10 foot Superior Antenna Problems

[johnnytuinals]

I have had a few Orbitron dishes and never really had a problems in the past at my other homes....
I have had my Superior Antenna for almost 2 years and was wondering if I am doing something wrong?
I live in the Poconos and when I go with the C band satellites everything comes in great and No sparkles....
Now with KU band I will get most of the channels in great and maybe 1 or 2 might come in crummy....
I am afraid of moving the declination to far over because I screw everything up.
The lower KUs come in ok and the Middle ones are ok mostly,But when I get up to K3 K9 K5 and K6.......Like on K3 a month ago the Golden globes came in very snowy on K3 but the Digital comes in great on all stations.
Tonight on K5 Digital comes in great as always but one of the higher stations comes in snowy.
and last on K6 tonite all the stations are coming in great but sometimes the higher ones or maybe a channel comes in snowy.
was wondering if it has anything to do with the declination........
I always felt if most stations are coming in good and one stations very snowy then there might be a problem,,,,,I am sure they are not spot beamed...JT

 

[gizzer777]

Ku

I have had a few Orbitron dishes and never really had a problems in the past at my other homes....
I have had my Superior Antenna for almost 2 years and was wondering if I am doing something wrong?
I live in the Poconos and when I go with the C band satellites everything comes in great and No sparkles....
Now with KU band I will get most of the channels in great and maybe 1 or 2 might come in crummy....
I am afraid of moving the declination to far over because I screw everything up.
The lower KUs come in ok and the Middle ones are ok mostly,But when I get up to K3 K9 K5 and K6.......Like on K3 a month ago the Golden globes came in very snowy on K3 but the Digital comes in great on all stations.
Tonight on K5 Digital comes in great as always but one of the higher stations comes in snowy.
and last on K6 tonite all the stations are coming in great but sometimes the higher ones or maybe a channel comes in snowy.
was wondering if it has anything to do with the declination........
I always felt if most stations are coming in good and one stations very snowy then there might be a problem,,,,,I am sure they are not spot beamed...JT

As you know KU is alot tougher than C band....What KU LNB do you have, and how old is it? May be worth looking into. You may also be just a hair off the sweetspot in the Belt (little declination adjustments) My BUD has coarse and fine adjustments for declination...

Also there are great transponders and weak ones on some birds.
Heck, I do not even think I have K5 programmed...Now I have to go look!
Jeff

 

[johnnytuinals]

Thanks for the resonse Jeff
Yea they might be weak Transponders.........
Why would anyone use a weak transponder?Because its cheap?
Then I guess I am doing ok,but I enjoy going outside and ajusting my dish,,,,sometime I can screw it up and I can be out there 4-8 hours just to get my old settings back.....But thats ok I am retired lol and the people that live near me must think I am nuts being out there with a wench many times lol....
Between K6 and K9 you will get K5 on the Only Digital channel that it has,,,but i do see analog stations there here and there...Thanks JT

 

[gizzer777]

We all get old sooner or later....

Thanks for the resonse Jeff
Yea they might be weak Transponders.........
Why would anyone use a weak transponder?Because its cheap?
Then I guess I am doing ok,but I enjoy going outside and ajusting my dish,,,,sometime I can screw it up and I can be out there 4-8 hours just to get my old settings back.....But thats ok I am retired lol and the people that live near me must think I am nuts being out there with a wench many times lol....
Between K6 and K9 you will get K5 on the Only Digital channel that it has,,,but i do see analog stations there here and there...Thanks JT

Sometimes it is just age, sometimes they get smacked by space dust, malfunction etc. I believe they all began equally. Also it depends on how much bandwidth the station is using. ie: HBO on G1 really loads their transponders up....thus all the difficulty getting signals for some!

I also recently retired and I do the same thing, with my dish...compulsive I guess!

An easy way to get back to your settings is to mark the original position of the setting bolt (or whatever ) on the declination scale (or if it is gone, an appropriate spot )with a marker. One thing I learned a long time ago is to make very small adjustments and only one adjustment at a time!!

These forums are the best for getting info and I really like passing on what I have learned thru the years. I also love learning from the many here that know more than I! Feel free to PM me if I can help!

Regards
Jeff

 

[gizzer777]

Well, now I see why I do not have K5 programed....IT IS BELOW MY EASTERN HORIZON!

Jeff

 

[truckracer]

Link budget

The reason some transponders seem to be weaker than others depend on the "Link budget" that is allocated for the uplinker's intentions of who is going to receive the signals. Sometimes educational institutions and businesses work up a program with the uplinker that will specify all the specs and locations in the satellite footprint for the intended reception locations (dish size, geographical location within the footprint, Lnb noise and stability values).

Some of the old timers used to call those "half transponders". Especially now days we have satellites with spot beam capabilities. Don't be too quick to blame your dish or alignment if everything else is coming in good.

If you want to be sure move your dish to the "weak signal", then nudge it east or west to peak it, next pull up your signal meter on digital and with the receiver out at the dish slightly adjust the dish elevation(NOT the declination) and see if your signal increases with a slight movement up or down. If your signal quality drops going up or down, your polar mount alignment is perfect, if it increases then your polar mount is going to need some tuning.

Hope that helps.

 

[truckracer]

sometimes a transponder may seem weak because the neighboring satellite is using the same frequency and polarity. If your dish is slightly warped or not perfectly aligned or too small it will cause interference problems.

 

[johnnytuinals]

well my dish is olny about 1 1/2 years old,,,and guess that there are weak transponders on the Higher satellites (K6 and K5}.I have done the Sharpie marker thing on the pole......
And yea when you are retired you are more offen out at the antenna more offen lol yea at 47 I am able to run in and outside lol...JohnnyT

 

[Shawn95GT]

Well, now I see why I do not have K5 programed....IT IS BELOW MY EASTERN HORIZON!

Jeff

You can't get down to 79W?

There were Voomers hitt'n 61.5 from the West coast! Satfinder says it's 28° elevation from Reno so it is pretty low in the sky but LOS permitting you should be able to hit it.

K5-600 is the strongest Ku transponder I've ever tuned with the 4DTV.

 

[gizzer777]

Hi shawn

No....there is a mountain range to my east (and west too!) Reno sits in a valleyand I am lucky to get W3!
if if were not the mountains, my closest neighbor's home is in the way too!

Oh well, I am happy with my favorites...G1, G9, G5, etc...that is where my subs are! I still look at the others that are in my path, but 98% I am on the above birds...Nice to see you back too!

Regards
jeff