Fixing superDish point

[katellite]

Hi,

My dish satellite has gone off a little from its original installation ( mounted on a tripod-like apparatus wall of my balcony on the side of my house, installed by dish technician ), and I'm no longer able to view most of my channels due to poor signal strength. I'm not sure exactly why it has shifted...

I see that there are elevation markings on the dish ( superdish ). When I go into the menu of the dish receiver it gives me the azimuth/elevation/skew that I need to point to for 121 or 105 ( I live in southern california ).
Either way, I only see markings on the dish satellite itself for the elevation degrees. I've adjusted this, but it is hard to adjust the other two ( I see no similar angle markings ). I've been rotating blindly and watching the signal strength to no avail.

Any advice on how to perform the tweaking to point it in the correct location is appreciated ( Maybe there are some links? A downloadable manual perhaps (lost my original) ?? ) I also know that I can call the technician to repair, but he isn't available for awhile, and I've done my own dish installations before so I thought I'd have a go at it.

*Basically what I want is advice on how to point the superdish by myself*

Thanks,
K

 

[SmityWhity]

It is hard to believe that it shifted, unless:
...the wall moved,
...the mounting foot and/or 2 mounting braces have worked loose,
...the balcony shifted,
...the adjustment bolts were not tight.
It is more likely that foilage has increased to decrease your signal, or someone decided to build a new building next to you.

However....

What is your zip code?
What type of switch do you have? DP34 or DPP44?
What type of receiver?
What programming packages do you have, or do you need the 121 signal, or just the 119 and 110 signals?

It may take a little while, but someone will respond with the settings.
Even though a 16pt 1/2 box end might work, the adjustment bolts are probably 13mm (possibly 14mm).

1. You should make sure the top of the mounting mast is plumb in 2 directions, inward and outward, as well as, left to right.

2. On the back of the dish pan, you should see the skew markings, you will have to loosen 4 bolts to adjust this. Hopefully you did not, and will not have to adjust this. Once you set it, you do not fine tune using the skew. There are two different types of mounting hardware for the skew.

3. You will then set the elevation, there will be one nut on each side that you will loosen. The dish is heavy and has a little left/right play in it as you try to hold the dish and tighten both bolts.

4. You will then swing the dish left and right until you have the approximate azimuth.

5. Since this is a re-adjustment, your receiver should not need to take a receiver update to work; nor should you have to worry about connecting one one LNBF at a time through Port 1 of the switch.

6. When adjusting, you will look for the 110 signal first. Peak it by slightly adjusting the azimuth (left to right), then the elevation (up and down).

7. After, you will peak 121 by making slight adjustments for the azimuth, then check 110. You do this back and forth to make sure you don't loose 110, but have an acceptable signal on both. Then you will do the same thing making slight adjustments on the elvation.

NOTE: When making adjustments and using the point dish menu on the receiver, the receiver does NOT Respond quickly, you must allow 5 - 10 seconds for the change in signal strength to take place.

Plus, we will need to figure out if you have a 121 or a 105, but answering the programming question will help with that. Plus I will see if I can find a link to a manual.

EDIT:
Hmmmm.... Maybe you don't have a SuperDish! Maybe not even a Dish 500.
You should at least see two set of markings on a 500 and a SuperDish, and although I've never seen a Dish 1000, it would also have 2 sets of markings.
On all three, besides the elevation to kick it up and down, there should be some etched markings on a bracket on the backside of the dish pan.

 

[katellite]

I also considered a foliage increase, but when I adjusted portions of the elevation I was able to get a significantly increased signal strength, so either way there was still room for improvement in the pointing, now, since I have moved it, hehe. Theoretically the foliage could be blocking my maximum signal strength point..i'll have to check it out. OTher than that nothing has changed in my area I think, buildings, electrical poles, etc. have always been there.

My zipcode is 90703.

DP 34 I believe.

921, and others

I need all three.

clearly it's a superdish, because I need to pick up at minimum 3 different satellites, and I only have a single dish. Also its shape is indicative of a superdish. It also has three of these -

. Finally, it says superdish on it.

Dish gives me the az/el/sk readings I -should- have on the screen when I go to 121. It reads -- 171/51/94. I must have the 121-119-110 config because one of the channels I was receiving is only available on 148,121,61.5.

It was very dark yesterday night and I might have missed some markings.

I look forward to using the techniques you outlined..

 

[SmityWhity]

Your description could have been another dish, but the fact it says SuperDish works for me.

Sounds like you are getting it, just remember to make very minor adjustments, like 1/16 of an inch.

Here's a link that has a lot of good information, including information on switches. The last 3 documents are PDF and can be downloaded in a minute and includes the manual for the SuperDish.

http://www.solidsignal.tv/dishpro_installation.asp

 

[katellite]

Out of curiosity what are the other dishes I could have described? ( dish 1k? )

Right now I'm able to receive a few channels, so I think i'm pretty close.../

I'm now looking over the pdfs you mention..will be very helpful i think.

Thanks for those and the advice, I'll update yoou on what happens

 

[SmityWhity]

In general terms the Dish 1000, one of the DirecTV dishes, but more importantly, people do all kinds of things. So I figured we might as well eliminate any issues.

People doing all kind of things - me too! I have a SuperDish 121 that I taped a fourth LNBF too.

 

[katellite]

haha nice, and what need does that 4th lnbf serve?

 

[SmityWhity]

I use the extra LNBF to receive Sat 129 for HD and Denver HD locals.

The reason....
Do to locals in one part of the country (NOLA), I needed Sat 121. Then from the swamps to the Rockies, I decided to use the SuperDish 121 for regular programming and Korean Variety Package. However, I decided to go with HD and Denver locals (129). Although I have a Dish 500 I can use for 129, I usually use the Dish 500 for 61.5 because all of the Korean programming is not on 121.

 

[katellite]

It sounds like you have 5 different satellites connected at once! Nice: My friend told me to tie a rope to the top of my tree and move it to see if I get a better signal. My tree is also the bendy type, so I could maybe bend it to the ground and saw it off, if it is affecting.

 

[SmityWhity]

I have the 121 with 3 permanent LNBF and 1 Temporary LNBF.
Then I have a Dish 500 which I can very easily move anywhere from 61.5 to 148. Therefore, I can disconnect the 121 and connect 61.5 up to get the channels that aren't on 121. And if the tape on the SuperDish loosens up a little for 129 (HD Locals), I can always swap that 129 to the Dish 500 to get 129.

So at one time, I only have 4 locations in use. I really look forward to getting a repoint kit when they are available.

I guess you could try to pull the tree over. If that helps, then either cut it, or maybe you could just move the dish over to a new location.

 

[katellite]

I contemplated both, and decided the tree cutting might be easier first, so I cut 5the tops off. But now when I do the checkswitch it says I only get the odd transponders from 119..? is this a switch problem, because all of my odd transponders have nice strength? The other two satellites 110/121 have both even,odd beside each in the list.

 

[SmityWhity]

I made a remark once that sometimes you need to do check switch more than once, and somebody responded they only have to do it once. I know I read somewhere, maybe in a DPP-44 or DP-34 manual you may need to do a second check switch.

I would do it a 2nd or 3rd time.

I believe on 119, the odd transponders below 10 are spotbeams. In either case, you should have at least one of each (actually more).

 

[katellite]

Basically, I get very strong signal on all of the odd transponders of 119, but zero strength on the even. Even when I did the check switch multiple times I get just the odd transponders to work. Could this be a switch, cabling, or satellite pointing problem? Should I replace the switch?

I took a picture -

Yes many of the channels I usually watch are on the even transponders..

 

[SmityWhity]

Power down everything, unplug both the recevier and switch (if it has power), it wouldn't hurt to unplug the TV either (in case it's feeding power back through the ant input). Wait about a minute and then power it up, a fresh re-boot may be all it needs.

I believe on 119, transponders 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are spotbeam, and it doesn't look like I pick them up here in Denver. If you are and getting a very strong signal, then I would suggests re-peaking your dish using TP 11.

EDIT: The picture just came in, guess one of the moderators will convert it to a thumbnail.
Suggestion above still holds; power-down then power-up after a minute; if that doesn't work, re-peak using 119/TP-11.

 

[katellite]

I've done the power down thing, removing everything, to no avail. I've done it on my other receivers too.

The first time I peaked was on 110 on a transponder. I will try repeaking on 119 tp11, but Why couldn't I also repeak using an even transponder? I'm sure I didn't peak on a spotbeam, if that's what you were thinking..

What I'm thinking is that after I read what you wrote about spotbeams, that maybe my satellite is actually having relatively poor reception on 119 as a whole both even and odd, except that because of the spotbeams, on all the odd transponders below ten, it says I can receive odd.

My switch doesn't have any power, save for the 3 inputting and four outputting coax connections. I could remove and replace these. Could my switch be dysfunctional and need replacing?

I hope you can now see the picture, it doesn't look like a thumbnail to me, and I hope the mods wouldn't convert it to one, as it is only a tiny 640x480, anyways here is the url of it just in case .... http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/2755/1000207wn7.jpg

 

[SmityWhity]

On the power-down, you need to have all the receivers powered down together.

You can peak on even or odd, you just do not want to peak on SpotBeam transponders, which I think all odd below 10 are Spots on 119.

It is possible you could have a bad switch, or even LNBF. But I would first try power-down on all receivers, then re-peak without using a spotbeam.

Also, when you do a check-switch, sometimes you may need to run it twice.

EDIT:
Also, if the mod converts the picture, it will be on the lower right corner of the post, and when clicked on, usually comes up pretty quick to regular size.

 

[katellite]

I will try to power down all the receivers simultaneously.

However as I said in my previous message, i didn't peak on a spotbeam, I'm sure of it.

Yes, of course, I will run the checkswitch repeatedly!

 

[katellite]

finally after tons and tons of testing, cable/lnb swapping , adding new dishes, rewiring them, and changing receivers, I've determined almost without a doubt that the bush is blocking the signal. I'm more interested now in getting a c/ku-band dish and fta receiver : Will be updating with final resolution later hopefully, thanks for the help smity..

P.S. My dish LNB from a 1.5 yrs ago seems to be too old for the DP34..?

 

[katellite]

Cutting down the tree did improve signal strength, but I still didn't get even transponders on 119.. I now think the lnbf is dysfunctional, as I have tested it without the switch. This is the type of lnbf I have - Assuming it is broken is it possible to get a free replacement? (It has been >18 months since I signed up for 1yr)

 

[SmityWhity]

I've seen several posts where it's mentioned that there are some bad SuperDish 121 LNBF's. Someone even listed a lot number. Maybe you have a bad one.

I think the warranty is only for 12 months, but maybe Dish will replace it, especially if they just send you one and you return the bad one.