thanks Radar - I'll certainly give that a try but I'll stick with the amalgamating tape for the dodgy roof top ones. Why people want dishes on rooves when there are no trees I will never understand, like they are 20 ft nearer the sat!
How far can I mount the dish be from the receiver?
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Yesterday I finally got the dish mounted on the barn, I followed the instructions that came with the GG-2100 motor, pointed the dish to azimuth 191 magn. (True south) for my location 43N 77W and 0 the motor. I didn’t touch the elevation cause the motor and dish are set per manual and assumed that’s the right settings, I ran about 25 feet of rg-6 to the Fortec receiver and a TV I keep in the barn, well got the motor to move but didn’t pick a single bird, maybe the true south setting are off, I’m hoping to play with it more sometime this week, I have a question about the LNBF that came with the package, it’s a Dream Star FTA-S2 standard dual linear I/P:11.7-12.2GHz. O/P 950-1450MHz, L.O 10.75GHz, N/F 0.4dB, it has two male plugs I used 1 and capped the other was that the right way to do it? Should I upgrade the LNB to something better? I tried to get help from the people I bought the system (incredible FTA) sadly they don’t know much about the stuff they sell. Once again thank you to all .
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Valdelocc,
First rule first, make sure that your mast is perfectly plumb! Any small error in this will throw all your other angles and your tracking of the arc off.
I think your true south should be 192 degrees, but I don't know if you could ever tell the difference with a compass between 191 and 192. I doubt your compass is that accurate.
Mount your motor with the motor tube facing as near as you can get to this south angle.
I don't know what your motor manual stated to set the motor latitude angle or your dish elevation angle at.
But, I calculated 43.0 for the motor latitude (that is easy because it is always the same as your site's latitude).
I calculated 23.4 degrees for you dish elevation.
I would set all these angles and then...
Enter 43N and 77W in your USALS menu as your site coordinates or antenna position.
Pick satellite 79.0W AMC 5 so that your motor drives to that satellite. It should only cause your motor to move 2 degrees to the west.
Select TP 11.900 GHz, H polarity, symbol rate 2.170 from the TP list on this satellite. If it is not listed, you will have to enter this information manually.
Then, loosen the motor clamps (just enough so that you can rotate the motor on the mast) and rotate it very slowly east or west while you monitor the signal on your receiver's display of the signal level / quality or an analog signal meter until you pick up a high signal reading.
When you do, check to see if you are on the appropriate satellite. If the receiver does not have a sat ID table cabability, you will simply have to scan that satellite and see what channels you acquire.
If you pick up the channel KTEL, then you are definitely on 79 W AMC 5. This is a Spanish only channel, but a very very strong signal, so an excellent one to start with. If you are a Spanish speaking person, you may really like it.
I selected satellite 79W for you as it is very close to your longitute or due south and the channel KTEL, which is on TP 11.900, happens to be extremely strong (at least for me). I read it with a quality level of 98% on a Coolsat 5000. I am near Omaha, NE and I imagine that there won't be an extreme difference between your location and mine (at least without looking at the EIRP maps on Lyngsat).
If you are very patient and dedicated, you should pick something up in this manner. If you pick up something, try to peak the signal as best you can by gently grasping the dish from behind and pulling it slightly upwards, downwards, and to the right or left while you monitor the signal quality or signal level. Loosen the hardware and move the dish elevation or the motor azimuth slightly in the direction that improves the signal the most.
Always leave the motor latitude setting at the site latitude setting. SG-2100 motors are accurate here and you can trust this scale to be reliable measure.
AcWxRadar
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Valdelocc,
I submitted a footprint map for 79W AMC 5 Ku here.
You are in the same EIRP level that I am (47 dBW), so you shouldn't have a problem finding this signal to be strong for you.
The map appears a little funky to me, they may have made a mistake. I could be at 46 dBW. They way they drew it seems a little odd, I think they mislabeled my EIRP level on the map. Cannot tell, it is awfully strong here in Nebraska.
But, you are in a hot zone nevertheless.
Radar
I submitted a footprint map for 79W AMC 5 Ku here.
You are in the same EIRP level that I am (47 dBW), so you shouldn't have a problem finding this signal to be strong for you.
The map appears a little funky to me, they may have made a mistake. I could be at 46 dBW. They way they drew it seems a little odd, I think they mislabeled my EIRP level on the map. Cannot tell, it is awfully strong here in Nebraska.
But, you are in a hot zone nevertheless.
Radar
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Valdelocc,
As for the LNBF that you have now, I cannot say. Never owned that brand or model. Sounds like the correct thing and good spec's. I would imagine it is just fine.
I prefer the Invacom QPH-031 LNBF, however. It is a QUAD/dual polarity LNBF (two outputs for linear and two outputs for circular - basically two dual LNBFs in one with both polarity types).
It can assist in aligning the dish because you can locate the circular satellites more easily than the linear ones. That may help in the intial alignment to know where you are.
You can use the channels from DN to help you determine where your dish is aimed (like NASA and the test card channels or whatever you call them). There are some in the clear channels there that can give you a reference mark.
There is a circular DN sat a 77W which would be perfect for you in this regard, but you won't pick up any channels from it, they are all encrypted (I think). The format may be incorrect, too. I am not sure.
I just looked on Lyngsat, they are all encrypted and only ES 4 is MPEG 2. Which may be beams for far southern US, Mexico and northern S.A. I doubt that would help you much, even if you had an Invacom QPH-031 LNBF.
AcWxRadar
As for the LNBF that you have now, I cannot say. Never owned that brand or model. Sounds like the correct thing and good spec's. I would imagine it is just fine.
I prefer the Invacom QPH-031 LNBF, however. It is a QUAD/dual polarity LNBF (two outputs for linear and two outputs for circular - basically two dual LNBFs in one with both polarity types).
It can assist in aligning the dish because you can locate the circular satellites more easily than the linear ones. That may help in the intial alignment to know where you are.
You can use the channels from DN to help you determine where your dish is aimed (like NASA and the test card channels or whatever you call them). There are some in the clear channels there that can give you a reference mark.
There is a circular DN sat a 77W which would be perfect for you in this regard, but you won't pick up any channels from it, they are all encrypted (I think). The format may be incorrect, too. I am not sure.
I just looked on Lyngsat, they are all encrypted and only ES 4 is MPEG 2. Which may be beams for far southern US, Mexico and northern S.A. I doubt that would help you much, even if you had an Invacom QPH-031 LNBF.
AcWxRadar
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That LNB should be fine. I have a Sadoun dual .4 and that has worked great for 3+ years here in Minnesota
Capping the unused is fine but not necessary
AcWxRadar and Ice thank you very much for your help, it was crappy here today I woke up to 3 inches of snow this morning most be that global warming or something
I'm hoping to do some more testing this coming weekend I let ou nkow how it goes. thanks again.
I'm hoping to do some more testing this coming weekend I let ou nkow how it goes. thanks again.
Well today wife and I played with the system again and still nothing, the signal stays around 40% and no quality at all, I took some pictures for you guys to take a look and advise me from there, so far I followed all the instructions to the letter with no results, I most be doing something wrong, thanks
those pictures were taking while aiming to AMC5
those pictures were taking while aiming to AMC5
valdelocc, not sure about your other settings but I think you need to change your "LNB Type" to Standard 10750, instead of "Univ LNB (9750,10600)".
Thanks I’ll change the LNB type tomorrow and see if it works. Something else caught my attention while analyzing my pictures I think I mounted the LNB arm the wrong way, I’m not 100% sure but I think the arm goes inside the bracket and I mounted outside closer to the motor, the freaking instructions that came with the dish are beyond useless, I've e-mailed Fortec about it hopefully they will be helpful, somehow the dish assembly instructions posted in Fortecs sites dont match my dish.
well, changed the LNB type also moved the arm closer to the dish and still nothing I'm about to pick a rifle and use the danm thing for target shooting.
I'm about to pick a rifle and use the danm thing for target shooting.
Looking at the mounting pole on your setup, it seems to me that is slightly bent. Did you use a bricklayer's level to check if your Mast is perfectly vertical?well, changed the LNB type also moved the arm closer to the dish and still nothing
Does anyone see anything incorrect with the suggestions I stated here? I believe that I am correct, but if I have made any errors, please inform Valdelocc so he is not chasing a wild goose or doing something incorrectly.
I agree, the LNBF type and the L.O. frequency are incorrect in this case.
I believe you were correct initially. I would put the LNBF support arm, the part that attaches to the mounting bracket where it was originally, (as in your pix above). That is how my Winegard DS-2076 is assembled. There is a recessed area for the support arm to attach where you had it originally. I think this is correct.
Radar
That may be an optical illusion because of the camera angle (not the photo I selected above), but I would certainly check it.
In the fifth photo, the one I have picked out from your post just above, I would put a level on the motor bracket and double check at least that (both sides), this will ensure that it is plumb from east/west direction. Also check the mast itself in the north/south direction.
AcWxRADAR
Valdelocc,
EDIT: Disregard the following information. You have a Fortec Star dish. They are designed this way. I left my post as-is just for reference
Going back to the LNBF support arm or bracket. Where it bolts up to the dish bracket in the rear of the dish. Are there more than two holes to bolt it together?
Could it be mounted (bolted) too low on the bracket at the rear of the dish?
I wonder this because on my Winegard the very top of that LNBF support bracket goes all the way to the top of the bracket that it is attached to. However, in your pix, I cannot even see the top of that support bracket or arm. However, there doesn't seem to be excessive clearance where the bend in the arm passes underneath the bottom of the dish, so this may be just a difference in the manufacturing of the dish. Hard to tell from the photo because of the angle that you shot the pix.
AcWxRadar
EDIT: Disregard the following information. You have a Fortec Star dish. They are designed this way. I left my post as-is just for reference
Going back to the LNBF support arm or bracket. Where it bolts up to the dish bracket in the rear of the dish. Are there more than two holes to bolt it together?
Could it be mounted (bolted) too low on the bracket at the rear of the dish?
I wonder this because on my Winegard the very top of that LNBF support bracket goes all the way to the top of the bracket that it is attached to. However, in your pix, I cannot even see the top of that support bracket or arm. However, there doesn't seem to be excessive clearance where the bend in the arm passes underneath the bottom of the dish, so this may be just a difference in the manufacturing of the dish. Hard to tell from the photo because of the angle that you shot the pix.
AcWxRadar
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You may be right, but my comments were based on the attached photo below.
That may be an optical illusion because of the camera angle (not the photo I selected above), but I would certainly check it.
In the fifth photo, the one I have picked out from your post just above, I would put a level on the motor bracket and double check at least that (both sides), this will ensure that it is plumb from east/west direction. Also check the mast itself in the north/south direction.
AcWxRADAR
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Valdelocc,
A word of caution here, don't allow this to frustrate you. Especially not high up on a barn roof! If this is your first time set up of a motorized dish, don't allow the dish to beat you. It can be difficult on the first installation or two or three. After that, I think you will find it second nature. The alignment process anyways.
The worst thing is getting the settings and electrical hookup wrong and then trying to align the dish! That would be like trying to repeatedly start your car when it is out of gas. It will never do any good. You know that, but it is usually simple to determine that you have no fuel! Having incorrect settings in your receiver's menus aren't that obvious if you are unfamiliar with the equipment.
Even a professional installer can have a "brain fart" for a moment and scratch their head. They were thinking about what groceries they were suppose to pick up or the bills they had to pay and.... OOOPS! You discover that you forgot to to this or that, and it was so simple, too!
Often, it is something as simple and as mundane as misplacing a wrench or your truck keys. Just don't allow it to get the better of you. Remember, it is just a hobby and all for the fun of it.
AcWxRADAR
A word of caution here, don't allow this to frustrate you. Especially not high up on a barn roof! If this is your first time set up of a motorized dish, don't allow the dish to beat you. It can be difficult on the first installation or two or three. After that, I think you will find it second nature. The alignment process anyways.
The worst thing is getting the settings and electrical hookup wrong and then trying to align the dish! That would be like trying to repeatedly start your car when it is out of gas. It will never do any good. You know that, but it is usually simple to determine that you have no fuel! Having incorrect settings in your receiver's menus aren't that obvious if you are unfamiliar with the equipment.
Even a professional installer can have a "brain fart" for a moment and scratch their head. They were thinking about what groceries they were suppose to pick up or the bills they had to pay and.... OOOPS! You discover that you forgot to to this or that, and it was so simple, too!
Often, it is something as simple and as mundane as misplacing a wrench or your truck keys. Just don't allow it to get the better of you. Remember, it is just a hobby and all for the fun of it.
AcWxRADAR
Babadem,
Hey! I sure do see that!
Looks "bowed" to me too. But... I took a second glance and I think that it is an optical illusion or at least a bit deceptive (I hope). I think that the mast actually has an intentional bend in it, just like the DN or DirecTV masts. Viewing it at the angle that the photo was taken makes it appear unnatural. Instead of a natural bend of maybe 30 degrees, it appears like a "bow" in the mast of only several degrees.
I think that is what it is. Below the lower strut clamps, the mast tube bends away from the viewer and down to the mounting base or pedestal. In the lighting conditions and just glancing at it quickly, it looks like the pole is really bent bad. Which it is, but it is also a designed (intentional) bend. You can even see the very top of the base pedestal in the picture. We are looking at the mast tube via a strange angle which is deceptive. Can you see it now?
Radar
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Guys finally I’m getting some channels, I put the TV on my tractors loaders raise it up where I could see it from the roof and by changing the dish angle I was able to pick AMC and a few more transponders, unbelievable how sensitive the signal are to very minor changes to the position of the dish, thank you very much to all of you and in especial to AcWxRadar.
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