AZBOX PREMIUM HD FAILS WI-FI

[AcWxRadar]

Excellent work on being specific! Nice choice on the motor (if I may say so - that's the motor that I use).
Sadoun's is a really great store and Jamal is a really nice person to deal with. I have bought quite a few items through him and I was always pleased with his service!

So you are working with a one meter dish and the DG-380 motor. You did not mention which LNBF you were using, though. What do you have there?

RADAR

 

[vpaniyan]

LNBF - SADOUN, KUL1
I/P: 11.7 - 12.2 GHz
O/P: 950 - 1450 MHz
L.O.: 10.75 GHz
Noise: 0.4 db

 

[AcWxRadar]

LNBF - SADOUN, KUL1
I/P: 11.7 - 12.2 GHz
O/P: 950 - 1450 MHz
L.O.: 10.75 GHz
Noise: 0.4 db

Ok, Vpaniyan. I will look at your LNBF and get back with you.

I suggest for the interim that you look at the FTA signals from SatMex 5 @ 116.8W and Galaxy 23 @ 121.0W. There isn't much available on these sats, but they are as close as you can get to your truest south sat and still be FTA.

I am dropping off air until tomorrow. Got a bad tooth and I feel bad, so I need to quit for the night. I will return sometime tomorrow if you need me. Maybe others will jump in between. See you soon.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Vpaniyan,

Ensure that you set your mast absolutely plumb! This is always the #1 rule and it is extremely important to follow this instruction. All the other angles for your dish and your motor depend completely upon this angle (the plumbness) of your mast so that they are accurate. Just a slight tick off will make your arc tracking a major headache if not impossible.

With a short level, check the mast tube on at least three edges/sides to ensure that it is precisely vertical.

Also, enure that the mast is sturdy and well anchored. If you are going to take the time to be precise on the plumbness of the mast, you want it to remain that way.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Install your motor on the mast next. On your DG-380 motor, look at the latitude scale and the raised or embossed pointer arrow on the motor housing and align this to 34.2°.

If this is your true latitude, you will set it here and never readjust it again.

If you are unsure of how to read this or if you question the accuracy of this alignment, use an inclinometer or a gravity dial protractor. You can get a reliable one from a local hardware shop.
Place the inclinometer on the bottom of the motor and read the angle displayed. Subtract this displayed angle from 90° and that value should match your latitude setting on the motor bracket.
i.e 90° - motor elevation = motor latitude.

When aligned properly, the inclinometer should read 55.8° (55.8° + 34.2° = 90°). Elevation + Latitude = 90°

Make sure that the inclinometer is placed on the flat portion of the motor "belly" or underside and that it is perfectly parallel to the motor body. This does not give you a lot of room to work with as the bottom of the motor has limited area where it is truly flat, so be cautious and scrutinizing of the inclinometer's placement.

Once you have done this, you can verify the latitude scale and the setting of your motor's latitude angle. Now you have a direct confirmation of where the raised pointer should be dialed in to on the motor bracket's scale. Once this is set, don't readjust it!

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Before you attach the dish to the motor, connect your receiver and go to the USALS menu.
You can access this in the HOME > SETTINGS > TV CHANNEL > TUNER A > ANTENNA SETUP > POSITIONER SETUP > USALS menu tree.

Pick any satellite within your LOS here, preferrably one that you will be using in the future. The main point is that once the values are set here, they will be applied to all other satellites (provided that you do not erase or delete them later).

In the USALS settup window, enter your site longitude and latitude where it shows MY LONGITUDE / MY LATITUDE.

Your "MY LONGITUDE" entry will be followed by E for EAST. You want to change this to W for WEST if you reside in the western hemisphere. After entering the numeric digits, simply press the ? button on your remote and it will change or toggle the E/W to the desired selection.

Now, scroll your highlighted area (box) down to the COMMAND MODE line. Using the ? or ? buttons on your remote, select "GO TO 0". This should drive your motor to its HOME or zero degree position in the dead center of its travel. Now, go out to your motor installation and inspect this. There is an arrow pointer on your motor tube and a degree scale on your motor's housing. The arrow should be aligned at 0° on the scale.

If this is a little offset, don't be too excited, but if it is off by more than 1.5°, better step back and do some other checking! You have a problem somewhere. 99% of the time, there is no error here. So, we can continue if all is well.

You now have your mast plumb and your motor latitude angle set.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

You may now assemble your dish and attach your dish and dish brackets to to the motor tube.

Follow the specific instructions for the dish assembly that came with it (obviously) - - - We don't want to be "Red Green" here.

Pay very particular attention to the motor stem or tube and the center line of the dish and its' mounting brackets. There is a centerline or seam down the middle of the motor tube that should be perfectly centered when the motor is at 0°. Ensure that the vertical centerline of the dish and all mounting brackets are lined up with that same plane. There is no easy way to really measure this to be totally accurate, you just have to rely upon your good judgement and eyesight.

There is often a small cutout in the dish attachment bracket that allows you to see the seam of the motor tube. You can locate this area and be quite accurate if you align the seam in this "window". Many dish assemblies are a little different, but you should realize what you are looking for here. Just keep this idea in your mind as you proceed. Often, it is easier to view this without the dish reflector installed. The more you assemble the components, the more difficult it becomes to go back and look at each individual step and ensure its accuracy. Make sure you check and double check yourself all along the way.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

You now have your mast set and plumb, the motor attached to the mast and the dish attached to the motor.

Before you proceed any further, I want you to examine how the dish reflector attaches to its main bracket assembly and specifically the area where you will adjust the dish elevation.

Take a very close look at this area as there is something very important to MONITOR during the rest of the alignment process. Take some of your knowledge about gravity and lever arms and stress on structural components. Imagine driving your motor and dish to the far end of your horizon and THEN loosening your dish elevation bolts. What is going to happen to the bracket that holds the dish in place in that area? Gravity is going to "twist" that part of the frame because the weight of the dish is past the centerline. Right? Yes! So be very cautious and DO NOT make any adjustments to your dish elevation unless is it at the HOME or ZERO degree position. There, gravity is going to pull straight down on the dish assembly and not pull it off to one side and cock it.

Trust me thoroughly on this as this was the first mistake that I made when I started out and it took me a long time to figure it out. I was being extra cautious, but neglected to monitor this as I was not aware of it at the time and it bit me! It is such a subtle and small error that you would not think it was important, but it is very critical!

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Lets align your dish elevation.

You should follow the instructions in your installation manual for the dish and the motor for this. At least refer to them first, before using my numbers. I am going off a calculation and I am uncertain of your exact dish geometry. I looked for the manual for your dish on line, but did not locate one (yet) so I am just giving you a really close setting to start with.

I calculate that you should set your dish elevation to 29.46°. That is at least a starting point.

If your dish and motor manual instructions tell you otherwise, start with their instructions first. Okay?

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

You now have your mast set, plumb and sturdy. Your motor is attached and aligned for your latitude and your dish and brackets are attached to your motor tube.

What should you do next?

In your particular case, you have a KUL1 LNBF. This is a common and pretty good LNBF to use for FTA signals. Attach this to your dish and set it so that it has 0° polarization.
Polarization refers to the CW/CCW rotation of the LNBF assembly in its clamp. With a fixed point dish, you have to set this manually. With a motorized dish you set it to 0° and as the dish moves east or west, it automatically rotates the LNBF in this axis to compensate for the required polarization. The LNBF doesn't have to change its position in the clamp, it just goes along with the dish for the ride.

Linear FTA satellite signals can be visualized like the crosshairs in a gun scope. In the boresight you see a "+" where the wires cross. Imagine the "-" part of the "+" being required to remain parallel to the surface of the earth (a tangent to the earth being round as it is) and the "?" part of the "+" needing to be perpendicular to the earth's surface. You can imagine how the "+" sign tilts to the right or left from your due south point of view. When setting up your dish, the crosshairs "+" in your LNBF must align with the "+" of the satellite, so you have to lean your LNBF in the proper direction to follow the tilt of that specific satellite. With a motorized dish, you set this at ZERO degrees or straight up when looking at your truest due south satellite and the movement of the motor /dish compensates for the tilt in the satellite as the motor moves to keep everything aligned.

There is one satellite available to North America where this rule is broken, slightly. Anyone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it to be 103.0°W AMC 1. This satellite has an unnatural tilt and it is the only one like it. You can still get some of the channels and TPs to log in fine, but there are others that are missed (the lower power ones). The only way to do this sat properly is a single, fixed point dish with a LNBF polarization set to match this satellite's tilt. Unless there is a channel on this sat that you absolutely need, it is of no great concern to anyone. The strong TPs and channels still come in OK. Only a few are missing. I personaly do not miss them.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

The next issue also deals with the LNBF. But, rather than rotating it CW/CCW, we are concerned with what is called the FOCAL POINT. This is going to be simple for everyone to comprehend. Just remember being a kid with a magnifying glass out on the sidewalk. You learned quickly that to burn the ass off an ant or to start a piece of paper on fire that you had to adjust the FOCAL DISTANCE of the magnifying glass to make a concentrated beam of the sun's light on the subject. The same is true with your satellite dish and LNBF. It is just accomplished in a slightly different manner. The magnifying lens is now the fixed object (the dish reflector panel) and the "ant" is now the LNBF. So we are moving the "ant" or the LNBF to position it at the focal point.

Set your LNBF near the middle of its available adjutment (in and out) from the dish. There isn't a huge adjustment range for this. Maybe an inch or an inch and a half. But, it can make or break a singnal in some cases.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Now, what is next?

Well, you already know that there is NOT a FTA linear satellite directly south of you. ANIK F3 would be your nearest true south sat, but that is a weird bird and it is circular polarized and all the channels are encrypted. Not a good choice, sorry.

There is Echostar 14 at 119.0°. Again, sorry, that is not FTA. Another circular polarized sat with encrypted channels.

What to do?

You just have to go outside of the lines just a little. Not far. There are two FTA satellites that you can rely upon to get you started.

116.8°W SatMex 5 and 121.0° Galaxy 23.

There isn't much on these two sats in the Ku-Band spectrum that you will DESIRE to watch. However, you can use them for alignment purposes.

You will have to test these TPs to help you align your dish and motor.

Galaxy 23 Ku Band
TP 11990 MHz
POL: HORIZONTAL
SR: 3978 Ks/S
SID 1
VPID 1021 (MP2)
APID 1022 (MP2)
PCR 8190



SatMex5 Ku Band
TP: 12174 MHz
POL: HORIZONTAL
SR: 3935 Ks/S
SID 4
VPID: 4377 (MP2)
APID: 4385 (MP2)
PCR: 4377

You will have to enter these TPs and the data manually in most cases. These TPs and SATs may not be inluded in your factory list. You will eventually come around to the way that StarGaze and I have developed our own channel and satellite lists, but you are not at that step just yet. Do not play or experiment with your system files on the AZBox until you have your dish perfectly aligned.
Getting your dish perfectly aligned should take you one year. Yep! That is what I said, ONE YEAR. I can do it now in five minutes, but I already endured that "ONE YEAR" long ago. I hope you understand what I am saying. Truly and honestly, don't expect this endeavor to grant you perfect results right from the gate. Some folks get lucky and some have to work hard at it.

If you are one who doesn't mind working hard at this, I will help. Everyone here will help and advise you.

Don't mind me. I get rather wordy and long winded. You will have to wade through all my Bullsh!t. Well, I don't ever Bullsh!t anyone. I might guess at a lot of stuff, but I won't BS you.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Vpaniyan,

I must sign off now. I am celebrating the new year!

RADAR

 

[vpaniyan]

Radar,

The factory list already has 116.8 SATMEX 5 with following parameters:
TP frequency - 11722 MHZ
Symbol Rate -30000KS/s
Polarization - Horizontal
Modulation - DVB-S/QPSK
FEC 7/8
Pilot 0

I moved the dish a couple yards away from the old location.
I adjusted mast.
Still, strength is 83%, quality is 0% for SATMAX 5.

Do I need to change factory parameters with yours?
By the way not all your parameters are on the list:
SID 4
VPID: 4377 (MP2)
APID: 4385 (MP2)
PCR: 4377

What does mean strength = 83%

vpaniyan

 

[vpaniyan]

Radar,

I added TP 12174, but it is not on the lyngsat.com.
I tried different default Horizontal TPs for SATMEX 5 - no luck.

 

[vpaniyan]

Radar,

For 116.8 SATMAX 5, I have following setting:
LNB frequency - universal
DiSEqC - off
22KHZ tone - off
0/12V Swtch - 0V
LNB Power - on
TP Frequency - 12174 MHz
Positioner Setup - USALS
Network Search - Normal

Are the settings above are correct?

I have no a switch in my configuration.
My setup includes: receiver - motor - LNB

vpaniyan

 

[AcWxRadar]

Radar,

The factory list already has 116.8 SATMEX 5 with following parameters:
TP frequency - 11722 MHZ
Symbol Rate -30000KS/s
Polarization - Horizontal
Modulation - DVB-S/QPSK
FEC 7/8
Pilot 0

I moved the dish a couple yards away from the old location.
I adjusted mast.
Still, strength is 83%, quality is 0% for SATMAX 5.

Do I need to change factory parameters with yours?
By the way not all your parameters are on the list:
SID 4
VPID: 4377 (MP2)
APID: 4385 (MP2)
PCR: 4377

vpaniyan

Vpaniyan,

You may have to ADD a TP to the list. The factory listing may be out of date or inaccurate.

Got to the SAT/TP EDIT menu and when you have the TP FREQUENCY highlighted, press the ? or ? buttons on your remote to scroll to other TPs that are in the factory list.
If you have the following TPs, you can use any one of them TO HELP. I am checking them as I write to you so I know that they are providing signal. The only one that I can get a good channel from to verify is 12174 H. Use that TP as your final verification.


Unless noted, all TPs here are DVB-S/QPSK
11739 V SR 29997 FEC 7/8
11751 H SR 2499 FEC 1/2 DVBS2/QPSK
11819 V SR 29997 FEC 7/8
11961 H SR 5979 FEC 3/4 DVBS2/QPSK
12073 V SR 1003 FEC 3/4
12075 H SR 1999 FEC 1/2
12110 H SR 3924 FEC 1/2 DVBS2/8PSK
12174 H SR 3935 FEC 3/4
12179 V SR 18998 FEC 1/2 DVBS2/QPSK

The other parameters that I gave will not appear until you scan in the channel (they will be displayed when looking at the channel and pressing the OK button).

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Radar,

Still, strength is 83%, quality is 0% for SATMAX 5.

What does mean strength = 83%

vpaniyan

That is the signal strength. It includes not only the signal from any satellite, but also the amplifier and local oscillator noise generated by the LNBF and any background radiation noise from the surrounding environment. So this reading should always be indicating something. If it is always at zero or close to that, then the LNBF is disconnected, faulty, dead or the settings in the menus do not match it properly.

The QUALITY level is the one you really want to pay attention to. That picks out the actual satellite signal from all the other noise.

Radar,

I added TP 12174, but it is not on the lyngsat.com.
I tried different default Horizontal TPs for SATMEX 5 - no luck.

Lyngsat has it listed, but they have it posted as 12175. Don't mind this discrepancy. There are variations in your LNBF and in your tuner which can lead to slight disagreements in the TP frequency. I could have two identical boxes running with two identical dishes and blind scan in two different TP frequencies. They may vary +/-3 MHz and in some cases more. The outdoor temperature is going to affect this also. In the summer, it might scan in as one frequency and in the cold dead of winter scan in slightly different.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Radar,

For 116.8 SATMAX 5, I have following setting:
LNB frequency - universal
DiSEqC - off
22KHZ tone - off
0/12V Swtch - 0V
LNB Power - on
TP Frequency - 12174 MHz
Positioner Setup - USALS
Network Search - Normal

Are the settings above are correct?

I have no a switch in my configuration.
My setup includes: receiver - motor - LNB

vpaniyan

Your LNB FREQUENCY should not be universal. The KUL1 LNBF is a STANDARD linear LNBF and therefore the LNB FREQUENCY should be set to 10750.
If you look up the specifications for the KUL1 on Sadouns site, it lists the L.O. frequency as 10.750 GHz (which is 10750 MHz).
The L.O. is the Local Oscillator frequency or the LNB frequency.
Everything else is great.

RADAR

 

[vpaniyan]

Radar,

Please see two pictures of my dish on the top of the garage and let me know if the wires in the front of the dish can make signal quality = 0
The current position is a temporary one.
After I learn to use the equipment, I,ll move it to the house roof.
a temporary location until I learn to use the equipment then I'll move it from the top of the garage to the house roof.