Completely new to FTA, need system for single satellite for single purpose

[Mr Tony]

Now that I think of it the test card on 85W is off right now so you may be on 89

89 has ABC News at 11952 V 19532 (freq/pol/symbol rate) and the elevation that's suppose ot be matches up with what the dish shows (5 degrees off)

 

[paulm]

well, I haven't found my bird yet, but I just hit a

MAJOR MILESTONE!!!!

so i started moving west in small increments looking for 87, no luck. went back to where I had hit 85 (if it was 85...), found my signal there

then i started moving incrementally west again, this time moving through my list of sattellites/known strong transponders

On what *may* be
amc 4 at 101W, I hit on
12120 V 30000

the quality is sitting at a constant 35-40 and right above the quality/signal bars it now says "Found: 2.Ku_AMC4 (101.0W)"

I hit the yellow transponder button, and a list of channels appeared. It asked me to save, I did.

hit exit until out of the menus, and FREAKING TV APPEARS! WOO!!!

it gives me 7 channels:

1. TRWAM - seems like maybe polish language? had some show about the pope on
2. Planeta - scrambled channel
3.CGN TV - showing some english language cartoon subtitled in an eastern character set (chinese?)
4. HRT1 - scrambled channel
5. CMC - scrambled channel
6. ETN - scrambled channel
7. BVN - German/dutch/sweedish etc sounding language

Awesome.

So, am I really on 101W? How can I find that out. I looked at lynsat for amc4, but i don't really get it.

in my antenna setup screen there are buttons for "network" and "blind scan", so I'm going to play around with that.

Soooo close... I can almost smell that locker room door opening

 

[Mr Tony]

yep thats AMC4 at 101

check out thelist
that has channels up 24/7
http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?page=101+AMC+4

so you are very close....8 degrees east to 93W is about 1/8" on the mast...so make a mark on the mast so you know where 101 is in case it doesn't work. You will need to drop the elevation about 3 degrees so see where the marking is on the dish. I'd move it about 1/8" on the mast first then drop the elevation a little bit (2 degrees).

You're almost there...

 

[Mr Tony]

oh, Network scan is useless on most the satellites. It only works on a couple satellites
Blind scan I know on the Captiveworks is kinda iffy

 

[paulm]

ah, thelist makes much more sense to me. On lyngsat, where do they show you the symbol rate?

anyhoo, i added the transponders for that sat from thelist that had unencrypted stuff, and a couple of them worked

11707 V 2170 (the fox affilate) didn't come in though... is that because it's a weaker transponder and needs more fine tuning?

The transponder for the FSSN, is it pretty strong and easy to get? ie, if I can get the University Network to come in, can i be pretty sure i'll be able to grab the FSSN at game time without going out in the backyard to fiddle?

Oh, random question: when I'm setting up a transponder, what is 'FEC'? I've just been setting it to auto

Thanks again for all of your help with this. Now that I can see a picture, I'm feeling much much better about this

 

[Mr Tony]

ah, thelist makes much more sense to me. On lyngsat, where do they show you the symbol rate?

it is to the right of where it says "DVB". See attached picture

anyhoo, i added the transponders for that sat from thelist that had unencrypted stuff, and a couple of them worked

sweet

11707 V 2170 (the fox affilate) didn't come in though... is that because it's a weaker transponder and needs more fine tuning?

KUIL is a bugger to get. You have to be pretty close to dead on to get it.

The transponder for the FSSN, is it pretty strong and easy to get? ie, if I can get the University Network to come in, can i be pretty sure i'll be able to grab the FSSN at game time without going out in the backyard to fiddle?

Get Doc Scott (University net) locked in and then see if the CBS feed comes in. Doc Scott (as is most religious channels) is really strong. The FSSN is strong (same as the CBS News feed)

Oh, random question: when I'm setting up a transponder, what is 'FEC'? I've just been setting it to auto

Forward Error Correction...just set to auto. Most boxes automatically change this as need be. What it means is how much correction the channel uses to compensate for errors in the stream (skips and such).

Thanks again for all of your help with this. Now that I can see a picture, I'm feeling much much better about this

you're almost there. Pretty soon (tomorrow night) you'll hear Pat Sweeney welcoming YOU live to tonights game here on the Fighting Sioux Sports Network instead of on a DVD

 

[paulm]

Alright, skipped out of work early today to work on this... have a few hours before the game starts.

So I've set two tranponders on ia6:
11710 V 14320 (cbs)
11864 V 3515 (university network)

I'll move a smidge to the east, then down a couple degrees and poke around in that area for those transponders.

I hope I can move it just the right amount; 1/8inch on the mast is a very small increment, but it seems about right:

2in diameter * 3.14 = 6.28 inches in circumference
divide that by 360 degrees in the circle and i get approx 0.0147 inches per degree
8 degrees would be 0.14 inches.

seems like such a tiny amount.

well, here's hoping luck is on my side this afternoon!

 

[Mr Tony]

you'd be amazed on 1/8" on the mast can be 6 or 7 degrees in the sky

When the FSSN moved from 95W to 89W a couple years ago we found out it was a about 3/32" of a move on the mast....so 8 degrees is a little more

 

[paulm]

Woo-hoo!

I gots me some CBS Newspath and the University Network!

I'm on IA6!

I'm gonna get the FSSN!

THANK YOU! :up

Right after i got them both programmed into my channel list, the receiver started acting weird -- wouldn't go to the menu. I hard power cycled it (switch on the back), then had the same problem -- only this time the box reset itself a couple times before finally going all black. I power cycled it again, and now it seems to be working as normal (knock on wood).

my quality is 50 on univeristy and 70 on cbs. i tweaked azimuth, elevation, and skew and that's the extent to which i could optimize it. Am I good for the FSSN, or do you have any tweaks to suggest?

In the meanwhile, I'm going to tighten down everything a bit more and figure out where I'm running the coax (i couldn't stick the dish in my optimal location due to the line of sight issues).


I can't wait for faceoff!

 

[paulm]

Stupid CaptiveWorks receiver. Have you ever run into this problem before?

When I'm watching either the University network or CBS Newspath, and I hit the menu button, instead of going into the menu the screen flickers and a loud buzzing noise comes through the audio. Then the receiver reboots itself. Rinse and repeat. Note that this did not happen last night with any of the channels I was getting on AMC4.

I removed the lnb coax in, got the "weak signal" message, then tried it. Same thing. However, after a reboot without the lnb attached I am able to get into the menu. So I have now added 12031 V 4880 for FSSN


When the feed becomes active before gametime, will the procedure for adding that channel be the same?
Antenna Setting
sat: ia6 at 93W
transponder: 12031 V 4880 auto
quality bar will fill in red, then I hit the yellow button labled "transponder" on screen and it will find the named channel automatically?

or will I have to do something to add FSSN manually?

Once I have the FSSN programmed in my channel list, I guess it doesn't really matter if the box crashs going into menu -- I should never need to

Oh yeah, "left channel only". How do I set that? Or should I just unplug the right audio channel cable?

yeah make a trip to the country and find an old primestar dish, a good cheap receiver is digiwav which at times are less than 100.00 new, you can find and scan t6 and not only find your game, but alot of wild feeds and other games. galaxy 26 or t6 as i call it is my favorite as well as many others, good luck, wish i was in your area, i would come by and help you get fixed up. i am currently aimed 99 pct on t6 with my primestar dish. hope you use it for mord than just your game!

thelist and lyngsat do seem to indicate that galaxy 26 is chock full of feeds (as opposed to 24/7). If I could pick up the occasional Wild game and some other hockey (plus just the fun of seeing misc news feeds, etc), I'd consider buying a better receiver -- especially considering that this captiveworks box seems to have issues. Any recommendations for a good receiver that's not a budget buster?

 

[turbosat]

Stick with known brands-like the Pansats, Fortecs, etc. And check out the dealers listed at the top of the page here, so you know you're getting the real deal. Clones of name-brand boxes are getting to be a problem with some of the popular makes, so shop carefully. I think I'm going to try the conaxsat mini for my next new box, good rep, guarantee, good reviews.

 

[Mr Tony]

Woo-hoo!

I gots me some CBS Newspath and the University Network!

I'm on IA6!

I'm gonna get the FSSN!

THANK YOU! :up

sweeeet

Right after i got them both programmed into my channel list, the receiver started acting weird -- wouldn't go to the menu. I hard power cycled it (switch on the back), then had the same problem -- only this time the box reset itself a couple times before finally going all black. I power cycled it again, and now it seems to be working as normal (knock on wood).

my quality is 50 on univeristy and 70 on cbs. i tweaked azimuth, elevation, and skew and that's the extent to which i could optimize it. Am I good for the FSSN, or do you have any tweaks to suggest?

you're good. 70 on the captiveowrks is the same as 90 on my Pansat. University Net is goofy. 50 one minute, 99 the next

I can't wait for faceoff!

me too

 

[Mr Tony]

Stupid CaptiveWorks receiver. Have you ever run into this problem before?

When I'm watching either the University network or CBS Newspath, and I hit the menu button, instead of going into the menu the screen flickers and a loud buzzing noise comes through the audio. Then the receiver reboots itself. Rinse and repeat. Note that this did not happen last night with any of the channels I was getting on AMC4.

yep had that issue before. It does it oncde in a while then goes away and have no issues.

When the feed becomes active before gametime, will the procedure for adding that channel be the same?
Antenna Setting
sat: ia6 at 93W
transponder: 12031 V 4880 auto
quality bar will fill in red, then I hit the yellow button labled "transponder" on screen and it will find the named channel automatically?

or will I have to do something to add FSSN manually?

just go to that TP (transponder) and hit the yellow button. It will log as "FSSN-UND"

Once I have the FSSN programmed in my channel list, I guess it doesn't really matter if the box crashs going into menu -- I should never need to

correct

Oh yeah, "left channel only". How do I set that? Or should I just unplug the right audio channel cable?

to change audio

once channel is up press red button then scroll right or left to "LEFT" and hit OK to save

 

[Mr Tony]

FYI the feed is up now so you should be able to scan it in

(praying it scans in for paulm)

 

[turbosat]

69/65 signal here, looks good! on my 1m Primestar

 

[paulm]

AWESOME!!!!!

Came back from a quick trip to the store and the fssn transponder had quality. Scanned in as FFSN-UND, and I'm watching it right now!

Freakin' amazing!

:clap

THANK YOU!!!

 

[Mr Tony]

have fun

what kind of signal quality do you have just out of curiousity?

 

[paulm]

53 quality
81 signal

It looks as good or better than it ever did on cable in Grand Forks.

 

[Mr Tony]

funny...you're getting a better signal quality than I am. I just hooked up my CW to 93 to see

51 quality....but I have it through a switch for more than one dish

Picture will be better...this is what Midco picks up only to compress it and send out on 23
(so do those Home of Economy & Hugo's commercials bring you back to GF?)

Did you get it figured out for left only audio?

 

[dhageremtp]

I got 63% signal and 55% quality on a 1.2m primestar using a twinhan pci card in my computer. Its working pretty good! Thanks for all your help in getting me going as well.