Can't find Nimiq 4 with 90cm dish...

[Visitor]

Perhaps someone can give me some tips...

My existing setup was a single 20" dish with a DishProPlus Twin for both 91 and 82. Of course, you all know the signal for 82 has dropped off the planet for many places (I'm in the NYC area).

So I had picked up a 90cm Fortec Star and outfitted it with a DishPro Dual lnb and connected it to the input port of the DishProPlus Twin.

My receivers (9241 and 5900) both report that the connections with the DPP Twin and DP Dual are good but, but I - for the life of me - am unable to find 82 with my new bigger wing dish. I've connected my receiver directly to the 90cm dish and I still have no luck finding the satellite. The 20" dish is still getting 91 and some 82 transponders - so I know it's out there somewhere - but I was thinking it wouldn't be so hard to find 82 with this bigger dish.

So, anyway - when I view the setup in the system info screen, it looks like it identifies the third input as 61.5, which I had feeling I ended up pointing to in frustration before calling it a night. However, in the Check Switch screen - it doesn't identify the third input as any satellite (just an X) but the "transponder" row is green, and the lnb is correctly identified.

Does anyone have any ideas? Theoretically this should work, no?

Another question is - if and when I do finally find 82 on the 90cm dish, will it be a problem for my receiver to see 82 from both the DPP Twin on the 20" dish, as well as from the DP Dual on the 90cm dish simultaneously? Or will I need to cover the 82 lnb on the DPP Twin whenever I do a check switch?

Thanks for any advice. . . I've swear I feel like I scanned the whole sky looking for 82 on this dish - meanwhile I'm still getting the few transponders I still can on the 20" dish. I thought it would be easy to find.... not!

 

[2k1Toaster]

It took a long time to setup our new big dish. I have been told the larger the dish, the narrower the beamwidth, and therefore it is harder to aim than a smaller dish.

Also to get 82, I pointed my dish way more east then I thought I would have.

 

[Smith P.]

1st - you'll never get both sats in that config: 30" dish and Dish Twin LNBF especially if you're hunting for better signals. Spacing between LNBF's "eyes" for the 30" reflector is different.
2nd - when ? Only if you'll split ie replace the Twin to two separate legacy LNBFs, find proper location for the second [82W] LNBF using special clamp (water hose clamps ?) and find SW42 or SW44 [legacy !] switch what perfectly works for BellTV (I'm not against experiments with two DP LNBFs and DP33 or DPP44 or DP21 switches - it will take your time and money ).

 

[Visitor]

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't using the 36" dish to try to capture both 82 and 91.

I am trying use the 36" dish to capture only 82, with a DishPro Dual lnb.

Then connect that lnb to the INPUT of my DishProPlus Twin that is on my other 20" dish that I would devote to 91 only.

I would then block the lnb on the DPP Twin that is meant for 82, so that when I check switch on my receiver, it would bypass the lnb meant for 82 on the DPP Twin, and go to the DP Dual that is on the 36".

Why would I do this? So I could preserve the single cable - dual tuner for my receiver while using a wing dish for 82 (the 36" one).

And good news - I finally found 82 on the 36"... I had had the 36" pointed to 61.5 and slowly moved it west... hit Echostar 77, and then eventually 82. I had to adjust my elevation higher (which was the hard part) to get a better signal. Not sure why I couldn't for the life of me locate it yesterday, but maybe it was frustration.

The only bad thing is that I am only able to achieve about 51-61 signal strength on any given transponder on 82 on an overcast day - but at least that is far more than I was getting before. But - I'm happy that the setup is working - I just wish I was getting a better signal. I thought I would with a 36" dish but maybe I need to do a better job of peaking it. I ruined two elevation screws while trying to peak, so I finally settled for what I got.

I am pretty sure I'll get rain fade with that signal strength, though - but it's a start I suppose.

I do agree - it sure seemed to be a very narrow beam. Not being so well versed in how this all works - I guess I assumed it would be easier to find with a bigger dish.

 

[2k1Toaster]

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't using the 36" dish to try to capture both 82 and 91.

I am trying use the 36" dish to capture only 82, with a DishPro Dual lnb.

Then connect that lnb to the INPUT of my DishProPlus Twin that is on my other 20" dish that I would devote to 91 only.

I would then block the lnb on the DPP Twin that is meant for 82, so that when I check switch on my receiver, it would bypass the lnb meant for 82 on the DPP Twin, and go to the DP Dual that is on the 36".

Why would I do this? So I could preserve the single cable - dual tuner for my receiver while using a wing dish for 82 (the 36" one).

And good news - I finally found 82 on the 36"... I had had the 36" pointed to 61.5 and slowly moved it west... hit Echostar 77, and then eventually 82. I had to adjust my elevation higher (which was the hard part) to get a better signal. Not sure why I couldn't for the life of me locate it yesterday, but maybe it was frustration.

The only bad thing is that I am only able to achieve about 51-61 signal strength on any given transponder on 82 on an overcast day - but at least that is far more than I was getting before. But - I'm happy that the setup is working - I just wish I was getting a better signal. I thought I would with a 36" dish but maybe I need to do a better job of peaking it. I ruined two elevation screws while trying to peak, so I finally settled for what I got.

I am pretty sure I'll get rain fade with that signal strength, though - but it's a start I suppose.

I do agree - it sure seemed to be a very narrow beam. Not being so well versed in how this all works - I guess I assumed it would be easier to find with a bigger dish.

Could you take some readings of your signal around midnight to 3am? I am curious to see how bad the wobble effect of 82 is the farther north you are. I pretty much lose all of 82 at night, but get 45's to 70's in the day time with my 1.2m dish and am able to lock and view all the HD... Sort of pissy. (and this is from southern Colorado, US)

 

[Visitor]

I'll try to do that tonight... Last night, we got a big rain storm and I sort of fell asleep.

 

[2k1Toaster]

I'll try to do that tonight... Last night, we got a big rain storm and I sort of fell asleep.

Sweet, thanks.

I am thinking my dish isnt peaked correctly, but we tried for many hours getting it the best it could so I would hope it is.

 

[Visitor]

Tell me about it - to be honest - I have a tendency to tighten screws and bolts too much and I had a hell of a time trying to peak the 90cm dish and it being kinda flexible didn't help. I still don't think I peaked it well enough, but perhaps I'll try again in a week or so. I'm afraid to lose the satellite lock. LOL.

ANYWAY - I woke up (kinda by accident) at 3AM ET and checked on the transponders. They all indeed came in, and I believe with slightly improved signal strength - maybe up to 5 points improvement. That still didn't get me that much higher... They all ranged in the 59-69 range at 3AM. Not much of a difference from the day. Nothing to get excited about, but maybe with the way I sort of "adapted" the lnb clamp to hold the DPP Dual - I shoud be happy with what I've got. I think I could do better though. Are you just losing some transponders at night? That's interesting bevcause you seem to get better signal than me.

Anyone have a SatBuddy I could borrow?

 

[2k1Toaster]

Tell me about it - to be honest - I have a tendency to tighten screws and bolts too much and I had a hell of a time trying to peak the 90cm dish and it being kinda flexible didn't help. I still don't think I peaked it well enough, but perhaps I'll try again in a week or so. I'm afraid to lose the satellite lock. LOL.

ANYWAY - I woke up (kinda by accident) at 3AM ET and checked on the transponders. They all indeed came in, and I believe with slightly improved signal strength - maybe up to 5 points improvement. That still didn't get me that much higher... They all ranged in the 59-69 range at 3AM. Not much of a difference from the day. Nothing to get excited about, but maybe with the way I sort of "adapted" the lnb clamp to hold the DPP Dual - I shoud be happy with what I've got. I think I could do better though. Are you just losing some transponders at night? That's interesting bevcause you seem to get better signal than me.

Anyone have a SatBuddy I could borrow?

I get awesome signal in the day, and all HDTV comes in clear, no blocks (digital snow). But around 9pm MST signal strength starts to go down down down, and around 1am MST, I get absolutely nothing but 2 or 3 transponders on 82. Then around 3am MST they start to come back to life, and around 5am to 6am, all back to normal. Really really strange.

 

[Will94]

I get awesome signal in the day, and all HDTV comes in clear, no blocks (digital snow). But around 9pm MST signal strength starts to go down down down, and around 1am MST, I get absolutely nothing but 2 or 3 transponders on 82. Then around 3am MST they start to come back to life, and around 5am to 6am, all back to normal. Really really strange.

Do you think that it could be related to diurnal changes in the ionosphere? That's the part of the atmosphere that refracts AM radio waves at night. I have no idea if it has any affect on DBS signals.

 

[2k1Toaster]

Do you think that it could be related to diurnal changes in the ionosphere? That's the part of the atmosphere that refracts AM radio waves at night. I have no idea if it has any affect on DBS signals.

Well these signals are much higher in frequency than AM, but I am sure it effects it. To what extend I am not sure. I would guess it should be negligible, but again I don't know for sure.

 

[OnlineLC]

Well these signals are much higher in frequency than AM, but I am sure it effects it. To what extend I am not sure. I would guess it should be negligible, but again I don't know for sure.

I doubt that it is atmospheric as I find some transponders are affected while others are very stable. I find that TP 01, 05, 09, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29 and TP 04, 08, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 all don't vary much (Note the groupings of 4) whereas all the others can change by around 6-8 points on my 9242. Fortunately with the 120 cm dish they all come in 24/7 for me now. With the 100 cm I lost 31, 30, 27, 26, 22 and 23 in the evenings at around 8pm.

I don't know if Bell change the transponder signal strengths at night or if the satellite changes its orientation slightly. Those of us on the fringe would be very sensitive to small variations.