Frustrated by 97W

[Payam81]

Hello folks,

I too am having a tough time getting this bird. I've moved to a different house and am now trying to set 97 up. Here is the nitty gritty:

SV-3000 reciever (tested, worked with 97 before)
Zimwell Standard linear LNB
36" Fortec dish (brand new)
All settings confirmed, Factory reset several times
Short RG6 cable, tested working

Here is the issue:

When I select 97 as my desired sat, I seem to be getting a S: 69 and Q: 0 regardless of where I am pointed! This makes it extremely difficult to figure out if I am really pointing at a weak signal or not. Fruthermore, the dish fails to lock on to ANY satellites hence I have no idea what bird I am pointed at. Based on trial & error and following DishPointer data, I have managed to hit several birds between 74W - 110W.

Basically as soon I see the signal moving up from 69 I know I am pointing at a bird so I do a blind scan to pull in any channels possible (although it shows Q:0 in the Dish Setup screen but after blindscan I usually get decent quality but still it does not identify the bird), then Google/Lyngsat the channel names or whatever else info I can garner off them to figure what bird I am actually pointing to.

So far I have confirmed 74W (Based on Ohio News Network), 89W or 103W (based on Pentagon Channel as it is broadcast on both) and at least another 2 birds that I cannot figure out what they are. I've also hit a bird with Dish Network programming and managed to tune in to an unscrambled channel that says: Congrats! You have a Dish 500 system. (is this the 77 or 110?) All the channels came in with EchoStar prefix followed by a number: EchoStar01, EchoStar02 and so on...

So questions I really hope someone can help me with:

1- Why is my receiver not identifying the bird I am aiming at even though it sucessfully pulls channels with a blindscan?
2- Why is my signal constantly at least 69 when I choose 97W in sat lists but drops to zero when I choose anything else?
3- Is 97W to the east or to the west of 74W? (It should be to the west of course but double checking as I am running out of options)

I've spent several frustrating evening without success, so any help would be highly appreciated.

Location is Ontario, Canada.

 

[Long Hair]

Have you double checked your lnb setting on the receiver?

 

[Christopherve7alb]

You would have been receiving the Pentagon channel on 103, on 89 it's C-Band only so you won't be able to get it with a 36." The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you're looking for quality on an active transponder. When aiming for 97 I use 12152/H/20000. Start with the dish pointer data and then make small adjustments left/right up/down on your dish all while watching your quality readings - when it spikes you know you've got the satellite and you just have to peak.

 

[Payam81]

Have you double checked your lnb setting on the receiver?

Yes I've set it as STANDARD and it seems like that's what it should be based on my LNB specs:

Freq: 11.7 ~ 12.2 GHz
N/F: 0.3 dB
L.O.: 10.75 GHz

I've also checked the LNB mounting and the skew with a little help from Sadoun's website where it describes them with photos.

 

[turbosat]

If you don't have a motor and can find 89 or 103 again, you could try moving the dish fractionally east or west toward your target, running blindscans as you go. Sometimes I have done that, skipping sat by sat until I hit the one I wanted. Pick out some active transponders on all the satellites in between 89 and 97, and try to "step satellite by satellite" until you get to 97.
Remember you will have to adjust the skew a little bit as you go, but less than 10degrees involved there, it wouldn't be much.

 

[Payam81]

You would have been receiving the Pentagon channel on 103, on 89 it's C-Band only so you won't be able to get it with a 36." The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you're looking for quality on an active transponder. When aiming for 97 I use 12152/H/20000. Start with the dish pointer data and then make small adjustments left/right up/down on your dish all while watching your quality readings - when it spikes you know you've got the satellite and you just have to peak.

Thanks! I overlooked that little detail. So now at least I have two confirmed points of reference to go by. I am positive I've hit 97 but probably passed it because the signal coming off of it is probably aroung 70-71 and the fact my receiver is showing a constant 69-70 signal at all times (when not aimed at a bird) is not really helping...

 

[1ADAM12]

Signal Strength is an indication that your LNBF is connected.

Signal Quality is what you are shooting for.

It is likely that your dish is not looking at 97W.

Try for 89W which has strong TP's for ABC.

Once you have that identified and peaked for Elevation and dish skew, you can swing the dish a little to the right, standing behind the dish.

If your receiver is set to Al Jeezera or Russia Today. You should be able to peak 97W.

 

[Payam81]

If you don't have a motor and can find 89 or 103 again, you could try moving the dish fractionally east or west toward your target, running blindscans as you go. Sometimes I have done that, skipping sat by sat until I hit the one I wanted. Pick out some active transponders on all the satellites in between 89 and 97, and try to "step satellite by satellite" until you get to 97.
Remember you will have to adjust the skew a little bit as you go, but less than 10degrees involved there, it wouldn't be much.

Thank you. I think now that I know Pentagon channel was on 103 I can take that as my reference point and start blind scanning while I move the dish slightly. I just wish my SV-3000 would make it a little bit easier on me.

Funny thing is I tried my Nfusion Nova and I have the same dreaded problem of No Sat ID. They both refuse to lock on to any birds!

 

[TRG]

I too am having a tough time getting this bird.

Which transponder are you looking at while turning the dish? For 97W, 12177 V 23000 is really hot.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[Bill_KY]

My method

I use the Visionsat IV 200 PVR as my main install receiver. I search for 97W this way, I do the skew first, elevation next and then azimuth all setting them approximately as close as I can. I then turn on the Visionsat, go to the antenna menu, select 97W.

Make sure the first FTA transponder is set right, set for H or V and the rate.the LNB set to 10750 switches off and DiSEQC off .

The first FTA TP listed on 97W is 11789 V 28125 .I make sure it is set to that. After entering that all in ...I am set for the first part. Now on the botton of the Visionsat install screen there are two bars. First one is for strength and the second one is Quality.

On the Visionsat when you start to get Quality the strength bar turns from yellow/orange to BLUE and then the Quality bar starts coming up in strength as well and that is in BLUE .

So like I said i get as close to the published settings as I can and then move the antenna back and forth slowly looking for hints of BLUE. if I get nothing, I adjust the elevation a bit and move the antenna back and forth while keeping watch on the receiver to "turn BLUE".

Always have a small TV and the receiver right near the Dish, the method of yelling back and forth to someone in the house does not work for me. One other thing, because the published elevation says 43 degrees for 97W at my other location. That may not always be the case... On the "vintage" DirectPC oval dish ...it turned out to be 51 degrees.


Good luck

 

[cruzin]

I hope this helps. Try to mark the pole your dish is setting on top of with a marking pen or pencil where you have found sat 89 and 103. I think that was the 2 confirmed sats. Then put 12 equal apart marks on the dish and move to where you would find 97 just 6 marks down from 103. then set your receiver set up to sat 97 with the transponder freq of 11.836 with a sr of 20.770 you may have to raise or lower the dish just a smige depending on your south sat. Move it east and west just fractions till you find it. I worked on getting a sat tuned in the better part of a afternoon and finally realized I had the lnb power turned OFF. Hope this helps.

 

[Payam81]

Which transponder are you looking at while turning the dish? For 97W, 12177 V 23000 is really hot.

Let us know how you make out.

Yup that's what I've set my transponder to!

I do have a small TV next to the dish to simplify things.

I've confirmed now that I did hit 91W (based on LETN, FTEN, HSTN and LTCN) and 99W (based on AGHAPY) so it seems like I was very close to the elusive 97 and just passed it.

I think tomorrow I will try to get to 91W then to 93W and just blindscan like a squirrel till I hit 97W.

Will keep ya'll posted.

Thanks again for the pointers and help.

 

[Payam81]

I hope this helps. Try to mark the pole your dish is setting on top of with a marking pen or pencil where you have found sat 89 and 103. I think that was the 2 confirmed sats. Then put 12 equal apart marks on the dish and move to where you would find 97 just 6 marks down from 103. then set your receiver set up to sat 97 with the transponder freq of 11.836 with a sr of 20.770 you may have to raise or lower the dish just a smige depending on your south sat. Move it east and west just fractions till you find it. I worked on getting a sat tuned in the better part of a afternoon and finally realized I had the lnb power turned OFF. Hope this helps.

Thanks, that's actually a great idea! I will try to hit 103 then 93 and put 8 marks between them. I wish I had thought of this today before I closed up shop and took everything back to garage (for the third time!)

 

[ken2400]

You were on 99
So using the signal meter turn the dish to the left just bit to lose 99 and rescan.
One you have something them move the dish up and down and to the left and right.

Good luck

Yup that's what I've set my transponder to!

I do have a small TV next to the dish to simplify things.

I've confirmed now that I did hit 91W (based on LETN, FTEN, HSTN and LTCN) and 99W (based on AGHAPY) so it seems like I was very close to the elusive 97 and just passed it.

I think tomorrow I will try to get to 91W then to 93W and just blindscan like a squirrel till I hit 97W.

Will keep ya'll posted.

Thanks again for the pointers and help.

 

[turbosat]

payam, to answer the other question--not all fta receivers will lock on that satellite beacon to show you ID, I had a Viewsat that did, and this Icon I'm using now does it most of the time, but that's only 2 out of about 7receivers I've owned. That little feature does make it easier to aim a dish.

 

[putney]

Maybe someone has mentioned this before, but are you setting your skew for each sat as you sweep?

Use dishpointer.com to find the skew settings.

 

[Payam81]

Success!

Folks I finally picked 97W up!

This bird has an extremely narrow margin for errors. I picked up 103W with relative ease and tried to backtrack from there moving the dish to the left just a smidge. The instant I noticed the signal jump up by 1 or 2 I started moving slightly up and noticed a sudden burst in quality from 0 to 30. Played around with it and the skew until I peaked it. From what I noticed this bird seems a lot more sensitive to skew than for example 103, 74 or 93. I was able to peak the quality from 30 to around 46 on a weak TP just by rotating the LNB a few degrees.

I wanted to thank everyone for all the helpful replies. I am certain I would not have been able to finish the job without your support.

 

[Jim S.]

97W has a huge range of signal strength between transponders for some reason. (Most birds do, but most birds don't have full-time broadcast programming on all their transponders, so they have an excuse!) The two that are often cited as being the strongest, 12152 and 12177, are a lot weaker than one other one, I think it's 11836, for me, and most of the rest are a lot weaker than the first two. I have no idea why there's such a ridiculous variation, since the satellite was just launched last year. At the time, I saw some people say that it didn't seem like much of a difference from the old satellite that it replaced.

 

[Bill_KY]

Folks I finally picked 97W up!

I wanted to thank everyone for all the helpful replies. I am certain I would not have been able to finish the job without your support.

Congratulations!

 

[putney]

Good going! If you think that was hard, wait 'til you get a motor!