Dish 1000.4 Eastern Arc Setup Help

[mpdclark]

Just purchased a 1000.4 (eastern arc) to get the new HD channels. I have been trying to lock into 72.7 and have had little success.

On my VIP622 receiver I have run check switch with no cable attached and covered 77 & 61.5 LNBF's with foil. On one try I got 61.5 satellite on LNB that should be 72.7. Most times I can get 61.5 but not 77 or 72.7.

This is not my first Dish install and have rechecked plum on arm and elevation, skew, etc. Got my dish setup data from DishPointer.com. Satellite found is always 61.5. I have also tried using a meter (SF-95L) and it always only finds 61.5.

Could someone please share how they got this new Dish to install correctly?

I spoke with Dish Depot and they say that 1000.4 is very hard to install and does not behave or install like any others. They commeted that even installers are having troubles.

Help and suggestion would greatly be appreciated. Thank You!

 

[TheKrell]

Did you cable a receiver directly up to the center (72.7) output? Edited to add: ahh, I think you did if I understand what you wrote above. Hmmm. Yes, it's harder because it's bigger and the azimuth in particular will be the most directional. If you can get 61.5 on the 72.7 LNB, you're pretty far off in azimuth and should be able to move it quite a bit father west in order to get 72.7 into the correct LNB.

 

[mpdclark]

I have tried port 1 (77) and port two (72.7). When 61.5 shows I have very slowly tried rotating dish to see if I can get other satellite without sucess. Currently have about 5 hours with this dish and at a loss for what's wrong. Dish Depot said it was very unlikely LNB was bad. I am also using TP 19 or 21 to find 72.7.

 

[TheKrell]

Another idea: check The List! to insure that the transponder your receiver is tuning to is actually in use by Dish at 72! Not all of them are since DTV is taking their sweet time to turn them over. Edited to add: a quick check of The List! shows odd transponders (I checked up to tp9) loaded up. If you have your receiver set to an even transponder, it's possibly either off or not transmitting Dish signals.

 

[snowboardernh]

instructions for installation state" peak using Transponder 17 or 19 on 72.7".

 

[mpdclark]

Page 2 of intructions that I printed off from dish say on 72.7 west use transponder 19 or 21 for maximum strenght. Are these transponders currently working?

 

[TheKrell]

According to The List! they are.

 

[thedamaja]

The EA dish is a little tricky but not to bad. In my experience I found with the mast bolts loose I had to crank up the elevation 4-5 degrees over what was needed once everything was tightened down.

Here's what I did the first time.

Cover 72/77 lnb with foil.
increase elevation a degree at a time until you find 61.5 with you're SF-95L
once you find 61.5 tight down the dish, you may have to decrease elevation once the mast bolts are tight.
Remove foil, run check switch and 72,77 should show up.
You can then fine tune for best signal.

When you run a check switch I would remove your meter from the line if you're not already.

 

[TheForce]

I have tried port 1 (77) and port two (72.7). When 61.5 shows I have very slowly tried rotating dish to see if I can get other satellite without sucess. Currently have about 5 hours with this dish and at a loss for what's wrong. Dish Depot said it was very unlikely LNB was bad. I am also using TP 19 or 21 to find 72.7.

Reminder, you must have port 1 always connected to a receiver or power or nothing works. The LNB system will be dead unless you are connected to port 1 with power.

I spent a couple days with it and ended up scrap[ping the far LNB for 61.5 because I just couldn't get strong enough signal without compromising 77 and 72. I now use the 30" dish plugged into the input port and get 75-85 on 61.5.

The game plan I used as I don't have a meter, is to connect the VIP722 to port one and cover over LNB's for 61.5 and 77 leaving the center one (72.7) uncovered. Verify the plumb on the part of the mast that fits into the dish clamp assembly. Then swing the dish with the azimuth, elevation preset to the dishpointer.com headings. The 72.7 seems to be using the center of the dish so the skew isn't critical at this point but I preset it to the specs. Next after the check switch first unconnected and second connected, I set the 722 for 72.7 TP 25. I found this to be the strongest TP but not by much. If you identify 61.5, looking down on the mast rotate the dish slowly clockwise and you should see the signal slowly fall off and then rise again. This will be 72.7 and should identify with the 722 menu 611 screen.
Note- I cheated here and used my sling box with a sling player on my cell phone up on the roof for tuning. It's is laging by 7 seconds so you have to work slowly with this method. Once 72.7 is locked in tighten the mast 3 nuts and then continue to tweak with the upper plate and the 3degree fine adjustment. All this took me about 2 hours but only after I spent a couple days doing it the hard way. Finally, I used the skew to tweak 77 by setting 77 on the menu 611 screen and TP 25. This tweaked pretty quickly at between 35-50 signal, same as 72.7. Forgot to mention- I removed the shield off the 77 and popped it on the 72.7. side. But here is where I started to have problems, 61.5 at best would tune to 35 with careful skew, azimuth and elevation back and forth for several hours and when I got signal on the 61.5 I actually compromised the 77 down to 25 to 35. Still 61.5 got no better than 12 on TP32 which is what I needed for CNBC. TYwo days later tweaking I couldn't get TP32 on 61.5 above 20 but then 77 was near gone so I gave up and went to my backup plan.

Backup pla was to tweak everything for 77 and 72.7, be damnd on 61.5. Then connect my 30" dish to the input on the 1k.4 LNB covering over the far outside lnb with aluminum shield. This is what I have now and my lowest signal is on 77 at 40 and highest signal is 61.5 TP35 at 85. BTW- TP32 is now at 65 using the 30" dish.

I'm still playing with it but the tweaking between 2 LNB's is much wasier on the 1k.4 however, I recognize that not everyone will be able to install a second large dish.

Hope my experience helps and you can pull something from it.

 

[mpdclark]

So did you connect single cable from satellite receiver to port 3 61.5 (next to LNB in) connection?

Did you run check switch before or after finding 61.5 for the first time?

 

[mpdclark]

The EA dish is a little tricky but not to bad. In my experience I found with the mast bolts loose I had to crank up the elevation 4-5 degrees over what was needed once everything was tightened down.

Here's what I did the first time.

Cover 72/77 lnb with foil.
increase elevation a degree at a time until you find 61.5 with you're SF-95L
once you find 61.5 tight down the dish, you may have to decrease elevation once the mast bolts are tight.
Remove foil, run check switch and 72,77 should show up.
You can then fine tune for best signal.

When you run a check switch I would remove your meter from the line if you're not already.

Did you have cable from receiver on port 1 - 2 or 3?

 

[mpdclark]

Any more comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[thedamaja]

I'm guessing from pics on the web that a SF-95L is an inline analog meter. I have a similar meter.

Take the lead from the receiver and attach it to your SF-95L then from the meter go to port 1 on the lnb.

 

[mike123abc]

Sounds like elevation/skew is wrong since you are only getting 61.5 on the 72.7 LNB.

 

[snowboardernh]

Sounds like elevation/skew is wrong since you are only getting 61.5 on the 72.7 LNB.

Agreed. I did my install Monday.
1. Do a check switch with no coaxial cable or switches connected to receiver. Wait for it to complete.
2. Hook up cable to satellite 1 in receiver. Make sure it is a direct cable no switches / splitters whatever into the 72.7. Make sure IT IS 72.7 port
3. Foil over the 61.5 and 77 LNb's if it helps.
4. I peaked on 17 transponder in NH at 62 level on 72.7
5. I then tightened it all down and skewed for my area and went to 64. remove foil
6. I then did a check swtich. 72.7 statyed at 64 and 61.5 on transpoder 5 for my area locals at 105 level.
7. 77 W for Nasa channel was low in the 20's but still worked. I then hooked up my 110 out from my 110/119 Dish 500 and placed it it in the LNB in and then did another check switch. That brought all the 110 channels over if the 77 sat ever rain fades.
77 Sat in NE is poor at best.
I did not need to power up the dish as I used the receiver to do the pointing.

 

[ggw2000]

What i did..

Any more comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

First off you can connect the receiver to the 72.7 port- it doesn't matter. When I installed my 1K4 I ran into the same thing you did as to 61.5 showing up. Here's what to do..
Make sure skew and elevation are correct, pole plumb etc which you said that you have done. Know approx. where 72.7 sat is using dishpointer.com. Point dish in that direction and do small azimuth movement (remember- receiver takes a couple of seconds to catch up). When you get the 61.5 sat signal- stop everything and run check switch. You now may have the 72.7 sat show up in switch test. If not go to 61.5 sat in signal test mode and peak signal. Then run check switch again. You should now have all three sats in check switch. Then you can peak on 72.7 per instructions....
Again, this is exactly what happen to me and how i got around it..
Good luck, Gerry

 

[TheForce]

So did you connect single cable from satellite receiver to port 3 61.5 (next to LNB in) connection?

Did you run check switch before or after finding 61.5 for the first time?

Never connected anything to port 2 or 3. The receiver is connected only to port 1.

The extra 30" dish for 61.5 was connected to port 4 which is a dedicated input port.


I did a check switch first with the al foil over the 1k.4's 61.5 LNB. Verified only two LNB's connected on the check switch screen. Then I did the check switch again after I connected the externasl dish to port 4 Now I show, still No connection for #3 and #4 shows 61.5.

 

[TheForce]

First off you can connect the receiver to the 72.7 port- it doesn't matter.

I'm confused by this. If you only have one cable from the receiver and you connect to port #2 how do you power the LNB assembly?

I have heard this advice on this forum before but when I tried it, there is no signal from anything. It's like trying to watch your TV with it unplugged. Furthermore, I have three different Dish Plus Pro LNB systems here with multiple ports. I checked out all three and none of them work unless you connect power to port 1.

When I did a check switch with only connected to port 2, it ran the same as if there was no cable connected at all. Connect to port 1 and check switch detected the LNB assembly. Reason- you have to connect power to port 1 as port two doesn't see the power.

Now tell me what I may have done wrong here.

 

[TheKrell]

Huh. The only DPP stuff I've played with is a DPP twin and a DPP33, and none of them require port 1 to power the whole thing. Any output port will do. If dish actually engineered these things to operate as you say, then they are truly perverse!

 

[Brynwald]

1k4 tuning

This is what i see in the field....

The 1k4 has the same switch that is in the 1k2 lnb. As such, it really does not work well with analog meters, some cheap digital meters and especially AFTER the check switch has been run. you can get the signal, but peaking is a serious pain in the butt. Expect to tweak it several times for optimum signal.

As far as signal str on 72 and 77 will always be lower. There is a huge debate among installers concerning the reason why the signal str is lower. On one side of the fence you have those that are told the signal is lower because of the way the reciever processes the compressed data. My personal opinion is that the signal str is just lower. I have been on too many srv calls where the cust was complaining about signal and the dish was properly aligned. I will always recommend using a 1k2 over a 1k4 any day of the week.

Now to stop ranting and get on topic...
No clue what the foil is used for. Even when i have to use my backup meter (analog channel master) I would NEVER use foil at a customers house. Dont know, dont particually care to find out why (no offense). From experience, The best way to tune in a 1k4 dish kit is on the third port from the left. Up until this forum i have never heard of port 1 being used for power. Just on a common sense approach i think its bull. If the switch is identical to a 1k2 it will work fine no matter what port its in. The ONLY time i have come across a power issue in port 1 is on the dpp44 switches.

After making some phone calls with very experienced techs, its the general consensus that after the check switch is run on an LNB, its a royal pain in the ass to try and repeak it. The check switch actually actives the LNB and it works completely different from that time on. As such, you may very well have bad luck trying to peak in the 1k4 with a reciever powered meter such as yours. You might have a little more luck if you clear out the orbitals in the check switch, but i personally would not try peaking that lnb in. i would call another tech and use their meter. If you can get a hold of a battery powered analog meter like the Channel master you should have more luck. like i said, that is my backup. Peaking out is still a pain though.

So, if you get a self powered meter, tune in on the 3rd port and still cant get them all in its something else. It could be a bent reflector, no line of site, bad LNB (very rare from my experience) . It might just be easier to run across a tech in your neighborhood, pay em 20 or 30 bucks to peak it in and be done with it.