only be receiving signal from one satellite at a time if you have just one LNB. What channels are you receiving? we may be able to tell you what satellite you're pointed at.
Spent an hour on the roof last night to no avail. Can someone please confirm
there is a signal on AMC5 (72w), 12055/6890 ?? I used this as a point of reference and never got close.
From personal experience with my own FTA aiming challenges, I am willing to bet your mast is not really stable and totally, truly plumb in all directions.
And/or your dish elevation angles are out of whack.
Kraven
U must mean AMC6 72W? Good man that's why I always say post both Name and Longitude position, lessens confusion...
That's an NBC Mux, signal is always there, but not every program has video on it 24/7.
If your receiving it, you'll scan in 4 channels for sure, named similar to below.
Code:
NBC Feed 1 AMC 6 72°W 12053 V 6890 5/6 Variable--often national feed Dec 06, 2010
NBC Feed 2 AMC 6 72°W 12053 V 6890 5/6 CNBC, MSNBC, TWC, etc Dec 06, 2010
NBC Feed 3 AMC 6 72°W 12053 V 6890 5/6 Dec 06, 2010
NBC Feed 4 AMC 6 72°W 12053 V 6890 5/6 Dec 06, 2010
What a night. I took down the dish, confirmed the mass was level and the motor was at 0. put everything back up and set it to 12055//6890/auto/auto. When the signal reached 66% with 0 Quality, I did a blind scan and was on AMC9 (retro, tuff, KNBC x2, AMC9/F3) but no AMC6.
Am starting to think there is nothing on 12055. Am going to retry tonight w/ 12053 as MT suggests.
Cheers, K
PS- The S10 should be in by the end of the week. Afterwards, am taking this Viewsat Ultra and will catapult it off the Champlain bridge.
always try up & dn +/- a couple megahertz, especially on Ku Band, when trying to get a lock on posted feeds.
That NBC mux always has signal, and is QPSK, so shouldn't be difficult to find. If it still is, take a deep breath, few steps back
and think about what ur doing, as ur likely doing something wrong.
Unfortunately I don't have any real world experience with the small dishes/ Diseqc or USALS motor setups.
Just traditional C/Ku BUD dishes and fixed pizza dishes.
Before you do anything, make sure the antenna mast is plumb -- check this with a magnetic torpedo level -- TWICE -- at right angles (12 o'clock and three o'clock on the mast). If the mast isn't plumb you will be assaulted by a never-ending string of aiming problems.
Make sure you get your latitude / longitude figures right -- there are a few sites on the internet that can give you this information based on you street address, city and postal code. If you are using USALS to move the dish motor, you will need to enter this information into the set top box.
You will also need to set the motor angle according to that information. You will then need to set this dish angle. Read the manual to see how to do this.
Thanks MT! I used your numbers (12053/6869/v) and picked up 72W after 10 minutes (NBC mux quality at 70%).
Its not exactly aimed perfectly and the dish is still a tad loose but its a good start (initially I had 60% Quality until I moved the motor one notch to West).
Since I used the motor to improve quality, does this mean the LNB had to be skewed a bit?
Anywho, afterwards, I added the longitude and latitude and let USALS do the rest. Most satellites were dead on. However, since am using a viewsat ultra, the sat list wasnt complete and missing quite a few. The openbox S10 arrived yesterday and going to pick it up today.
First off... Usals on the S10 blows! Being said, I now have most satellites programmed in via disq1.2. However, would anyone have strong transponders for amc16 (85w), galaxy 16 (99w), Anikf2 (111w) and Galaxy13 (127w) so I can complete the setup?
Also, is it normal that I can never seem to get more then 75% quality?
For the S9 on my antenna, yes. Strongest DVB-S2 8PSK signal I have seen so far "quality" wise are the
2 CBC mux on Anik F1, at ~ 85% Qual. I have seen ~ 90% Qual on some Galaxy 17 91W CBand DVB-S / QPSK Transponders though.
If I had to guess, probably 95% of what i get is in the 70's Qual wise. Other tuners I have will indicate higher, but that's all relative to each tuner eh...
Ok I have been playing with ku-band fta for about 8 years now but have recently ventured into Cband and need a bit of clarification. I purchased the 6 foot polar mount dish and the gospell cband lnbf from Dr. Sat, installed the post(nice stainless steel one) and mounted the dish and lnbf. Pole is straight and all the measurements across the dish and such seem ok but when I scan SES2(AMC3) all I get is the Rogers Communication feed at 3973 and instead of vertical it shows up as horizontal, it is however at 70% quality so I'm thinking I have the dish pointed not too bad and should get some more channels. On the LNBF are a series of numbers 30 thru to 42 I think on the body of the LNBF and at the back the 0 thru 30 degrees to set the skew on the LNBF turned about 1.5 - 2 degrees as I'm not pointing at my due south. Just wondering if I am missing something, I set the focal point according to the assembly instructions for the dish although the scalar ring doesn't seem to grab the LNBF that good or perhaps the LNBF is out of phase, any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
magog45, Although I am not familiar with that feed, as I read your post my first thought was your lnbf was a quarter turn (90 degrees) out of alignment. Meaning all the Verticals will show as Horizontal and vice versa.
Hello fta 'ers.I just installed a 90cm fortec star with an ariza single lnb and a 2year old kbox(new) receiver.As far as I know the lnb is good.I cover it up and the signal goes down a little and the coax is good because the in-line signal meter works.With a compass and the markings on the side of the dish I got as close as I could and then used the meter to dial in galaxy 19.Here's the problem,signal doesn't seem to mean much but quality is 20 but they're both red.Would I be right in thinking that I'm pointed at the wrong sat.
When you say quality is 20, has that reading risen from the minimum reading (noise) compared with before you aimed the dish, or is it just the minimum reading? As mj says, have you used a level to confirm your mast is plumb? I suspect you are not receiving any signal. On Galaxy 19 at 97W, what transponder did you select while moving the dish? Have you tried adjusting elevation as well? Since you're in NS like me, why not try for a satellite that is closer to your own longitude (higher in the sky) like SES 2 at 87W or AMC 9 at 83W? For SES 2, try 11720, horizontal polarity, symbol rate (SR) of 4858, or AMC 9 with 11735, horizontal, and SR of 4439?
to answer your question it'd help if we knew what the "right" satellite was, where you are and what azimuth / elevation settings you are using.
I'll tell ya straight up, the most common mistake new people make setting up an az/el dish, is starting out with a mounting pipe that isn't plumb. 9 times out of 10 they'll just "eyeball" it, then wonder why they can't get any signal quality.
If the mount isn't plumb prior to plopping the dish on it, all bets are off trying to get a good aim.
Thank you for the info.My mast is perfectly plumb and very solid.The quality is always at 20 ,it doesn't seem to move.With a signal meter( no meter just a beeper)I get a signal then using the receiver I sweep back and forth starting at a lower elevation and gradually move it higher very slowly.I didn't pick a transponder it doesn't seem to let me.On the set up screen it only wants the sat and the freq. of the lnb.
You must select a transponder that you know has a signal being transmitted. So you need to learn how to do that on your receiver. No point continuing to search for a satellite with your dish until this is done.
Use the calculated information under "Dish Setup Data" to align your dish.
If you have set the Elevation of the dish, and Skew of the LNBF correctly, ya shouldn't even need a compass. Just pan back & forth east - west.
No further adjustment of elevation & Skew should be necessary.
Failing that, you can place the antenna in dishpointer at the exact location
of your antenna in your yard, follow the green line which is pointing to the satellite you selected. find a distant object in your neighborhood that you recognise that the Green Line crosses over. NOw go back to the antenna and Aim for that distant object. Ya should be pretty close to dead nuts on now azimuth and elevation wise if ya did everything right.
All this requires that the receiver is tuned to an active transponder so ya can watch the quality as ya align the antenna.
(It would be just like tuning your TV antenna looking for Channel 9 with your TV tuned to Channel7, you'd never see anything)
Don't know anything about the specifics of your receiver, so can't help ya setting it up. Only that the LO frequency printed on the LNBF itself should match the LNB LO Frequency you configure in the receiver's settings. Pretty safe to say that goes for any receiver.
What did you plug in for that? Is it right?
Bottom line at the end of the day as can be said for just about anything, if we're doing something and it seems hard, we're probably doing it wrong.
also to add between adjustments wait min 1-2mins for receiver to see changes made! just my opion!
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