My New Dish Farm

[iBoston]

Okay, I am in business. I now have 87w/91w and 95w working on my 1.2. After i got 91w KU working, i de-aligned it when i was aligning the 95w. Ugh! Then I had an issue where i was getting 95w outside, but not inside.. Turned out one of the Tuners isn't picking it up, the other was.. Ill figure that one out later..

But, i am now receiving everything on 91w KU. The bonus, is that i had empty space on my multi switch and hooked it into that so its on my full network, so i can watch 91w KU on any of the TV's in the house. I have been listening to the NPR stuff a lot, so that is a nice addition to the Sat Network.

As it turns out, 95 had gotten de-tuned, and after all this work, i am getting 2 additional dB on the CGTN mux.

I think my least favorite thing to do is after you get it all fine tuned on your remote signal finder, your big fat fingers have a HELLISH time removing the coax from the LNBF so that you can put in the coax that runs to the house. Sometimes i cannot get the darn thing turning, and others i've slipped and knocked everything out of whack...

I am done for today, but tomorrow, ill have to tie things up, label things and figure out why the HECK 95w doesn't work on my secondary tuner. It just doesn't make sense, but ill give it a day to think about it.

 

[cyberham]

It sounds like you had a successful day overall. I can relate to unscrewing and reattaching RG-6 cables when your fingers are cold. Tell me they can invent a better connector that is technically sound and easy to use (BNC?). It's satisfying to accomplish what you set out to do.

I decided offset LNBs just can't compare to LNBs at the dish focus (duh!). I just like my best signal too much. So after getting the offset Ku LNB working as well as it would, I removed it. My good Ku LNB is back in position at the focus and all satellites from 87W through 123W Ku are booming in. I can re-install the C-band LNBF at any time I decide I want it.

 

[iBoston]

I had a non TV day yesterday. Crazy Crazy winds... Looked out the window yesterday morning and my big 12' dish was facing the house, 180 degrees in the wrong direction.... Had to chuckle. I quickly went outside and tightened it so that it wouldn't slip further, as i didn't want to take any chance of the cables getting wrapped around the poll from further rotation.

It was so windy, i could only receive DVBS signals reliably across all of my fixed dishes..
This morning, i swung the 12' around and locked it down really good this time, and re-fine tuned in the signals. I then checked all the other fixed sat's, and everything else survived with no noticeable signal degradation.

I suspect this happened because of my musical chairs routine i did at the beginning of summer moving all the dishes around, i must not have tightened the 12' down good enough.

Ps. I worked out all the wiring / switching issues, and everything is working great. I feel like i am in candy land with all the additional fixed locations i now have. I used to have the USALS defaulted at 91w, but now that i have that covered, i moved the USALS down to 45w. - Picking up this signal tickles me for some reason.

 

[c-spand]

I had a non TV day yesterday. Crazy Crazy winds... Looked out the window yesterday morning and my big 12' dish was facing the house, 180 degrees in the wrong direction.... Had to chuckle. I quickly went outside and tightened it so that it wouldn't slip further, as i didn't want to take any chance of the cables getting wrapped around the poll from further rotation.

It was so windy, i could only receive DVBS signals reliably across all of my fixed dishes..
This morning, i swung the 12' around and locked it down really good this time, and re-fine tuned in the signals. I then checked all the other fixed sat's, and everything else survived with no noticeable signal degradation.

I suspect this happened because of my musical chairs routine i did at the beginning of summer moving all the dishes around, i must not have tightened the 12' down good enough.

Ps. I worked out all the wiring / switching issues, and everything is working great. I feel like i am in candy land with all the additional fixed locations i now have. I used to have the USALS defaulted at 91w, but now that i have that covered, i moved the USALS down to 45w. - Picking up this signal tickles me for some reason.

Glad you have all secured. The hunt is the funnest part. Happy signal hunting.

 

[cyberham]

... i moved the USALS down to 45w. - Picking up this signal tickles me for some reason.

Lyngsat only shows China Radio and a couple of South American tps on this satellite. Why is it special?

 

[iBoston]

Lyngsat only shows China Radio and a couple of South American tps on this satellite. Why is it special?

Because the portion of the beam in the U.S. is so small, and i live at the edge of the beam. And because it was one i just recently discovered. Nothing all that special about what TP's are available, just the circumstances behind this particular one.

 

[cyberham]

Got it! It's like 3W for me. Limited availability makes it special.

 

[iBoston]

Ugh, my USALS is offline. It rotated on the pole or something, because its ALL out of whack.. This is why i originally stopped using USALS. Problem is, 6 months out of the year, its just too darn cold or too much snow to work on it, so when it whacks out, it takes a long time for me to get it back online... (Oh well ) We have had some hellish wind storms in the last month, so it doesn't surprise me... The fixed dishes are so much more resistant to the wind.

 

[primestar31]

Ugh, my USALS is offline. It rotated on the pole or something, because its ALL out of whack.. This is why i originally stopped using USALS. Problem is, 6 months out of the year, its just too darn cold or too much snow to work on it, so when it whacks out, it takes a long time for me to get it back online... (Oh well ) We have had some hellish wind storms in the last month, so it doesn't surprise me... The fixed dishes are so much more resistant to the wind.

You have to mark that pole! Thin line up and down with permanent marker across pole and motor mount, and also dish mount and motor stub. That way IF it spins, you can easily twist it back and match the lines again.

 

[iBoston]

You have to mark that pole! Thin line up and down with permanent marker across pole and motor mount, and also dish mount and motor stub. That way IF it spins, you can easily twist it back and match the lines again.

You know, i kinda forgot about that trick... Ill have to do that again this summer when i get it re-aligned... That might make me more apt to attempt a fix during winter if i could just rotate it quickly to a pre-existing marker, and then maybe that would at least put me mostly back in line.

 

[primestar31]

You know, i kinda forgot about that trick... Ill have to do that again this summer when i get it re-aligned... That might make me more apt to attempt a fix during winter if i could just rotate it quickly to a pre-existing marker, and then maybe that would at least put me mostly back in line.

It's either that, OR drilling through, and bolt them solid together. Though, I finally realized that IF you ever get wind great enough to spin a dish, maybe it's best to let it spin. They will ALWAYS spin OUT of the wind. Which might just save it from damage.

 

[iBoston]

We had a nasty ice/wet snow storm, and lost just about 70% of my channels. Just got back inside, and i had to knock off about 1 inch of ice off the signal intake of all my LNBFs. No wonder!!! I still cannot get all the ice off the Cband mesh dishes, so there are still some signals i cannot yet get, but now im getting 95% of my channels. We have had minor ice storms, but this one was a doozy. Was without power/internet most of the day. I shut down the Main circuit, and then fired up my truck, and ran an INVERTER off my truck batteries with the truck running and back fed my inverter to the house to one phase and got power to the heating system and freezers and water pumps... It's been a few years since we lost power for so long.... Time for a drink

 

[Comptech]

Hehe, I am a florida refugee, so I have a 9500 watt gen set and plenty of gas. Now in extreme upstate SC for a decade or so and ice is a problem here. Still love the generator.

 

[Comptech]

Hehe, propane logs, with blowers, Solar water heater and TV. everything I need is 110V so I don't even put a strain on the genset. I hang a big blanket across the stairway and 72 degrees downstairs 24/7, two propane tanks for the grill with a side burner. Who says you can't make pasta on a grill?

 

[iBoston]

I have so many repairs to make. My USALS dish is laying on the ground. I have a bunch of other adjustments to make. I got outside today, and fixed my issue with 101w. I had to swap RG6 cables for the Horizontal signals. I received vertical just fine.. I can FINALLY watch story TV as of about 15 minutes ago. I also got outside and made an adjustment to my 10' Cband. I had an issue getting certain signals. I needed to adjust the LNBF. It appears snow load or wind or something de-aligned the LNBF, so i got that re-tuned, but it will take me a couple days to see if that issue is truly resolved.

I have to swap some other LNBFS, and have other adjustments to make. I really hate USALS, so i might just give up on USALS and put the dish back up to a fixed location.. Ill give more thought on that.. This winter was brutal on all my Satellite equipment.

The snow here is ALMOST gone. It's 41 degrees and Sunny, so i was willing to work on some of the simpler stuff today.

 

[iBoston]

Well, i just opened a can of worms.. I have a shared RG6 with a ABC switch. One for guest room, one for office, and one for 2nd port on living room. I usually use it as a secondary port for the living room so that i have dual tuner to be able to record one thing and watch another. A couple months back, i lost my secondary tuner with regards to all KU dishes.

Today, i toggled the ABC switch to confirm its happening past the switch, and sure enough the problem continued.. That told me it was somewhere upstream, and i guessed it to be the diseqc 1.1 switch that is in the shed outside. Armed with a diseqc 1.1 switch, i swapped it and the problem continued. I then followed the coax upstream and discovered the following :

Darn varments. So, i swapped out that cable and noticed a second cable chewed through and with further discovery, i found multiple damaged cables.. When i thought the problem was the diseqc switch, I estimated this to be an hour job, and now with all these damaged RG6 cables, this may take a full day to get it all worked out. In the mean time, i disconnected the RG6 that feeds that line so there is no power on it. Ill have to save this job for another day, which will surely be a LONG day of re-cabling and reorganization.

So until then, no Satellite watching in the office or guest room, which is rare anyway, usually during the summer when we get visitors... I still have 3 functioning lines out to the KU. Main Living Room, Kitchen and Basement/Exercise room.

 

[FTA4PA]

Well, i just opened a can of worms.. I have a shared RG6 with a ABC switch. One for guest room, one for office, and one for 2nd port on living room. I usually use it as a secondary port for the living room so that i have dual tuner to be able to record one thing and watch another. A couple months back, i lost my secondary tuner with regards to all KU dishes.

Today, i toggled the ABC switch to confirm its happening past the switch, and sure enough the problem continued.. That told me it was somewhere upstream, and i guessed it to be the diseqc 1.1 switch that is in the shed outside. Armed with a diseqc 1.1 switch, i swapped it and the problem continued. I then followed the coax upstream and discovered the following :

View attachment 156604

Darn varments. So, i swapped out that cable and noticed a second cable chewed through and with further discovery, i found multiple damaged cables.. When i thought the problem was the diseqc switch, I estimated this to be an hour job, and now with all these damaged RG6 cables, this may take a full day to get it all worked out. In the mean time, i disconnected the RG6 that feeds that line so there is no power on it. Ill have to save this job for another day, which will surely be a LONG day of re-cabling and reorganization.

So until then, no Satellite watching in the office or guest room, which is rare anyway, usually during the summer when we get visitors... I still have 3 functioning lines out to the KU. Main Living Room, Kitchen and Basement/Exercise room.

Sorry to hear that. Had that happen once but only a tiny section near the dish. Cobbled a new section in and was good to go. Now engines on snow blowers, tractors, etc - love having to dig mouse nests out of the air intake, etc. Hope you can get things working again.

 

[Comptech]

I live in a jungle in the mountains. My coax has been on the ground for 3 years. All kinds of critters her, but no chewed up coax yet. For three years I have planned to go overhead to the basement but my lazy ass has not got it done yet.

 

[Jim S.]

I was hiking one time and I came across some sort of abandoned installation where some 3/4" (at least) hardline had been chewed. Everything except the copper core.

The local radio club used to have porcupines chewing up the wooden walls of their repeater shack. It's now metal-clad.

 

[clucas]

My coax looked just like that. Gophers, I think. Right now I have some cables in black ABS pipe and I have more to do. I saw a slit in the pipe length so I can just slide the wires in instead of disconnecting everything. Same with elbows and couplers.