bad LNB, or wrong type of dish?

airwalk

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Original poster
Sep 27, 2005
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Hi, sorry for double posting, but I'm on slow dial-up so I don't have time to search. I have a DISHPro Quad LNB attached to a 18x24 dish (non DISH), as I don't have my original dish, hooked up to a 522 receiver. I am able to find the 110W satellite no problem, but can't find the 119W satellite. I tried moving it ~9+ degrees and no difference, I just eventually lose the 110W signal. I tried up and down a little as well, nothing. What I did find is that when I cover the 119W LNB I lose the signal altogether, where if I cover the 110W LNB, nothing changes. What I'm wondering is if I'm using an incompatible dish, or if the one side of my LNB has gone bad. Thanks for any help.
 
airwalk said:
Hi, sorry for double posting, but I'm on slow dial-up so I don't have time to search. I have a DISHPro Quad LNB attached to a 18x24 dish (non DISH), as I don't have my original dish, hooked up to a 522 receiver. I am able to find the 110W satellite no problem, but can't find the 119W satellite. I tried moving it ~9+ degrees and no difference, I just eventually lose the 110W signal. I tried up and down a little as well, nothing. What I did find is that when I cover the 119W LNB I lose the signal altogether, where if I cover the 110W LNB, nothing changes. What I'm wondering is if I'm using an incompatible dish, or if the one side of my LNB has gone bad. Thanks for any help.

airwalk,
Are you using the directv 18x24?

t
 
Well, first you are 9 degrees off. Second, cover the 110 eye until you find 119 - or the other way around. Third, have you accounted for skew with this non-standard dish?
 
How is the DP Quad mounted to a noncompatible Directv Dish. The plastic adapter on the Directv dish is designed to hold three LNBs so a Quad might not find a compatible location for the focal points.
 
Dish antennas that pickup two or more satellites need a skew adjustment. This tilts the dish so all satelletes are inline. So three adjustments are needed, horizontal (azmuth), vertical (elevation) and skew (tilt angle).
 
I had a problem with getting only one satellite . . it turned out that the arm from the dish to the LNB was bent out of shape slightly . . the lnb itself was fine.
 
Thanks for the info, the dish is actually a Starchoice. We were able to mount the LNB without a problem using the DISH Y-bracket. I had tried covering the 119W eye and rotating it around and nothing. It's also hard to say if the skew is correct or not as this is a non-standard dish. Also I'll check on the arm.
 
which SC dish ?

Skew is skew. You have it right or you don't.
Maybe some dishes are labeled different than others, but you still need to spin the dish one way or the other, and the correct amount.
I'm sure the StarChoice (similar to DirecTV Para Todos?) will do it just fine.
(I've aligned a Para Todos on BEV with lots of skew, and trimmed it out for good signal levels)

I'm not sure about the Dish Y bracket.
Maybe it's a drop-in and should just work.
I'll go get one and look at it, but maybe someone with that stuff at hand will comment.
Verify the LNBs are the correct distance from the dish and at the focal point.
Where (how far away) were the SC LNBs?
 
Well I changed the dish for a Dish 500 and I was able to get a much higher signal level from 110W (still coming in on 119W LNB), and I covered it with tinfoil and searched for a while trying to get the 119W satellite, but nothing. Does this mean it's definitely an LNB problem, or am I just missing something here. Kind of a pain setting up these Dishnet multi LNBs with a simple passive signal meter as it only shows signal from one LNB!
 
The meter will work connected to either port of lnb.
Could be you don't have LOS to 119.

If you do have LOS.

1 Connect meter to 119 port and tune signal. (this is where you are now! 110)

2 Lower elev 3 deg (midwest) or whatever dif there is in your area. (go by the D300 settings)

3 Move dish to the right (west) the next peak will be 119.

4 Do switch check (if skew was set correctly you will have both birds)

It is not an lnb problem. If you get 110 on the 119 side you can get 119 on the 119 side.
 
I'll definitely give this a try, thanks. Another question, this is a DishPro Quad with, obviously, 4 outputs. I am under the understanding that those 4 ports are the output of the built in switch, not the individual LNBs, so it shouldn't matter what port I'm connected to when I'm pointing. Do I have this correct? Not a big deal, just curious. Right now I have the receiver (522) plugged into the two outside ports.
 
If I recall correctly, the default output for the Twins was, 119 on one connector, and 110 on the other.
That way, if you hooked up just two powered meters, you could monitor both at once.
Now, once you start sending switch commands, all bets are off.

I'll assume that the Quad is the same, and if you'll use the first two connectors on it they'll default to 119 and 110, as well.

For some skew and alignment suggestions, read my comments at: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=659896#post659896
Just substitute 110 for his 82, and 119 for his 91. ;)
Maybe there is some minor misunderstanding that we're overlooking.
 
I believe that is correct. The two ports on the 119 (marked) side act like a twin. ie. default to 119/110.

Believe they are marked 1 2 3 4
... .............. default to 119 110 119 110



By the way there is no larger dish I know of that a twin or quad will work on.

It has to do with the focal point, feed ilumination, and spacing between lnbs.
 

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