Feedback greatly appreciated

[petewagner33]

I have a 30 inch dish and a Samsonic receiver that I set up myself. It's been a very trying experience for me, as I have yet to pick up any channels. Here's where I am with things: I have confirmed that my connections and cables are good. I placed a satellite finder in the line and have confirmed that I am getting strong signals from satellites. I have aimed using compass (adjusted to true north) and assumably found Telstar 5 and AMC 3, for which my receiver indicates a signal strength 90-99%, however sometimes poor quality. When I do a channel search after locking on, it indicates 0% or poor strength and I come up with nothing.

Could I possibly have a defective receiver? Are there other satellites right where Telstar and AMC should be that I might be locked on instead?

And finally, is there any receiver or device that could tell me which satellite the signal is coming from?

I'm in NE Maryland.

Thanks

Pete

 

[Todd Wiedemann]

Pete -

I moved your post to the MPEG2 / FTA section.

Do a little bit of reading here regarding satellite pointing.

It can be very tricky and require a lot of patience.

 

[petewagner33]

Thanks. Is there a tool or receiver that can tell which satellite the signal is coming from?

 

[Mr Tony]

I have a 30 inch dish and a Samsonic receiver that I set up myself. It's been a very trying experience for me, as I have yet to pick up any channels. Here's where I am with things: I have confirmed that my connections and cables are good. I placed a satellite finder in the line and have confirmed that I am getting strong signals from satellites. I have aimed using compass (adjusted to true north) and assumably found Telstar 5 and AMC 3, for which my receiver indicates a signal strength 90-99%, however sometimes poor quality. When I do a channel search after locking on, it indicates 0% or poor strength and I come up with nothing.

Could I possibly have a defective receiver? Are there other satellites right where Telstar and AMC should be that I might be locked on instead?

And finally, is there any receiver or device that could tell me which satellite the signal is coming from?

I'm in NE Maryland.

Give us your zip and we can give you the angles to vefrify. Is this a fixed dish or a motorized?

I haven’t heard of a Samsonic receiver but it sounds like its working. Remember, signal strength doesn’t mean anything. It’s signal quality that counts. There are 4 KU band satellites between AMC3 (87W) and IA5 (97W)
IA8-89
G11-91
IA6-93
G3-95

What kind of LNB do you have? Is there any info on that? Reason I ask is you have to set it up properly for it to work.
On IA5 there is a LOT of stuff there. I don’t know if the unit has blind scan or not but see if you can manually put in the following info
Freq 12152
Polarity H
Symbol rate 20000

That is a strong transponder and can help you aim the dish.

 

[ken2400]

A SF-95 inline signal meter can help. If using a motor then start by finding your true south sat. If this is a manual move then set the elv of the sat you want and swing the dish around until the SF-95 starts beeping. Send us your zip or one near you and someone might post a list of sats in your area.

Thanks. Is there a tool or receiver that can tell which satellite the signal is coming from?

 

[Tron]

Thanks. Is there a tool or receiver that can tell which satellite the signal is coming from?

The receiver won't identify the satellite you're pointed at. The only device I know of that will is a Birddog satellite meter (about $400). But once you peak your signal properly (you probably have to do some adjustments on your dish azimuth and elevation), you can do a blind scan and, by the channels it comes up with, you'll know what bird you're seeing.