Need guidance for new FTA satellite install and roof antenna for local channels

[lordmoosh]

Hello all,

I finally installed my satellite dish today. I am getting about 79% strength and 60% quality. I actually had it at 64% quality at one point but I lost it somehow when I was trying to get a better quality. When I do a channel scan on Galaxy 19 I only get 5 channels and 6 radio stations.

These are the channels/stations I am getting:
TV List
MStanley_SD
MicroHD
MS4
MS10
MS20

Radio List
MicroSpace61
WRAL FM 1015
MS11
AMBOS
CRC_K
MS81

I am not entirely sure I have the right settings in the receiver. Right now its set to
LNB 10750
Transponder 12152/20000/H
DiSEqC 1.0/1.1 15/16
Uncommitted None
22K Tone AUTO
Polarity 13/18V
Motor None
Unicable None

I am using a Linear KU dual LNB and a HDVR 1200 GEOSATpro. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[FTA4PA]

Hello all,

I finally installed my satellite dish today. I am getting about 79% strength and 60% quality. I actually had it at 64% quality at one point but I lost it somehow when I was trying to get a better quality. When I do a channel scan on Galaxy 19 I only get 5 channels and 6 radio stations.

These are the channels/stations I am getting:
TV List
MStanley_SD
MicroHD
MS4
MS10
MS20

Radio List
MicroSpace61
WRAL FM 1015
MS11
AMBOS
CRC_K
MS81

I am not entirely sure I have the right settings in the receiver. Right now its set to
LNB 10750
Transponder 12152/20000/H
DiSEqC 1.0/1.1 15/16
Uncommitted None
22K Tone AUTO
Polarity 13/18V
Motor None
Unicable None

I am using a Linear KU dual LNB and a HDVR 1200 GEOSATpro. Any ideas? Thanks.

You are pointed at 103W. You need to move dish east a little and adjust elevation and skew again. You can get the specifics if you put your location into dishpointer.com, might want to mark dish and pole before changing it so you can return to 103W if you get too far off.

 

[FaT Air]

Manually check for transponder in the receivers G19/97W programming that are known active. G19-97W-TheList If not, edit or add a few (12152 H 20000 is a good one)
Check www.dishpointer.com for your aim and skew.
Set dish to elevation listed. (pole it's mounted to is plumb?)
Set skew to angle listed. When facing the dish, the LNBF is twisted CCW if the satellite is West of you. CW if it's East.
Watching the tune up screen, with a known active transponder selected, move the dish in small steps across the line dishpointer paints on the page. Wait a few seconds before performing another step. It may take up to 10 seconds for the receiver to 'lock' the signal and display Quality. If no Quality is attained, raise or lower the elevation no more than 1 degree and repeat. Once Quality 'registers' maximize the reading with even smaller steps L-R & up-dn.

 

[lordmoosh]

Thanks guys. I was able to get it working! I used 12152 H 20000 as a baseline like FaT Air suggested and all I had to really do was raise the dish a degree or two. The pole was roof mounted and dead on plumb on one side and pretty good on the other sides. After tweaking I am able to get about 79% strength and 65-67% signal quality. I got a couple of hundred channels with this quality. I have some large trees behind my house that maybe reducing the signal a little.

Is my signal quality ok? What is the expected signal quality to Galaxy 19 from Pennsylvania?

Also while adjusting the bolts and tightening them down the paint from the pole and mount scraped off a little. Will this cause rust later? Is there anything I can do about it?

 

[FTA4PA]

Glad you got it! That is pretty good Q. Mine is only a few points higher at 70Q for most transponders on that satellite. I'm in Central PA. If you want to try to tweak things any higher be sure to mark the position of everything just in case something goes wrong. Congrats!

 

[lordmoosh]

Thanks! Also while adjusting the bolts and tightening them down the paint from the pole and mount scraped off a little. Will this cause rust later? Is there anything I can/should do about it?

 

[FTA4PA]

Thanks! Also while adjusting the bolts and tightening them down the paint from the pole and mount scraped off a little. Will this cause rust later? Is there anything I can/should do about it?

That happens a lot of the time when you tighten everything down. You can get some paint and touch things up so it doesn't get any worse.

 

[lordmoosh]

I am going to try to clean up the wiring and install the grounding block this weekend. I'm planning to run the RG6 quad wire from my attic down to where the dish is on the of the deck roof which is a 1 story roof. I have a few questions:

1) How do you guys secure the RG6 to vinyl siding, using those plastic nailed on staples like you would to a floor joist?
2) How do you secure the RG6 to a flat asphalt roofing material? Since the run is about 10 feet across the roof I was thinking to just blob that asphalt sealant I used on the cable every foot or so which is pretty sticky and dries fast. This way I don't have holes in the roof.
3) With my situation the grounding block would go on the flat roof somewhere. Have you guys ever installed a grounding block to a roof or does it need to go on a vertical surface like a wall? Have you ever zip tied a grounding block to a satellite dish mast?

Thanks

 

[FTA4PA]

1) Yes, those will work fine as long as they are made for RG6 and don't crush the wire.
2) You could do that but if you need to remove bad coax or reroute it in the future you will probably wish you hadn't. You can just use the same clips you used for the siding. If your worried about leakage, put a small drop of the asphalt sealant under each nail before you tap it in.
3) You want the grounding block to come down near the ground for your house wiring. The ground from the dish(es) needs to be bonded (attached) to your homes grounding system to avoid the potential for a ground loop. If you don't do this the two grounds will be at different potentials and can induce voltage/surges which can at a minimum cause problems with your equipment or at worst start a fire during a lightning strike. Don't take chances.

 

[waylew]

On vinyl siding I just stuff the wire into the J channel,or for a horizontal run,unsnap a section and run the wire underneath then snap it back together.

 

[lordmoosh]

For the #6 wire I use to bond the two grounding rods together, can this wire be run through the inside of the house or does it have to be run outside? The new rod will be on the opposite side of the house.

 

[FTA4PA]

Personally, I wouldn't want the dish ground wire coming inside, running through the house (even if in the basement) and then exiting back out again to attach to the house ground on the other side of the house. The only way I would bring the dish ground wire inside is if the house ground is a metal cold water pipe instead of a rod driven into the ground at the meter. I'm not an electrician so it may be allowed - perhaps someone else can chime in who is an electrician and knows for sure. Myself, I just wouldn't do it, even if allowed. It also can't have any sharp bends when routing it to the house ground. Is there any way to get it there without taking it through the house?

 

[lordmoosh]

I'm not talking about the dish ground wire. I am talking about a bonding wire that would go between the two grounding rods. Either I could route it through the house like 35' or get like 150' feet of wire to go around the house.

 

[FTA4PA]

I should have elaborated more in my previous post - I would not bring any dish ground wire or bonding wire inside and run it through the house to get to the electrical system ground on the other side of the house. The rods are there to safely discharge the strike into the ground outside your house. It could bring a lightning strike inside in an effort to discharge it to the ground rod on the other side of the house.

 

[lordmoosh]

Could I fit a #6 wire in the siding like you suggested or would you avoid that too? The only other option I can see is a TON of digging to bury a ground wire to get to the other side of the house.

 

[FaT Air]

Is this a viable option?
Run the coax around the house to your grounding block placed near the existing ground rod. Short ground run to the block. Then enter the premises with the coax.

 

[lordmoosh]

Running the coax around the house might work for grounding the coax wire but what about grounding the dish itself?

 

[FTA4PA]

Sorry, been looking for an old post to help you. Here is a link to some info ke4est shared with me about proper grounding: http://www.swssec.com/grounding.html It is based on grounding for amateur radio antennas but is very pertinent to our setups as well. I also have something that I downloaded about grounding stored on my main computer and I will post it if I can find it. The best option would be to have the coax and ground wire come down not too far from the electric service entry for the home and only have a short run to that for grounding purposes. EDIT: I see Fat Air and I are thinking along the same lines.

 

[FTA4PA]

Here is another article on proper grounding: http://www.reeve.com/Documents/Articles Papers/AntennaSystemGroundingRequirements_Reeve.pdf

 

[FaT Air]

Running the coax around the house might work for grounding the coax wire but what about grounding the dish itself?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/CE-TECH-...e-with-Ground-Wire-Black-RG6-281215/203723742
Somebody must have longer lengths.