Well i am attempting to set up a satellite dish at my house on my own and as you read this you will know that i am quite the amateur at this stuff but on to my issues.
I have an older round 18 inch round DTV dish set up with two coax ports on it (i believe they are called LMDs but not sure). I have ran one RG6 cable to a connector that connects it to a seperate RG6 cable which runs directly into the back of my receiver, the only receiver i plan on using. I have not been able to find any evidence that the dish is communicating with my receiver nor have i gotten a sat signal. I have done dish pointing a couple of times before and i do not believe that is the issue.
I am using a standard def receiver not sure what you would call it but the model number is D10-300 and it was manufactured in 2005
My receiver is only a couple years old while my dish may be 10 years old so my questions are is there something I am missing here? Do i need something to make them compatible? I do not believe i need a multiswitch as i will only use 1 receiver.
Do i need a B-band converter?
is power not getting to the dish?
or will the coax not carry the signal if using two cables connected together through a simple 2 sided connector?
any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance
My first question is what type of connecter is joining you two pieces of Coax? If you have used a splitter, that is your issue. your dish is powered by the receiver, and most standard splitters do not pass power. easy way to check this is if you have a voltage meter or multimeter, you can check for voltage at the commection to the LNB. if you have no voltage, you have a wiring issue.
Next once you determin you do have voltage at the LNB, you need to make sure you mast is perfectly plumb, and that there are no obstructions in the direction the receiver says the dish needs to point. That would be trees, tall buildings, or any roof or patio overhang. If there are obstructions, you need to relocate the dish to a spot with clear line of sight. Once your line of sight is clear, then using the elevation numbers you get from the dishpointing screen on the receiver, set the elevation on your dish. To help on the initial rough pointing, I usually set this 1° to 2° higher than specified by the receiver. This corrects for the dish sag from having the azimuth bolts loose on your dish.
Next put the receiver in the signal strength menu on an even transponder 32 for example. then while someone is looking at this screen, and relaying the info to you at the dish
(Cel phone or walkie talkie is helpful), slowly move the dish from east to west until you get a signal. By slowly, I mean less than 1° at a time. With the 18" dish you only have a 3° window where you will see any signal at all, and it takes the box several seconds to register a signal on the onscreen meter. Once the receiver has a signal you then want to peak it. Slowly
(I mean Really Slowly)adjust east and west to find the highest signal. Once found, lock down your azimuth bolts. you may see the signal drop as the dish rises from tightening the azimuth. Once the azimuth is locked down you now need to adjust the elevation in the same manor
very slowly up and down to find the final peak signal
(Good Signal should be 90 or higher). Lock the elevation down and you should now be pointed.
Let us know how it goes.
GOOD LUCK!