Thread: Help! I'm lost

I've been a regular here for the past few months reading everything about FTA, and finally took the leap, picked up a dish, a pansat motor and a PS3500s. (And finally registered here as a member)

Now my problems...

I setup my dish, an ultrasat 30" model, and hooked up my motor.

The problem, and I have seen it a million times around here, is that I cannot get a signal. I checked to make sure everything is plumb, and found my true south using the solar method. Since I'm in Kingston Ontario, I think my true south sat is AMC5?? I am using a FSKU-V LNBF, and I have it set to STANDARD in the menu setup on the unit. Should it be set to something else? Single, etc?? Should 22 be enabled? I have tried to move the whole unit by hand to find other sats, and still no go. I unhooked my ExpressVu dish and hooked it up to the FTA dish in the hopes that I would find Bell with the FTA, as it puts out more power than the AMC birds. Still no go. So other than settings, could it be the LNBF? I have no trees, and my line of site is good from East to west. This is making me crazy! I hooked my Bell dish to the Pansat, and I can get good quality, but the new dish and LNB give nothing. As I said, I've manually rotated this thing from E-W, up and down a million times. NOTHING. lol. I have no hair left to pull out (been bald since 93. hehe.

From what I have read, the chances of the LNB being bad are pretty rare. Does the motor need to be plugged into the DisC switch, or can it go straight to the 3500?

Any help would be appp.

Originally Posted by centra

I've been a regular here for the past few months reading everything about FTA, and finally took the leap, picked up a dish, a pansat motor and a PS3500s. (And finally registered here as a member)

Welcome to the forum. I've never seen a pansat motor. Are you sure it's a pansat? Are you sure it's not a USALS or an SG2100?

Originally Posted by centra

Now my problems...

I setup my dish, an ultrasat 30" model, and hooked up my motor.

The problem, and I have seen it a million times around here, is that I cannot get a signal. I checked to make sure everything is plumb, and found my true south using the solar method.

What do you mean, the solar method?

Originally Posted by centra

Since I'm in Kingston Ontario, I think my true south sat is AMC5??

If AMC5 is your true south? There are 2 strong signals found there. According to lyngsat, transponder 11742 Vertical polarity 11110 signal rate and transponder 12182 Horizontal polarity 23000 signal rate.

Originally Posted by centra

I am using a FSKU-V LNBF, and I have it set to STANDARD in the menu setup on the unit. Should it be set to something else? Single, etc??

I don't know if this is a problem or not, as I don't have a Universal lnb, and I think this is a Universal lnb. Most people in the states use Standard lnb's. I hope it will work. I have a Pansat and it's set to Standard 10750, but I'm using a Standard lnb.

Originally Posted by centra

Should 22 be enabled?

No.

Originally Posted by centra

I have tried to move the whole unit by hand to find other sats, and still no go. I unhooked my ExpressVu dish and hooked it up to the FTA dish in the hopes that I would find Bell with the FTA, as it puts out more power than the AMC birds. Still no go. So other than settings, could it be the LNBF?

Let's hope not. I'm sure it's just not lined up right, yet!

Originally Posted by centra

I have no trees, and my line of site is good from East to west. This is making me crazy! I hooked my Bell dish to the Pansat, and I can get good quality, but the new dish and LNB give nothing. As I said, I've manually rotated this thing from E-W, up and down a million times. NOTHING. lol. I have no hair left to pull out (been bald since 93. hehe.

From what I have read, the chances of the LNB being bad are pretty rare. Does the motor need to be plugged into the DisC switch, or can it go straight to the 3500?.

I'm fairly sure it's not the lnb. Your coax should go from the lnb to the motor to the Pansat. At this point, I don't see where you will need a Diseqc switch.

Originally Posted by centra

Any help would be appp.

Maybe someone else, like PSB will chime in with more/better help and give you your true south position. Hope any of this is at least a little help.

Al

Edit: This will probably be moved to the main FTA discussion area. And more people will see it and you'll get more help.

You can also buy a cheapo $20 satellite signal meter that will take a lot of the guesswork out of it. it's almost impossible to set your dish up accurately without one. Some of those sats are pretty weak and you move the dish a bit and the sigs gone. At least with a meter you know that your actually aimed at a satellite instead of off to the side or a little too high or a little too low.

Yup its a Pansat motor model # PM-900s, Its not bad, but it only has one set of drill holes through the pipe. Most have 2, one on the top, and another on the bottom. As for the Solar method finding true south, you will find the calculation at the NOAA site. Use a string hanging onto a plumb, and follow the shadow. lol. It does work pretty well, as long as the sun is out.




So I guess the default SAT settings on the 3500s are ok for the job. I was worried that I would have to change them to a special LNB.

I'll play in the morning again, and see what I can find. Someone suggested I try to find Dishnet at 110 or 119 as its pretty strong too, but I cant see it either. Once again I wired my Bell dish to the 3500 and pointed it at Dish, and it found them no problem. Why cant I find them with this FSKU and motor??? Very odd. I'll keep on playing..

Thanks

Moved out of the PC DVB area!!

Its a GOOD idea to find and store your TRUE south satellite before adding the motor to the scenario! Of course I realise everyone wants it all done NOW!

But thats the way I and many members here started, one step at a time!

Code:

            Latitude 44° 0.000'N Longitude 76° 0.000'W

                         Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
----------------------------------------------------------------
                       Telstar 12   15.0W 111.1 125.0 11.9 -42.2
                                 
                     Intelsat 901   18.0W 113.5 127.4 14.0 -41.3
                                 
                     Intelsat 603   20.0W 115.1 129.0 15.3 -40.6
                                 
                            NSS 7   22.0W 116.8 130.7 16.7 -40.0
                                 
                     Intelsat 905   24.5W 118.9 132.8 18.3 -39.0
                                 
                     Intelsat 907   27.5W 121.6 135.5 20.3 -37.8
                                 
                   Hispasat 1C/1D   30.0W 123.9 137.7 21.9 -36.7
                                 
                     Intelsat 801   31.5W 125.3 139.2 22.9 -36.0
                                 
                     Intelsat 903   34.5W 128.1 142.0 24.7 -34.5
                                 
              AMC 12 & Telstar 11   37.5W 131.1 145.0 26.5 -32.8
                                 
                          NSS 806   40.5W 134.2 148.1 28.2 -31.0
                                 
                        PAS 6B/3R   43.0W 136.9 150.8 29.5 -29.4
                                 
                           PAS 1R   45.0W 139.1 153.0 30.6 -28.1
                                 
                     Intelsat 705   50.0W 144.9 158.8 33.0 -24.4
                                 
                     Intelsat 707   53.0W 148.6 162.5 34.3 -22.0
                                 
                     Intelsat 805   55.5W 151.7 165.6 35.3 -19.9
                                 
                            PAS 9   58.0W 154.9 168.8 36.2 -17.7
                                 
                         Amazonas   61.0W 158.9 172.8 37.1 -15.0
                                 
           EchoStar 3 & Rainbow 1   61.5W 159.6 173.5 37.2 -14.5
                                 
                 Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 161.6 175.5 37.6 -13.1
                                 
                     Brasilsat B2   65.0W 164.4 178.3 38.1 -11.2
                                 
                     Brasilsat B1   70.0W 171.4 185.3 38.9  -6.2
                                 
                 Nahuel 1 & AMC 6   72.0W 174.3 188.1 39.1  -4.1
                                 
                        DirecTV 5   72.5W 175.0 188.9 39.2  -3.6
                                 
                            SBS 6   74.0W 177.1 191.0 39.2  -2.1
                                 
                            AMC 5   79.0W 184.3 198.2 39.2   3.1
                                 
                          Nimiq 2   82.0W 188.6 202.5 38.9   6.2
                                 
                            AMC 9   83.0W 190.0 203.9 38.8   7.2
                                 
                     Brasilsat B3   84.0W 191.4 205.3 38.6   8.2
                                 
                           AMC 16   85.0W 192.8 206.7 38.5   9.2
                                 
                            AMC 3   87.0W 195.6 209.5 38.1  11.2
                                 
              Intelsat Americas 8   89.0W 198.4 212.3 37.6  13.1
                                 
                 Galaxy 11/Nimiq1   91.0W 201.1 215.0 37.1  15.0
                                 
                     Brasilsat B4   92.0W 202.4 216.3 36.8  15.9
                                 
                        Telstar 6   93.0W 203.8 217.6 36.5  16.8
                                 
                        Galaxy 3C   95.0W 206.4 220.3 35.8  18.6
                                 
              Intelsat Americas 5   97.0W 208.9 222.8 35.1  20.4
                                 
                        Galaxy 4R   99.0W 211.4 225.3 34.3  22.0
                                 
                            AMC 4  101.0W 213.9 227.8 33.4  23.6
                                 
                            AMC 1  103.0W 216.3 230.2 32.5  25.2
                                 
                           AMC 15  105.0W 218.6 232.5 31.6  26.7
                                 
                          Anik F1  107.3W 221.2 235.1 30.4  28.3
                                 
         DirecTV 6 & EchoStar 6/8  110.0W 224.2 238.1 29.0  30.1
                                 
                          Anik F2  111.1W 225.3 239.2 28.4  30.8
                                 
                    Solidaridad 2  113.0W 227.3 241.2 27.3  31.9
                                 
                         SatMex 5  116.8W 231.2 245.1 25.1  34.1
                                 
          EchoStar 7 & DirecTV 7S  119.0W 233.3 247.2 23.8  35.2
                                 
  EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13  121.0W 235.2 249.1 22.5  36.2
                                 
                       Galaxy 10R  123.0W 237.1 251.0 21.3  37.1
                                 
                        Galaxy 12  125.0W 238.9 252.8 20.0  38.0
                                 
             Galaxy 13/Horizons 1  127.0W 240.6 254.5 18.7  38.8
                                 
 Intelsat Americas 7 & EchoStar 5  129.0W 242.4 256.3 17.4  39.6
                                 
                           AMC 11  131.0W 244.1 258.0 16.0  40.3
                                 
                        Galaxy 1R  133.0W 245.7 259.6 14.6  41.0
                                 
                           AMC 10  135.0W 247.3 261.2 13.3  41.6
                                 
                            AMC 7  137.0W 248.9 262.8 11.9  42.2
                                 
                            AMC 8  139.0W 250.5 264.4 10.5  42.7
                                 
                     EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 257.3 271.2  4.2  44.6

        Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

SBS6 @ 74w may be a better (closer) True South satellite to use from your area!