Aligning Dish

[kelleyga]

I got my actuator yesterday and installed it todya in my BUD 10 feet mesh.

I want to try to do the last and hardest part of the installation which is align the dish to get the arc ok.

I know I have to point the dish to my due south satellite. I am at latitud 28, longitud 82.5. My due south satellite will be AMC 9 at 83. I am using a VBox to move the dish. I tried to get signal from ACM 9 in my Pansat 3500s today with no luck. Where I was getting confused is on how much the arm should be extended? I do not know if I need to extended all the way or not at all when trying to get AMC 9. I know I will need to move the dish up/down, left/righ manually once I get signal from AMC 9.

 

[voomvoom]

kelleyga,
It being a C-band dish, I wouldn't worry about your true south satellite. Just get that polar mount pointed north/south, that's why it's called a polar mount. It's supposed to point at the poles. Then, once you get your correct elevation angle, you should be able to get something. You'll need to either program a channel on the Pansat for whichever satellite you may choose to try and get, or use one of the channels pre-programmed in the Pansat. Lot's of luck. I've personally never tried it your way, but with my analog experience, I can't/won't see it as being too hard. I have no experience with a VBox, so I don't know how it might tie in to the Pansat. So, I won't even go there. Once you get your elevation angle, you should be good to go. It's going to take some trial and error. Once you get it, it won't be so hard the next time. Enjoy.

Al

 

[kelleyga]

Voomvoom, thanks.

I will then make sure my polar mount is pointing north/south with the motor arm extended all the way. Then I will manually play with the elevation. I will try tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[kelleyga]

By the way, do I need to change any values like Lnb, Lo and those that appear in Pansat when I select AMC 9?

 

[voomvoom]

I don't think so, but in the Pansat you'll have both AMC 9/c (it will show 5150 setting)and an AMC 9/ku (it will show 10750 setting) satellite settings. I don't think you'll find any signal on the C-band side of AMC 9/c though. NASA used to be on channel 9 analog, but it's been gone for quite awhile. And, you can't get analog with the Pansat anyway. I'm not currently using my Pansat with C-band, but I think you're going to have to scan them separately. As if they are separate satellites and some sats are separate and the others might as well be. If you are using a Diseqc switch, you will have to tell the Pansat which line or port to use, at least I think you will. I don't think you'll need to change the LNB settings, as the Pansat is pretty smart. I don't know if it detects them or if they were pre-programmed. If you have to change it, it's not hard to do. Not knowing how the Vbox works with the Pansat (or any other receiver for that matter), I don't know if you'll need to change the satellite positioner settings or not. It has 3 settings, Disable, 1.2, and Usals. I do know that if you do have to change the Pansat's satellite positioner settings, at least if you use the Usals setting, AMC 9 is pre-programmed at 85.0w while it is actually at 83.0w. Of course your Pansat is newer and may have a more up todate program in it. So, it might be right. Let us hope so. I hope any of this helps. I'm really not sure. Like I said before, I've never set one up the way you are and I've never even seen a Vbox. Don't understand quite how it works, but I'm sure it will. Good luck.

Al

 

[drhydro]

I know I have to point the dish to my due south satellite. I am at latitud 28, longitud 82.5. My due south satellite will be AMC 9 at 83. I am using a VBox to move the dish. I tried to get signal from ACM 9 in my Pansat 3500s today with no luck. Where I was getting confused is on how much the arm should be extended? I do not know if I need to extended all the way or not at all when trying to get AMC 9.

You do not want the arm extended all the way when at true south, if you set it up that way you will not get anything past (east) of your true south. I have mine set up so that when the arm is almost full RETRACTED the dish is pointing just above the horizon at my western most sat (amc 7). When it is fully extended it goes past my true south (quite a bit). So hook up your arm like i have mine, then extend the arm until the dish reaches the zenith of its travel (ie: the highest it will point up before it starts going "down" the other way. Once the dish is at its zenith, then adjust your elevation by using an angle finder. After elevation is set, then start moving the whole dish and mount around on the pole until you find your true south satellite. Once you have found your true south signal, then move (with the motor) the dish down to your westermost satellite, if possible (line of sight) try for amc7. Once you find your westernmost sat then you need to fine tune the aiming. You should NOT have to touch the elevation after initially setting it.

I know I will need to move the dish up/down, left/righ manually once I get signal from AMC 9.

I would use the following signal to find amc-9. It is KU digital, so its going to be kind of tuff to get in, but with patience you should find it.
frequency 12060 polarity V symbol rate 30000
This is a directway signal, no channels on it, but it should work for pointing your dish. Good Luck

 

[kelleyga]

drhydro, thanks for your help. Well, after being up there moving and moving, I was able to get AMC 5. I have my mover on the left side as I want to get PAS 3R. To get AMC 5 what I did was press the bottom on the VBOX to extend the arm so that the dish was moving from left to right. Stopped it almost at the midlle and started moving the dish where I thought AMC5 was. Then I got signal, 45 to 65 (it moves beteewn those #s). Now When I try to move the dish with the Vbox to the left side, the arm becomes smaller (less extended). I was moving the dish 1 Vbox count at a time to the east (left) and put the pansat at SBS6 and I got it, but It goes from 10 to 99 and disappears and comes back all the way to 99 and disappears, etc. I was not able to get anything else when moving the dish with the motor.

Based on the above, is my arm moving correctly?
Can I use AMC 5 as my true south to align?

Thanks.

 

[Shawn95GT]

If I ever get all my parts I'll have a very similar setup - PanSat 3500s, VBOX running an 18" actuator on my 5' mesh. I'm reading this with great intrest .

I'm curious to see how this goes for you. You're controling the VBOX via the 1.2 commands on your Pansat, right?

 

[kelleyga]

I was just pressing the left/right arrows on the VBox to move the dish. I want to see how to do it from the Pansat.

 

[drhydro]

amc 5 really will not work for your TS satellite, it is off by 4 degrees :-( You are pretty close to amc 9 tho, you should be able to find it without a huge amount of hassle.

In the pansat you will have to do the following to set up for the V-Box (this is for the 2700 but should work for the 3500). After you have found amc 9:
1) press menu on the pansat remote
2)select installation
3) enter pasword (on mine it is 0000)
4) select "antenna setup"
5) select AMC 9 ku band
6) where it shows the different transponders select one that is showing quality, if you can't find one you will have to enter one in the transponder/satellite edit menu, and then come back to this part. You should use the directway transponder that i gave you above.

frequency 12060 polarity V symbol rate 30000

MAKE SURE YOUR POLARITY IS CORRECT, ie: that the polarotor is on the correct polarity.

6) select "positioner" and set it for diseqc 1.2- this will bring you to another screen. By pressing the left and right buttons on your pansat remote you can move your dish until you have the best signal quality. Pick a position # to save it under and voila, you now have a satellite setup and saved. :-D Repeat above for other sats.

Caveat- i have NOT set up my vbox yet, but this is how it should work.

 

[kelleyga]

drhydro,

Man, it is hard, I can get in there. I tried and nothing. After moving everything to try to get AMC9 as you told me, I went back to try to get AMC 5 and I was able to. I dont know why I can not get AMC 9. I move the whole dish to my right from AMC 5 and move the elevation up and played with it up and down, left right, nothing.

Now, let me ask you a question. I am having problems because there nothing on AMC 9 but the Directway internet stuff right? If there were more stuff, channels C or Ku it will be easier for me.

When I went back to AMC 5 I decided to move the elevation a little (as AMC 9 is at 60 versus AMC 5 which is at 59), but nothing. The only good thing is that I was able to get now AMC5 and SBS6 at good signal (45 to 60). Before I was not able to get SBS6 as it will come and go. But at the end, I can not get the other satellites.

Is there anyother way I can align, other than using AMC9?

By the way, thanks for telling me how to integrate the Pansat and the Vbox. I was in that option before, where I could tell it Diseqc 1.2 but never hit OK. Now I did and I know how it work. Thanks a lot for teaching me.

 

[voomvoom]

kellyga,
Try TP 12080 H and S/R 16000. There is something there now, whatever it is, I think it's 4:2:2, so you can't watch it with the Pansat, but it's a strong signal.

Al

 

[kelleyga]

VoomVoom, I just came back. I did not see your post on time.

I will be in here in front of my computer with this forum open and I will be watching from (6pm to 10 pm eastern time, Florida). Maybe you can check and let me know if there is something I can check with my Pansat, that will be great, I will drop everything I am doing to try to get it.

Also, when I was trying with the setting Drhydro told me, I had to go and edit and creat a new TP for AMC9 with the setting for Directway. Once I created those, I went to antena, setup and chose AMC9 and selected it and changed the TP to the one I created. But when I would pressed in Exit it will not give me the option to save, and would go back to the list of satellites and would put back TP(1) instead of TP(4) (which is the one I had created). Should I just change it and stay in the left part of the screen ?

 

[drhydro]

But when I would pressed in Exit it will not give me the option to save, and would go back to the list of satellites and would put back TP(1) instead of TP(4) (which is the one I had created). Should I just change it and stay in the left part of the screen ?

Kelly, after you have changed it in the right part of the screen (so that the directway transponder is selected) then go into positioner settings and you should still have the directway transponder selected for aiming.

 

[kelleyga]

Thanks drhydro, that is how I was trying. Changing it and then moving to positioner. I will try again today when I get home.

I was looking at lyngsat, What if I try to align with Brasilsat B3, it is at 84 degrees, only 1 degreen from AMC9????? Would that make a huge difference for me to track the belt???? What do you guys think??

 

[Shawn95GT]

Brasilsat B3's beams seem to be concentrated on Brazil (go figure!). I'd try for that bird once you are up and tracking.

 

[kelleyga]

Yes, that is what I was thinking on doing, as I can not get AMC9 but can get other satellites. I am at 82.5 so I dont think going to 84 would get off the belt by much. But again, I am not an expert. I will try AMC9 after work again, otherwise I will try Basitsat B3 and test.

 

[drhydro]

I dont think you will have any luck on brasilsat, all of the beams are "spot" beamed on brazil :-(

 

[kelleyga]

Sorry for my ignorance. WHat do you mean by Spotbeam? That they only point to one place specifically, like Brazil? If so, just for me to lear, how can I know that ?

 

[kelleyga]

OK, I think I got it. From Lyngsat, columm Region, right? It should say USA, right?