FTA Dish Installation Help....

[ta guy]

Ok I'll figure it out myself.

[majortom]

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.

[cyberham]

Originally Posted by ta guy

...I just installed a 90cm fortec star with an ariza single lnb and a 2year old kbox(new) receiver...

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?

[ta guy]

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.

[cyberham]

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.

[majortom]

go here, plug in your address

http://www.dishpointer.com/
Select the 97W satellite (assuming that is what ur looking for).

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.

[mr shady]

also to add between adjustments wait min 1-2mins for receiver to see changes made! just my opion!

[ta guy]

Thank you I've been on dishpointer and lyngsat to get all the right degrees.I did some more digging and figured out how to set it for a certain transponder.I have been waiting about a minute between movements because I heard they can be slow.I even have the lnb skew from dishpointer(27.7).So thanks guy,s I think now I'll have a fighting chance at getting it working.

[ta guy]

Thanks everybody, I got it working on 97w.Quality of 95.I think now I'll try the bird with all the pbs channels or the one with PBJ,RTV,and TUFF on it.

[cyberham]

You got it for sure if 95%. These nights in NS here all 3 Louisiana Public Broadcasts on SES 2 at 87W are coming in well if you can receive DVB-S2 signals. And there's other good stuff on that sat too. Last year PBS came in great too from AMC 21 at 125W. They probably still are. That sat is not currently visible for me now from my current dish position.

[ta guy]

I would motorize it but stupid me in trying to shield it from the wind a little put it on a porch roof.My porch is 1 floor high,my house is 2 floors high.I put it a little too close to get my true south sat.I even made an extra bracket to really steady the dish so it has 3 extra supports on the pole.So with 7 bolt holes in all it's staying right where it is.

[cyberham]

No problem...buy a second dish and motorize it.

[ta guy]

Just what I was thinking about. I'll probably get another dish someday and motorize it.Babysteps.

[cyberham]

Did you know on Highway 2, around Moose River, Economy and east, there are MANY 10-foot C-band dishes installed but maybe not being used in farmers' yards?

[ta guy]

Did not see those 10 footers but I'll stick to smaller ones