6200 channels and nothings on

[pappapump]

The FTAdirect.com guys sent me here for my questions, though I must say the guy I talked to did everything but pull his hair out trying to help me.
That was in the beginning.
NOW I have it all set up and got everything going good yet... none of the fta channels I got were anything but dish, directv or other setup guides for DISH networks etc.
I work at a wholesales warehouse and we want to sell these things but setting up the demo is brain wracking when you get nothing viewable.
The very idea of getting all these fta stations from all over the world has us pretty excited. I have asked people I talk to in the store what they think and some seemed to understand the system at first. Problem is, not one of them bought their receiver for fta viewing. They use them for hacking pay TV and that just won't do for our store.
We already found a nice box that will cause us no problems in the future with the hacker types. Its not set up to recieve software hacks and thats exactly what we were looking for.
One customer said we wont sell as many that way, and I told him we don't need that type of customer anyway.

I spent way too much for all this stuff, somewhere around $600.00 compared to prices I found later which were much lower.
And I don't mind spending more if it will resolve our problem.
Ok so, i set my dish to true south as close as possible, I get a green signal on both bars in the 85 range on quality.
I have the coolsat pro 4000, a high quality rotor, a ( Invacom combo) 2100 something 4 way lnb, and a 4 way switch. Two lnb leads from the c and l connector on the lnb are hooked to the switch on lnb1 and lnb4, rx is going to the coax leading to my reciever. To reduce static i used the rca jacks on the back of my TV to hook up the reciever.
My question is, why am I recieving ALL non-program type signals and $ TV with no FTA?
I would love to view one of those canadian or british broadcast stations.
Well anything from europe would be nice too.
You know, Everyday TV like the foreigners view in their own living rooms.

Am I maybe aiming at the wrong satellite and just getting all the wrong signals?
I downloaded the satfinder program, bought a signal meter for final tweaking, and just got the switch today, mounted the reciever on the side of our steel building, aimed it south using a compass thats in a chevy truck, you know, one of those electronic ones.
My latitude is 30 deg my long is 93 deg, my zip is 70663, and my elevation is impossible to set on the dish itself since the bracket that came with the weingart is a close pole grabbing clamp type.I have maybe 1 inch up and down that I can move the dish for elevation, so im assuming elevation has to be set on the rotor itself. But instead of elevation I have a lat grid.
Given the fact that the pole on the rotor is set at an angle, I am assuming that the sat dish must use an arc when panning for satellite signals.(answered)
I wouldn't have dumped all this on you here but i didn't see a faq section to cover what i assume to you, must seem to be all basic questions.
(edit) I just found the faq, but answer anyway if you can, thanx.

BTW
HI Im Bob (aka) PaPPaPump
and I'm a newbie
lmao!

 

[sksatellite]

Question one, why a 4 way lnb and 4 way switch.
Question two, do you know in what sat you are at when you get both green on signal quality and signal strengh and in what frequency setting ?

 

[Katrinasucks]

PP,

I'm sure someome smarter than me will come along but here are some thoughts.

You gave your Lat but not Long so we have no idea what sat might be your true south.

(addressing SKS's question) I assume you only have 2 cables coming from the LNB to the switch. (C and L)

>Given the fact that the pole on the rotor is set at an angle, I am assuming that the sat dish must use an arc when panning for satellite signals.

Yes

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I have the coolsat pro 4000, a high quality rotor 2100 something I think,, a 4 way lnb, and a 4 way switch. The lnb leads from the c and l connector on the lnb are hooked to the switch on lnb1 and lnb2, rx is going to the coax leading to my reciever. To reduce static i used the rca jacks on the back of my TV to hook up the reciever.

It would be helpful if you could give the specific kind of LNB you are running and also your zip code. That way the experts here can help you better.

My question is, why am I recieving non-program type signals?
I would love to view one of those canadian or british broadcast stations.
Well anything from europe would be nice too.
Everyday TV like the foreigners view in their own living rooms.

There are all kinds of data signals in addition to TV and radio signals on FTA. Assuming you are in the US, you will only receive signals from sats with a CONUS footprint. However, there are several channels you can receive with a motorized system that may be of interest. There is a new channel called Russia Today in english that features news from a Russian perspective. Not too much Canadian on FTA unfortunately.

 

[Mr Tony]

The 4 way LNB is probably the Invacom combo one (with 2 ports for linear and 2 for circular)

Make sure the LO frequency is set correctly
10750 for the linear side (this is for most satellites)
11250 for the circular side (DBS satellites)

The Coolsat 4000 is one of the easier units to work with (I’ve worked with that one and the new 5000)

You have to make sure that you select the right port for the switch in the setup. It says LNB1, 2, 3, 4 in the setup

 

[Mr Tony]

Here are the reviews I did with screen shots....might help ya out

Coolsat 5000
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=48118

Coolsat 4000
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=29576

 

[Tron]

About the elevation on the motor... Once you set that, leave it alone (if you have the venerable SG-2100, use the Latitude scale on the left looking from behind the dish and set that to the latitude of your location.) After you set the motor elevation at your latitude, only adjust elevation on the dish itself. The bend in the motor shaft which you noted will automatically move the dish elevation to track the arc, and will also automatically adjust your skew.

 

[tumpy]

We already found a nice box that will cause us no problems in the future with the hacker types. Its not set up to recieve software hacks and thats exactly what we were looking for.
One customer said we wont sell as many that way, and I told him we don't need that type of customer anyway.

I spent way too much for all this stuff, somewhere around $600.00
I have the coolsat pro 4000, a high quality rotor 2100 something I think,,
HI Im Bob (aka) PaPPaPump
and I'm a newbie
lmao!

Unless coolsat make a special 4000 just for you, that information about not being able to take software updates is not true, coolsat has three box on the marker 4000 pro/plus and a 5000and all has RS323 serial data interface..how funny you chose that box and post that statement..

 

[pappapump]

Unless coolsat make a special 4000 just for you, that information about not being able to take software updates is not true, coolsat has three box on the marker 4000 pro/plus and a 5000and all has RS323 serial data interface..how funny you chose that box and post that statement..

The box im talking about isn't a coolsat, I found one with no serial port.
The coolsat is what im using now.
How funny I chose THAT box? And post THAT statement? Why would that be funny?
Are you implying something?
Let me state this 1 last time.

1. We want to recieve FTA programming {{{ONLY! }}}
2. We want to sell a box which limits or restricts ILLEGAL hacking and theft of PAY Channels.
B&B Wholesales Does not approve of, condone the use of, or sell ANY product which infringes upon
the legal rights of others.
3. I was referred to this site by the ftadirect guys to help me solve my problems.
4. I Bought a Coolsat 4000 because it is the VERY FIRST FTA reciever I ever saw, or heard of, apparently,
in your opinion I seem to have bought the wrong one?

And with all that I have posted so far, how can you miss that I said {we FOUND, NOT, we are USING}
The one I was referred to is a fortec/na model.

 

[pappapump]

The 4 way LNB is probably the Invacom combo one (with 2 ports for linear and 2 for circular)

Make sure the LO frequency is set correctly
10750 for the linear side (this is for most satellites)
11250 for the circular side (DBS satellites)

The Coolsat 4000 is one of the easier units to work with (I’ve worked with that one and the new 5000)

You have to make sure that you select the right port for the switch in the setup. It says LNB1, 2, 3, 4 in the setup

Yes thats the lnb I have, btw my zip is 70663.
Do I need the dbs setting since I dont use Direct TV or Dish Networks?
And the switch is set to 1 for high and 4 for low since those are the closest together on the mount. That makes it easier for me to tuck the switch in a dry place.
Another question is, with my settings (IE)
Sulphur, LA 70663
[ Latitude 30° 13.140'N Longitude 93° 21.834'W ]
How do I know which satellite is actually true south for me?
I ask because I assume that after I input my lat&long that I should then be aimed at the true south sat for my location to fine tune etc.
Another thing that confuses me is, my rotor has settings from 0-80 going east and the same going west.
So, how am I supposed to get 150 deg west?
Today I locked in 3200 stations from the satellites to the far west (150 to about 75 deg} setting. Anything lower than that slowly declined in strength.
I only got a green bar from the last half of the sat list, and that was only on about half of those. I am assuming that my skew is off due to a misaligned pole, but when I check it, it appears level.
This would all probably be less hassle if my rotor didn't occasionally become possessed and just start running on its own.
And before you ask, When it does this i'm not switching stations or anything.
It just suddenly decides to take off.
Close to 4 weeks now, and still no viewable programming.
Thanks for the help so far.
BTW, I was using mozilla to view this thread before and saw no response.
Turned on Explorer and there you are lol!

 

[PSB]

Your True South satellite is the same as your Longitude!

IA-6 @ 93w

Whoops forgot my own true south sat!

 

[pappapump]

Question one, why a 4 way lnb and 4 way switch.
Question two, do you know in what sat you are at when you get both green on signal quality and signal strengh and in what frequency setting ?

Ok, that question kind of throws me.
My lnb has 4 coax out leads, 2 are c and 2 are l, do I not need the switch?
Could this be the cause of my problems?
I get green on almost all of the echostar sats.
Ok, freq settings, I left those at default since the step by step I read said nothing about setting those.
I also read Icebergs reply about what to set them to.
So I will try that next.
I feel like I just jumped into a gunfight swingin a bowie knife.
I have less than adequate knowledge about most of this, but will try what you suggest.
Frequency? I mean that wasn't on the test!

 

[pappapump]

Your True South satellite is the same as your Longitude!
G3C @ 93w

I just don't know how to respond to that.
Please explain that, Im looking for the NAME of the satellite.
Are you saying that if im 93 deg long then I use a 93 deg sat?
WAit a sec ( Latitude 30° 13.140'N Longitude 93° 21.834'W)
I aim at a sat close to 93° ???
I have this on my list using satfinder for 93 [Telstar 6 93.0W 179.3 176.3 54.8 -0.6]
And this for G3c [Galaxy 3C 95.0W 183.2 180.3 54.7 2.8]
PLEASE tell me I got this one right!

 

[pappapump]

I just saw your donate icon down there.
Can I just send a money order?
I mean, you guys EARNED it for petes sakes!
Also here's a special shout out to the guys at ftacustomersupport.com .
The signal meter works great and well, everything else you sent me does too.
Now all I need is a new reciever and I'm all set.

 

[PSB]

Yes its IA-6 @ 93w, its also my True South satellite, so this is the satellite you would aim at when intalling a motor. Its a good idea to find and store this satellite before adding any motors.....

 

[pappapump]

About the elevation on the motor... Once you set that, leave it alone (if you have the venerable SG-2100, use the Latitude scale on the left looking from behind the dish and set that to the latitude of your location.) After you set the motor elevation at your latitude, only adjust elevation on the dish itself. The bend in the motor shaft which you noted will automatically move the dish elevation to track the arc, and will also automatically adjust your skew.

Tron, the mounting bracket on the weingart is too close.
It clamps right on the bent arm on the rotor, with a bolt that fits exactly through both the clamp and the rotor pole, leaving me nearly no room to set elevation.
Should I buy a different model of dish?

 

[Katrinasucks]

OK PP,
One bit of advice, don't go back and edit previous posts with new data, it will just confuse people who don't go back and read it...

(anyone trying to help might reread thread from the start)

OK, I'm way new but I've been reading this stuff for a couple of months now so lemme give you the advice I can from my chair.

First, let's remove the switch. Yes can use it in the long run but for today lets just work with the L side of the LNBF and not the C. -- Set Coolsat accordingly. We can get fancy later. ;-)

Then, to save me a whole bunch of typing, read this.

You don't tell us the rotor name so I don't know if it is USALS. You said it was a good rotor so I assume so. The Coolsat supports USALS.

You need to figure out the elevation for the motor AND the dish.

If the dish can't get to the elevation you require, solve that before you go on.

OK someone more knowledgeable than me can chime in if needed but I'm sure that is getting you in the right direction.

BTW The place is being overrun by southern LA boys.... We might even outnumber the Yankees soon... ;-)

 

[pappapump]

Yes its IA-6 @ 93w, its also my True South satellite, so this is the satellite you would aim at when intalling a motor. Its a good idea to find and store this satellite before adding any motors.....

God Bless you PSB!
That explains so much!
So If I do a factory reset tomorrow and JUST start from there I will FINALLY have my true south sat and the rest should fall into place?
I was using South from the compass, rotoring left to right till I got a signal and calling whatever sat I found with the best readings my true south, and setting everything else off of that.
I hope you aren't laughing by now, but to those of us who never did this, it's a little hard to understand some of your terminology.
To me, true south is as south as south gets, so a True south satellite would of course be as close to compass south as humanly possible.
Not KNOWING which satellite that would be is quite puzzling.
Quoting from a guide I was given is this
(QUOTE)

10. Now use your compass and the data from the Satfinder program to aim the motor as close to your TS satellite as you can. When using a compass remember to hold the compass level to the ground and very steady. Also remember to avoid metal objects like the dish and pole. I always stand back a few feet behind the pole when aiming the compass.

I searched that guide and nothing I read told me to use my longitude.
1 simple step and I'm screwed from the beginning.

 

[pappapump]

Ok, so I really dont need the switch for the initial steps?
Or do i need it all?
All I want to recieve is the true fta stuff for our floor model, as well as my home reciever.
As far as the usals setting etc is concerned, all I can say is that it came with very little paperwork and I couldnt find the specs. I'll look for the name and post it when I get to work tomorrow.

 

[Katrinasucks]

The Circ LNBF will get you some music off the echostar birds and some barker channels that are in the clear. To my VERY LIMITED knowledge of what is up there, I think that's the bulk of it. (Since I'm still at the "learning" stage, I'm getting the theory down but I don't know what is on what bird yet.)

So for now, let's eliminate the variable by only using the L side.

As far as using your long to find which sat... You still need to point the dish at 180 degrees off the compass. The long only tells you WHICH sat you should find once you get there.

Once you get it locked in, USALS should do the rest. (read that link I gave you)