Can't get Sky Angel

angelstar

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Original poster
Sep 25, 2005
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I signed up with Sky Angel on the 21st and have been trying to get a signal ever since!! I have my equipment from when I had Dish Network and it is a Dish 500 with receiver. We have used the compass and gotten our alignments just perfect, but to no avail! Is there something else anyone could suggest? I tried to call Sky Angel today, but their service department was all ready closed. I really have been wanting Sky Angel for a long time, but am totally frustrated by the fact that I can't get it tuned in! I don't get any kind of a signal at all on the bar. It's completely red. We saved for a long time to get Sky Angel and I just can't afford to have a tech come out. Thanks for your help!
 
sa

angelstar said:
I signed up with Sky Angel on the 21st and have been trying to get a signal ever since!! I have my equipment from when I had Dish Network and it is a Dish 500 with receiver. We have used the compass and gotten our alignments just perfect, but to no avail! Is there something else anyone could suggest? I tried to call Sky Angel today, but their service department was all ready closed. I really have been wanting Sky Angel for a long time, but am totally frustrated by the fact that I can't get it tuned in! I don't get any kind of a signal at all on the bar. It's completely red. We saved for a long time to get Sky Angel and I just can't afford to have a tech come out. Thanks for your help!
what transponder are you using? Not all are active. I think SA is like transponder 30 or something like that anyway try another transponder. What LNB are you using? If you are trying to use a twin that could be tough. Also if you are using a dish 500 is your skew set flat? Also trees? The look angle to the satellite is like 22 degrees higher than it looks. When in doubt I place a yard stick on top of t he LNB and under the bottom lip of the dish and that approximates the look angle for the dish. Keep trying let us knoww what you have for dish and lnb etc and is this the same dish and LNB as you used before.
 
Welcome to Satelliteguys!

It is probably NOT A PROBLEM. Can you see channel 580 on your receiver? If the answer is yes, you are getting signal from 61.5°. Be patient!

Since Dominion is using the Echostar uplink facilities to deliver the signal to the viewer's home, Dominion notifies Echostar to activate a customer. This will take anywhere from two to four BUSINESS days. This means if Sky Angel programming is ordered on a Friday evening after Echostar's "regular" office hours , it MAY take up to the following Thursday before the programming is activated. This is a worst case scenario and is usually completed in two business days. Sky Angel has no control over this at the moment. Please remember, they want to get programming to you as soon as possible too!

Hope this helps!

See ya
Tony
 
angelstar said:
I don't get any kind of a signal at all on the bar. It's completely red. We saved for a long time to get Sky Angel and I just can't afford to have a tech come out. Thanks for your help!
Tony it looks to me like he has a signal problem
 
Woops! I missed that last sentence!

Okay...There are several inactive TPs at 61.5°. Sky Angel uses transponders 25 and 32 so use them to get your signal levels.

Remember that a Dish 500 is a dual focus Dish. Be sure that the skew is set to 90(?) Horizontal. Also make absolutely sure that the mount is perfectly plumb.

Some one else here may need to jump in here to help. I haven't actually done an install in 8 years!

Good luck

See ya
Tony
 
I really appreciate everyone's input on this! I have transponder 25 set as that's what Sky Angel told me to use. I actually called them on the 22nd and even though it's usually 48 hours before things are activated, they went ahead and activated for me. The problem seems to be the signal. I have to confess, I do not know what you mean by LNB. Could you enlighten me? You mention using a "twin" - what is this? Is this the end of the arm on the satellite? It does seem to have two sections at the end. Is there anything I can do about this? This is all my original equipment I had when I used Dish Network. I had them from 2001 to 2004. My dish is at 90 degree angle, with a 23 degree lift. I'm also using a 102 azimuth (sp?) These were all the numbers given to me by Sky Angel. I can not view any channels including 580 - all it will let me do is go to the menu. When I get to the menu area of point satellite, I put it on 61.5 W and a 25 transponder. I still get the red bar at the bottom, and of course, until I have some kind of signal Sky Angel cannot activate my channels. Any ideas on all this? Sorry for such a long post. I just want to make sure I give you all the information. Thanks for all your help!
 
If you're reasonably sure your pointing is correct, try swinging the dish back and forth slowly, raising or lowering the elevation a degree or so each time. You should eventually hit what you're looking for.

Where are you located? With 25000+ members here maybe somebody could offer to come by and give you some help.
 
The LNB is the actual receiving element on the arm of the dish assembly. The dish focuses the signal to the LNB

This is a picture of a legacy "quad" LNB
QuadLNB.jpg

It stands for Low Noise Block converter. Some people may call it an LNBf. (F= Feedhorn)

You need to have a single run of RG6 cable from the LNB to the receiver. If the LNB is a twin, you need to use the "correct" side. (I really need an installer to take it from here).

Good Luck!

See ya
Tony

See ya
Tony
 
We have tried doing that, but will try again in the morning. We just went out and covered the right eye with tin foil as I had read that in an old post here. That didn't work either. We are in the Prescott Valley, Arizona area if anyone wants to help me! I didn't realize it would be so hard to get a signal! With Dish Network, you had to really put the dish completely out of line not to get a signal. Thanks for the input - any ideas are welcome as I'm getting pretty frustrated by all this!
 
One final thought from me...
The signal from the satellite comes from 22 degrees above where the dish appears to point. Make sure that there is nothing in the way.

See ya
Tony
 
We live in the open desert, so there is nothing around! LOL I never thought it would be so difficult to get the signal - especially since I'm using equipment that Sky Angel recommends. *sigh* Oh well - I'm sure this will get worked out one way or another. Thanks again for all the help everyone!
 
angelstar said:
We live in the open desert, so there is nothing around! LOL I never thought it would be so difficult to get the signal - especially since I'm using equipment that Sky Angel recommends. *sigh* Oh well - I'm sure this will get worked out one way or another. Thanks again for all the help everyone!


Just a thought you said you was using the dish 500 Did you sit back to 90 degree on the back also if you are using the twin the cable need to go on the left hand side if you are standing behind the dish. and if i am not mistakeing you should sat the elevation around 38.

tyork
 
also forgot to mention, if you're using a dish500, you would actually be pointing 4.5 degrees to one side or the other of the "actual" azimuth.

That's because the dish500 points at two satellites nine degrees apart in the sky, it is actually pointing directly at the point halfway in between. So for 61.5 you would actually need the azimuth angle for either 57 or 66 depending on which side of the 500 your signal is coming from.
 
Okay, guys - here's the latest. I called Sky Angel and they said to make sure the cable is in the 119 slot. It is. I finally decided to go to Radio Shack and get a Satellite Finder Meter. NOTHING!! That needle doesn't move one single centimeter. I'm going to change the cord that comes from the LNBF and see if maybe that's bad? If I still don't get anything, I don't know what else to do. We did lower the dish on the pole to where the Dish Network guy had it in the first place. We had actually put it higher up. We thought maybe putting it back where it was might help. Any thoughts? I'll let you know if the new cord helps.
 
First question to ask yourself - is the cord coming from the satellite dish in good working order? Hmmmm? LOL Yep - that was the problem all along. I feel like a complete dork! I really do appreciate all the help you guys tried to give me. My own incompetence has nothing to do with any of you. I learned a lot about satellites during all this. I have been activated with SA, but of course, have to wait for programming for 2 days. :eek:( Anyway, not going to feel too badly about it - just glad to finally get everything going. Thank you all so much!! God's Blessings to you all!
 
From my days as a retail sales person, I call tell you that about half of the time when I got a call from a customer about some sort of equipment that wasn't working the first thing I would respectfully ask was: "Is it plugged in?" The next question was "Is it a switch plug? Is there a switch on the wall that turns that plug on and off?

You would be surprised how many people who otherwise are quite smart would bashfully say..."DOH!!!" :D

Glad you got things going!

See ya
Tony
 
welcome :wave

it can take up to 5 business days since Sky Angel needs to activate it thorugh Dish Network
 
They try to get it activated as soon as possible, but it usually is activated the third business day. As Iceberg wrote, it can take a full 5 business days!

Welcome to Satelliteguys,

See ya
Tony
 

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